OPINION: Goodbye Xander Bogaerts
This has nothing to do with the loss tonight to the Royals. Simply, after looking at finances, upcoming free agents, and the Trevor Story situation; signing Xander Bogaerts in the offseason is a bad baseball move. If he is commanding anywhere near the $30 million AAV that is rumored, the Red Sox need to walk away and start over. You have Story now. Which we here at The Skipper’s View were highly critical of at the time and were blocked and attacked on Twitter for saying it was a bad move. Now look at the situation we are in. Obviously, Red Sox fans want Xander back. But, emotional attachment is detrimental to the long term success of the team. The current number that is being justified is 5-year $150 million. That will keep Xander until he is 35 years old. A simple Google search will show you how successful contracts in that age range have worked out. Spoiler alert. It’s rare that they do.
Bloom made a drastic mistake by listening to the fans and going after Story. In my opinion the Sox need to use the freed money from Xander, Eovaldi, Kike, and JD to start to build a new core around Devers. It is not what any Red Sox fan wants to see. But at this point it is what needs to happen.
Goodbye Xander Bogaerts.