With the Red Sox season winding down, all eyes will be on Xander Bogaerts.
The Boston shortstop can opt out of his deal and become a free agent. The two sides could not come to terms before the 2022 season started and Bogaerts' agent Scott Boras said he didn't want to negotiate during the season.
Though Bogaerts did hint at the possibility of trying to get a deal done in-season, nothing ever came to fruition.
The Red Sox front office has made it clear they'd like to keep Bogaerts and that it's "front of mind" for them heading into an offseason that is filled with questions.
Bogaerts has been with the club since 2013 and has emerged as a leader and the unofficial captain of the team. Players and personnel respect him and fans obviously adore him. Even David Ortiz has pushed for the Red Sox to sign Bogaerts to a long-term deal.
One person Bogaerts has become close with is Rafael Devers. The third baseman has called the shortstop his older brother and expressed his own hope that Bogaerts will be around long-term.
After Friday's 9-0 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre, MassLive asked Devers about the situation.
"That would be really nice," Devers told MassLive through translator Carlos Villoria BenÃtez. "I hope it happens like you said --- they sign Bogey long-term and then me long-term. But I don't know what's going to happen. The only thing I know is to play ball. I don't know about (contract) numbers or anything like that. I'll leave that to the team and my agent. I'm just trying to keep doing what I'm doing, which is play baseball, and they'll take care of it.
"... But for me personally, he's just a big part of the team and he's always been here in Boston. So for me, he's a friend, he's family, so I wish he'd stay here."
The Red Sox will finish with a losing record this year and soon look ahead to 2023 and what they can do to improve. It's likely to be a busy offseason for Boston and it should start with locking Bogaerts up for the foreseeable future.
