Rocio Robles
The last few Major League seasons have seen players sign contracts for exorbitant amounts of money, and in response, some players have begun to revalue their work with their teams. Such has been the case with Xander Bogaerts, who turned down a contract extension from the Boston Red Sox.
Xander Bogaerts declined the team’s offer because it did not meet his salary requirements. He aspired for a contract that paid him in line with other players at his position such as Carlos Correa, Francisco Lindor and Corey Seager, who will be making $35.1M, $34.1M and $33M this year, respectively, after signing lucrative contracts with their respective franchises.
The Aruba native, who signed a six-year, $120 million contract extension with the Boston Red Sox in 2019, may point out that his numbers are good enough to earn him a contract of that magnitude. Xander Bogaerts has a .290/.354/.459 batting average over his nine-year career with the Boston franchise and has hit 141 homers and driven in 611 runs. Such performance earned him a call to the All-Star Game on three occasions, in addition to winning the Silver Slugger four times and winning two World Series with the team.
It is worth mentioning that Xander Bogaerts has the option to opt out of his contract at the end of this 2022 MLB campaign, and it is reported that the player plans to do so once the season is over to test free agency and seek that contract he desperately wants. In spite of this, Red Sox officials do not plan to make the effort to retain him. “We’re not interested in doing 10-year deals in exchange for a lot of money, because almost every time those contracts don’t work out well for teams.” exclaimed one franchise executive.
Professionalism comes first for Xander Bogaerts
Despite his frustration with the lack of progress regarding his financial demands, Xander Bogaerts has made it clear that his priority is the team and the season that has just begun.
“I can’t do anything about it right now.” Bogaerts said during Thursday. “I have a season to play. I don’t want to cause that kind of distraction for my teammates. They don’t deserve it. We had time to accomplish something, but we didn’t.”
Such words could be taken for better or for worse, since on the one hand, Bogaerts appears to want to focus on the team and try to take it to the playoffs for the second consecutive season, while on the other hand, it appears that following the failure of the negotiations, a firm decision has been made.
Only time will tell what the future holds for Xander Bogaerts. However, a stellar season could help him land a juicy contract for the 2023 season if he ultimately ends up in free agency.
