The New $100M Man

Some great news in the world of sports today, as it was reported that Xander Bogaerts signed a 6-year extension with the Red Sox to the tune of $120M dollars.  Technically it's a 7-year deal that includes his original $12M salary from 2019, plus 6 years after this at $20M per season, for a total of $132M.

Xander has been my favorite active player for longer than five years now, and I was elated to hear that I'll be able to continue to cheer for him in a Red Sox uniform for the foreseeable future.  There were some rumors of Bogaerts being dealt in the off-season, and it's always a bummer to see your favorite home team player dealt away, so this comes as a relief to me as a fan.

Of course I'm biased, but in my humble opinion this was a great contract for both sides.  Xander becomes baseball's latest $100M man, making the kind of money that can set your family up for generations.  The Red Sox lock down one of the most reliable shortstops in the game, still young and coming off a career best year that culminated in his second World Series ring with the club.  With the way contracts are escalating, $20M per season doesn't seem awful now, and certainly looks good for the club a couple of seasons out from now.

What you won't read in the headlines but will see in the details is the fact that Xander has an opt-out clause after the 2022 season, at which point he'll be entering his age 30 season.  I hope it works out down the line that this deal still works for both sides and truly becomes a 6-year extension.  At the very least though, I know I'll get to watch my favorite player continue to play for my favorite team for the next four seasons counting this one.

To celebrate, and to work at least one actual card into tonight's post, here's a pretty significant Xander Bogaerts card that I'd yet to add to my cataloged collection proper, or show on the blog prior to today:

This is a...ready for this?...2013 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Chrome Top Prospects Silver Wave Refractor.  No, that is not an April Fool's joke, that's the name of the card.  I really don't know how anyone can keep track of this stuff these days, but I'm glad I have the many great sports card resources on the internet to take care of it for me.

I've stated many times before that I'm a huge fan of the "Wave Refractor" cards that are now quite prevalent across many different sets, sports, and even manufacturers.  This one would actually be considered a "pre-rookie card", as it was released earlier in the season in 2013, before Xander debuted as a late-season call-up.

I paid $19.50 for this card, after watching it and wavering back and forth for months.  That was way back in December of 2015, and well over three years later I'm still happy with the purchase.  It was one of the more expensive singles I'd ever picked up on COMC at the time, and is probably still in my top 10 to this day.

In the end I decided to shell out nearly twenty dollars for this card because it's not all that easy to find.  As you can see, there are just 25 of these floating around out there.  I don't recall having seen another surface on COMC in the time since I plucked this one.  In fact, at the time of this post I can find only one of the other 24 copies available; a Beckett graded copy with an asking price of $165 on eBay.  A solid addition to my Bogaerts collection, indeed!

Congratulations to Xander on his well-deserved success!  I am certainly one grateful fan that I'll be able to continue collecting new Bogaerts Red Sox cards for at least the next few years!