Red Sox sign Alex Bregman

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, Hitch said:

Cora said it once, and if you think it was for any other reason than trying to add value so they can dump him I think you're in for a surprise. Cortillo, McAdam's and Meloni all think this as well. 

Cora and Breslow clearly don't rate the guy. I don't blame them.

Also Bregman is not playing 2B so Massa can play. Nobody is playing anywhere just so Masaa can play. He's an afterthought, an annoyance. Not a part they're figuring stuff out around. 

It was said tongue in cheek.

Bregman plays 2B, so Devers won't pout. Nice losing strategy, folks.

[Old Red]

2 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

It was said tongue in cheek.

Bregman plays 2B, so Devers won't pout. Nice losing strategy, folks.

I thought the idea was to be strong up the middle. When is the last time the Red Sox have been strong up the middle? It’s been a revolving door at 2B pretty much since Petey left, and SS since Bogey left.

[mvp 78]

13 minutes ago, Old Red said:

I thought the idea was to be strong up the middle. When is the last time the Red Sox have been strong up the middle? It’s been a revolving door at 2B pretty much since Petey left, and SS since Bogey left.

He won the gold glove at 3B, not 2B. That's where he should play if they want to be better defensively. Moving a gold glove fielder off position because you have a very bad defensive player there already is silly season. 

[Old Red]

1 minute ago, mvp 78 said:

He won the gold glove at 3B, not 2B. That's where he should play if they want to be better defensively. Moving a gold glove fielder off position because you have a very bad defensive player there already is silly season. 

I agree 100%, but the point I’m trying to make to make, and have been trying to make the past few years that despite Cora talking at length about how the D has to improve especially the IF not much has really been done to fix the problem thus Raffy is still at 3B, and Casas  at 1B. Silly season is right, but still up to this point it stays status quo, which would be even worse now since Bregman is in town.

[mvp 78]

6 minutes ago, Old Red said:

I agree 100%, but the point I’m trying to make to make, and have been trying to make the past few years that despite Cora talking at length about how the D has to improve especially the IF not much has really been done to fix the problem thus Raffy is still at 3B, and Casas  at 1B. Silly season is right, but still up to this point it stays status quo, which would be even worse now since Bregman is in town.

They had nobody else to play 3B besides Devers before. When they brought in Turner to give Devers a break, he was awful. He was worse than Devers. There just hasn't been a solution, but that's not on Cora to figure out. It's been completely on the designers of the team (Bloom/Breslow).

“If they want you to cook the dinner, at least they ought to let you shop for some of the groceries.” - Bill Parcells

[moonslav59]

No to Bregman at 2B.

[Old Red]

53 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

They had nobody else to play 3B besides Devers before. When they brought in Turner to give Devers a break, he was awful. He was worse than Devers. There just hasn't been a solution, but that's not on Cora to figure out. It's been completely on the designers of the team (Bloom/Breslow).

“If they want you to cook the dinner, at least they ought to let you shop for some of the groceries.” - Bill Parcells

I’m not blaming Cora at all, but like I keep saying the Red Sox are just playing the hand they have dealt themselves, and up until now they have kept playing that same hand. Now they have a different hand to play, but how they play it may, or may not be the same way.

[Old Red]

49 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

No to Bregman at 2B.

If Bregman plays 2B it tells me one, or two things. They have no confidence in anyone else to play 2B full time, or Cora is to loyal to his players to move Raffy. Either, or, or both.

[notin]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

No to Bregman at 2B.

I think he will start the season there.  I also think he will not finish the season there... 

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, notin said:

I think he will start the season there.  I also think he will not finish the season there... 

He probably will start the year at 2B. One sign will be seeing or not seeing Devers practice or play some games at 1B. It would be hard to switch him over there, during the season. (To DH would be easier, but if he likes playing D, I'm thinking he'd prefer 1B to DH.)

I hope Cora can talk Devers into doing the right thing for the team. I remember ARod moving to 3B, when he was even a better defensive SS than Jeter, because it seemed like the right thing to do.

If Devers remains adamant about staying at 3B, it really puts the pressure on Cora.

Nobody knows how good or bad Bregman might be at 2B, but I'm pretty sure Campbell would be better on D. I even think a DHam-Romy platoon at 2B would play better D than Bregman. I'm thinking : Bregman > Grissom on D. Playing Bregman at 2B and Devers at 3B could make two positions weaker, and if Devers can be better than Casas on 1B D, maybe 3 positions get worse, just to keep Devers happy.

