Padres News: Writer Believes Xander Bogaert’s Contract Will Be Painful Later On
If the San Diego Padres had opted to grant Xander Bogaerts an 11-year contract worth $280 million back in 2021, it would have not made much sense. They seemingly had their shortstop of the future with Fernando Tatis Jr. and nobody though they would ever look to replace him with the way he was performing.
However, it's been a tough couple of years for those who bought stock in El Niño and he has just now began showing promise again in Spring Training. Tatis may have been the Padres building block when he was healthy, and he very much still could be, but they have a dynasty in mind now.
Money has not been an issue at all for the Friars and Bogaerts' deal is just one of the multiple massive agreements they came to with their other key players. Even before they brought in the 30-year-old slugger, their front office also made a huge run for Trea Turner.
San Diego is not worried about Bogaerts' age and believes he will provide even more experience to their growing roster. They were very impressed by his play with the Boston Red Sox last season that saw him post a slash line of .307/.377/.456.
But not everybody is completely sold on the Friars' long-term vision for this squad and Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report is among the names on that list. In his recent list of MLB Offseason regrets, he placed the Bogaerts' signing right alongside Philadelphia's acquisition of Turner.
"This won't be an immediate regret," said Miller. "Both of these shortstops should be outstanding in season No. 1 of their shiny new 11-year deals...But the final four or five years of those contracts will likely be painful. Shortstops who provided significant value after turning 35 have been almost unheard of over the past two decades. And these teams have Bogaerts and Turner signed through their age-40 seasons."
It will be interesting to see how Bogaerts speed and athleticism take a hit as his years go by in the brown and gold. There definitely has to be a plan in place with the Friars committing so much money to him and we've seen numerous shortstops over the years switch to an infield or outfield position once they can no longer move as well.
Heck, maybe there's a plan to even get Tatis back to his natural position and his current move to right field is only to make him more versatile. Imagine Bogaerts dominating the shortstop position for some prime years and then Tatis taking over once it is his time.
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