#Xander Bogaerts

We're a little over a month away from pitchers and catchers reporting in 2023 and soon the hours of sunshine a day will be longer and spring training will be upon us. The Houston Astros captured the 2022 World Series in a 6-game affair with the Philadelphia Phillies, just 1 year after falling to the Atlanta Braves in their quest for a 2nd title.…

Plenty of Boston Red Sox fans are just moving on from their grief over the franchise trading away superstar Mookie Betts to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2020. Well, all of those fun feelings are resurfacing on Thursday because the Red Sox are back at it again. Not only is Boston in the midst of an embarrassingly bad offseason, but the club just took…

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Carlos Baerga always had time for reporters when he played for the Indians. Now he's become one. Baerga, who spent 14 years in the big leagues, hosts a popular podcast in Puerto Rico called "I Love Sports with Carlos Baerga and Friends." During the winter meetings in December, Baerga was first with the news that Cy Young winner…

The Baltimore Orioles (80-73) travel to take on the Boston Red Sox (72-81) on Tuesday night. Kyle Brandish (4-7) is the projected starter for the Orioles, while righty Michael Wacha (11-1) will take the bump for the Red Sox. First pitch is slated for 7:10 ET. Below we continue our MLB odds series with an Orioles-Red Sox prediction and pick. Kyle…

Los Angeles has lost 13 games in a row but the most recent came at a greater cost, with Mike Trout suffering an injury in Tuesday's loss to Boston. Our MLB betting picks don't expect the banged-up Angels to challenge the Red Sox. The Los Angeles Angels were so close to snapping their 12-game losing streak on Tuesday, but the Boston Red Sox scored…

The New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox will continue one of the best rivalries in sports as the teams meet Friday at Fenway Park. It's time to continue our MLB odds coverage with a Yankees-Red Sox prediction and pick. The Yankees defeated the Red Sox 6-5 on Thursday night. It was scoreless in the third inning when Josh Donaldson approached the…

LOS ANGELES - Both the Yankees and Mets will look into a trade for suddenly available superstar Juan Soto, sources tell The Post. That should surprise no one as his availability represents a rare chance to acquire an all-time talent at age 23. That said, the early speculation around the game is that it won't be easy for anyone to complete a…

The San Diego Padres have assembled one of the deepest lineups in baseball following their acquisiton of Xander Bogaerts. Already equipped with Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr., and Juan Soto, the Padres now have four (4!) superstars headlining the top of their lineup. While San Diego's star-studded roster promises to create fireworks on the…

In stretching out Trea Turner's $300 million contract over 11 years, the Phillies diluted the average annual salary for luxury-tax purposes and payroll flexibility. It's the approach they took four years ago in signing Bryce Harper. The length of Turner's deal, like Harper's 13-year pact, was predicated on economics, not baseball. But the Phillies…

We are less than two weeks into the 2023 calendar year, but we've got bold predictions of a litany of things that will go down in Major League Baseball over the course of the next 11.5 months. Most of our predictions are about things that will happen during the 2023 MLB season, of course. A breakout rookie. An unlikely MVP. A surprise AL West…

I can't decide what's more bewildering: That the Red Sox really feel like they did something on Wednesday morning, or that so many of the rest of us don't. The clearest emotion to find is joy for Rafael Devers, his evolution from a 16-year-old Dominican free agent to the unquestioned face of the franchise complete in a shade less than a decade.…

For all the talk about how division races supposedly don't matter as much as they used to -- and I can think of a couple No. 1 and No. 2 seeds who would very much disagree with you -- it still means something to be able to call yourself a champion. I guarantee you there are Guardians fans who have 2022 AL Central champs shirts. It might not be the…

Both Boston and Detroit enter this game with horrendous numbers at the plate. Who is most likely to break out of the batting slump today? Find out in our MLB betting picks and predictions for the Red Sox vs. Tigers. The Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers tangle in the second contest of a three-game series at Comerica Park on Tuesday afternoon. MLB…

On its own, the Toronto Blue Jays signing a 34-year-old infielder to a one-year deal is not the kind of thing that will cause fans to wonder what brand of ski googles the players will wear in their Champagne-soaked clubhouse. Brandon Belt? Nice hitter, when healthy. Strong beard. Excellent name with many headline-pun possibilities. But also a guy…

Yesterday, I looked into how the predictions at FanGraphs, both crowdsourced and those produced by me, matched the contracts awarded to free agents this offseason. Today, I'd like to dive into a few cases where I made mistakes in individual player predictions, as well as a few I think I did well on. In each case, I'll try to come up with some…

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Believe it or not, Red Sox spring training opens in just about five weeks. The roster is not complete quite yet, but the large majority of the 2023 team has already been put together, and it looks quite different than the group that last took the field at Fenway Park in early October. Boston's chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom entered the winter…

