Sources: Bogaerts, Padres agree to $280M deal
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Jeff PassanESPN
SAN DIEGO — Shortstop Xander Bogaerts and the Padres agreed to an 11-year, $280 million contract late Wednesday, sources confirmed to ESPN, a monumental move that brings the longtime Boston Red Sox luminary to a team already laden with star talent.
The stunning deal, consummated as an especially active winter meetings came to a close, adds Bogaerts to a Padres team that already includes Juan Soto, Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. Boston, meanwhile, was left lamenting the loss of a homegrown talent who made his major league debut at 20 years old and leaves at 30 after opting out of the final three years of his contract.
Bogaerts won a pair of World Series and made four All-Star teams, including in 2022, when he hit .307/.377/.456 with 15 home runs and 73 RBIs in 150 games. The expectation is he will remain at shortstop, with Ha-Seong Kim — who took over at the position in 2022 when Tatis was injured and suspended for a positive performance-enhancing-drug test — moving to second base, incumbent second baseman Jake Cronenworth sliding over to first, Tatis shifting to right field and Soto going to left field.
The deal, which runs through Bogaerts’ age-40 season, capped a winter meetings during which teams signed 18 players for nearly $1.6 billion, including the New York Yankees locking up outfielder Aaron Judge for $360 million, the Philadelphia Phillies signing shortstop Trea Turner for $300 million and the Red Sox spending more than $105 million, between his salary and the posting fee to his former team in Japan, to add outfielder Masataka Yoshida.
Bogaerts entered the winter as one of the prizes of a strong free agent class. After making runs at Turner and Judge, the Padres pivoted to Bogaerts, spooked neither by the cost to sign him nor the domino effect his arrival might cause.
With the deal, the Padres’ payroll spikes to more than $250 million, a staggering number for a team with the 27th-ranked media market in the country.
Boston, which typically has among the largest payrolls in the game, declined to play anywhere near the financial realm to which the Padres were willing to go. On a day in which the Red Sox agreed to a deal with Yoshida as well as a two-year, $32 million pact with closer Kenley Jansen, they found themselves without another high-profile, popular player two years after trading outfielder Mookie Betts to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The signs that Bogaerts could leave Boston had percolated after he rejected a contract extension earlier this year. The opt-out in Bogaerts’ six-year, $120 million contract extension hung over the Red Sox like the sword of Damocles, threatening to take away another core member of the team that won the World Series in 2018 and made the American League Championship Series in 2021 before falling to last place in the AL East this year.
As Boston faltered, the Padres ascended with a series of moves bolder than the last. First, they signed Machado to a 10-year, $300 million free agent contract before the 2019 season. Two years later, they gave Tatis a 14-year, $340 million extension. And at the trade deadline this year, they dealt five prospects for Soto, who turned down a $440 million contract extension offer from his previous team, the Washington Nationals, and can reach free agency after the 2024 season.
Without Tatis, the Padres won 89 games and secured a wild-card berth, finishing 22 games back of the first-place Dodgers in the National League West. San Diego beat the 101-win New York Mets in the wild-card series, ousted the Dodgers in the division series and dropped the NL Championship Series to the Phillies, who lost the World Series to the Houston Astros.
The Padres last made the World Series in 1998, getting swept by the Yankees, and have yet to win a championship since their inception in 1969. Now the only major men’s professional sports team in San Diego, the Padres have entranced the city, capping season-ticket sales and regularly filling Petco Park as they fell just shy of 3 million attendees, the fifth-highest number in baseball behind the Dodgers, St. Louis Cardinals, Yankees and Atlanta Braves.
The amount the Padres were willing to spend to sign Bogaerts nevertheless stunned the baseball industry. While Machado can opt out of his contract after the 2023 season and the Padres are slated to shed nearly $60 million in payroll beyond him with the impending free agencies of pitchers Yu Darvish, Blake Snell, Josh Hader and Drew Pomeranz, the financial three-card monte in which they are engaging left rival executives questioning their long-term plan.
The Padres pay no mind to outside opinions. Moving Kim and his elite glovework at shortstop to second for Bogaerts, who scouts and defensive metrics agree is inferior defensively? No problem. Depleting their elite farm system for the final 2½ years of Soto’s club control? The price of building a championship-caliber team.
Bogaerts knows what World Series rings look like, nabbing a pair in his 10-year career, during which he has hit .292/.356/.458 with 156 home runs and 683 RBIs while playing at least 136 games in each of his eight full seasons. The ability to stay healthy proved a hallmark for Bogaerts, who signed with the Red Sox out of Aruba as a 16-year-old, rocketed to the major leagues and became a fixture in the lineup with a sweet right-handed swing oriented for contact and damage.
Now he will join an offense that, despite the star power, ranked 13th in the major leagues with 705 runs. The addition of Bogaerts and return of Tatis should supercharge it.
