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Xander Bogaerts Turned Down More Money From The Yankees As An International Free Agent To Sign With Red Sox Instead

Trey Daubert / MLB / August 25, 2019

Xander Bogaerts is the best shortstop in baseball and a two-time World Series champion. Boston signed Bogaerts as an international free agent at the age of 16. It will go down as one of the greatest signings in Red Sox history. It took just $410 thousand to sign Bogaerts. Take a second to think about that.

The Red Sox were the first team to scout the young Bogaerts and offer him a contract. At the time, teams were only willing to offer a contract to older brother Jair who was considered the better prospect. Boston was the only team willing to sign both. New details have started to emerge on the signing. Once teams starting to dig into more details on Xander, they realized that he was a superstar in the making.

The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier had a new report that the Yankees tried to steal Xander away from the Sox at the last minute. Bogaerts wasn’t interested. He turned down more money from the Yankees to sign with the Red Sox. Mainly because Boston was the first team that showed interest in him.

“The Yankees were like, ‘We’ll double that,’ ” Xander Bogaerts recalled regarding the Red Sox’s offer. And it seems that Bogaerts’ uncle Glenroy Brown played a massive role in the youngster remaining with the Sox. “The Red Sox showed interest first, so we gave them the first opportunity,” Brown said. “It was not a financial decision.”

I love this man. I won’t even deny it. I can’t imagine a world where Xander Bogaerts isn’t the Red Sox shortstop. I can’t imagine a world where I’m forced to hate the sexiest man in baseball. Yeah, I said it. This is an all-time F*ck you to the Yankees. I’d rather take less to play for the real winners and not have to shave every day.

Xander Bogaerts Is The Best Shortstop In Baseball And Also Most Disrespected

Bogaerts, 25, is on the verge of becoming one of the best shortstops ever. I don’t think there’s any doubt that he’s the best right now. The X-Man is trotting out a batting line in 2019 that features .308/.383/.559 with an OPS of 942 and 27 homers. He also has 96 runs and RBI’s too. Bogaerts loves Boston. He didn’t just take less as a 16-year old. He took less this summer after signing an extension with the organization passing on a chance to hit free agency. I can’t express just how much I love this man.