Baseball season is here. Pitchers and catchers report to spring training camps in Florida or Arizona Wednesday or Thursday for most teams. The Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers camps are already underway, because those two teams start their seasons early, playing each other in a two-game series March 18 and March 19 in Tokyo, Japan.
In fact, both the Cubs and Dodgers will play exhibition games in Japan as well, each facing two of Japan’s most popular clubs, the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants and Osaka-based Hanshin Tigers on March 15 and 16.
Back on the domestic front, the Boston Red Sox are following a normal schedule with pitchers and catchers reporting Wednesday — and the team’s manager Alex Cora and chief of baseball operations Craig Breslow meeting with the media in Fort Myers, Florida, today.
One All-Star Player Not Set to Start Spring Training
But even amidst the bustle of activity and perennial optimism that greets the start of spring training, as it does every season, one of the best players in baseball — one with two World Series rings and two All-Star selections to his name — will be watching from home. That player is one who has reportedly been high on the Red Sox list for the entire offseason. But on his first trip through the free agent market, this extremely desirable player has yet to sign with any team.
That player, of course, is former Houston Astros third-baseman Alex Bregman. The 30-year-old who was the Astros’ first-round draft pick, No. 2 overall, in 2015 reportedly entered the offseason seeking a contract of approximately $200 million over six years, after he rejected the $21.05 million qualifying offer from the Astros on November 19.
So far, no one has met Bregman’s reported requirements, but longtime ESPN baseball analyst Buster Olney said this week that Bregman was “likely to land with the Red Sox, Cubs or Tigers soon.” Presumably, Olney meant that Bregman and his agent Scott Boras will scale back their demands and accept a shorter-term deal.
The Red Sox, according to media reports, have a four-year deal ready for Bregman to sign, though dollar figures attached to those years have not been publicly revealed.
Cubs Expert: North Siders ‘Way In’ on Bregman Acquisition
But it seems that the Red Sox, and Tigers as well, may lose out to the Chicago Cubs who according to Windy City MLB analyst Bruce Levine are “way in” on their attempt to sign Bregman as the club — whose 2016 World Series win remains their only championship since 1908 — heads into 2025 in “win now” mode.
“You want to have both eyes on winning,” said Levine interviewed on Chicago sports talk radio station 670 The Score on Tuesday morning. “I think that’s a good premise. I think that is the message and we’re sitting here on what, February the 11th and there’s there’s plenty of time to add these veterans. I think they’re way in on Bregman. They’re just not going to be stupid about it and give a six or seven year contract because the greatest agent in baseball history wants that money.”
The Red Sox have yet to convey a “way in” level of commitment to add Bregman to their roster, even though Breslow has repeatedly said, as recently as last Friday, that the Red Sox organization is “still very much engaged in trying to bring in a right-handed hitter, obviously one that we think can be a difference-maker.”
In fact, according to reports in the Boston media, the Red Sox front office has an “internal divide” on the question of whether to sign Bregman.
“Manager Alex Cora and team president Sam Kennedy are known to be big proponents of Bregman,” wrote veteran Red Sox corespondent Sean McAdam. “Some members of the baseball operations staff, including chief baseball officer Craig Breslow, are more circumspect when it comes to the player.”
But if Levine’s assessment of the Cubs’ commitment is correct, the Red Sox will need to close that “divide” quickly or Bregman could end up in Tokyo with the Cubs opening the 2025 season a week early, and overseas.
