Ownership can’t let Alex Bregman be a one-and-done Red Sox like Adrian Beltré in 2010
Fenway suits Bregman, and Bregman suits the Red Sox in ways that extend beyond his palpable value on the field.
It might not be an easy negotiation. It’s definitely not going to be cheap. It might even be a contract that brings some regret a few years down the road.
That’s all true, and yet none of it really matters.
The Red Sox cannot let Alex Bregman become the Adrian Beltré of this decade, a perfect fit (at third base, no less) who doesn’t stick around, a what-could-have-been one-and-done in Boston.
They need to get him signed, even if the terms sting a little, and even if the length of the deal brings pause.
Bregman, the rock-solid Astros star, left Houston after eight seasons, two World Series titles, and, uh, one noisy scandal, to sign a three-year, $120 million contract with the Red Sox in February.
But anyone who paid attention to the details — and the leverage Bregman and his agent, the renowned Scott Boras, secured — recognized that it was only a three-year, $120 million deal if Bregman wanted it to be.
The contract included opt-outs after this season as well as 2026. So if he proved to be a good fit with the Red Sox and produced at his usual reliable-to-excellent rate, he could go back on the market, and at the very least try to wring even better terms out of the Red Sox.
Well, you know what has happened. He’s in position to do some wringin’.
Save for a quadriceps injury that cost him 43 games from May 23 until his July 11 return, Bregman has been exactly what the Red Sox need on the field and off.
A Gold Glove winner for the first time last season, Bregman has played his usual stellar defense at third base, which has helped stabilize a Red Sox infield that was held hostage to some degree by current Giants invisible man Rafael Devers’s defensive shortcomings in recent seasons.
Bregman has a righthanded swing tailor-made for Fenway, and has mashed there to a .314/.423/.605 slash line in 222 career plate appearances, which is getting into Fred Lynn, This-Guy-Was-Born-To-Hit-Here territory. (Lynn slashed .347/.420/.601 in 1,833 plate appearances at Fenway, and this is where you say “He’d be in Cooperstown if he’d stayed here his whole career” and I nod in agreement.)
Yet Bregman has hit even better on the road in his first year with the Red Sox, with a .950 OPS and eight home runs, compared with .866 and four homers at Fenway. His three-run bomb as a pinch hitter in the eighth inning Sunday at Wrigley Field — which turned a tenuous 2-1 lead into a 5-1 advantage and a chance to exhale against a very talented Cubs team — ranks as one of the more memorable moments of a season that has stacked up more than a few highlights recently. (It should be noted that the homer came off former Red Sox Drew Pomeranz, who is the lefthanded reliever on the Wait, That Guy Is Still In The Majors? team.)
Fenway suits Bregman, and Bregman suits the Red Sox in ways that extend beyond his palpable value on the field. I’ll admit, I’ve always thought clubhouse leadership — particularly in how veteran players set an example for younger ones — is a bit exaggerated, and sometimes a lot exaggerated.
Young ballplayers do need to be shown the ropes, to learn the protocols and logistics and do’s and don’ts of being a big leaguer, but I also believe their character as human beings, for better or worse, is developed before they get that dream-come-true message that they’re headed to the big leagues.
But I’ll concede that the extremes do matter. I’m sure beyond a doubt that — to offer a specific example — Carl Everett poisoned the well with some young players on the 2000-01 Red Sox. They learned exactly how not to behave, and mimicked it.
And I have come to believe that a player such as Bregman — who makes a conscious effort to do everything right within the confines of a ballgame, who makes himself available and shares his knowledge with younger players, and who has the kind of experience, including 99 career playoff games, that demands respect — has great value beyond the numbers on his Baseball Reference page, even if the reputation stain from the Astros’ scandal never completely fades.
No, Bregman wasn’t chief baseball officer Craig Breslow’s most impactful pickup in the offseason. That designation belongs to ace Garrett Crochet, the main reason this team ought to be able to avoid prolonged losing streaks. The Red Sox haven’t had anyone like this since before Chris Sale turned into the poor guy on the “Operation” game board.
But Bregman makes for a heck of a runner-up. In many ways, he fills what has been missing from this team since Dustin Pedroia had to retire before his time.
He’s exactly what the Red Sox need now, and at 31 years old, he’s the perfect complement going forward as Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer develop into the franchise cornerstones.
Maybe it won’t be easy to lock him up. While we sometimes forget that Boras works for his clients and not vice versa, players that hire him aren’t looking to be someone’s bargain.
But it must be noted that Xander Bogaerts and Jason Varitek were among those who signed deals here despite Boras believing they could have received more money and/or years elsewhere.
Bregman and his family do seem to love Boston, and Fenway certainly has been friendly to him. The Red Sox blew it when they let Beltré — one of the finest third basemen of all time, a joy to watch, and a 2024 Baseball Hall of Fame inductee — get away 15 years ago.
They can’t make the same mistake with Bregman.
The guy made his name, and all that implies for better and worse, in Houston. But he was born to play in Boston. Pay him like you know it.
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