Xander Boegarts Extended, 2019-20 Free Agents Dropping Like Flies, Another One Bites The Dust!
Sing it with me! Bahduhbumpbumpbump, another one bites the dust!!!
So Xander Boegarts was extended yesterday, for what to me seems like an extremely team friendly deal: 7 years, $132MM at about an $18MM AAV against the CBT. MLB Trade Rumors even projected he’d eclipse the $200MM club next offseason:
Awesome deal for Boston, ESPECIALLY considering Boegarts is a Boras Corp. client. Short stops that give you 150 games of 4.5 WAR baseball every year don’t grow on trees. Dave Dombrowski dominated this one. With the $18MM AAV against the CBT, the Red Sox will have some wiggle room when trying to negotiate a new deal for Betts.
But as we sit today, 2019-20 free agents are vanishing into thin air.
MLB Trade Rumors lists these players as the 10 best (supposed) free agents for the 2019-20 offseason:
1. Boegarts (extended)
2. Sale (extended)
3. Cole
4. Rendon
5. Goldschmidt (extended)
6. Wheeler
7. JD Martinez (maybe, has an option that might be picked up)
8. Gregorious
9. Verlander (extended)
10. Bumgarner
With players like Donaldson, Gennett, Porcello and others outside the top 10.
So… WTF are the White Sox going to do? I’ve heard that a big reason the Nats weren’t interested in resigning Harper was so they can hopefully keep Rendon when his deal is up, so he’s probably out. Cole will be in his age 30 season in 2020 and due maybe as much as $30MM AAV… so he’s probably out. That leaves us with Gregorious, Bumgarner (pass), Wheeler (eh) and MAYBE JD Martinez, who I think does opt out if he duplicates his 2018 season.
Nevertheless, Rick Hahn has said it himself, that teams don’t win World Series with 100% home grown talent. That the final piece to “sustained success” is spending money, and that money will be spent. Just not sure who it’s going to be on next year, and if this new trend continues into the 2020-21 offseason, who it will be after that. More and more players are saying “fuck free agency” and getting themselves locked up earlier and earlier. It’s almost as if they don’t want to deal with what Harper and Machado dealt with, especially knowing they won’t sniff the kind of money those two did.
A few of our young guys look really good thus far, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little scared about the Sox complementing that core with not only established veterans, but established vets that can be the missing ingredient to a team that’s a perennial contender. Guess we will just have to wait and see and pray that these guys pan out like we think they should.