At the very least, the Boston Red Sox will receive draft pick compensation if Xander Bogaerts or Nathan Eovaldi sign elsewhere this offseason.

Both Bogaerts and Eovaldi rejected the Sox’s one-year qualifying offers that would’ve paid each of them $19.65 million to stay in Boston for the 2023 season.

They’re both free to sign with any team, although that team will sacrifice draft picks in doing so.

If either of them sign with another team, the Sox would receive a draft pick after the fourth round. It’s not the most valuable consolation prize, seeing as a large majority of fourth-round picks don’t ever reach the majors, but there are exceptions (Mookie Betts was a fifth-round draft pick in 2011).

Bogaerts was obviously not going to accept the deal and is poised to push $200 million on a new contract this winter.

But Eovaldi could’ve reasonably accepted the qualifying offer and received a nice salary boost next year, despite his health issues that limited him to just 20 starts in 2022. Instead, the 32-year-old right-hander will continue seeking a multiyear contract that he’s likely to find in free agency.

Despite battling shoulder and back injuries last season, Eovaldi went 6-3 with a 3.87 ERA and 103 strikeouts in 109 1/3 innings. His velocity dipped drastically in the second half, when he rarely pushed his fastball over 96 mph, but he remained effective with a five-pitch mix that is one of the most versatile in baseball.

The Red Sox currently have a rotation that should include Chris Sale, Garrett Whitlock, James Paxton, Nick Pivetta and Brayan Bello, though they’re expected to add at least one starting pitcher via free agency/trade this winter. They aren’t sure what they’ll get out of Sale, who has been injured for most of the last three seasons, and they might want to upgrade from Pivetta, how has been a reliable back-end starter the last few years.


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