Bregman signs with the Cubs

[Tedballgame]

The Sox had better sign Bichette or the off season is a disaster.

[Randy Red Sox]

2 minutes ago, Tedballgame said:

The Sox had better sign Bichette or the off season is a disaster.

No chance of that.  More likely to trade Early, Tolle, or Witherspoon for Donovan. BTW you beat me on this post by 1 minute.

[Jasonbay44]

f***ing pathetic. So they lose Devers and Bregman for nothing? Great job Henry and Breslow 

[Randy Red Sox]

1 minute ago, Jasonbay44 said:

f***ing pathetic. So they lose Devers and Bregman for nothing? Great job Henry and Breslow 

they didn't lose them for nothing.  JH just saved himself over 70 million and the park will still be full. The man is no fool.

[moonslav59]

18 minutes ago, Tedballgame said:

The Sox had better sign Bichette or the off season is a disaster.

I hope not.

[Randy Red Sox]

1 minute ago, moonslav59 said:

I hope not.

Yep just put Mayer at 3B and Romy/Hamilton platoon at 2B but they will trade one of top 3 SP prospects for Donovan.

[moonslav59]

Sign Suarez and trade an OF'er for a #2.

[urban cowboy]

Phew, that is a horrific over-pay that the cubs will soon regret.

[Randy Red Sox]

15 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Sign Suarez and trade an OF'er for a #2.

None of our OF will bring us a #2 without adding a prospect.  Even signing Suarez which I doubt they will do will be a significant downgrade at 3B given that he has a glove for no apparent reason. Probably a moot point anyway because I am fairly certain someone will outbid us on him. 

[UtahSox]

18 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Sign Suarez and trade an OF'er for a #2.

Just what we need……. leader of league at swing and miss in the zone. For a team that struck out 46000x w/ RISP. Better than Romy but damn this offseason has sucked. 

[Randy Red Sox]

8 minutes ago, urban cowboy said:

Phew, that is a horrific over-pay that the cubs will soon regret.

i agree. Glad we didn't offer that to a guy who is all about the $$

[harmony]

AB Part 2.

Alex Bregman and Adrian Beltre were 31-year-old third basemen who spent only one year in Boston before leaving town.

[moonslav59]

5 minutes ago, UtahSox said:

Just what we need……. leader of league at swing and miss in the zone. For a team that struck out 46000x w/ RISP. Better than Romy but damn this offseason has sucked. 

We need a HR hitter with an .800+ OPS to bat clean-up, and he's a RHB.

If we add a #2 SP'er we'll be fine

 

[vegasbob]

Signing Bregman for any 5 year deal would have been a mistake . Let him go  to the NL and pull the next quad muscle for a 70 game hiatus. 

Repeating myself, but the instructions from JH to Craig Breslow, are no multi-year signings until the next CBA is completed sometime in mid 2027. It will be a lost season and Henry doesn't want to be on the hook for some lost money.

[UtahSox]

16 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

We need a HR hitter with an .800+ OPS to bat clean-up, and he's a RHB.

If we add a #2 SP'er we'll be fine

 

No agree it’s better than Romy/DHam and no one else.
 

IMO unless the price for SP comes way down, I fear Beta Breslow will just start unloading all these young pieces to calm the masses. We know he has the inability to sign a free agent, so I guess the only way we can improve this roster is by trade how long till he runs through all of Chaim Bloom prospects. 

[UtahSox]

I keep coming back to this, because there are really only one or two explanations. 

1. Breslow is as smart as he thinks he is.

If that’s true, then he had to know exactly how the last 14 months were going to play out with the Devers–Bregman situation. None of this would be accidental. Anyone paying attention knew how fans would react to trading Devers for a bag of peanuts. But if you sign Bregman, and make it a one year $40 million contract you can get off of the whole thing . It created the optics needed to justify trading away a generational hitter with 7 to 8 years of control remaining. If that was the plan, then he executed his mandate perfectly:

“clear payroll, reset the books, we’ll sign a bunch of guys we ALREADY have 5 years of control over, nonetheless sign them to big extensions increase our AAV Payroll ……. so Sam Kennedy can get on the mic at fan fest, and tout how this ownership has spent $498 million.” Such a bunch of hogwash. 

