SEATTLE -- Xander Bogaerts is 21 years old, has less than a year of major league service time and won't be eligible for arbitration until 2017. But in a way, he's the Boston Red Sox's version of Mike Trout, their once-in-a-decade type of player who has all the tools and the makeup to top it off.
Acknowledging the risk of overhyping a prospect, Bogaerts is the rare player who has handled it just fine.
Maybe it's premature, but the next part of that conversation prompts an important question: Should the Red Sox try to sign Bogaerts to a long-term extension?
Asked about doing just that in the off-season, Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington said it was too early to think about, but "we certainly wouldn't rule it out." Typically when the Red Sox have done these deals (as they have in the past for a young Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester), they've been team-friendly contracts that also guarantee a young player some security.
Bogaerts has yet to complete a full major league season, but he's already proved to be a rare player who the Red Sox will want to keep as long as they can.
Trout, the comparison, would've been eligible for arbitration in 2015, two years ahead of Bogaerts, but the
Angels signed him to a six-year, $144.5 million extension this off-season that locked him up during his arbitration years and will keep him under contract until he's 29 years old.
The idea of trying to work out an extension for Bogaerts, represented by agent Scott Boras, whose players don't usually sign long-term extensions before they hit free agency (see Jacoby Ellsbury), has not yet been a topic in Boras' meetings. And while the agent has yet to even think about a long-term extension for Bogaerts, he said the decision will ultimately come down to the player.
Monday, Boras spoke with MassLive.com about his longterm outlook on Bogaerts, comparing his situation to Ellsbury's and noting that it wouldn't make much sense for Bogaerts to sign an extension now:
MassLive: When you think about locking up young players, it has to benefit the team in some way. How do you try to construct those deals so they also benefit the player?
Boras: I’ve done those contracts, not many … and a lot of times the players direct me. I work for them. They direct me for what they want to do. You really have to have a meeting of the minds as far as what information we give the players and so they have an understanding of what their value is. And you understand when you’re doing things early that probably the value is going to be less than what it would be if time took its course and the player became a free agent. So the delta on that is something that would have to be workable for both the team and the player to have a meeting of the minds.
MassLive: Good use of the word delta.
Boras: That’s econometric stuff. I’m a lawyer but I’m a baseball guy.
MassLive: It seems to be a unanimous feeling that Bogaerts is a future All-Star. Is there any benefit for him to sign a contact extension early in his career?
Boras: I think for each individual player, when you say the word benefit, there’s going to be a dollar value given by the team. And there’s going to be a need for the player that is respective to his situation. For most players I would say putting together the combination of their need with what has been offered, it usually does not meet the threshold of commitment, the contract.
So in the process of how that happens, because when you have players that are so valued and their abilities are so great, the only reason the team would have to do something is to save. Otherwise they’ll just wait. The team will wait, the player will wait and they’ll evaluate the player, much like Jacoby Ellsbury. So a lot of it really has to do with the individual player and what their particular need is. The only thing is, and granted most of my players held still after receipt of my information and probably go the free agent route, but some haven’t, and I leave that to each individual. The best job you can do as a player’s advocate as their attorney is to make sure they make an informed decision.
MassLive: Is an extension for Bogaerts something you’ve even thought about at this point?
Boras: I’m usually not the one that raises these subjects (laughter). My job is to make sure the player plays well, he’s durable, he’s conditioned, that we’re doing everything we can. Seventy percent of my time is really about getting players to play well and focusing on what they do and how they think, and the adjustments they make, and the league, and understanding themselves.
A lot of people think agents are about money and contracts. And I’m a baseball player. When you play pro baseball you learn that if you play well, this game always wants you and it always treats well. So the idea – the hardest part, the challenging part and why I love it – is that we’re trying to beat the game every day. We don’t really worry about contracts or evaluations. Those things come. But that’s the hard part.
MassLive: So a contract extension hasn’t been talked about?
Boras: No.
MassLive: Considering how good he’s been at such a young age...
Boras: I gave him statistics the other day about his age and where he’s at in comparison to Derek Jeter when he was (Bogaerts’) age. (Bogaerts) is way ahead.
MassLive: And he loves Jeter.
Boras: Oh yeah. He loves him.
