Boston Red Sox pitchers and catchers are required to report at spring training camp by Wednesday, with position players following five days after that. On Monday, a longtime ESPN baseball insider raised Red Sox hopes that one of those position players reporting on Feb. 17 will be Alex Bregman.
Bregman remains as the final “big name” free agent still unsigned. According to media reports, Bregman has so far refused to settle for a contract of less than the six years and roughly $200 million his was said to have been seeking — and apparently still is. But according to ESPN MLB expert Buster Olney, Bregman may be coming in from the cold before spring training starts, or shortly afterward.
Olney, in a spring training preview piece on ESPN.com, predicted that Bregman — who has played third base on two Houston Astros World Series-winning teams, in 2017 and 2022, as well as seven American League West Division pennant winners in his nine-year career — will “land with the Red Sox, Cubs or Tigers soon,” adding that, “sources in the Astros organization are skeptical he’ll return to Houston.”
But the Chicago North Siders are also apparently off the table. According to USA Today baseball columnist Bob Nightengale, “there’s no indication that the Cubs would be willing to offer more than a three-year contract.” Bregman is reported to have offers of at least four years on his plate from the Red Sox and Tigers.
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In Boston, Olney said, Bregman “could pepper the Green Monster while relearning the nuances of playing in the middle infield.” Bregman would very possibly be required to shift to second base with the Red Sox. That position is where the Red Sox have a need, while third base remains occupied by Rafael Devers, who is about to enter the second year of a 10-season, $313.5 million contract extension with Boston.
However, the Red Sox face competition from Detroit, where “the expensive signing of Bregman would be an all-in move” to put the Tigers in a “win-now” posture, according to Olney.
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