The Boston Red Sox signed Rafael Devers to a mammoth 11-year, $331 million extension before the 2023 season to solidify who the face of the franchise would be.
After Boston traded away Mookie Betts and lost Xander Bogaerts to free agency, the fans were desperate for some sense of direction. Locking down Devers long-term was the first step in establishing that direction. Although the Red Sox have been mired in mediocrity for the last three years, Devers has so far lived up to his extension by continually putting together great offensive seasons. He’s just 28 and poised for another big campaign in 2025.
Although the extension was certainly a good move for the franchise’s future, it didn’t erase the pain of watching several other homegrown talents slip away. Betts is the most obvious one, an especially gut-wrenching loss since the Red Sox willingly traded him away.
But the sting of the loss of Betts sometimes makes fans forget that the Sox also let Bogaerts go in free agency. Devers, at least, hasn’t forgotten about Bogaerts, who he called his “baseball bestie” in response to a recent MLB interview question. Bogaerts reciprocated by naming Devers when asked.
Rafael Devers names former Red Sox teammate Xander Bogaerts as his baseball bestie
We love how so many of them named each other as their baseball bestie 🥹❤️ pic.twitter.com/GQ835Znxp0
— MLB (@MLB) March 23, 2025
Bogaerts spent nine full seasons in Boston, first bursting onto the scene with an outstanding 2013 postseason. He was a key piece of that championship team as well as the 2018 World Series winners. Much like Devers, Bogaerts was home-grown, debuted in the big leagues at a young age and instantly contributed to a championship team. The Red Sox handed him a six-year extension in 2019, but that deal included an opt-out which Bogaerts exercised after 2022. The Red Sox were unable to resign him, as he moved to San Diego on an 11-year, $280 million contract.
Even if that big of a contract for a 30 year-old wasn’t something the Red Sox could reasonably take on, Devers’ response to the MLB interview still puts Sox fans in mind of better days when Bogaerts was still in town and producing at a high level. Hopefully, another era like that is on its way to Boston.
