Tigers executive says Detroit will ‘be just fine without Alex Bregman’ after signing with Red Sox
“We made a very compelling offer to Alex Bregman, but he chose to sign somewhere else. That’s fine.”
MORE ALEX BREGMAN
Following a lengthy sweepstakes involving multiple teams, free agent infielder Alex Bregman chose to sign with the Red Sox earlier this week.
Bregman’s three-year, $120 million contract agreement with Boston topped all other offers made by clubs such as the Detroit Tigers and Houston Astros. For example, the Tigers reportedly offered the 30-year-old a six-year, $171.5 million deal, according to Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press.
Detroit’s president of baseball operations Scott Harris commented on his team missing out on Bregman to the Red Sox on Friday.
“We want players who want to be here,” Harris said, via Petzold. “I say it a lot because I mean it. We want players who want to be Tigers. We made a very compelling offer to Alex Bregman, but he chose to sign somewhere else. That’s fine.”
As the reporting went over the last couple of months, Bregman was originally seeking a contract of at least five years. Boston was hesitant to commit to the infielder for that long, but he ultimately accepted a shorter deal worth significantly more money than other clubs in the bidding were willing to give.
Bregman’s annual average value with the Red Sox is $40 million, but he will actually make $31.7 million per year due to deferrals (the contract includes opt-outs after each season). Still, that number tops the Tigers’ reported offer.
“Heading into the entire process, we knew that … we were going to be able to run out a really good team with or without Alex Bregman,” Harris said. “… We’re going to be just fine without Alex Bregman, and we still have a clubhouse that just got to the postseason and beat a team with Alex Bregman, so it can clearly be done.”
Bregman’s former Astros manager, A.J. Hinch, who currently manages Detroit, could have helped the Tigers lure the player in. But in the end, money talked, and Boston certainly spoke.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora, who was Houston’s bench coach during the Astros’ World Series-winning season in 2017, may have factored into Bregman’s decision, too. Cora spoke highly of the infielder in recent months; he wasn’t shy about expressing his desire to coach Bregman again.
“Alex is a good player, man. He’s a complete player,” Cora said at MLB’s Winter Meetings in December. “He’s been on winning teams his whole career. Good defender. Offensively, he’s really good. He’s a guy a lot of people are talking about. I do believe he can impact a big league team, a championship-caliber team. He’s that type of player.”
The Red Sox’ signing of Bregman was the first time Boston inked a free agent position player since Adam Duvall in January 2023. This is a deal that could push the Red Sox into the playoffs for the first time in four years.
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