Dodgers Offseason: Another Shortstop Off the Market as Padres Sign Xander Bogaerts
The Dodgers have a potential hole at shortstop, and seemingly every day, another option comes off the table. First, Trea Turner signed with Phillies. Then reports came down that L.A. wouldn’t pursue Carlos Correa. And now, on Wednesday night, Jon Heyman is reporting that another one of the Big Four is off the market.
Shortstop Xander Bogaerts and the San Diego Padres are in agreement on an 11-year, $280 million contract, a source familiar with the deal tells ESPN. A monster contract and the Padres, after missing Trea Turner and Aaron Judge, get the longtime Red Sox shortstop.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 8, 2022
That’s 11 years each for Turner and Bogaerts, which certainly influence the market for Correa and Dansby Swanson. It also means the Padres now have three shortstops on contracts of $280 million or more, with shortstop Manny Machado at third base and shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. likely shifting to the outfield next year. They also have Ha-Seong Kim, their 2022 shortstop, who was very good defensively and solid on offense.
The Dodgers never seemed to be very “in” on Bogaerts, although there had been some rumblings. Most recently, it seemed that momentum was gaining for Bogaerts to return to Boston, but the Padres stepped up after being rebuffed by both Turner and Aaron Judge.
Bogaerts batted .307 with an ,833 OPS in 2022, and he also posted one of his best defensive seasons at shortstop. At 30 years old, he’s the oldest of the Big Four, but he’s been an outstanding hitter since coming into his own in 2018.
Along with Tatis, Machado, and Juan Soto, San Diego will be an offensive force in 2023 after advancing to the NLCS in 2022 for the third time in franchise history and the first time since 1998. Credit to the Padres for going for it.
Have you subscribed to our YouTube Channel yet? Subscribe and hit that notification bell to stay up to date on all the latest Dodgers news, rumors, interviews, live streams, and more!
Swanson is going to get a nice contract.
Congratulations Padres on signing Bogaerts away from our Dodgers like other big names you signed away from us. Our Dodgers are going nowhere until losers Freidman & Roberts are fired but our so called owners don’t care about us fans or our men in blue.
Freidman only signed like 2 big name players Betts & Freeman & that is it. He don’t even sign our own players when it’s time to resign them for longer contracts or he trades away our power hitters in the minor leagues to bring in losers to have for 2 months. And did you look at what our lineup will look like next year? My God all the teams are looking at us & laughing & can’t wait till they make us their bitches & beat us to death. Thanks Freidmen again for being the loser you are & letting all the great players go. And we are still stuck with the biggest loser manager Roberts so that will make us even worse then that.
AGAIN CONGRATULATIONS PADRES ON ANOTHER GREAT SIGN AND I WILL SAY Y9U ARE GOING TO KICK OUR DODGERS ASS THRU ALL OF 2023 AND MORE.
Well all the top dogs are gone, almost all of our FA are signed elsewhere, and we only got Shelly who? Is Bauer holding the Dodgers hostage? Sounds like the Dodgers are “doom-doomed” for 2023.
Once again Preller dominates Fraudman how long does someone get to keep their job when they are allowing our competitors to get so much better than us?!?!? Has there ever been an offseason where a team has lost as much talent as the Dodgers have this year and have signed nobody to replace them?!? How is this a good gm?!?!?
Friedbrain is Preller’s Biatch.
It is time to get rid of Friedman he is hurting the Dodgers he needs to go. They being even make the post season unless they get some pitching and position players get rid of him now he is dumb. Go after Swanson now and rodon you can out bid all of them.
See I told you that Freidman wouldn’t sign 1 big name & look he didn’t sign a damn free agent at all. Our so called owners need to get off their ass and fire Freidman & Roberts because until they are both gone our Dodgers will go nowhere but down. He only signs disabled or has been players because he don’t know a damn thing about putting a great team together that want to win & not give up like Trea Turner did again this past season so I myself am glad he went to the Phillies. The Padres signed Bogaerts away from us and I’m telling you right now that the Padres will win the west this Coming year & I send congratulations to the Padres for winning the off season again. As a 60+ years Dodger fan I say us fans need to send emails & text & however you can to FIRE FREIDMAN & ROBERTS BEFORE THE SEASON STARTS.
Yes Rodon ASAP
I am willing to cut Friedman a little slack. He has a very good history of keeping the Dodgers not only competitive but elite. When he loses one of the best players in baseball, he is in a situation with Bauer and he is probably under pressure to keep the payroll at a certain level, it makes for a very tough job. The off season is still young. I think that there is a big trade, or more, coming that will address some of the “holes” in the roster.
I don’t think Dodgers will get caught up in the FA spending frenzy. At least not until after Bauer issue resolved. If they make a splash it will be through a big trade?
We are a 3rd or 4th place Club as it stands right now. Getting worse, hour by hour. Not much of a light at the end of this tunnel. It looked SO promising a week ago.
Lux is going to be our SS.
You guys need to take a breath, you’d think the Dodgers were coming off a 50 win season. Yes, Friedman didn’t sign anybody, but that because the team is trying to stay until the penalty tax for the first time in 3 years. And, remember the Dodgers do have one of the best farm systems in baseball, maybe it is time to see if these youngsters have anything. Plus, shoveling monet at free agents never works. The teams that are constantly on top supplement their teams with key free agents, not build with them. So fellow Dodgers fans, take a breath and let’s see how the season plays out.
I agree with what Phillies management said: “Stars win championships”.
(“Plus, shoveling money at free agents never works.” Really? lolololololololol)
I concur. I pay big money for seats, food, parking, and fighting traffic, every season. I want to see STARS not half a lineup of has-beens or up ‘n coming rookies, unless you have one that really stand out, like a Julio Rodriguez, or a Michael Harris, or a Jeremy Peña. The industry expects the Los Angeles Dodgers to put a formidable team in the postseason every year, along with the Yankees, Astros, and now the Phillies.
A GM stated on MLB Network “ I”d rather win with star veterans…..prospects get GM’s fired “. For me, I will pay to watch good high quality baseball not mediocre players trying to make it.