If you couldn’t tell already, I’m so excited that the Red Sox locked up Xander Bogaerts. One reason is
Red Sox fans might want to thank their manager, Alex Cora who played a vital part in the process. Boras joked (not joking?) that Cora sent him nasty texts in order to get the deal done.
God do I love Alex Cora. No chance in hell that John Farrell does something like that. Alex Cora is just the X-Factor. Boston doesn’t win the World Series without him. If you watch the Red Sox enough, you can tell Cora loves Bogie. He’s played a big part in his development and helped his approach at the plate. Bogaerts power numbers increased drastically since Cora took over.
From 2015-18, Bogie has produced a 17.6 fWAR and is coming off a fantastic 2018 season – .288/.360/.522 in 580 PA. If he repeats those numbers in 2019, he probably would have become a $200 million player on the open market given the fact that he doesn’t turn 27 until October.
Bogaerts has won 2 championships and has been with the organization since he was 16. He just wanted to be here. It’s hard to blame him. This team is special. The ownership group is fantastic. They always go the extra mile to win too. Simply put, Bogaerts is one of the best shortstops in baseball and keeping him was a huge unexpected win.