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Guardians still need a catcher. Manager Terry Francona said patience is required and that executives Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff will deliver a backstop. That is a good thing because as Casey Stengel said a long time ago, "If you don't have a catcher, you're going to have a lot of passed balls." The winter meetings…

With the 2021 MLB season upon us, we will take a look at how the AL East appears to be shaping up. Here are my predictions for the AL East in the 2021 MLB season: The Baltimore Orioles finished 4th in the AL East just one season ago, but are by no means ready to compete in this division. The rotation does not look great and the lineup has a ton of…

Playing nine innings while congratulating Kevin Millar on shattering the all-time words-spoken-per-minute record by a NESN Red Sox analyst … 1. It's not much fun, and there's not much to be gained, to think about what the 64-68, last-place Red Sox are right now. So let me ask you: What's your within-reason ideal for what happens this offseason? To…

A pair of teams looking to find their footing before the conclusion of the regular season will go head-to-head as the Texas Rangers continue their road trip at Fenway Park to battle it out with the Boston Red Sox. Check out our MLB odds series, where our Rangers-Red Sox prediction and pick will come true. With the final month of the MLB regular…

The MLB offseason is winding down as we are getting closer and closer to pitchers and catchers reporting to start another full baseball season. We have seen some big moves made across the board this offseason, as playoff teams tooled up their rosters to make another series push at a title in 2023. Here are the early World Series odds with a little…

Let's call it two years, 11 months. On Feb. 4, 2020, the initial (and better) version of the Mookie Betts trade broke. An organizational failure spanning three baseball bosses, and a punt to the groin that fundamentally changed how a sizable percentage of people viewed the Red Sox. By Jan. 4, 2023, their likes had only grown, and the snowball of…

Between 2012 and 2018, Boston Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale made the All-Star Team all seven seasons and finished between second and sixth in the AL Cy Young Award in all seven. He's also played in exactly 11 games over the last three seasons. Raking in $90 million in salary those three seasons from the Red Sox, he's been one of the biggest financial…

Throughout the offseason the CBS Sports MLB experts will bring you a weekly Batting Around roundtable breaking down pretty much anything. The latest news, a historical question, thoughts about the future of baseball, all sorts of stuff. Last week we discussed Bryan Reynolds' future. This week we're going to look at contenders with unfinished…

The MLB is already set up to be filled with drama and unexpected twists in 2023. The winter meetings just took place in San Diego, and there were a number of noticeable moves that took place. Xander Bogaerts signed with the San Diego Padres on Wednesday night which means over 20 free agents in the major league agreed to contracts. If you add the…

The Boston Red Sox and star third baseman Rafael Devers are finalizing an 11-year, $331 million contract, according to ESPN's Jeff Passan and Joon Lee. Devers and the BoSox agreed to a one-year, $17.5 million deal for the 2023 campaign on Tuesday to avoid arbitration. Per ESPN, Devers' 11-year deal will go into effect this year and run through the…

I can't be the only person whose pulse spiked seeing the words "Rafael Devers" and "agreement" on their phone Tuesday until realizing it was just for a $17.5-million deal covering his last year before free agency. No matter. Good news is good news, and avoiding even the suggestion of arbitration with The Last Red Sox Superstar qualifies as…

It's not the Rafael Devers news Red Sox fans were hoping for. Tuesday afternoon, the Red Sox agreed to a one-year deal with Devers that will cover his final year of salary arbitration and pay him $17.5 million in 2023, as first reported by ESPN and later announced by the club. At the very least, the team will avoid taking Devers to arbitration,…

The New Year, Volume 2023 is upon us, and that means a dual occasion to reflect upon our misfires of the year prior and look forward to our derelictions of the year to come. As it turns out, this grim ritual of inventory can also be applied to the clubs that play This, Our Baseball. The Royal We shall now do such a thing. Resolution: At least…

The 2022 season had its fair share of devastating injuries. Especially those who make a significant impact on the field. If we were to compose a list of every notable injury, things would get ugly. Now that we've mentioned injuries, which is quite a broad term, here are the most valuable players returning in 2023. Despite the season being months…

This story was excerpted from AJ Cassavell's Padres Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, . And to get it regularly in your inbox. Wishing you all a happy and healthy New Year! 2022 was a roller coaster for the Padres. So what do they have in store next year? Here are 23 predictions for'23: 1. The Padres will win the West. I'm getting the…

The moment that echoed into last offseason occurred during the 2021 wild card game vs. the Yankees, an afternoon that saw baseball roar back to Boston like a time machine to 2003, or a house dropped on a witch of the wicked variety. Bobby Dalbec batted against Yankees ace Gerrit Cole and Fenway Park thundered his name. It was the moment when…

Trey Mancini has had colon cancer, left a city in which his connection to the fanbase was undeniable, headed south to Houston and won a World Series, so it is safe to say the free-agency process and a potential move north to Wrigley Field and the Chicago Cubs will not rattle the outfielder. The report on the veteran is just one at the forefront of…

