FORT MYERS, Fla. - There wasn't much room for interpretation. Xander Bogaerts made sure of that.
The guy who has been a part of 29 postseason wins and two world championships with the Red Sox - and sits in the prime of his career - simply doesn't want to be put in the rearview mirror quite yet.
"Sometimes it’s like I don’t even know if I’m on the team," Bogaerts said from JetBlue Park. "It’s like, ‘Hey, I’m here.’ But what are you going to do? You guys have stories to write and have more info than us as players have. It’s out of my control, I can’t do much about it. But it’s like, ‘Hey, I exist, I’m here.’ It is what it is."
The frustration is understandable considering the importance Bogaerts represents on this Red Sox roster. He is an undeniable clubhouse leader, owns the third-best OPS of any American League hitter over the last three seasons, and just anchored another run to the American League Championship Series.
As Bogaerts enters his last season as a 20-something, he should be talked about as the Red Sox' next legacy player.
But instead, there is a murkiness involving the shortstop's future.
The path to Bogaerts getting a contract that would keep him in a Red Sox uniform for the entirety of his career is a complicated one. The defensive metrics have been surfaced from all angles this offseason, pointing to a potential problem in keeping the 29-year-old at his preferred position.
Nine years ago, there were rumblings that Bogaerts couldn't possibly be a long-term shortstop. Second. Third. Any place but short. Even after all those playoff appearances, and 580 wins while playing his position of choice, the debate hasn't dissipated.
Helping amp up the conversation involving a potential position-change is the immediate presence of free agent option Carlos Correa, and the not-so-immediate existence of top prospect Marcelo Mayer.
Bogaerts will clearly eyeing a contractual upgrade when his opportunity to opt-out rolls around after the 2022 season, but any such commitment from the Red Sox might not come with guarantees of sticking at shortstop.
And therein lies one of the biggest problems: Bogaerts has no plans to be identified as anything but a shortstop.
"I’m a shortstop, man," he said. "That’s where I’ve played my whole career. Obviously it’s a position I take a lot of pride in. If you look at my numbers, they’ve been pretty good for these years. I like being there. That’s it.
"Why would I think of playing second or third if I’m playing short? I don’t see any sense in that. Just going out there, playing shortstop and trying to get better, especially on the defensive side. I know I finished strong last year. Have been doing some different drills with the coaches which has helped me out a lot. As soon as I got here I just continued doing the same thing. Hopefully that progressed towards the end of the year and this year."
What now for Bogaerts? The contract talk isn't going away, especially with the likes of Corey Seager, Francisco Lindor, Trevor Story and Correa all either getting paid or about to cash in.
"I try not to think about that during the season," he said. "I’m at spring training and I got a deal done a couple years ago at this time. You never know what can happen. But when the season starts, I want to focus on helping the team at that point and try not to worry about those type of talks. If something is going to get done it’s going to get done now during the season. But those guys are getting what they’ve been playing at that level for."
In this less-than-perfect scenario for the Red Sox, they could explore a trade if it is determined there simply in no path to keeping him. But then you are not only taking out a foundational piece of the team's clubhouse structure, but thinning things to a potentially uncomfortable level in the middle of the batting order.
The more likely avenue will be riding things out for the 2022 season, banking on Bogaerts having another big year while monitoring the development of Mayer in his first full professional season.
Perhaps an offseason of defensive drills will alter the Bogaerts-at-shortstop conversation. Just maybe Chaim Bloom and ownership identify the player as someone they deem worthy allocating significant resources to while postponing any decisions regarding where he lands on the diamond.
"We're going to transition so the workload on the field is less," said Red Sox manager Alex Cora regarding Bogaerts. "It's going to be more drills and then they go and take the grounders. But for him, it's actually the first step. You saw it, he looks even bigger than last year. It's amazing. I don't know how he does it, but he looks stronger and more agile and more explosive. It's a testament to who he is, but there were a few things that we talked about in November in our exit meetings that he needed to do and it seems like he did and we just need to keep building up.
One thing is for sure. Whatever he touches, he turns into outs, you know, he doesn't make too many errors. It's just a matter of a few adjustments here and there, and we can help him with positioning, and we'll see what the final product is going to be. But like I said before, in a big game, there's a lot of managers out there who will say give me that guy and we'll see what happens. He hits a homer in the first inning and it's 3-0 and then he makes all the plays at shortstop and you advance.
There are no easy answers. But there is one simple reality.
Bogaerts is right, his existence shouldn't be forgotten.