Xander Bogaerts, Boston Red Sox
As the Red Sox prepare to defend their 2018 World Series title, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski is looking past 2019 with regard to keeping pieces of his current core together.
The club tried to extend Xander Bogaerts beyond the upcoming season, but nothing came to fruition outside of settling on a contract to avoid arbitration. It’s easy to see why the Red Sox tried to do that, too — this past year was his fourth straight campaign of posting at least 3.2 fWAR, with 2018 easily being the best. Bogaerts posted his second season of 20-plus homers, first with 100-plus RBI, and a single-season career-high mark in wRC+ (133).
Although it was the third consecutive year in which he cost his team at least 10 runs in the Defensive Runs Saved department, Bogaerts is an interesting commodity as a shortstop potentially entering free agency as a 27-year-old. He’s just one of a number of tough decisions the front office will have to make over the next couple years. Chris Sale is also set to hit the open market next winter, while Mookie Betts and Jackie Bradley will do the same the following year.
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