Tomase: Red Sox Will Never Get Over Bogaerts Mess

(CTN News) – Over the course of about 11 hours, we had a lot of fun. It is Red Sox likely that the fallout will last for years, and I cannot imagine how Chaim Bloom will survive.

It was not just Xander Bogaerts who was lost to the Red Sox early Thursday morning.

Their hearts and souls were broken watching their beloved player, a man who wished to spend his entire career with the Red Sox until they repeatedly urged him otherwise, sign a lucrative contract with the Padres worth $280 million.

Red Sox, unacceptable performance.

Carlton Fisk might be a better comparison than Jon Lester, another homegrown star the White Sox lowballed before free agency. It is likely that Bogaerts will spend one more season in San Diego than he will in Boston if he plays out all 11 years of his upcoming contract.

On Wednesday, the franchise seemed to be on the verge of gaining momentum after signing closer Kenley Jansen and Japanese outfielder Masataka Yoshida. Likewise, it was reported that they were nearing a deal with Bogaerts.

However, momentum does not last forever. We all gasped when midnight arrived without a signature. The Padres then struck.

Overpaying is a mischaracterization that merits a punch in the face. When the Red Sox insulted their de facto captain in April, traded away his closest friend in August, and then dribbled out their exclusive negotiating window in October, they screwed up again.

They screwed it up because Bloom insisted on withholding a free agent-caliber offer until Bogaerts actually reached free agency, which was a disastrously short-sighted decision that allowed every organization in baseball to pitch one of the game’s premier offensive shortstops while also causing him to resent the city that was once his dream.

As a matter of record, the Red Sox considered a one-year, $30 million extension a fair offer in April, which is, was, and always will be insane.

There is a team looking for a shortstop that is spending money like it has only three weeks to live.

In contrast to their big-market counterparts with small-market ambitions, the Padres are unconcerned about budgets. Their offer to Bogaerts was unbeatable after watching Trea Turner reject them for less money from the Phillies.

At the time of the news, Bloom was boarding a red-eye flight back to Boston, which must have been one lonely flight.

The chief baseball officer hired for his ability to build a farm system keeps blowing holes in the big league roster, and we can probably write the epitaph on his tenure already: he traded Mookie for nothing, lost Bogey for even less, and left the Red Sox a mess.

This is a legacy to be proud of.

Added insult to injury, Bloom designated Bogaerts as his sole priority for the upcoming season, a decision doomed to sink him to the bottom of the ocean forever.

According to the Boston Globe, the Red Sox offered Bogaerts six years and $160 million, a staggering miscalculation in a market that has already exploded, and less than the Rangers gave an inferior player one year previously — second baseman Marcus Semien. The deal they believed would lead to an agreement is a fantasy.

It is only now that the fantasy has turned into a nightmare. It is likely that the fans who abandoned the organization over Betts will revolt over Bogaerts, a two-time champion who represented the organization with dignity and class. Good luck finding anyone who has a negative opinion of him anywhere. We shouldn’t be surprised if Rafael Devers is the next to be cut.

A last-place team just lost one of its premier all-around players. In normal circumstances, replacing him would be challenging, and the benefit of the doubt has been lost.

With the addition of a shortstop to their roster, the team’s challenging offseason has just become even more challenging.

There was one who loved Boston. As opposed to letting him get away, they continued to push and push until he finally caught on. It will take a long time for them to clean up this mess.

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