I get it, you like Xander Bogaerts and you don't want to see the Red Sox trade him. They didn't want to trade him, either.
But, then, 2020 happened.
And it became clear for all to see that the Sox are face-to-face with the dreaded 'R' word: Rebuild.
Publicly, team president Sam Kennedy says his team never rebuilds. "It's not in our ethos," Kennedy recently told the Boston Globe.
In the words of Sherman Potter, "Horse hockey! Cow cookies! Road apples! Pony pucks!"
Of course, the Red Sox rebuild. Every team in professional sports has to tear it down at some point and start anew.
Look at the writing on the wall for these Red Sox, if you can bear to gaze at this graffiti: Mookie Betts traded. David Price gone with him. Chris Sale surgery. E-Rod myocarditis. J.D. Martinez on the verge of an opt-out with the NL welcoming the DH. And oh yeah, the absolute worst pitching staff assembled in the 120-year history of the franchise.
Trivia question someday: 'Which season of Boston Red Sox baseball once had a five-man pitching attack on a Sunday of Zach Godley, Jeffrey Springs, Phillips Valdez, Robert Stock and Ryan Weber?' The Pandemic Pathetics of 2020, of course.
This is what rock bottom looks like, folks.
And when you're in the bottom of a hole, you've got to look for help - the right help - to get out. Bogaerts with a lone shovel won't dig your way to World Series contention in 2021 or '22. And the latter would likely be Xander's final season in New England with an opt-out looming from that team-friendly $20 million AAV deal he signed during the best of times.
Face reality. This current Sox mess is Exxon Valdez oil spill bad. 2022 is the goal for the cleanup, and they need help from one ace or two above-average mound erasers, then kind you can only get back now for a trade of quality talent like Bogaerts. Now, but not after Sept. 6 when the Bogaerts no-trade clause kicks in.
WEEI's Rob Bradford recently suggested a hypothetical trade for an MLB Top 100 arm like Miami's Sixto Sanchez. That's what we're talking about for a Bogaerts return, top prospect wealth that's already proven elite at the Double-A level. Not a leap of long-term prospect faith. Add a name like that to the team's internal pool of pitching (Bryan Mata, Jay Groome, Tanner Houck, etc) and you start to see some hope.
And the cherry on top of the Trade Bogaerts plan is this shortstop replacement signing during the Hot Stove preseason of 2022: Puerto Rican-born manager Alex Cora, having triumphantly returned to the organization, successfully recruits fellow Caguas native shortstop and free agent Francisco Lindor to sign on the dotted line next to John W. Henry's name.
Lindor: At that time entering his age-28 season - might be coming off a third Gold Glove, a third 20+ stolen base and fourth 30-plus homer season. He's a switch-hitter, too.
Bogaerts: At that time entering his age-29 season - probably will still have no Gold Gloves nor 20+ steal seasons, with just a lone year of hitting 30-plus bombs.
No disrespect to Bogaerts, but Lindor is just flat better. I know, most sports fans in America think Lindor is a chocolate company, but the baseball player has a higher career f-WAR than Bogaerts despite one fewer season in the big leagues, and defensively Lindor is clearly in a class above.
And remember: the big difference between Lindor and Bogaerts as Boston's shortstop in this scenario is the elite pitching prospect or prospects that would have been returned in the August of Covid.
By then in this dream scenario, the Sox pitching talent pool will be the envy of the Major Leagues. They'll have a crop ready to join 32-year-old, rebuilt Chris Sale for a starting rotation ready to dominate rather than demoralize.
Lindor and Rafael Devers, along with perhaps Alex Verdugo, will be three feared pieces of a deep offensive machine that CBO Chaim Bloom has two more years to build around.
Too much eggs in one Lindor basket, you say? Well, the beauty of the '22 plan is that Trevor Story, Kyle Seager, Carlos Correa and Javier Baez are fail-safe free agent shortstops set to hit the market that year as well. At least one of them will be available, and the Sox will have the money to spend with their financial house in order.
They just need to ensure they have homegrown pitching sundae in place for that cherry to rest upon. Yes, it's a shame Bogaerts would be the latest young, homegrown, fan-favorite ballplayer to be sent packing in order for the Plan B to come to fruition, but such is the pro sporting life.
Bogaerts' stock is high and his time has come. There are brighter days ahead, Sox fans, but only if the team embraces the rebuild the right way now when days are darkest.
