NEW YORK -- Instead of a baseball game at Yankee Stadium on Thursday, there were press conferences.
As the unquestioned leader of the Red Sox, it was hardly surprising that Xander Bogaerts was the position player who represented his team in the interview room.
Will this be the last Opening Day for Bogaerts with Boston?
Bogaerts has an opt-out clause in his contract that will allow him to become a free agent after the 2022 season.
The veteran shortstop acknowledged that recent negotiations with the Red Sox on a contract extension didn’t lead to a deal.
“It just didn’t work out, and that’s behind us now. I can’t really think about that right now,” said Bogaerts. “It is what it is, and [I] really do have a season to prepare for -- going out there with the guys and leading us to a really good season.”
Bogaerts also made it clear that he doesn’t plan on letting his uncertainty become a distraction for a focused team trying to compete in the loaded American League East.
“I mean, I can’t do anything about it right now,” said Bogaerts. “I’ve got a season coming up in front of me and I don’t want to put any of [my] teammates in that type of distraction. They don’t deserve it. They had some time to get something done and it didn’t work out, so let’s try to go back to baseball. We had a great last year. Expectations are high this year and we’ve got to go out and finish the job.”
Though Bogaerts and the Red Sox agreed to an extension three years ago that was announced prior to the fifth game of the regular season, he said definitively that won’t happen this time around.
Now that the season is here, Bogaerts wants to focus only on the game of baseball, rather than the business.
Bogaerts signed a six-year, $120 million extension in 2019. Given the way the market has rewarded top shortstops since Bogaerts signed that contract, it would be stunning if he doesn’t opt out.
The Red Sox have been on record several times saying they’d like to keep Bogaerts long-term.
Whether or not that becomes a reality likely won’t be known until November.
No set closer … for now
Red Sox manager Alex Cora confirmed what had become increasingly apparent in recent days. His team won’t have a set closer to start the season.
However, Cora is hoping that Matt Barnes will get his mid- to upper 90s velocity back in the coming days and he will win the job back.
Barnes was throwing 92-93 throughout Spring Training, and some recent mechanical tweaks might lead to the imminent return of the righty’s vintage heater.
“We’ll see,” said Cora. “We’ll mix and match. Perfect-case scenario, we get that guy from the first half last year -- we’ll get Barnesy back. Because at that moment, he was the best reliever in baseball, and we can get him back.
“I think we made some adjustments the last few days. And it feels like the fastball will come back. When? Maybe [Friday], maybe Saturday, maybe Sunday, whenever it comes. If he gets that back, you know, it will be great for us and he was amazing for the first three quarters of the season.
“He was an All-Star. We extended [his contract] for a reason. And we trust him. It's just a matter of getting the stuff back to where it should and if he does that, you know, hopefully it's him. You know, that's my goal, to get him back to the spot.”