Bogaerts tweaks hamstring
Story goes 0-for-5 in Red Sox debut
NEW YORK — The Red Sox were awaiting test results on the injured hamstring of star shortstop Xander Bogaerts on Friday night.
Bogaerts hurt himself in the box during his final atbat of the Sox’ 6-5 extra-innings loss to the Yankees on Opening Day.
“I don’t know if it’s because I didn’t do much running during the games in Spring Training,” he said. “I was getting only outs. I got on base today a couple of times and I ran pretty hard right out of the gate, first to third, should have hit a homer like (Rafael) Devers. First to third right away. Then I doubled down the line. I don’t know, hopefully tomorrow it’s good.”
Soft tissue injuries were a concern again this year after the long lockout and three-week abbreviated spring training. They were up 160% last April as players were coming off a shortened season the year before.
“On the swing, maybe it was as I’m hitting it and I kind of pushed it to kind of get off,” he said. “I don’t know what it was. It wasn’t good though. I tried to do whatever and don’t feel it, and it kind of went away for a little bit. That’s a good sign. It wasn’t a normal thing that happens every day.”
Jonathan Arauz took over at shortstop for Bogaerts while Trevor Story remained at second base, where he made his first big league appearance following a six-year career as the Rockies shortstop. The Sox also have Christian Arroyo who can rotate around the diamond.
Story 0-for-5 in debut
Story had an impressive debut on defense, where he made several plays up the middle, including an onthe-run throw to his right that was a mirror image of what he would’ve been doing as a shortstop. But he looked out of rhythm at the plate after a short spring and went 0-for-5 in his Red Sox debut. He was a late signing and then missed a few days due to the birth of his child.
Manager Alex Cora said he was batting Story sixth against righties to protect him and doesn’t want him thinking he has to carry the offense.
“I feel like I know how to handle that,” Story said. “I’m not going to put a lot on myself to get it right away. We’re here to win and here to play well.”
Bloom assesses Bogaerts situation
While the start of a new baseball season likely means the end of contract negotiations between the Red Sox and Bogaerts, the Sox remain hopeful they won’t lose their franchise shortstop after the season.
Bogaerts said Thursday he rejected the team’s offer and has said several times that he doesn’t want to negotiate during the season. He’s likely to opt out of his remaining three years and $60 million on his team-friendly deal after the season is over.
Standing in the Red Sox’ dugout before the team’s Opening Day matchup with the Yankees on Friday, Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom told the Herald that the Sox haven’t ruled out the idea of coming to an agreement with him at some point.
“You guys know I don’t like to talk about it much publicly because I don’t think it’s my place,” Bloom said. “I respect the player. It should be up to the player if he wants to talk about the situation. So I have to respect that. So I’ll leave it at that. But the desire to have him here for a long time is very sincere. And we still feel that way. Hopefully we’ll be able to.”
Bogaerts has been underpaid compared to his peers at the shortstop position. Despite ranking first in OPS (.894) among shortstops since 2018, there are six shortstops making higher annual average values than him.
Rarely one to show his frustration publicly, Bogaerts said that he was focused on the baseball season now and indicated the failed contract negotiations wouldn’t affect him. Bloom felt similarly. “I think with Xander, one of the things that is part of why we regard him so highly is he cares about the right things,” Bloom said. “I don’t think this will shake or distract him from winning, which is what he cares about the most. That’s part of the reason we care so highly about him.”
Losing Bogaerts to free agency would surely be a difficult pill for Red Sox fans to swallow, especially after losing Mookie Betts two years ago when the team didn’t sign him to an extension and traded him to the Dodgers.
The fanbase may be attached to Bogaerts, but Bloom said, “we are too. We love him. We’re still hopeful he’s going to be here for a long time.”