2. Breslow isn’t as smart as he thinks he is.

In that case, none of this went according to plan—and it shows. It exposes how outclassed he is at building a culture, understanding emotional intelligence, selling a long-term vision, and convincing BOTH ownership and elite free agents that this organization knows where it’s headed. And I sure hope the media/fan. Don’t let them off the hook.

Either way, the result is the same. Nothing about this tenure has been inspiring. At best, it’s calculated austerity. At worst, it’s gross organizational malfeasance. And so far, it’s been beyond underwhelming.

[moonslav59]

23 minutes ago, UtahSox said:

No agree it’s better than Romy/DHam and no one else.
 

IMO unless the price for SP comes way down, I fear Beta Breslow will just start unloading all these young pieces to calm the masses. We know he has the inability to sign a free agent, so I guess the only way we can improve this roster is by trade how long till he runs through all of Chaim Bloom prospects. 

There is no evidence or trend that shows Brez is trading away even 20% of top prospects.

[Randy Red Sox]

56 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

We need a HR hitter with an .800+ OPS to bat clean-up, and he's a RHB.

If we add a #2 SP'er we'll be fine

 

he's also one of the worst fielding 3B in all of MLB but hey he has power even though he k's a ton but he will be much cheaper than our other so-called targets this offseason.  Still doubt very much we sign him. Bichette would be a far better signing as he is a much better player and fits our window age wise. God knows after dumping Devers and missing out on Bregman surely we could afford Bo.

I'm not fooling my self though. There is about a 2% chance of signing BO and no more than 20% chance IMO of signing Suarez either. I mean I've lost track of how many so-called targets the Sox have missed out on so far. In no particular order:

Alonso

Schwarber

Bregman

Marte

Palonco

Did I miss anyone??

[UtahSox]

Just now, moonslav59 said:

There is no evidence or trend that shows Brez is trading away even 20% of top prospects.

Perfect I knew you’d say that… then we aren’t getting a #2SP… so Suarez, Gray and Contreras in 2026 ALEast… 2024 season all over again. 

 

[UtahSox]

4 minutes ago, Randy Red Sox said:

he's also one of the worst fielding 3B in all of MLB but hey he has power even though he k's a ton but he will be much cheaper than our other so-called targets this offseason.  Still doubt very much we sign him. Bichette would be a far better signing as he is a much better player and fits our window age wise. God knows after dumping Devers and missing out on Bregman surely we could afford Bo.

I'm not fooling my self though. There is about a 2% chance of signing BO and no more than 20% chance IMO of signing Suarez either. I mean I've lost track of how many so-called targets the Sox have missed out on so far. In no particular order:

Alonso

Schwarber

Bregman

Marte

Palonco

Did I miss anyone??

Oh I’d press the bank account+ full heloc on the futures market that Bichette is NOT a Red Sox. Beta Breslow Vs DD that’s bringing a pillow to a gun fight.

[JoeBrady]

As someone that wanted AB, this looks like a significant overpay.

[Randy Red Sox]

8 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

There is no evidence or trend that shows Brez is trading away even 20% of top prospects.

worst thing is we don't even get a comp pick for letting Bregman walk. Well done CB.

[moonslav59]

Just now, UtahSox said:

Perfect I knew you’d say that… then we aren’t getting a #2SP… so Suarez, Gray and Contreras in 2026 ALEast… 2024 season all over again. 

 

I doubt we add a #2. Yes. I think they feel we don't need one.

They say they are not going to trade an Of'er. I'm not sure why they think that way. Not only do we have 4 FT OF'ers, we also have Campbell and even Masa who can play LF.

