“When I played there, I thought I’d be there forever. But as you get older, as you grow up, life changes. Decisions are made that are out of your control. In the end, the relationships that you build are what matters. There ain’t no looking back now, I’ll tell you that.”
Xander Bogarts to Pete Abraham Boston Globe
Sounds to me like Xander has no second thoughts about the monster contract he signed to play for the Pad’s. Nor should he. Go get yours son. Go get yours. You, me, everyone involved in the Xander discussion had one (okay two) people to lay the blame on as to why a three game interleague series in San Diego is getting this much attention. Xander Bogaerts is wearing the wrong color uniform. We have beaten this dead horse for as long as I can remember. But was I wrong ? Were we wrong ? could Chaim Bloom have been right ?
Nah
In his first 29 games as the Padres shortstop Xander was on fire. He batted
.308/.400/.514/.806. For those of you like me who were born in the last century allow me to translate 308/6/13 Not too shabby of a get off. Since then ? people have been wondering. In his last 14 games I know a small sample but work with me here people. Xanders numbers have fallen off Tom Brady’s cliff, .208/.323/.264/.587 … Again translation .204/0/3 , not exactly what you are getting paid to do if your name is Bogaerts - not by a long shot.
The Padres, for all their spending, are sitting almost at the bottom of the NL West at ( 20-24 ) 7 ½ games out, the Sox are at the bottom of the AL East at (24-20) 7 ½ games out. Now for Chaim Bloom this looks like a huge “I told you so” moment. For the rest of us a middle digit would be the answer to his childish take. Trust me he’s thinking it. But it is a small sample size. And on the season Xander is batting right around his normal 365 game averages. .291/.357/.458/.814 and that's where he will more likely than not end the season. As a team the Red Sox are batting .303/.370/.514/..853 at short. Again Bloom is chuckling when you compare price tags.
But here is the bottom line Bloom and John Henry should still be looking at - Fenway is empty. Sure they are averaging 31,111 a game but those fans don’t seem to be in the seats. Most weeknight games the park looks empty. Is it me or does it look like good sections are available? And that 31K is 7K short of a sell out. And those empty seats are not buying swag, beer and Fenway franks. True this town likes good baseball, but at these prices? Lets face it, it costs more to go to Fenway than it does to buy a ticket. I know people who have turned down free seats because of the in game costs. People will pay in this town for good baseball. They show up to see their superstars. While Bloom and Henry may look at these stats and see a W. Fenway, and Sox fans sure don’t. By the way San Diego is averaging 39K a game
As always you can follow / give me grief on Twitter @Tmurph207