BOSTON — With the season now over, the Red Sox plan to turn their full attention to re-signing Xander Bogaerts.
Boston’s chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom said Thursday that signing Bogaerts is a top priority as the offseason begins. That process will begin immediately.
“I don’t ever want to make public any of the blow by blow, but what I can say is this: That process is going to start right away from our end,” Bloom said. “Obviously, we know we haven’t found that path yet. We still want to. We’re going to work really hard at it.”
Bogaerts is still under contract and will be for the next few weeks. Within five days of the end of the World Series (between Nov. 6 and Nov. 10, depending on how long the series goes), Bogaerts will have to decide whether or not to exercise the opt-out clause in his contract and become a free agent. If it gets to that point, Bogaerts will almost certainly opt out because he would command a significant raise from his current salary ($20 million per year) on the open market.
The Red Sox and Bogaerts did not discuss a deal during the regular season and it’s unclear if plans have been laid for the sides to get together in a formal setting in the coming days. But Bloom made it seem like much of October will be spent focusing on the shortstop’s situation.
“Yeah,” Bloom said when asked if Bogaerts was the top priority. “Just because of the timing of his free agency. Obviously, until we get after the World Series there’s a lot of other things we can plan for and not do.”
RAFAEL DEVERS is eligible for free agency after the 2023 season and the Red Sox hope to discuss a long-term deal with him this offseason.
Bloom was asked if he would entertain trading Devers if a deal doesn’t come together this winter.
“I don’t generally think we or any organization should be in the business of saying, ‘OK, I can guarantee you X or Y.’ I think a lot of players I’ve had this conversation (with) would agree. In theory, there’s always something somebody could put in front of you that would be stupid to walk away from,” Bloom said at Boston’s end of year press conference at Fenway Park. “But that isn’t on our radar. He’s No. 1 first and foremost, he’s a guy that we want to build around. And he’s hugely important to what we’re doing. We hope he’s here not just next year but in the years to come. I think we’re in a position now, we expect and fully intend to be able to put a really good team on the field that can win next year. That’s really important. And I don’t see how we make life easier for ourselves by him not being part of that, to say nothing of the years to come.”
Devers batted .295 with a .358 on-base percentage, .521 slugging percentage, .879 OPS, 27 homers, 42 doubles, one triple, 84 runs and 88 RBI in 141 games (614 plate appearances). His production dipped in the second half but he was playing through a hamstring injury.
BLOOM LIKED liked what he saw from catchers Reese McGuire and Connor Wong during the final month as they split time.
But he also plans to look at available catchers outside the organization this offseason as he builds his 2023 roster.
“This is one of the areas I fully expect that we’re going to explore additions,” Bloom said. “It’s nice to know that we have two guys that are familiar with how we do things, that showed a lot of good things. But we owe it to ourselves and everybody who cares about this team to look to get better and catcher is certainly not going to be an exception to that.”
The Red Sox traded Christian Vázquez to the Astros and acquired McGuire from the White Sox at the trade deadline.
The 27-year-old McGuire went 33 for 98 (.337 batting average) with a .377 on-base percentage, .500 slugging percentage, .877 OPS, three homers, five doubles, one triple, 13 runs and 12 RBI in 36 games for Boston. The former first-round pick (14th overall in 2013) threw out 5 of 12 attempted base stealers (42%).
The 26-year-old Wong, who Boston acquired in the Mookie Betts trade in February 2020, went 9 for 48 (.188) with three doubles in 27 games. He threw out 3 of 21 attempted base stealers (14%).
Boston designated Kevin Plawecki for assignment in mid-September to give McGuire and Wong more reps to evaluate them for 2023.
“I think both of these guys showed well, which is good for them, good for us,” Bloom said. “We didn’t want to be in the position we were in at the end but we tried to make the most of that position in terms of giving them opportunity both for their growth and benefit and also for ours. So I think they definitely raised the floor of what we had.”
Boston also has catching prospect Ronaldo Hernández on its 40-man roster. He’s expected to receive a rare fourth minor league option next season.
Willson Contreras, Vázquez, Omar Narváez and Mike Zunino are among the pending free agent catchers.
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