Here's the trickle-down effect of Bregman's deal with Red Sox
Will Leitch
@williamfleitchAt last, the wait is over. Just as Spring Training gets underway, Alex Bregman finally has a team: It¡¯s the Boston Red Sox, with whom he agreed to a three-year, $120 million contract late Wednesday night. (The contract has opt-outs after each of the first two years and reportedly includes significant deferred money.)
Bregman is the final big name to come off the free agent board, and this of course ends his tenure with the Astros, the team with which he won two World Series. It's big news, potentially the last real big news of the Hot Stove -- barring a major trade -- and there are all sorts of implications in the deal¡¯s wake.
Here are five immediate takeaways from Bregman finding a home.
The Red Sox are serious players in the AL East
Boston fans had been waiting a while for a big move that would get the Red Sox back to feeling like, you know, the Red Sox. While the team¡¯s Juan Soto pursuit did not bear fruit, it did swing a Winter Meetings trade with the White Sox for a potential ace in Garrett Crochet. And now here comes Bregman.
This might not necessarily be that move¡ªthose opt-outs could make this a very short stint in Boston indeed¡ªbut certainly it elevates the stakes for 2025. Bregman is without question the right-handed bat that the Sox have been desperately needing to balance out their lefty-heavy lineup, and he famously hits fantastically at Fenway Park, with a .311/.458/.660 career slash line.
This move does raise more questions for the Sox: Does Bregman move to second base, and if so, will he have growing pains there? Or will Boston move Rafael Devers off the hot corner and entertain a trade of either Triston Casas or Masataka Yoshida?
Either way, the Red Sox look a lot better in 2025. Their fans have wanted to be able to say that for a while now.
The Cubs look ¡ maybe a little light?
Cubs fans were thrilled, and for good reason, when the team traded for Kyle Tucker in December. That¡¯s the move a team that wants to win a World Series right now makes; Tucker is, after all, a potential one-year rental before he hits free agency.
But since then, the Cubs haven¡¯t added like you might expect that team going all-in to do. Yes, they brought in a closer Ryan Pressley and a utility option in Jon Berti, but they also traded away Cody Bellinger for a light return.
The idea that they could reunite Bregman with Tucker and Pressley was an exciting one, and one that would have cemented their status as the NL Central favorite. They¡¯re still probably the likeliest team to win the division, but they haven¡¯t given themselves much margin for error. The 2025 Cubs are now relying a lot on rookie Matt Shaw at third, and their offense sure seems to be a bat (or even two) short. They may well still win the NL Central. But if they fall short, they may rue missing out on Bregman.
The Cardinals¡¯ options for Nolan Arenado are dwindling
The Red Sox were one of five teams Arenado said he would waive his no-trade clause to go to, and they seemed like a logical fit if they were to miss out on Bregman. But they didn¡¯t miss out on Bregman. Now the Cardinals -- who aren¡¯t going to trade Arenado to the Cubs even if he would waive the no-trade clause for them, which he hasn¡¯t -- are once again trying to find some place to send their future Hall of Famer.
The Tigers could be a possibility, and MLB.com¡¯s John Denton reported Wednesday that the Yankees had ¡°reappeared¡± as a potential destination for Arenado. But the Cardinals have been paralyzed all offseason by their inability to trade Arenado, and the Red Sox signing Bregman complicates their quest further. And now that pitchers and catchers are reporting ¡ they are running out of time.
The Tigers may have missed an opportunity
A rumored reunion between Bregman and his former Astros manager A.J. Hinch made sense on multiple levels. Most importantly, the Tigers really did need a veteran bat like Bregman¡¯s for their lineup. The Tigers offered Bregman six years and $171.5 million, per MLB.com¡¯s Mark Feinsand, but the average annual value apparently wasn¡¯t enough to close the deal.
What does that mean? Even with the addition of Gleyber Torres and the return of Jack Flaherty, the Tigers look like they are still part of a tightly bunched pack of AL Central contenders, along with the Guardians, Royals and Twins.
Signing Bregman could have made Detroit the team to beat and further established it as a burgeoning force in the AL. Now the picture is a little cloudier.
The AL East race will be intense
Is there a division that has higher stakes for every team, top to bottom, than the AL East? The Yankees lost Soto but brought in Max Fried, Devin Williams, Paul Goldschmidt and Bellinger. Plus, they¡¯re the Yankees: They always are desperate to win. The Orioles have stockpiled a lot of young talent, but after getting swept out of the playoffs in two straight years, patience in Baltimore is starting to wane. The Rays just had their first losing season since 2017 but have lots of talent playing and will be playing this season in an unfamiliar environment. The Blue Jays, with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette in the last years of their contracts, have every incentive to win while they can.
And now the Red Sox have brought in one of the best free agents on the market, complementing a roster that looks ready to compete -- even before the organization¡¯s three top-12 prospects arrive in the Majors.
There are no rebuilding teams in this division, no teams taking a step back to build toward the future. The AL East is stacked, and every team would consider a losing season a huge disappointment. But someone¡¯s going to lose.