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The San Diego Padres and free-agent shortstop Xander Bogaerts have agreed to an 11-year, $280 million contract, a major-league source confirmed to The Athletic. MLB Network’s Jon Heyman was first to report the news. Here’s what you need to know:
- Bogaerts slashed .307/.377/.456 with 73 RBIs and 15 home runs in 150 games last season.
- He ranked No. 5 on The Athletic’s Keith Law’s list of top free agents of 2022-23.
- Bogaerts opted out of the final three years and $60 million of his Red Sox contract on Nov. 7 to become a free agent.
Scouting report
Bogaerts is coming off a platform year that’s a bit different from his norms, as he failed to hit 20 homers for the first time in a full season since 2017 but played his best-ever defense at shortstop. Bogaerts, who turned 30 on Oct. 1, had his best defensive season by advanced metrics — it was just his second year with a positive Outs Above Average figure, at +5.
The boost in his defensive production offsets the loss in his hard contact, but the likely trend for all players in their 30s is for defensive value to slip and for them to move down the defensive spectrum.
Required reading
(Photo: Winslow Townson / Getty Images)
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