According to Braden Campbell of Boston.com, Xander Bogearts is finally for real. Successful shortstops have been in short supply at Fenway since Nomar left in 2004. Among the names have been Orlando Cabrera, Alex Gonzales twice, Alex Cora, Julio Lugo, Jed Lowrie, Marco Scutaro and Jose Iglesias.
A year ago, there were real questions about Bogearts. Was he a shortstop, third baseman, or none of the above? He began at short, moved to third when the Red Sox re-signed Stephen Drew, then back to short again when Drew was traded in June. John Farrell did not help the situation, sometimes appearing confused about Bogearts’ real position.