Red Sox are finalizing 11-year, $331million deal to keep Rafael Devers after losing Xander Bogaerts

Red Sox fans will rejoice when one of their brightest young stars has signed a commitment to stay in Boston for the time being.

Rafael Devers has agreed to an 11-year contract worth $331 million to stay with the Boston Red Sox, a person with knowledge of the deal told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the team had not announced the deal.

At $331 million, Devers signs the 11th-largest contract in all of sports and the sixth-richest deal in all of baseball.

Securing Devers, a two-time All-Star third baseman, was an important move for the Red Sox and their anxious fans after All-Star shortstop Xander Bogaerts, slugger JD Martinez and pitcher Nathan Eovaldi departed in free agency.

The 26-year-old Devers reached the new deal a day after he and the team agreed to a $17.5 million, one-year deal to avoid arbitration in his final season under club control.

He joined the Red Sox in 2017 and won the World Series with the team in 2018 in six games over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Devers’ 11-year contract is the longest commitment this offseason between the Red Sox and Director of Baseball Chaim Bloom, replacing the five-year, $90 million contract signed by Japanese star Masataka Yoshida.

Devers was the AL All-Star starting third baseman in each of the past two years. In 141 games last season, he hit .295 with 42 doubles, 27 home runs and 88 RBIs.

The Red Sox are trying to bounce back from a 2022 season in which they finished 78-84, last in the ultra-competitive AL East. A year earlier, they had won 92 games and reached the American League Championship Series.

This signing is a step in the right direction for Bloom, who had alienated himself among the fans in Boston after losing or trading several key pieces of the franchise, including All-Star Mookie Betts.