All I'm hearing down here in Houston is how they can replace Bregman's leadership skills, and how he helped so many Astros over the year. How he even learned Spanish, so he coudl talk to all the players on the team. Maybe, he can bring that much needed leadership to the Sox.

Gotta like the 1.250 career OPS at Fenway.

I'm liking the signing, more and more, but this whole playing 2B thing irks me, bigtime.

[Larry Cook]

On 2/13/2025 at 10:50 AM, FredLynn said:

Bregman is a huge upgrade defensively at 3B. Devers belongs at 1B/DH. Too bad if he doesn't like it.

Devers did not have surgery on his shoulders this offseason, if the shoulders are barking at him again in 2025 and Campbell has a great start in Worcester, devers may become a full time dh regardless of his desires!!! 

[moonslav59]

If Devers really likes playing D, let him learn 1B. The bar is set very low with Casas at 1B, now. He does not have to be even plain bad to be better than the horrific Casas on D.

He won't need to throw much at 1B, either, thereby saving his shoulder.

A 1B/DH pair-share with Casas might allow both to get 680+ PAs by playing 160 games, each, as they rest while DH'ing.

[jad]

7 hours ago, Old Red said:

... Boston history?🙈

I;m thinking Pumpsie Green and Louise Day Hicks for starters.

[Old Red]

1 hour ago, jad said:

I;m thinking Pumpsie Green and Louise Day Hicks for starters.

I know all about Pumpsie Green, but all the NOshida/GOshida talk has NOTHING to do with the Pumpsie Greene situation IMO, and I haven’t heard of anyone else thinking it does.

[notin]

7 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

He won the gold glove at 3B, not 2B. That's where he should play if they want to be better defensively. Moving a gold glove fielder off position because you have a very bad defensive player there already is silly season. 

Like moving a Gold Glove 1b in Kevin Youkilis back to 3b because you let go your future Hall of Fame third baseman with more Gold Gloves than King Midas in a sporting goods store in order to acquire some big name first baseman?  That kinda silly season?

Compared to what we’ve seen the Sox do, this is small potatoes.   And we’re trying to be the Dodgers, remember?  That team that had a Gold Glove 2b in CF last year while their DRS King in CF was manning 2b.  And their Gold Glove RF is playin SS…

[jad]

2 hours ago, Old Red said:

I know all about Pumpsie Green, but all the NOshida/GOshida talk has NOTHING to do with the Pumpsie Greene situation IMO, and I haven’t heard of anyone else thinking it does.

Well, I don't really care what anyone else thinks, and from what little I know of you, I don't imagine you do either!   Peace, brother.

[vjcsmoke]

On 2/12/2025 at 10:32 PM, Jasonbay44 said:

 

I really thought this was all faked interest. But they actually pulled the trigger. He's an instant upgrade on defense and a right handed bat. Too bad he has to play 2nd base and not his best position at 3rd base.

But it feels far too late to trade Casas at this point. Might as well see if the can bloom into a power bat. Then he might be worth even more next offseason.

So Devers 3rd, Bregman 2nd, and Casas 1st looks like our infield.

Story -might- play SS if the man of glass can can avoid getting hurt and missing 3/4 of the season yet again.

I'm hoping Marcelo Mayer is ready soon so we can have a real player at shortstop.

PS It sounds like Alex Cora might have been doing some hard pushing to get Bregman on the Sox.

Article: https://www.si.com/mlb/red-sox/boston-red-sox-news/red-sox-manager-alex-cora-wants-this-119-million-free-agent-badly-per-insider-jackson3

[Hitch]

9 hours ago, jad said:

Well, I don't really care what anyone else thinks...

Hell of an attitude to bring to a discussion board.

[Bellhorn04]

21 hours ago, notin said:

He drove in 30 teammates.

For some perspective, Refsnyder drove in 29. Dominic Smith drove in 28.  Romy Gonzalez drove in 23…

RBIs are a product of luck, no?

Shall we dig up those Hunter Renfroe posts, the ones where we chuckled at Red for making so much of the 96 RBIs in 2021 on, you guessed it, 31 HRs?

[Old Red]

27 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

RBIs are a product of luck, no?

