The news broke in the wee hours of Thursday morning that Xander Bogaerts was headed to San Diego, but the Red Sox already had a feeling the star shortstop was leaving Boston.
Bogaerts and the Red Sox were reportedly far apart in contract negotiations and the shortstop signed an 11-year, $280 million contract in San Diego after the Padres missed out on Aaron Judge and Trea Turner.
Red Sox fans have been understandably frustrated with the Bogaerts situation, especially considering the fact that Rafael Devers is set to become a free agent next offseason.
Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom joined WEEI’s Rob Bradford on the Audacy Original Podcast “Baseball Isn’t Boring” for an exclusive interview about the Bogaerts situation, the upcoming season, Devers’ contract, and much more.
“I think there was this assumption that (when the news broke) was when we knew that he was not going to be a Red Sock anymore, and that really wasn’t the case,” Bloom said (4:39 in player above). “Just behind the scenes the way the day had gone on – and even a little bit the previous night – I think we had a sense of where it was headed. Just look, I think we need to own this. It was headed somewhere that we were not going to go. I think if we beat around the bush there we’re just trying to snow people, we shouldn’t do that.”
Bloom noted that a 1-on-1 interview such as this one is a much better format to break things down rather than a press conference where questions are being fired from all angles and you can’t necessarily go as in-depth as needed.
“It wasn’t a huge surprise to us at that moment,” he continued. “I will say at that moment, you know, knowing this was likely coming and then when it happened just being hit by the weight of it, and not just for me, probably least of all for me, but for the organization, for literally millions of people who this news would hit very hard. And I know that, I get it, I understand it. That’s really what was hitting me in that moment.”
The night before was when Bloom and the Red Sox started to come to the conclusion that Bogaerts was likely headed elsewhere, but it wasn’t definitive.
“Generally speaking, I think that was when we really started to realize that there was a really good chance that this was going – in terms of years and dollars – to a place that, like I said, we just weren’t going to go,” Bloom said. “Now, even with that, there were still conversations with us, with Xander’s representation throughout (Wednesday) – some formal, some informal.
“Even when you’re in one of those things you know there’s always a chance, and especially when you know that you’re talking about a player who likes it here. But I think it became clear to us – not having any hard evidence – but just understanding where the conversations were going, the intel we had, so to speak, what we were hearing that this was going to end up somewhere in the territory that we weren’t going to go, and usually when that happens it means you don’t get the player.”
And it ended up that the Red Sox did not get the player.
Now Bloom’s attention – as well as the attention of many Red Sox fans – will turn to building a winning team for the 2023 season and locking up Devers.
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