After 10 years in the big leagues, Xander Bogaerts has been faced with a new situation this season, and the Boston Red Sox shortstop admits it hasn't been easy dealing with it.
Bogaerts can opt-out of his contract at the end of this season, which has led to him facing a myriad of questions throughout the campaign of how he will handle things, especially now with the season's end just over a month away.
Boagerts' future plans were once again part of the conversation when he sat down with NESN's Tom Caron during the WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon on Wednesday.
"I've never dealt with that, but I guess for the most part of the season I've been pretty good at handling that aspect," Bogaerts told Caron. "It's obviously tough. It's not something that you go through everyday. As I said, it's pretty much a first time experience for me with that. But I manage it pretty well. ... I haven't even thought about one minute of that so far."
Even with a decision from Bogaerts looming, the four-time All-Star isn't trying to pay much attention to it. Boagerts seems open to talking with the Red Sox once the season ends, but he is trying to keep his focus at the moment on Boston's final 39 games.
"When the season's over anything can happen," Bogaerts said. "At this point I'm really trying to get healthy and just finish off the season strong. I know we're a few games out of a wild card race, but there's a lot of stuff that was impossible and it happened. There's always miracles, you know what I mean? There's always time. I know we're running out of time, but you never know, we can put a good stretch together and end the season really strong."
Bogaerts came out of Tuesday's loss against the Toronto Blue Jays with back spasms and is not in Wednesday's lineup, with a surprising player taking over his position in the middle of the diamond for the contest.
First pitch between the Red Sox and Blue Jays from Fenway Park is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. ET, and you can catch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, with NESN 360.