Boston, on the other hand, faces serious questions about its present and future.
The Red Sox could move second baseman Trevor Story to his natural position at shortstop, though the velocity on his throws, according to scouts, could hinder his effectiveness there a year after he signed a six-year, $140 million free agent deal. Boston also needs to figure out the future of star third baseman Rafael Devers, a 26-year-old who can hit free agency after the 2023 season and is expected to command over $300 million. The Red Sox and Devers remain far apart on extension talks, sources said.
MLB Network first reported the agreement between Bogaerts and the Padres.
Texas State officials have informed the Sun Belt Conference that they are expecting an offer from the Pac-12 in the near future, sources told ESPN.
The talks between Texas State and the Pac-12 have intensified in the last 24 hours, per ESPN sources, although a formal offer from the Pac-12 to Texas State has yet to be delivered.
A formal offer is anticipated in the near future, per sources, as Texas State is in talks to join the league for the 2026-27 school year.
It’d be the next step in the courtship, which may not formally conclude until Monday because of the process required. To formally accept an offer upon receipt, Texas State would need to call a board of regents meeting, which requires 72 hours of notice to convene, per state of Texas open meeting laws.
Pac-12 officials have also alerted the Sun Belt of the talks with Texas State, per sources. Texas State has been the heavy favorite to join the league for months.
That anticipation has increased this week because Texas State’s exit fee to join the Pac-12 for 2026 doubles from $5 million to $10 million on July 1. For formal board approval and to avoid the buyout, Texas State’s invitation would have to come late this week.
Texas State would become the league’s eighth football member, which the Pac-12 needs as a minimum to operate as an FBS conference. (There’d be nine overall, including Gonzaga.)
The Pac-12’s football membership for 2026 consists of Oregon State, Washington State, Boise State, San Diego State, Colorado State, Utah State and Fresno State. Gonzaga doesn’t sponsor football but also will be in the league.
Texas State is a school of 40,000 students that gives the Pac-12 a presence in the football-rich state of Texas. It joined the WAC in 2012 under coach Dennis Franchione and entered the Sun Belt a year later.
Texas State held a verbal offer in the fall to join the Mountain West but ultimately turned that down.
The Bobcats are coming off back-to-back bowl wins and an eight-win season under coach GJ Kinne.
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Eli Lederman
After a series of high-profile whiffs in the 2026 quarterback class, Oregon landed one of the cycle’s fastest-rising prospects on Wednesday with a commitment from three-star passer Bryson Beaver.
Beaver, a 6-foot-3 recruit from Murrieta, California, initially committed to Boise State on April 19. But amid fresh interest from a series of major Power 4 programs including Alabama, Ole Miss and Oregon, Beaver pulled his pledge from the Broncos and reopened his recruitment earlier this month on June 12. He took unofficial trips to Alabama and Ole Miss days later, and Beaver drew new offers from Auburn and LSU on Monday in the wake of a standout performance at the Elite 11 Finals — the nation’s premier high school passing camp — from June 17-19.
His commitment to the Ducks follows an official visit to Oregon this past weekend, closing a rapid, 13-day re-recruitment.
“The last few weeks have been a blessing-I’ve had some great conversations with amazing coaches from top programs, and I’m super thankful for the interest I’ve received,” Beaver wrote on social media.
Beaver joins Oregon as the 10th commit in the Ducks’ incoming recruiting class, and his pledge closes the program’s protracted pursuit of a 2026 quarterback in recent months.
Oregon appeared settled at the position in the cycle after four-star passer Jonas Williams (No. 155 overall) committed to the program last August. But Williams’ flip to USC six months later on Feb. 21 forced the Ducks to renew their efforts in the 2026 quarterback market this spring, setting the stage for several near-misses before Beaver’s commitment on Wednesday.
Oregon spent early spring engaged in a neck-and-neck battle with Georgia for No. 1 quarterback prospect Jared Curtis (No. 5 in the 2026 ESPN), who ultimately committed to the Bulldogs on May 5 following visits with both programs. On Tuesday, the Ducks finished second for a top quarterback once again, this time losing out on four-star BYU pledge Ryder Lyons (No. 49). Two-sport star Matt Ponatoski, who is expected to be selected in next month’s MLB draft, is another quarterback prospect the Ducks actively recruited in recent weeks.
Beaver, a strong-armed passer who threw for 3,214 yards and 33 touchdowns as a junior last fall, will arrive on campus next year alongside a pair of ESPN 300 pass catchers.
Five-star Kendre’ Harrison, ESPN’s No. 1 tight end in 2026, has been committed to Oregon since Nov. 2024. Wide receiver Messiah Hampton ( No. 193 overall) became the program’s most recent top-300 addition on offense earlier this month.
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