OAKLAND -- Though it wasn’t the best weekend on the field for the Red Sox, it was a productive one off of it.The Sox and shortstop Xander Bogaerts finalized a six-year contract extension on Monday, a deal that will keep him in Boston through at least 2025.The agreement is for $120 million, according to sources. Including the $12 million Bogaerts is making this season, he will earn $132 million over the next seven years. There is a vesting option for 2026, the club said in its announcement.
A news conference has been scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET.This is big news, coming on the heels of the Red Sox signing Chris Sale to a five-year, $145 million deal at the end of spring Training. The team now has two cornerstone pieces from last year’s World Series-winning club secured for the long-term.Mookie Betts, the team’s best all-around player, will be eligible for free agency at the end of the 2020 season. The right fielder indicated recently that it is likely he will get to free agency before signing an extension.Bogaerts would have been a free agent at the end of this season. The right-handed hitter from Aruba has been with the Red Sox since Aug. 23, 2009, when he was signed as an international free agent.After bursting onto the scene late in the 2013 pennant race and helping guide the Sox to a World Series championship that year, Bogaerts has emerged into one of the best two-way shortstops in the game. He was also key to the Red Sox’s World Series-winning campaign in '18, notching career bests with 103 RBIs and an .883 OPS while hitting behind star slugger J.D. Martinez.The 26-year-old has posted a .283/.342/.429 slash line with 75 home runs and 387 RBIs across parts of seven MLB seasons. Bogaerts was an All-Star in 2016 and a two-time Silver Slugger Award winner.
Ian Browne /MLB.com
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