FORT MYERS, Fla. - The drama regarding Xander Bogaerts' future with the Red Sox appears to be about to be put on hold for a while.
Appearing on the Bradfo Sho podcast, the Red Sox shortstop explained that he wasn't optimistic that a new deal would get done with the team, one that would eliminate Bogaerts' opportunity to opt-out of his current contract after the 2022 season.
"Is there any chance? I don’t really think so," Bogaerts said when asked if there was a chance a new deal could be struck before the end of spring training. He added, "You never know. There can always be surprises. But spring training is …"
(To listen to Bogaerts talk about his current contract situation, go to the 37-minute mark of the following file ...)
Bogaerts, who signed a six-year, $120 million deal prior to the 2019 season with an opportunity to opt-out after the 2022 campaign, makes it clear that once the regular season begins he has no plans to negotiate a new deal prior to the offseason.
"It’s not even fair for the guys in the clubhouse because it’s a lot of distractions and have your teammates thinking about that. You’re thinking about yourself too much," Bogaerts said.
"I wouldn’t believe it’s fun to have this offer during the season and you have to play the next day and it starts going around in the media.
"You don’t want it to drag on and giving them the option of, ‘Oh yeah, we can come back during the season, maybe two months before the season ends come back.’ Nah. You come now or you don’t."
Bogaerts looked back at his decision to sign the deal after the 2018 season, a contract that was agreed to during the Red Sox' first series of 2019, in Seattle. Since then, he has totaled the third-best OPS of any shortstop in baseball (9th overall).
"That commitment kind of made you feel (better) about yourself," he explained. "Obviously, I was going through arbitration and getting good money, but just the commitment of being here for the long-term and feeling comfortable being here and producing at that level."
When reflecting on the final days of spring training in 2019, leading up to the agreement, Bogaerts remembered, "You don’t know what is going to happen. Is this going to be, or is not going to be? You have to make a decision. I do believe I made a good decision. It was the best decision I could at that point, for sure. As you can see, I have had my game evolve."
Now comes the next decision.
"We will see what happens at the end of the year, at the end of the season. We have a couple of days in spring training. We’ll see how it goes," Bogaerts said. "It should be a fun season. We’ll see how it goes at the end. Hopefully, I play good and I have a nice decision to make."
