Alex Cora Jokingly Threatened Xander Bogaerts After Padres Made Offer

Alex Cora, like everyone else in the Red Sox organization, would have loved to see Xander Bogaerts re-sign with Boston this Major League Baseball offseason.

But when the Padres pulled out all the stops for Bogaerts in free agency, there wasn’t a doubt in the Red Sox manager’s mind about what the star shortstop needed to do.

Bogaerts kept Cora abreast of new developments in his free agency as the bidding for the two-time World Series champion really started to heat up. And when San Diego went over the top with its offer for Bogaerts, Cora removed his Boston bias and spoke to the 30-year-old purely as a friend.

“He said, ‘Alex, it’s 11 years,'” Cora recalled Bogaerts saying while speaking to reporters Wednesday, per MassLive. “I said, ‘Listen, if you would have signed with the Red Sox and I were to find out somebody offered you 11 years, I would have killed you.’ Talking to him as his brother or his dad or whatever.”

While the Red Sox weren’t able to come to terms with Bogaerts, the same can’t be said for another elite homegrown talent. Boston on Wednesday finalized a 10-year contract extension with Rafael Devers, who now has a chance to replace Bogaerts as the Red Sox’s leader for years to come.