The Boston Red Sox felt an increased level of optimism at spring training as the organization welcomed newcomer Alex Bregman on Sunday.
Boston landed the two-time World Series champion on a three-year, $120 million agreement in free agency. Bregman’s right-handed bat and All-Star caliber status fit the biggest box left unchecked on the front office’s wish list until last week.
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Bregman’s arrival was something that Red Sox manager Alex Cora pulled for months ago, but now everyone else is feeling bright-eyed and bushy-tailed under the sunshine in Fort Myers, Fla., too.
“Right now, it feels great,” Red Sox president and CEO Sam Kennedy said Sunday, as seen on NESN. “We’re excited but we got a lot of work to do.”
Kennedy added: “The last couple of years, there was an incredible optimism in that clubhouse and we did not get there. Coming off the ’21 season, it’s hard to remember. We thought we were gonna be right there in the mix in 2022 and some injuries, and it hasn’t come together. But it’s not as if there wasn’t that desire or that effort to win the last couple of seasons.”
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It’s been four years since the Red Sox last secured a playoff appearance, making the last few seasons difficult for the fan base. Boston flirted with contention, even dipping its toe in the American League wild-card hunt this past season, but it wasn’t enough. Injuries, defensive shortcomings, and an overall lack of depth caught up with the franchise and anchored the clubhouse from the playoff picture.
Kennedy, in efforts with Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow, Cora and the rest of the front office/ownership group, vowed to flip the switch. And while it’s one thing to talk, Boston backed its words with actions.
The Red Sox invested in the Juan Soto sweepstakes, spending hours meeting with the then-free agent superstar and extended an offer reportedly in the $700 million ballpark. Boston also attacked the pitching market, trading four prospects for starter Garrett Crochet while also signing Walker Buehler, Patrick Sandoval and Aroldis Chapman.
That still left the need for a right-handed bat on the table, however. Kennedy and company weren’t content with ending the offseason as-is, despite the several improvements made to the team’s roster.
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“From that moment of mid-December through Wednesday night, there was not one day that John (Henry), Tom (Werner), Mike Gordon, myself, Theo (Epstein), Bres, AC, weren’t locked in on a phone call, a Zoom call, a WhatsApp chain, talking about Alex Bregman,” Kennedy said. “Seven days a week. Literally, every single day. … A very wise man once told me, ‘Something is worth what someone is willing to pay for it.'”
Boston opened up its wallets and put Bregman in a Red Sox uniform, but as Kennedy suggested, the job still isn’t finished. The team will continue to reconvene, get warmed up and undergo its spring training camp in preparation for Opening Day against the Texas Rangers, which is less than six weeks away.
Featured image via Thomas Shea/Imagn Images
