The wave of winter meetings signings is complete and with that comes the round of introductory press conferences for the biggest signings. We've seen Jacob deGrom and the Rangers along with Willson Contreras of the Cardinals. Now it's time for Xander Bogaerts and the Padres.
One might recall that Bogaerts signed a pretty shocking 11-year, $280 million deal with the Padres as he heads toward his age-30 season.
Perhaps the only real fun part about these introductory press conferences would be digging into quotes about the former team of the player. In this case, the Red Sox and chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom have been under fire in recent years for some of the moves they've made in addition for some of the moves they haven't and with this move things have boiled over. My colleague Mike Axisa had a great summary -- and takedown of the front office/ownership -- regarding this.
Some of the Bogaerts quotes that might seem juicy to those looking for juice:
"My priority was to go to a team that was very competitive, a team that wanted to win," he said (via bostonglobe.com). "This is definitely a different challenge. This team really wants to win and you can see how close it is."
There are some who will take those as digs against the Red Sox. At best, the Padres are far less concerned with money and more concerned with winning than Boston.
Just look at Bogaerts' comment on Rafael Devers, who is a 26-year-old star, a year away from free agency and has to be blown away at some of the deals that have been handed out to older players in free agency this time around.
"They have the money to pay the kid," Bogaerts told reporters Friday. "That kid deserves it. Not saying that as a friend of his, but because of the talent he has on the field. He's special."
I agree that Devers is special and the Red Sox absolutely have the money to pay him what this market says he's worth. Will they, though? I'm skeptical at this point.
This quote from Bloom, on Bogaerts, is one of the several reasons for my skepticism.
"I think it became clear to us as things went on that this was going to go to a point that we just weren't, irrespective of how we prioritize things, it just wasn't something that we should do," he told masslive.com. "It's hard because of how much we love him. But it's just the reality of the situation."
Until the Red Sox prove otherwise, the reality of the situation here is the San Diego Padres care a lot more about winning and the Red Sox care a lot more about their bottom line. We'll see if things change with Devers, but they've already prioritized money over keeping Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts.
