Alex Cora has surprising take on Xander Bogaerts’ future with Red Sox
Which lucky team will have Xander Bogaerts in uniform in 2023 and beyond?
It must continue to be the Boston Red Sox.
The beloved shortstop, who’s spent the season tying and breaking franchise records, is likely going to opt out of his current deal. The Sox need to do everything they can to prevent him from leaving.
But in a conversation with The Ringer’s Off The Pike podcast earlier this month, Cora explained how he sees Bogaerts’ future, and his take on the situation may surprise fans:
"“I do believe going into whatever situation comes up in the upcoming weeks, or months, whatever, we’re going to be prepared to bring Xander back. Obviously, it takes two. Like I’ve always said, the ball is in his court right now. He’s the one that has to decide if he’s going to opt in or opt out. We know about his agent. I have a great relationship with Scott (Boras) and we’ll see what happens.”"
While this is factually true, Bogaerts wouldn’t even be thinking about opting out if the Sox hadn’t already lowballed him, offering only one extra year and $30M on top of his current contract. He’s already taken a team-friendly extension once, a deal he initiated back in 2019, against the wishes of Scott ‘Test Free Agency’ Boras.
Will Xander Bogaerts opt out of his Red Sox contract and test free agency?
All Bogaerts wants is to be paid what’s fair. More importantly, what he’s earned by being one of the best offensive players at his position for several years. If the organization does not pay up, especially in its current comfortable financial position, there will be public outcry like never before.
Cora knows what Bogaerts brings to this club, both from an on-field production standpoint and from the intangibles aspect of leadership, mentorship, and dedication to the team and fans. When Bogaerts – who is vaccinated – was one of several players who tested positive for the novel coronavirus in September 2021, the manager made impassioned comments about how much the team needs him:
"“Obviously Xander, he’s the leader of the team. He’s one of the best shortstops, if not the best shortstop, in the league.”"
In June of this year, Cora praised his shortstop again:
"“I don’t know if we have to put a ‘C’ on Xander’s jersey but everybody knows the consistency, the way he approaches the game, the ways he cares about winning, what he brings to the occasion, not only on the field but off the field.He’s the most consistent player and the most consistent person in our organization. Everybody knows he’s the one who takes career of people in that clubhouse, takes care of people on the field, takes care of the manager. Just putting that name in the lineup makes you feel comfortable we’re going to have a good player in the lineup on a daily basis. If you want to name him the captain without putting the ‘C’, you can go ahead and do it.”"
Hopefully, the manager is putting pressure on Bloom and ownership to make a deal happen.
Boston needs its Captain.
