The Alex Bregman Signing Puts a Shot Of Life Back Into The Yankees-Red Sox Rivalry

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As you've seen by now, last night the Red Sox went out and signed Alex Bregman to a 3 year, $120M deal to bolster their lineup and greatly improve their infield defense. Jerry will give you the Boston insight here. Is it a bit of an overpay? No doubt, especially when you look at his declining numbers over the recent years. Since the juiced ball 2019 season came and went, he hasn't come close to an MVP caliber season. That being said, he's still an elite defender and a good bat who will give that clubhouse a legit leader. When they were discussing a 6+ year deal for Bregman I thought that'd only end in disaster. Three years is no blood and it may very well be a one year deal if he has a great year peppering the monster, opts out, and finds that long term deal he's been looking for. I came to grips that Bregman's offensive profile would have been a train wreck at Yankee Stadium, but at Fenway he'll thrive. Make no mistake, that guy is gonna give me nightmares in the middle of their lineup. 

Taking my undying hatred for the Boston Red Sox out of this, the Alex Bregman signing objectively puts a much needed shot of life into the arm of the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry. Three years in a row starting in 2022 the Sox refused to contend. Perplexing ownership and front office decisions one after another left the team in purgatory. The 2021 team was legitimately scary and a few wins away from the World Series. They wanted nothing to do with the team continuing that business and tore it all down. Extending Devers seemed like a last ditch effort to save the fanbase from fully revolting. Pitching was ignored for years, especially the bullpen. Now finally, they're addressing needs and came away with a great offseason. Again, none of this is good news for me, but if you're looking for Sox-Yanks games to mean something again, well you're in luck. The Yankees roster is very good, but not great. The starting pitching and bullpen are both set up to thrive. To counter that the lineup will absolutely have its struggles, with lulls that will make any diehard fan want to kill themselves. At this current moment in time one of DJ LeMahieu, Oswald Peraza, and Oswaldo Cabrera will be the Opening Day starting 3rd baseman. Nolan Arenado seems like a fairly reasonable plug in option to sure up defense and give them a league average bat, but the team has shown zero interest in that venture. That leaves you with the three I mentioned above, barring a stunning trade for Carlos Correa (I'd fucking love this). The Yankees are the better team at the moment because of the bullpen imo, but if guys like Roman Anthony and Kristian Campbell really produce that could swing things. 

One thing I need to note is how pathetic the front office of the Baltimore Orioles is. What are you guys doing? How do you have so much young offensive talent in both the majors and minors yet refuse to address any of your pitching? This is their starting rotation with Bradish and Wells sidelined. 

They have so many young pieces to trade for elite SP and they just refuse. New ownership was supposed to inject a ton of money into their front office, yet their top get was Tyler O'Neill? I think Boston leapfrogged them this offseason for sure. What a gigantic disappointment. Tough to be a bigger offseason loser in the AL East than the Blue Jays who seemingly finished 2nd in every free agent race, but the O's might have done it because of how much they lost and left on the table. 

We still have some time before Opening Day to see some additions, but as of now I think it's the Yankees and Red Sox fighting for the AL East title with everyone else at least a step behind.