The Boston Red Sox and third baseman Rafael Devers are finalizing an 11yr/$331M contract extension, set to kick in during the 2024 season.
The deal is expected to incorporate the $17.5M salary that Devers agreed to this week to avoid arbitration, and then tack on an additional 10 years beyond that.
The 26 year old, who debuted in 2017, could have reached free agency at the end of the 2023 season, something that kept many a Red Sox fan awake at night.
Boston, who have lost homegrown stars Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts since their 2018 World Series title, had been largely criticized for acting like a small market team, despite being one of the league’s wealthiest franchises. The new deal is the largest in franchise history, surpassing Manny Ramirez’s 8 year contract and the $217M deal David Price signed with the organization.
Devers hit .295/.358/.521 with 27HRs and 88RBIs in 2022, and has a swing tailor made for the friendly confines of Fenway Park. As part of the deal, the lefty bat will earn a $20M signing bonus, but will not receive a no-trade clause in his agreement.
The deal has yet to become official as Devers still needs to complete the physical examination portion, which as we recently learned with Carlos Correa and the San Francisco Giants, isn’t just a formality.
With an AAV of $30.09M, the 2x All-Star will have the 6th largest guaranteed contract in MLB history trailing only Mookie Betts, Mike Trout, Aaron Judge, Francisco Lindor, and Fernando Tatis Jr’s deals.
Once the extension kicks in, Devers will be locked up through his age 37 season with Boston.
The contract is welcome news for the Red Sox faithful who recently booed owner John Henry at the Winter Classic between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Boston Bruins. Local media and fans alike made no attempt to hide their displeasure about the team’s lack of commitment to All-Star calibre players who had become fan favourites in recent years.
Whether the endless speculation, or the very public denouncement of the owner played any role in streamlining the negotiations remains to be seen. However it’s worth noting that up until this point, most of the reports out of Boston indicated that the two sides were “not close” in their valuations for a potential deal.
The Red Sox open the 2023 season at home vs. the Orioles on March 30th.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner
Photo: Ian D’Andrea. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.