Top Xander Bogaerts Suitor Reportedly Off Board Making Red Sox Reunion More Likely
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The Boston Red Sox may have a chance to re-sign Xander Bogaerts after all.
Heading into the offseason, there have been plenty of questions and rumors swirling around the four-time All-Star shortstop. The Red Sox failed to present Bogaerts with an acceptable offer ahead of the 2022 season and now he is a free agent and can sign anywhere.
There's been a plethora of teams who have shown interest in Bogaerts to the point where maybe the market was bigger than the Red Sox had anticipated. Bogaerts is expected to get a massive deal floating around $200 million over seven or eight years.
One team that popped up as one of the biggest threats for a Boston reunion was the Philadelphia Phillies led by former Red Sox President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski, but they reportedly went in a different direction Monday afternoon.
The Phillies reportedly inked a monster 11-year deal worth $300 million, according to ESPN's Jeff Passan with former Washington Nationals and Los Angeles Dodgers star shortstop Trea Turner.
Turner will reportedly have a full no-trade clause with the mega-deal as well, according to ESPN's Kiley McDaniel.
While this doesn't necessarily mean that Bogaerts will be coming right back to Boston, it's a step in the right direction. Boston still has to worry about the Dodgers, San Diego Padres, St. Louis Cardinals, and New York Yankees mainly as competition at the moment.
Reports have been conflicting on the team's interest in bringing Bogaerts back to Boston. While the team has said he is their top priority, Boston also reportedly hasn't made a competitive offer at this time. This could be viewed as a negative, but it also could be because of the fact that they are planning to match any offer Bogaerts receives.
There's no way to know for sure where Bogaerts will land, but this is at least good news for Boston fans.
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