Trevor Story at his introductory press conference. (Photo Courtesy: Julian Mcwilliams, Boston Globe).
The Red Sox made a big splash in free agency for the first time in several years, but it may come at the expense of the franchise's most beloved player. The Red Sox signed Trevor Story to a six-year contract worth $140 Million on Sunday March 20th. Story, previously with the Rockies, had a down year in 2021 hitting just .251 with 24 homers and 75 RBI. The best two years of his career came in 2018 and 2019 where he hit above .290 in both seasons with 35+ home runs.
$140 million is a lot of money to pay a second baseman, and in his introductory press conference Story made it clear saying that he was prepared to switch positions “for this year.” For the time being, this is a great move for the Red Sox, as they should have one of the better infields in the majors this upcoming season, but the move hints that this could be the final year for Xander Bogaerts in a Red Sox uniform. Prior to the start of the 2019 season Xander Bogaerts had two years left on his contract, but the Red Sox locked him up with a six-year extension that would have him signed through the 2026 season. On his current deal, he has an opt out after this 2022 season and is expected to opt out and hit the open market.
Bogaerts leads all shortstops in RBIs since the start of the 2019 season, and he also ranks top five in batting average and homeruns over that time frame. A little over a year ago, Fransisco Lindor was traded from the Cleveland Guardians to the New York Mets, and he immediately signed a ten-year extension for $341 million. This past off-season, Corey Seager signed a 10-year contract worth $325 million with the Rangers. Carlos Correa also signed a three-year deal for $105 million with the Twins. Bogaerts is in the same tier as all these other players and shortstop is one of the more premier positions on the diamond. He may want to pursue a long-term $30 million per year deal himself.
He has said to want to remain in Boston. He is someone who represents this city and ball club well. Alex Cora has made note of Bogaerts needing to work on his range this past off season, and this expresses that the team does not love his defense at shortstop. When he first came up to the big leagues in 2013, he played third base, a move back to third after this season is possible so that the Red Sox can re-sign him for less money.
Chaim Bloom took over for Dave Dombrowski in October of 2019. In Bloom’s first two off-seasons as the GM, the largest contract the Red Sox had signed someone to was two years and $14 million to Kiké Hernandez. Bloom was previously with the Rays, a small market team that does not have the money to spend like the Red Sox. After two years of smaller deals and missing out on players like Freeman and Correa earlier in this offseason some Red Sox fans began to worry if Chaim Bloom would ever be willing to spend big money. Bloom answered those questions by going out and getting one of the top infielders on the market in Story. We will wait and see if he is willing to spend next year again on Bogaerts as well. The Red Sox fell a couple games short of the World Series last season, hopefully the acquisition of Story is what gets them over the hump, in what could be the final year of Xander Bogaerts as a member of their team.
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