Red Sox stars in even worse contract talks than Yankees, Aaron Judge: Heyman
While the Yankees and star outfielder Aaron Judge were about $75 million apart in negotiations, sources suggest that figure is dwarfed by the seeming gap in talks between Red Sox and their two young stars — Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers.
Neither Red Sox star believed Boston’s offer was in the ballpark — or anywhere near it. In both cases the gap is likely $100 million, and maybe much more.
The Red Sox are said to have offered the excellent young slugger Devers nothing like what he was seeking in terms of length or dollars. Word is, Devers was looking for an ultra-long deal that would have made him a “Red Sox for life,” while the club was thinking more like a contract for much less length — a kind of half-life deal. The team’s exact offer isn’t known, but suffice it to say, they were surely more than $100 million apart.
Boston and star shortstop Bogaerts were even further apart in concept, and in reality. Bogaerts, a three-time All-Star and four-time Silver Slugger winner who has an opt-out after the season on the deal that pays him $20 million annually through 2024, received an offer from Boston to simply add one year to the three he has his left on his deal. Sources suggest it was for about $30 million in that extra year, bringing his potential total to about $90 million.
That would have left a gap of more than $100 million as well, if Bogaerts had countered. But no sense countering something that wasn’t happening.
A friend of Bogaerts referred to Boston’s bid as a “slap in the face.”
Consider that Judge and Bogaerts are the same age, and the Yankees offered an extension that would have brought their star outfielder to about $233 million total, or about $143 million more than Boston’s bid to Bogaerts. Hard to blame the Yankees for not getting it done.
But what to make of Boston?
The Red Sox offer was such that one rival GM who heard about it speculated that Boston may simply not have as much motivation to sign Bogaerts with longtime shortstop Trevor Story now in the fold at $140 million for six years, and currently playing second base. Boston’s chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom denied that. Bloom, who declined to discuss the offers, said by phone, “Trevor doesn’t change our desire to keep the other two guys. We’re hopeful we can keep both guys.”
Devers, a free agent after 2024 who has twice reached the 30-100 plateaus (homers and RBIs) and is just 25, also wasn’t close to taking Boston’s offer, according to sources. One person familiar with the offer and ask said the offer and counteroffer were “like night and day.”
There are a couple theories about why Boston made bids that had little chance to be accepted, beyond Bogaerts’ earlier willingness to stay for a hometown discount at $120 million for six years. The idea that the Red Sox’s excellent ownership team is distracted by its recent soccer and hockey endeavors (the group now owns the Pittsburgh Penguins and Liverpool soccer club) seems highly unlikely.
Some have suggested Bloom has brought a Rays sensibility and some extra caution to big-market Boston, and even that seems to fall short as a complete explanation. While Bloom has certainly found some underpriced assets such as Kiké Hernandez and Nick Pivetta, Boston’s payroll is projected to exceed the first luxury-tax tier of $230 million.
Comparatively speaking, the Yankees and Judge, while not remotely close, were at least speaking the same language. The Yankees offered Judge an extension of $213.5 million over seven years, or about $233 million over the eight, including this year’s pay, which will be between $17 million and $21 million via the arbitration process. Meanwhile, Judge countered at a total deal of nine or 10 years (or an eight- or nine-year extension) at the $36 million position player benchmark set by Mike Trout, the game’s best player, as reported here. Taking even the lesser nine total years (or eight-year extension), that still would put Judge’s request at a $308 million minimum, or $75 million past the Yankees’ bid.
Sources say the Yankees’ bid, almost universally seen as reasonable or better by folks around the game, had room to grow, by a bit anyway. Word is, the Yankees were willing to slightly raise the $30.5 million annual salary, which was designed to beat Mookie Betts $30.4 million average value (note: Betts’ real value is closer to $28 million counting drastic deferrals in his deal), had Judge shown any inclination to come off his Trout-like request, perhaps by a million dollars a year or so. It would seem the sides still might have something to talk about, and the Yankees are willing to continue discussions in season if Judge changes his mind about his Opening Day deadline (that seems unlikely, however).
Meanwhile, in Boston’s two cases, there is clearly nothing to discuss now.
