It’s officially December, which means the MLB offseason is about to kick into high gear.
November ended with a few big moves as the Boston Red Sox traded for Sonny Gray and the Toronto Blue Jays signed Dylan Cease. However, that was likely just an appetizer for the flurry of deals that typically get done during the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Oftentimes, teams come to regret these deals, which can quickly become payroll anchors if given to the wrong players.
Just look at Xander Bogaerts, who left the Red Sox for the San Diego Padres after the 2022 season. Boston tried to bring him back, but the Padres blew him away with an absurd 11-year, $280 million megadeal.
Three years into that deal, San Diego is probably already regretting it. Bogaerts has regressed from an All-Star into a solid regular, which is normal for a player in his early 30s who moves from a hitter’s haven to a pitcher’s paradise. However, the Padres are still on the hook for eight more years.
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Not surprisingly, The Athletic included Bogaerts’ deal in its list of MLB’s “ugliest contracts” and “worst underwater deals” on Monday, including it in the honorable mention section outside the top 10.
“You’ll be hard-pressed to find anyone in baseball who thinks this is a good contract, but at least Bogaerts’ performance in 2025 was better than his 2024 season,” Cody Stavenhagen writes. “He’s still a good shortstop, but he’s hit only 11 home runs in each of the past two years, and his offense has already declined from his peak with the Red Sox. The real problem is that this 11-year deal runs all the way through 2033, when Bogaerts will be 40.”
San Diego signed up for Bogaerts’ decline phase, and that’s exactly what it got. Only eight more years to go.
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