Red Sox Linked To Rival Slugger Ahead Of Pivotal Offseason

The Red Sox need an injection of right-handed power into their lineup.

Boston is also in desperate need of frontline starting pitching, relief arms and upgraded defense, but let’s try to fix one thing at a time. It’s too much of a headache to figure out their entire offseason right now.

Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer and Kyle Teel are well on their way to Boston, but something that has largely been brushed aside due to the excitement of their impending arrivals is that they’re all lefties. Rafael Devers also bats from that side of the plate, as do Triston Casas and Jarren Duran and Wilyer Abreu and Masataka Yoshida.

Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow has to squeeze in at least a few right-handed options.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic is hardly the first person to discuss how quickly it seems the Red Sox are going to run into an issue with all those lefties, but he might be the first person to float a certain name as someone who can help fix it.

Alex Bregman, anyone?

Rosenthal floated Bregman’s name as a possible target this offseason for Boston, also tossing Willy Adames’ name against the wall as he looked for a way to even out the order. Bregman’s arrival would cause a defensive issue, however, in which Rosenthal sees Devers moving to first base and Casas being shipped somewhere for controllable starting pitching.

Is that really the best idea?

Bregman is in his age-31 season, and although he’s historically mashed at Fenway Park (1.240 OPS), it doesn’t seem all that bright to throw a ton of eggs in that basket. Casas has the makings of a franchise cornerstone, and even if he doesn’t fit, the possible upgrades with his admittedly unlikely departure can be much better than Bregman. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. will be a free agent next offseason. Pete Alonso is ready to cash in.

Bregman is a great player, but throwing a ton of money in his direction fixes one roster issue only to create another.