With Red Sox star Rafael Devers set to enter free agency next offseason, he has already commanded the attention of Boston’s front office.
Trying to extend the superbly talented third baseman is a top priority for chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom even as he continues to tinker with the roster to produce a better on-field product for next season.
And Bloom put it out there that the Red Sox are looking to ramp things up in order to keep Devers in a Red Sox uniform for the long term.
“Our efforts are only intensifying — but it’s something we’ve really wanted to do for a while and hopefully we’ll be able to find that path,” Bloom told the New York Post’s Jon Heyman via text message.
The price tag on Devers certainly has climbed higher due to the exorbitant contracts that have been recently handed out to marquee players. The San Diego Padres got Xander Bogaerts to walk away from the Red Sox by giving him an 11-year, $280 million deal while the San Francisco Giants were willing to cough up $350 million over 13 years for Carlos Correa.
Devers should be in line to get a contract in the range of Correa’s, and arguably could receive a bigger pay day since Devers is two years younger than Correa and has had better production at the plate over the course of his career.
Whether the Red Sox are willing to go that far for Devers remains to be seen.
“Obviously, the timing on him is a little different because he’s not a free agent for another year,” Bloom told reporters last week, per MassLive. “But he has been somebody that we love and want right at the center of everything we hope to accomplish, obviously in 2023 but more importantly, in the years beyond, because those are the years he’s not under our control. We’re hoping to change that.”