The Philadelphia Phillies arereportedly "viewed as the favorites" to sign superstar shortstop TreaTurner, one of the top players available on the free-agent market. Jon Morosi of MLB Network reported theupdate Wednesday: "The Phillies will wind up withone of the [elite] shortstops. That's going to happen," an agenttold ESPN's Buster Olney. Along…

The Boston Red Sox have made some moves this offseason, but not all of them went over well with the fans. This free agency period has given us a good idea of top prospect Marcelo Mayer's timeline to the Major Leagues. Let me explain. Some were upset that the Red Sox didn't bring in any big free agents. Most were upset that they failed to bring back…

The Philadelphia Phillies faithful are performing their annual ritual to improve on last summer's finish. Unfortunately, armchair GMs have no monetary limits plus endless prospects to pry loose a star from another franchise. But they want a stud for what they want to unload. Why would another club want the player you don't? Hint: They…

Wait, Mets? What happened to the Giants? That deal fell through because of something that turned up in Correa's physical, and the Mets stepped up with an offer one year and $35 million shy of the original (final terms: 12 years, $315 million). It was an unlikely fit given that the Mets already have a franchise shortstop in Francisco Lindor, but now…

If the Boston Red Sox didn't learn their lesson from Mookie Betts' departure, surely they would've been schooled by Xander Bogaerts fleeing for a mega-deal with the San Diego Padres, a crisis that could've been averted with a bit of fair treatment at any point following the 2021 season (or after his below-market 2019 extension, to be…

With MLB free agency winding down, the league is beginning to take shape. Some teams have drastically improved their chances of competing in 2023 based on swift offseason moves. The New York Mets just pulled off a stunner to land Carlos Correa after the shortstop had previously agreed to a deal with the San Francisco Giants. Other teams such as the…

Time is running out for the Boston Red Sox to extend the contract of Rafael Devers. The third baseman, who is set to become a free agent after the 2023 campaign, "will not entertain negotiations with the Red Sox during the season," and an extension would need to be agreed upon by the end of spring training, sources told Alex Speier of the Boston…

The New York Yankees are welcoming Carlos Rodon to the Bronx. On Thursday, the Yankees reportedly signed the left-handed starter to a six-year, $162 million contract. BUY YANKEES TICKETS: STUBHUB, VIVID SEATS, TICKETSMARTER, TICKETMASTER Here's YES Network and ESPN analyst David Cone on what's so exciting about Rodon for Yankees fans, via YES…

The days are short this time of year. So is Red Sox fans' patience. Unlike recent, slower offseasons, most of the top free agents are already off the board, and none of them have joined the baseball team in Boston. Instead, the Sox lost Xander Bogaerts, and it now looks increasingly likely that Rafael Devers will follow him out to free agency at…

Hockey players used to come from places like Moose Jaw and Medicine Hat and Prince Albert. Now they come - some of the biggest stars, it seems, some of the most explosive players - from Scottsdale and Phoenix and suburban Los Angeles. When Tage Thompson scored five goals the other night for the Buffalo Sabres, bringing his total to 21 in 26 games…

We're keeping track of all the latest free agent and trade rumors. The Braves (Dansby Swanson), Dodgers (Trea Turner), Red Sox (Xander Bogaerts) and Twins (Carlos Correa) have all lost star shortstops in free agency this offseason. Where might they turn for an external replacement? According to The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal (subscription required),…

The Boston Red Sox have traded Mookie Betts and allowed Xander Bogaerts to depart in MLB free agency within the last three years. All-Star third baseman Rafael Devers, the last of Boston's homegrown stars, could be next out the door. Devers, age 26, emerged as an AL MVP candidate this past season. He posted a.295/.358/.521 slash line with 88 RBI…

The Cubs are getting ready to play ball and take on St. Louis and Milwaukee for first place in the NL Central. The three teams have more time to enhance their rosters before the start of the 2023 season, but as it stands now the Cardinals are less likely to have an easy jog to the division title. And that's true even after their signing of…

While most of the big names are off the board, we still have several weeks of offseason left in Major League Baseball. That means the daily supplies of rumors shall continue apace. Speaking of which, you can find Monday's supply just below. Will third baseman Rafael Devers be the latest homegrown star to depart the Red Sox? The increasingly hapless…

The 2022 MLB season will undoubtedly be the season of Aaron Judge. Not only is the towering Yankees outfielder the frontrunner for AL MVP and leader on the current best team in baseball, but he's also already the focal point of the offseason rumor mill. Just as the season was beginning in April, Aaron Judge turned down a seven-year deal worth…

Free-agent shortstop Dansby Swanson and the Chicago Cubs have agreed to a seven-year, $177 million deal, major-league and team sources confirmed to The Athletic. ESPN's Jeff Passan was first to report the Cubs and Swanson were finalizing a deal. Here's what you need to know: Swanson hit.277 with 25 home runs and a career-high 96 RBIs in 162…