If your first reaction to the staggering news that Xander Bogaerts had agreed to an 11-year, $280 million deal with the Padres was, “Well, that’s a crazy contract, the Red Sox never should have matched that,” you’re half-right and half a sucker.
It is a crazy contract in length if not average annual value, taking Bogaerts through his age-41 season, when there’s as much chance of him remaining at shortstop as there is of Don Orsillo winning the National League Cy Young Award this season.
But if you’re giving the Red Sox any credit whatsoever for not committing to that kind of deal, take your ridiculous carmine-colored blindfold off, because you’re missing the point.