Shortstop Xander Bogaerts and the San Diego Padres have agreed an 11-year, $280 million deal, a source familiar with the deal said ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
Bogaerts, 30, who played his entire 10-year career with the Boston Red Sox, is a four-time All-Star and two-time World Series champion. He’s had one of his best seasons, averaging a 5.8 bWAR and finishing ninth in American League MVP voting in 2022.
Bogaerts was a free agent after retiring from a six-year, $132 million contract extension he signed with the Red Sox ahead of the 2019 season. He joined a robust class of free-agent shortstops that also included Trea Turner (who signed with the Philadelphia Phillies), Carlos Correa, and Dansby Swanson.
The Padres already have Fernando Tatis Jr. at shortstop, but he missed the entire season with injuries and an 80-game suspension after testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug. San Diego also met with Aaron Judge and Turner before the big stars decided to join other teams.
“From our point of view, you want to explore everything and make sure we’re looking at every possible opportunity to do better,” general manager AJ Preller said before the Bogaerts deal surfaced. “We have a real will to win and have been for a long time.”
Ahead of the 2022 season, Boston offered Bogaerts a second renewal that would have added another year to his contract and paid him $90 million over his last four seasons. The offer was seen in the industry as well below market value for a player of its caliber.
In April, a Red Sox front office official told ESPN that a strong season for Bogaerts would make Boston less likely to sign him.
“We’re not in the business of signing big 10-year contracts because most of the time those contracts don’t work well for the teams,” the front office member said.
But the Red Sox changed their minds in recent months, with Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom publicly declaring that Bogaerts is the team’s top priority in free agency this offseason.
MLB Network first reported on the agreement between Bogaerts and the Padres.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.