Red Sox's Alex Cora Says He Is 'Prepared To Bring Xander (Bogaerts) Back'

'The ball’s in his court right now.'

Scott Neville | Sep 23, 2022

Red Sox's Alex Cora Says He Is 'Prepared To Bring Xander (Bogaerts) Back' /

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Boston Red Sox

If you are in the camp of wanting shortstop Xander Bogaerts to play out the rest of his career with the Boston Red Sox, then manager Alex Cora's latest comments will inspire much-needed optimism.

“I do believe going into whatever situation comes up in the upcoming weeks or months, whatever, we’re going to be prepared to bring Xander back,” Cora told The Ringer's Brian Barrett on the "Off the Pike" podcast. “You know, obviously it takes two. Like I’ve always said, the ball’s in his court right now. He’s the one that has to decide whether he’s going to opt in or opt-out, right? And we know about his agent. I have a great relationship with Scott (Boras) and we’ll see what happens.”

Cora saying he is preparing as if Bogey will be back in a Red Sox uniform is encouraging it's more than just wishful thinking. Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom uttered similar comments, saying the 29-year-old is a guy "you want to have here hopefully for his whole career."

While Bogaerts' focus in the coming months will be to find a new deal, he'll first focus on claiming the first American League Batting Title of his career, with an added bonus of eliminating New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge from capturing an AL Triple Crown.

The unofficial captain of the Red Sox is hitting .314 with 38 doubles, 14 home runs, 68 RBIs and a .848 OPS in 140 games. It's being considered a down year, which tells you how talented Bogaerts truly is.

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Published Sep 23, 2022

SCOTT NEVILLE

Scott Neville covers the Boston Red Sox for Sports Illustrated's new page "Inside The Red Sox." Before starting "Inside The Red Sox", Neville attended Merrimack College, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Media with a minor in Marketing. Neville spent all four years with Merrimack's radio station WMCK, where he grew as a radio/podcast host and producer. His propensity for being in front of a microphone eventually expanded to film, where he produced multiple short films alongside his then-roommate and current co-worker Stephen Mottram. On a journey that began as a way to receive easy credits via film classes, he received a call from "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" star Charlie Day. Day advised him to make a feature-length film, which he completed his senior year. While writing the film, Neville completed an internship for United Way as part of their NFL Partnership Program. Neville ran the blog for a team of interns and hosted an internet show called "United Way's NFL Partnership Series" where he interviewed NFL alumni. After college Neville wrote for SB Nation's "Over The Monster," a Red Sox sister site of the flagship brand. His work would eventually lead him to a job as a content producer with NESN, where he would cover all sports. After developing as a writer with the top regional network in the world, he was given the opportunity to join the Sports Illustrated Media Group in his current endeavor as the publisher of "Inside The Red Sox." The successful launch and quick rise of "Inside The Red Sox" led to Neville joining the Baseball Essential ownership group, a national baseball site under SIMG. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottNeville46 Email: nevilles@merrimack.edu