Despite a successful day for the Boston Red Sox in which they signed veteran closer Kenley Jansen to a two-year, $32 million contract and Japanese outfielder Masataka Yoshida to a five-year, $90 million deal, fans ended the day with a sour taste in their mouths.
After the Red Sox checked two major items off their to-do list, longtime shortstop Xander Bogaerts bolted for San Diego, signing an 11-year, $280 million contract.
Red Sox fans are understandably frustrated with Chaim Bloom, the team’s president of baseball operations.
Bloom took over in 2020 and inherited several key Red Sox players, including Mookie Betts, Rafael Devers, Andrew Benintendi, and Bogaerts himself.
Since then, three of them are gone and Devers has yet to extended.
Chaim Bloom inherited 27 year old Mookie, 27 YO Bogaerts, 25 YO Benintendi, and 23 YO Devers and so far has turned them into:
Alex Verdugo
Jeter Downs
Connor Wong
Franchy Cordero
Josh Winckowski
Grant Gambrell
Luis De La Rosa
Freddy ValdezDevers still here, but not extended
— Michael Dyer (@Mike_Dyer13) December 8, 2022
Sox Lose Bogaerts In Free Agency
While the Red Sox have picked up a few good pieces in trades, most notably Alex Verdugo from the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Betts trade, mostly everything else has failed.
The Red Sox have reached the postseason once since Betts and Benintendi were traded, making a surprise run to the ALCS in 2021.
Bogaerts was still with the team then.
Now, the 30-year-old shortstop joins a San Diego Padres lineup that already consists of Manny Machado, Juan Soto, and Fernando Tatis Jr.
And even though the Red Sox had a mostly successful day on Wednesday, fans woke up on Thursday with a bitter taste in their mouths over Bloom’s failure to sign Bogaerts.
Devers could still be extended, but the recent trend of events suggests that he may be on his way out soon.
NEXT: Red Sox Fans Continue To Only See Monumental Departures
Stotter says
If they lose Devers at his young age…I and many others within & behind Redsox Nation & everything that means to be a part of us would be forced to leave the team & with it the Nation, Fenway & search individually for the winning signs we want to see, that serious effort unyielding & effective.