The Boston Red Sox 2022 season is officially in the books. It was certainly a disappointing season in Boston, and the focus will quickly shift to trying to turn this team into a playoff contender for next season. One of the first things the team has to figure out is deciding whether or not they will re-sign star shortstop Xander Bogaerts this offseason.

Bogaerts hasn't been shy in saying that he will opt out of his current deal with the Sox this offseason, and he was hopeful that he could sign an extension with Boston last offseason. That never happened, though, and it seemed to cast doubt on Bogaerts' future with the team.

There's a decent chance that the Red Sox poor season has changed their feelings on an extension for Bogaerts. After being coy on Bogaerts' future with the team, Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom stated that the front office will begin working on re-signing Bogaerts immediately, and that the Sox want to build around Bogaerts moving forward. That's a quite a change from where things were just a few months ago.

For the Red Sox and their fans, this is great news. The team's inability to extend Xander Bogaerts last offseason hung over them all throughout the season, and it seemed like neither side really wanted to split up from each other. Up until now, though, nobody in Boston had really stated the team's interest in bringing Bogaerts back.

Given how poorly Boston's season went, it's safe to assume there will be some sweeping changes this offseason. They have money to spend in free agency after largely sitting on the sidelines last offseason, and who's to say some of that money shouldn't go to Bogaerts? It didn't seem very likely Xander Bogaerts would stick around with the Sox past this season, but maybe the front office's desire to head to the table for negotiations will change things.