FORT MYERS, Fla. — On Tuesday morning, around 10:45 a.m., Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora met with the media for his first session of spring training.
Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow had just proclaimed, once again, that the team was in the market for a right-handed hitter.
But were they really? So often the Red Sox have pursued top free agents without actually closing the deal. Camp had begun, but Cora seemed optimistic an addition was coming.
“I think there’s a lot of things going on right now that it’s out of our control,” Cora said on Tuesday. “I think we have done a good job presenting our program and taking a step forward. But then after that, it takes two to tango, right? So, we’ll see what happens in the upcoming days, upcoming weeks. But, I think we’ve been very aggressive in certain situations. I won’t be surprised if we add something else.”
It didn’t take days or weeks. Almost exactly 36 hours after those comments, the Red Sox were in agreement with free-agent infielder Alex Bregman on a three-year, $120 million deal, according to The Athletic’s Chandler Rome. The deal includes opt-outs after the first two seasons.
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It marks a major victory for a Red Sox team that has been in dire need of more right-handed power, but one that had also been unwilling to block the future of its top infield prospects with a long-term deal for a free agent who turns 31 next month.
Bregman reportedly had been determined to find a deal that was no shorter than four years. The Detroit Tigers offered him a six-year, $171.5 million contract, a league source confirmed to The Athletic. The Red Sox were adamant about a shorter deal in hopes of keeping the door open in the infield for top prospects Kristian Campbell and Marcelo Mayer, ranked No. 9 and No. 28 in baseball, respectively, by The Athletic’s Keith Law.
Not only does the three-year deal do that, but the opt-outs could make the path clearer for both players in the long term.
Bregman won the first Gold Glove of his career last season at third base, but has said he’s willing to move to second base for the right fit. As of Tuesday, Cora said Rafael Devers was still his third baseman, but he has couched those remarks by saying they’ll talk to Devers about moving positions, if necessary.
It remains to be seen exactly how Devers and Bregman will fit together in the Red Sox’s infield. (Logan Riely / Getty Images)
The Red Sox have long taken an almost deferential approach to Devers, but on Tuesday, one day before the Bregman deal was complete, Breslow offered a more assertive tone.
“I think showing up early, working hard, committing himself to getting into great shape, to working on both sides of the ball is absolutely going to benefit (Devers), but I think ultimately he needs to be healthy, and needs to stay healthy,” Breslow said. “We’ve seen what a healthy Raffy Devers is capable of doing in the middle of a lineup. He carried us for weeks at a time. And we expect a great season out of him.”
In one scenario, the Red Sox leave Devers at third, with Trevor Story returning to shortstop after he missed much of last season following shoulder surgery. In that configuration, Bregman would take over at second, with Triston Casas remaining at first base. A combination of Story and Bregman up the middle would undoubtedly strengthen a team that ranked second in the majors in errors (115) last season while allowing the most unearned runs (95) in baseball. Campbell would either serve as a utility player and get more playing time in the outfield, or start the season in Triple A until the Red Sox need another extra player. Vaughn Grissom’s status at second remains in question, too, though he also has minor-league options remaining.
The other scenario has Bregman at third base, with Story at short, Campbell or Grissom at second base, Casas at first and Devers at designated hitter. The Red Sox still have Masataka Yoshida at DH, but Cora has hinted recently — perhaps with an eye toward this deal nearing completion — that they may need Yoshida to play some outfield this season. Yoshida, however, may miss the start of the regular season as he recovers from offseason shoulder surgery.
Regardless, the Red Sox are stronger with Bregman on the roster. And the lineup figures to benefit as well.
On the surface, Bregman’s numbers last season don’t stand out as a power threat, as he hit .260 with a .768 OPS, 118 OPS+ and 26 homers.
But Bregman’s pull-side swing should fit Fenway Park well. The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier dug into some numbers this offseason regarding right-handed hitters and found Bregman was among the better right-handed pull-side hitters in the league. His 40 pulled fly balls were tied for 14th among right-handed hitters in the majors, while his 6.3 percent pulled fly ball rate ranked in the 77th percentile. He should be able to use the Green Monster in left to make the most of those numbers. Speier also noted Bregman ranks first among players with at least 75 career plate appearances in Fenway Park history in OPS (1.240).
Utilizing his pull-side power is part of why Tyler O’Neill was so successful in his lone season in Boston, when he led the club with 31 homers in just 113 games before signing with Baltimore this winter. The Red Sox needed to replace some of O’Neill’s power from the right side and Bregman does that while also strengthening the infield defense and bringing a veteran presence to the clubhouse.
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Cora and Bregman have a lengthy relationship dating back to when Cora was the bench coach on the 2017 Houston Astros. Cora was subsequently suspended for a season for taking part in Houston’s sign-stealing scandal. Bregman has become known as a strong clubhouse leader in the wake of the scandal and Cora has spoken highly of Bregman all winter in hopes the team would add him.
Now those hopes have become reality.
Bregman’s contract carries a $40 million average annual value. That will push the Red Sox luxury-tax payroll to roughly $256 million, about $15 million over the threshold, if no additional moves are made. Red Sox CEO Sam Kennedy said earlier in the winter the Red Sox were willing to go past the $241 million CBT threshold and now they have.
On Tuesday, Breslow mentioned several times that the Red Sox had their sights set on a different kind of season this year.
“There’s no question that we’re more calibrated toward winning in 2025,” he said.
He likely had Bregman on his mind as he closed in on the biggest free-agent deal of his tenure in Boston.
(Top photo: Eric Canha / USA Today)
