Addition of Bregman puts Red Sox firmly among AL elite

Even before Wednesday night, the Red Sox believed they could be a surprise team in the American League this season, finally ready to matter again in the AL East the way they used to. Now it¡¯s reported that they have surprised everybody -- starting with their own fans -- with the report that they¡¯re making a big deal certainly in the short run, for Alex Bregman.

Even if the career third baseman plays second for the Sox this season, he still fits the team, and what they think it can be, as well as his hitting, which has always fit Fenway Park even in a short sample: seven homers in 21 games, 16 extra-base hits and an OPS of 1.240 that ranks first in history among players with at least 75 plate appearances in the ballpark.

But more than that, as he approaches his 31st birthday at the end of March, Bregman is a career winner who is now joining a team that believes it is ready to start winning again after finishing last in the AL East in 2022 and ¡¯23, and only making it as far as 81-81 and third place last season. The Sox were two wins away from the World Series back in ¡¯21 before Bregman and the Astros jumped them over the last three games of the AL Championship Series, but that now seems like a distant memory in Red Sox Nation -- though not as distant as Boston's last World Series title in 2018, when it defeated the Astros along the way.

Bregman went to the ALCS seven straight times with the Astros until last October, when he and his teammates got bounced in the AL Wild Card Series by a Tigers team that was a big surprise of 2024. The Tigers are led, of course, by Bregman¡¯s old manager from Houston, A.J. Hinch. He clearly wanted a reunion with Bregman all through the free-agent winter as much as Red Sox manager Alex Cora, who was once a coach with the Astros.

Here is something Cora said at last December¡¯s Winter Meetings about Bregman, with the Sox manager making no secret of how much he wanted Bregman to come play for him:

¡°I always envision [Bregman] playing in the middle of the diamond, and those were conversations in ¡®17. He can adjust, and he has a baseball IQ to do that. ... He¡¯s a complete player. He¡¯s a player that¡¯s been on winning teams his whole career, and I do believe he can impact a big league team, a championship-caliber team. He¡¯s that type of player.¡±

Now Bregman is that type of player for Cora again. He won¡¯t just get 21 games at Fenway if he is blessed with good health, he will get 81. And the Red Sox, whose batting order was already loaded and who have already added starting pitchers like Garrett Crochet and Walker Buehler to the top of their starting rotation, get the chance to show they can not only move up again in their division, but be as good as they think they can be under one of the best managers in the sport.

Pete Alonso and Bregman were the two biggest names left on the market. Now Alonso has returned to the Mets on a short, front-loaded deal. Bregman essentially does the same with a deal valued at $40 million per year for three years with opt-outs after ¡¯25 and ¡¯26. It is reported that the Tigers, set up to make their own run in the AL Central, offered a six-year deal to Bregman worth around $171.5 million. Bregman chose the Red Sox instead, and Sox fans at this point don¡¯t much care where he plays in the infield. I¡¯ve pointed out here before that Bregman¡¯s real position is baseball player, even if his offensive numbers have dipped the past couple of seasons.

¡°[The Astros] always want the same thing: To get back to October and then get back to the World Series,¡± he told me last Spring Training.

The Red Sox very much want to get back to the World Series, too, after having already won more Series -- four over the past 20 years -- than anybody else in their sport. Put it this way: They didn¡¯t sign Bregman for $40 million a year because they¡¯re satisfied being closer to the bottom of their division than the top.

They have Jarren Duran, who had such a breakout season in ¡¯24, at the top of Cora¡¯s batting order. They have Rafael Devers as their star in the middle of it, and a streak of light named Ceddanne Rafaela at the bottom after his own breakout season playing both center field and shortstop last season. To round things out, though, they needed one more solid right-handed bat. They get that now with Bregman. Over his career, the Sox have seen more than enough of Bregman in the postseason. Now they get ready to play a full season with him.

Sox fans were very happy that the Sox made the deal they made for Crochet to be their ace. They were happy to get Buehler, who got the last three outs of the World Series for the Dodgers. But they still wanted more, and that included spending. Bregman is more.

In the week of pitchers and catchers, the Red Sox get a grinder and winner like him. And they get hope. You¡¯re always willing to pay big for that in sports.