The sun is out.
The grass couldn’t be any greener.
And the eternal hope of the annual home opener should be emanating like an unstoppable monster from Fenway Park.
But instead of Red Sox Nation riding the all-out spring euphoria on cloud nine, there’s actually a bit of a black cloud hanging over the local nine.
Unfortunately the uncertain futures of Sox stars Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers and their seemingly going-nowhere contract negotiations with Boston is as big a storyline these days as the start of the new season for a team that made an unexpected run toward a World Series a year ago.
Various reports have indicated Boston might be more than $100 million shy in its offers for its homegrown All Stars at shortstop and third baseman.
With Bogaerts able to opt out of his current team-friendly deal at the end of the season, his status moving forward is the timeliest. But even with Devers under Boston’s contract control through next season, fear of another Mookie Betts scenario is already spreading through the fan base. Seeing a young prospect evolve into one of the best players in the game only to continue his career elsewhere due to nothing more than financial considerations, well that simply sucks. It sucked with Betts and will suck even more if current issues with Bogaerts and Devers play out done a similar path. And it seemingly shouldn’t have to happen in a place like Boston.
During a Thursday morning chat with “The Greg Hill Show” on WEEI Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom respectfully boiled the entire situation down to the organization and its top stars not being able to “align” on contracts at this point in time, noting separately that Boston, like all professional sports teams, is “in the entertainment business.”
The problem right now for the Sox is that the business may be getting in the way of the entertainment for its fans. These days it feels like a dedicated, passionate, loyal members of the Boston fan base have to be as well versed in contract offers and market comps on hundred million deals as they are batting averages, home runs and RBIs. On-field performance gets blended with payrolls and budgets.
This isn’t to imply that this is just a Boston problem or even just a baseball problem.
Contracts, finances and business are factors fans simply can’t get away from across all teams in all sports.
In NFL, Green Bay Packers fans are stuck wondering why Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers and longtime top target Davante Adams couldn’t or wouldn’t both get paid to continue to chase another Super Bowl in Titletown. Fans certainly didn’t want to choose between its two most talented, popular players but the organization did just that.
The harsh reality is that business has spilled over into the entertainment side of all sports. Unfortunately, it’s not very entertaining.
Watching Devers crush a ball into the Fenway bullpen with an out of this world exit velocity? Fun.
Using a calculator to figure out the average annual value of a contract lasting a decade or longer and wondering what position Devers might be playing at what level 12 years from now? Not fun. More like work.
How long with the black cloud of business hang over the Red Sox?
In this particular case it depends on how well the team performs and how both Bogaerts and Devers go about their business on and off the field, something that Bloom voiced no concerns about.
But it’s there, even on the day of the sunny home opener when season optimism should be nothing but positive. Because as Bloom so accurately noted, the Red Sox are in the “entertainment business” and we apparently can’t get one without the other these days.
