In the wee hours of Tuesday morning, Xander Bogaerts signed an 11-year, $280 million deal with the San Diego Padres, ending a tenure with the Red Sox organization that has lasted basically half of his life.
Are you shocked? We are, a little bit. If anything, the sheer size of the deal means the Sox were non-factors from the get-to, yesterday’s reports about “heavy” discussions between the Bloom and Bogey camps almost certainly a negotiating ploy by Scott Boras, the best to ever do it. Pete Abraham reported the Sox were no higher than fifth in their bids to Bogaerts, leading Bryan and Dan to review the lip-service the organization paid towards X while never making a competitive offer (if you believe this version of events, which we more or less do).