The San Diego Padres officially made their big splash of free agency to wrap up the Winter Meetings when they signed star shortstop Xander Bogaerts to a massive 11-year, $280 million deal. Once AJ Preller set his sights on Bogaerts, it became clear that the Padres offer was going to blow everyone else out of the water.
As it turns out, San Diego's general manager Preller had been a fan of Bogaerts' for quite some time, and you can even trace the beginning of his interest in Bogaerts all the way back to when Bogaerts was a young prospect and and Preller was still working for the Texas Rangers.
“Was there a reason, Preller asked, that Texas hadn’t scouted Bogaerts harder? Halabi replied that he thought a few of the Rangers’ own recent signings — Jurickson Profar, Hanser Alberto and Luis Sardinas — meant they were set on shortstops. ‘We can always use another shortstop, especially somebody of that caliber,' Preller recalled saying. ‘That was the first time I heard personally about Xander Bogaerts.'” – Dennis Lin, The Athletic
It's not surprising to see Preller, who was a former scout with the Rangers, be interested in Bogaerts, who was one of the highest rated prospects in the league back when he was on the rise. The Boston Red Sox managed to land Bogaerts, but after a ten season stint in Boston, Preller finally got his guy. And now Bogaerts will try to prove why Preller handed him a massive 11-year deal that shocked the rest of the MLB.
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