Xander Bogaerts and the Padres have reached an agreement on an 11-year, $280 million contract
According to a source familiar with the agreement, shortstop Xander Bogaerts and the San Diego Padres have reached an agreement on an 11-year, $280 million contract, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
The 30-year-old Bogaerts, a 10-year veteran of the Boston Red Sox, is a two-time World Series winner and a four-time All-Star. After scoring a 5.8 bWAR and placing ninth in the American League MVP vote in 2022, he is coming off one of his best seasons.
After choosing to forego a six-year, $132 million contract extension he had signed with the Red Sox before the 2019 season, Bogaerts became a free agent. He joined a talented group of shortstops that were available as free agents, which also included Trea Turner, Carlos Correa, and Dansby Swanson (who signed with the Philadelphia Phillies).
The Padres already have Fernando Tatis Jr. at shortstop, but due to injuries and an 80-game suspension for testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance, he was forced to miss the entire season. Aaron Judge and Turner also visited San Diego before choosing different teams.
General manager A.J. Preller stated, “From our side, you want to examine and make sure we’re looking at every available possibility to get better,” prior to the Bogaerts deal coming to light. “We really want to win and keep winning for a very long time.”
Boston made Bogaerts a second extension before the 2022 campaign, which would have added a year to his deal and paid him $90 million over his last four seasons. The offer was considered to be far under market value for a player of his prominence in the industry.
One Red Sox front-office representative told ESPN in April that Bogaerts’ outstanding season would reduce Boston’s chances of being able to contract him.
The front-office employee stated, “We are not in the business of signing 10-year deals for a lot of money because those contracts typically do not work out well for clubs.
However, the Red Sox have since changed their tune, with chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom openly declaring that the team’s main goal in this offseason’s free agency was Bogaerts.
The agreement between Bogaerts and the Padres was initially reported by MLB Network.
