MLB insider: Xander Bogaerts would be great fit for Cardinals if Red Sox make star SS available
The 2022 MLB season is still relatively young, but the Boston Red Sox enter play Wednesday buried in last place in the AL East at 11-19, sitting a whopping 10 1/2 games behind their biggest rival, the first-place New York Yankees. Over in the NL Central, the St. Louis Cardinals are off to a decent 16-13 start and are in second place in their division.
If things continue on the current trajectory, the Red Sox could be sellers at the summer trade deadline, while the Cards would likely be buyers.
Despite the above .500 start in St. Louis, the team's starting shortstop — 2019 All-Star Paul DeJong — has been ice cold at the dish to start the year and was sent down to Triple-A on Tuesday. There's no telling how long the 2017 NL Rookie of the Year runner-up will be in the minors, but if the Cardinals are looking for a new shortstop later in the season, MLB Network's Jon Morosi believes that Boston's three-time All-Star Xander Bogaerts could be a good fit.
Bogaerts is not only showing signs that he's in for another All-Star campaign — currently leading the AL in batting average (.354) and hits (40) — but his contract situation would lead some to believe that he is in his final season with the Red Sox, if not final months. Boston's chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom said in April that contract extension talks between the team and Bogaerts, as well as fellow All-Star infielder Rafael Devers, haven't "aligned".
It was reported in early April that the 29-year-old native of Aruba had turned down an extension offer from the Red Sox in the offseason and wouldn't be discussing the matter once the campaign began. Bogaerts has spent his entire career with Boston since debuting with the club in 2013.
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