Tomase: Bogaerts is out the door, and Devers soon could follow originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Rafael Devers posted an Instagram tribute to former teammate Xander Bogaerts on Thursday, and it ended on an ominous note: “You’re an example to follow.”
The news that the Red Sox lost Bogaerts to the Padres for 11 years and $280 million made for one hell of an early-morning surprise. It shook chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom, who got the news before boarding a red-eye home to Boston. It shook Red Sox fans, who are outraged about the loss of another homegrown superstar whom management dragged its feet on paying.
And perhaps most importantly, it shook Devers, the only marquee player left on the roster who’s in the midst of his own extension talks and could easily shut them down with a simple, “See you later.”
Tomase: Red Sox will never live down botching of Bogaerts situation
Nothing happens in a vacuum in a baseball clubhouse, and every step between insulting Bogaerts in April and losing him early Thursday morning has registered with Devers, a player supremely confident in his value and supremely disinterested in acknowledging the idea of a hometown discount. He worships Bogaerts and heard the same empty platitudes about the Red Sox making him their No. 1 priority.
We charitably called that spin. Devers could very well see it as a lie.
And so the front office must now measure the likelihood that Devers has no intention of re-signing, for any amount of money, which means their follow-up to botching Bogaerts will be putting Devers on the trade market before he, too, walks away.
The missteps that led to this point are staggering. The Red Sox dithered on offering Devers an extension, missing the window when he might’ve taken it. They’ve operated in complete denial of the market, finally making him an offer of $200 million this fall that now appears to be too small by half. They barely exceeded the luxury tax in a futile attempt to take a broken, demoralized team to the playoffs, costing them spending power this year and next.
And most importantly, they sent continued signals that they’re not committed to compensating Devers or building a competitive team around him. It’s not a good sign when mediocrities like Zack Eflin and Andrew Heaney reject the Red Sox in favor of the Rays and Rangers, respectively. Why should a superstar like Devers with his pick of markets act any differently?
Bloom can talk all he wants about sustainability, but not at the…