Maybe they believe Tolle, Early and the rookie bats will carry us.

I'm not upset at losing Breggie at that cost and length. I was over Alosno.

I do think we can find ways to make us better. I like a lot of what Brez has done, but I'm not sure he'll go as far as I want or as far as many others seem to want. I think they realize we need a bat and a 3Bman. Suarez seems to be the last man standing now. Overpaying for him shouldn't take 5 years, so maybe there is hope.

How many here really think Brez and JH should have outbid the Cubs for Breggie?

[moonslav59]

4 minutes ago, Randy Red Sox said:

worst thing is we don't even get a comp pick for letting Bregman walk. Well done CB.

I guess it would have been better to have not gotten Breggie, last winter, then, right?

[UtahSox]

1 minute ago, moonslav59 said:

I doubt we add a #2. Yes. I think they feel we don't need one.

They say they are not going to trade an Of'er. I'm not sure why they think that way. Not only do we have 4 FT OF'ers, we also have Campbell and even Masa who can play LF.

Maybe they believe Tolle, Early and the rookie bats will carry us.

I'm not upset at losing Breggie at that cost and length. I was over Alosno.

I do think we can find ways to make us better. I like a lot of what Brez has done, but I'm not sure he'll go as far as I want or as far as many others seem to want. I think they realize we need a bat and a 3Bman. Suarez seems to be the last man standing now. Overpaying for him shouldn't take 5 years, so maybe there is hope.

How many here really think Brez and JH should have outbid the Cubs for Breggie?

I think you had to sign AB… this is a massive/colossal mistake. 

[UtahSox]

Just now, UtahSox said:

I think you had to sign AB… this is a massive/colossal mistake. 

So you were all ok at 160, but the extra 3m per year that JH couldn’t part with, just pushed you over the top? These deals always end bad at tail end but he would have taken deferred. The Cubs were willing to make the deal than the Red Sox should’ve been. End of story.

[moonslav59]

3 minutes ago, UtahSox said:

I think you had to sign AB… this is a massive/colossal mistake. 

That's assuming JH would expand the budget, later on. $35M+ a year!?!?

No way.

That contract would have crippled the budget for 5 years. It's an either/or situation.

[moonslav59]

2 minutes ago, UtahSox said:

So you were all ok at 160, but the extra 3m per year that JH couldn’t part with, just pushed you over the top? These deals always end bad at tail end but he would have taken deferred. The Cubs were willing to make the deal than the Red Sox should’ve been. End of story.

When $160M was already an overpay, yes.

So, the Cubs counter with $180M/5, then you'd say pay more, then more, then more...

[Hitch]

My immediate reaction to this was two fold - 

1) I'm grateful we didn't give that contract out. 

2) Sox better do something.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

5 hours ago, UtahSox said:

I keep coming back to this, because there are really only one or two explanations. 

1. Breslow is as smart as he thinks he is.

If that’s true, then he had to know exactly how the last 14 months were going to play out with the Devers–Bregman situation. None of this would be accidental.

In the end, getting out of Devers' $300 million dollar contract only cost Boston one year of Bregman at $40 mil and a draft pick. A billionaire businessman loves that kind of savings, not to mention the tax avoidance.

Does anyone think it's really coincidental that the Interest Kings keep making offers for players that just fall short? 

Meanwhile, notice the clubs that are really all-in full throttle signing free agents with no opt outs. They clearly want those players as part of a winning culture core.

It's hard to shake the feeling that when the Red Sox give opt outs, they're counting on the guy to take the opt out so they don't have to pay him when he gets too expensive. And if the player is mediocre and opts in, at least they get to keep him at their numbers --

-- which still fill a jersey so they can field a team, play the games and fill the seats... that's all that matters in Beantown (that's "bean," as in fans taking yet another one in the noggin that keeps them dizzy in perpetual concussion protocol).