3 teams who could swipe Xander Bogaerts from Padres in free agency

1. Philadelphia Phillies

The Phillies have been heavily linked with Bogaerts. Per the New York Post’s Jon Heyman, Philly is “believed to have real interest” in the All-Star shortstop. Back in September, Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe reported the Phillies would be “eager suitors” if Bogaerts reached free agency. That’s one national reporter and one local report linking Bogaerts to the City of Brotherly Love.

Outside of that, though, the Phillies make perfect sense as a destination for Bogaerts. For starters, they have a huge hole at shortstop. While defensively sound, rookie Bryson Stott hit a lowly .234/.295/.358 with 49 RBI in 127 games during the regular season before going hitless in the World Series vs Houston.

Bogaerts familiarity with president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski can’t be understated, either. It might be delusional to think Dombrowski would sign Bogaerts in an act of revenge after Boston fired him, but these executives have huge egos, and like we said, Bogaerts represents everything Philly needs.

While Bryce Harper will be out until June after undergoing Tommy John surgery, a core of Harper, Bogaerts, Kyle Schwarber and JT Realmuto, with role players Nick Castellanos, Rhys Hoskins and Alec Bohm would give Philly a championship-caliber lineup.

The Phillies beat San Diego in the NLCS. Signing Bogaerts from under Preller’s nose would be another ginormous gut punch.

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