The one thing that hasn't changed is that Xander Bogaerts should remain a Red Sox beyond 2022. What that looks like for the player and the team ... well, that has gotten a bit complicated.
The frustration that has been the 2022 season came to a boil for both Bogaerts and the Red Sox Friday night. The shortstop was thrown out of a game for just the second time in his career, arguing a strike call in the fourth inning. And as for the team, well, they ended up dropping a 15-10 decision to the Orioles to remain five games out of a Wild Card spot.
'Who would have known a pitch call would make me like that?” Bogaerts told reporters. “Yeah, I have not been very pleased with the way I’ve been playing. It’s definitely frustrating when you hold yourself to a high standard and you feel like you’re not helping out. It’s very rough."
Bogaerts added, "It’s a lot of frustration with the way I'm playing and not being able to help to the capacity I know I'm capable of. I just kind of lost it there for a minute and it felt pretty OK just letting everything out. Sometimes, you feel like you have a lot of stuff bottled up and I'm not the guy to come in and throw my helmet down or hit my bat and break it against the bat rack, stuff like that.
“I wasn’t expecting to do this tonight, but I actually feel better. I’m sorry it was on the umpire, I'm sorry it was to him. I let my team down coming out of the game but with all I’m going through, it felt good afterwards.”
On the surface, Bogaerts' struggles would seem to be leading toward a Red Sox front office-friendly path for the shortstop to remain in Boston. This player - the one who has turned in a good-but-not-great .303 batting average .815 OPS and nine home runs - might not be worth valued more than the $20 million-a-season he is slated to receive the next three years if that opt-out after this year isn't executed.
But it's fair to ask how much of this is cause and effect.
Bogaerts has given off a looking-over-the-shoulder vibe since spring training, clearly taken aback by the organization's tepid overtures to keeping him past the already committed tenure.
And then - seemingly sealing the deal when it came to defining what had become a somewhat awkward existence in what should be the meat and potatoes of his career - came the trade of Christian Vazquez.
No matter what kind of numbers Reese McGuire put up, or how Vazquez produced for the Astros, this was perceived as a dagger for Bogaerts.
Since leaving the early-August chaos in Houston, Bogaerts has three extra-base hits (all doubles) while turning in an OPS of .578. During that stretch, the Red Sox are also just 5-8 in games he has played in.
The pile of frustration that Bogaerts speaks of is all of this, along with injuries he has played through and many more losses than he certainly expected.
Would this version of Bogaerts be in play if the Red Sox showed just a little more love to their captain instead of digging in on market value? It's impossible to tell. But does seem like it is a good time for a reset for both the player and the team.
The Red Sox have to find the rudder to what is looking more and more like a rudderless future, and Bogaerts would seem to fit that bill. It would behoove Chaim Bloom and Co. to swoop in when this shortstop is feeling as low as he has in some time and sweeten the pot, even just a little.
Why? That doesn't make business sense. Well, sometimes you have to read the room. And right now there are a lot of inhabitants feeling like the rent is running out.
It's not just Bogaerts. The underperformance (J.D. Martinez) and injuries (Nathan Eovaldi) to players who were supposed to define their future one way or another has gotten complicated. And then there is the continued lingering uncertainty of the roster's be-all, end-all, Rafael Devers.
This Red Sox team continues to try and put its best foot forward, clinging to the notion that a late-season run will pave the way to the postseason. But, as Friday night at Camden Yards showed, that foot has looked increasingly uglier thanks to the here and now, along with the cloudiness of what awaits.
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