Shall we dig up those Hunter Renfroe posts, the ones where we chuckled at Red for making so much of the 96 RBIs in 2021 on, you guessed it, 31 HRs?

Did I hear RBI talk?👍

[Bellhorn04]

1 minute ago, Old Red said:

Did I hear RBI talk?👍

Yeah, I was kind of surprised anyone wanted to open this delicious can of worms again, but here we are. 😄

[Bellhorn04]

19 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

They had nobody else to play 3B besides Devers before. When they brought in Turner to give Devers a break, he was awful. He was worse than Devers. There just hasn't been a solution, but that's not on Cora to figure out. It's been completely on the designers of the team (Bloom/Breslow).

“If they want you to cook the dinner, at least they ought to let you shop for some of the groceries.” - Bill Parcells

Based on our collection of choice rumors, Cora was kind of leading the charge to sign Bregman and also to have him move to 2B.  That would seem to make him one of the designers/shoppers in this case.

[Old Red]

12 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Yeah, I was kind of surprised anyone wanted to open this delicious can of worms again, but here we are. 😄

Someone said yesterday that TB was more important, but the way I look at it HR, and RBI shows up on the scoreboard as they happen. HR adds to that TB count.

[Old Red]

7 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Based on our collection of choice rumors, Cora was kind of leading the charge to sign Bregman and also to have him move to 2B.  That would seem to make him one of the designers/shoppers in this case.

I agree. Cora was most likely had input on Bregman, and if he plays 2B. Cora not only has input on that, but most likely Bregman did, and does too.

[Hugh2]

Looming at Bregman statcast page and I noticed how low he ranks on velocity for throwing.  He has a very weak arm, so his defense value at 3B is all about his range.

this makes me feel a little better about his move to 2nd even if he’d be better at 3rd than Devers.  I think Devers will look better there with a healthy Story along side him.  If Story goes down we should have better options this year than in years past.

[Hugh2]

To bat a runner in (besides oneself) someone must be on base.  Who gets on before you is 100% out of your hands. It’s blatantly obvious RBI is largely influenced by luck, or chance.

that doesn’t mean there are not certain players who have a knack for performing in the clutch. I’d take OPS with RISP and two outs over RBIs any day.

anyone wanna talk sample size with that now?

[notin]

1 hour ago, Bellhorn04 said:

RBIs are a product of luck, no?

Shall we dig up those Hunter Renfroe posts, the ones where we chuckled at Red for making so much of the 96 RBIs in 2021 on, you guessed it, 31 HRs?

We were talking about O’Neill’s RBI and Thats some factual data for those that prefer RBIs…

 

[Bellhorn04]

4 minutes ago, notin said:

RBIs are not dependent on any skill, but they are production.  And when you’re talking about team offensive, it’s often based on total runs scored. So RBIs can provide some prospective that OPS+ might not.

You’ve repeatedly mentioned losing O’Neill was this big loss in production they didn’t replace (before Bregman).   Well, there are two sides to that.

His massive successes vs LHP were offset by some rather mundane numbers vs RHP.  He did hit 31 HRs, but also only managed 61 RBIs.  His lost production might not be so difficult to replace.  

I don’t hate O’Neill and thought he was a good fit for Boston.  But that doesn’t mean he was vital to the success of this team, especially given their depth at his position…

 

I think we've made too much of the splits stuff.  O'Neill was 3rd on the team in offensive WAR, that was my main beef about losing and not replacing him.

[notin]

29 minutes ago, Old Red said:

Someone said yesterday that TB was more important, but the way I look at it HR, and RBI shows up on the scoreboard as they happen. HR adds to that TB count.

Total bases tell more about a hitter.  RBIs depend on other hitters.

 

And if you like RBIs, O’Neill should be a guy you want to move.

[Bellhorn04]

7 minutes ago, Hugh2 said:

To bat a runner in (besides oneself) someone must be on base.  Who gets on before you is 100% out of your hands. It’s blatantly obvious RBI is largely influenced by luck, or chance.

that doesn’t mean there are not certain players who have a knack for performing in the clutch. I’d take OPS with RISP and two outs over RBIs any day.

anyone wanna talk sample size with that now?

Yeah, I think all hits and all walks are good.

Grand slams by Red Sox hitters are beautiful things, but as you say they don't happen unless 3 guys get on base for you.