The Red Sox failed to work out long-term extensions with Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers in Spring Training.
At the midseason point, their Red Sox futures remain up in the air, according to principal owner John Henry.
In a new interview with the Globe’s Alex Speier, Henry addressed where negotiations stand with Bogaerts and Devers as the All-Star Break approaches.
“It takes two to make a deal. I think it’s clear both of them want to be here. We want them here,” Henry said. “We made efforts in the past to try to sign players that we weren’t able to sign. It’s not 100 percent our fault when we don’t end up signing a player. We’ve signed players where it’s really worked out. We’ve signed others that, it’s our job to try to sign the right players. Frankly, over the last 20 years, we haven’t done it [every time], so we’ve had to break teams up.”
Under Henry’s ownership, the Red Sox have traded homegrown stars Nomar Garciaparra, Jon Lester and Mookie Betts in the final year of their contracts. Bogaerts can opt out of his deal this year, and Devers’ contract expires following the 2023 season.
Dustin Pedroia is the only homegrown star developed under the Henry regime whom the Red Sox have re-signed long-term.
“It’s difficult for any team in baseball to keep their team together, especially great teams together, for a long time. It’s very difficult unless you have a really strong organization, a foundation for your organization,” Henry said. “And even then, you have to make tough decisions.”
The Red Sox have slightly curtailed their spending under Chaim Bloom over the last three years. Trevor Story (six years, $140 million) is the only free agent they’ve signed to a deal of more than two years and $20 million in that time span.
Interestingly, Henry brought up the arms race among teams competing for intellectual talent in the front office as a new area in which the Red Sox are spending heavily.
“The game continues to change and evolve. Everyone focuses on salaries, which I totally understand. But there’s a lot of money being spent by clubs on baseball operations. There’s been an arms race in that regard, which nobody seems to understand,” he said.
The nerds will stay, but Bogaerts and Devers could go. If that's the reality, it probably won't be well received.
