Sam Kennedy, once again, is emphasizing that the Red Sox want to keep Xander Bogaerts around.
But he won’t guarantee that the shortstop will be with the Red Sox on August 3.
Bogaerts is set to become a free agent this offseason, when he’ll all but certainly opt out of his current contract. Thus far the Red Sox and Bogaerts haven’t found common ground on an extension, and Boston is playing a bad brand of baseball with the deadline is nearing. With Monday's win they still sit three games out of the final wild card spot and are effectively fighting with seven teams for the three wild card berths.
It would not be the most surprising thing then if the Red Sox tried to move Bogaerts – especially if they aren't confident they can re-sign him this offseason.
Appearing Tuesday on "The Greg Hill Show", Red Sox president and CEO Sam Kennedy was asked point blank if he would guarantee that Bogaerts is with the team once the deadline passes.
“Look, all I’ll say is there has been no discussion or commentary internally or externally about moves related to the trade deadline involving Xander or (Rafael Devers) or anyone else to my knowledge at this point,” Kennedy said. “We’re focused on getting back in this thing and winning.”
Kennedy and the other public-facing Red Sox executives have been adamant that the team is committed to keeping Bogaerts and Devers in Boston for years to come. That doesn’t mean both will be, though.
Until there’s a resolution, the speculation will continue.
“We’ve said it repeatedly on these airwaves and in other forums that we’ve got a responsibility to do everything in our power to make sure that we’re built to be competitive into the postseason,” Kennedy said after saying he couldn’t envision Bogaerts in a different uniform. “And Xander and Raffy and the guys who have gotten us there in the past, we hope they’re a part of this for a long, long time.”
We’ll see if this hope eventually becomes a reality.
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