Don’t be surprised if we still see a big trade.
It’s fair to say that the Red Sox fanbase is divided over the Alex Bregman signing. That in and of itself is noteworthy as I honestly can’t remember the last time a major free agent acquisition of an All-Star still in his prime wasn’t met with near universal praise from Sox fans (although maybe the Trevor Story deal fits here, as many correctly saw that it portended the end of the Xander Bogaerts era). But his new teammates certainly sound excited to have Bregman in the fold. (Julian McWilliams, Boston Globe)
Two players in particular, though, might not be as pumped about Bregman’s arrival: Vaughn Grissom and Kristian Campbell, who will now have a tougher time breaking into the lineup if Bregman plays second base, as he is currently expected to do. With that as context, Grissom says the signing is giving him additional motivation. (Chris Cotillo, MassLive)
Of course there’s still a legitimate question of whether Alex Bregman can even play second base at the MLB level. But Lou Merloni, for one, thinks he’ll have an easy transition. (Mike Cole, NESN)
The outfielders likely won’t be impacted by Bregman (assuming this doesn’t push Masataka Yoshida back out onto the grass), which is why Jarren Duran is once again aiming to play all 162 games of the season. (Julian McWilliams, Boston Globe)
Given the positional crunch, it still seems extremely possible that the Red Sox make a significant trade before the season starts. Triston Casas, Masataka Yoshida, and David Hamilton all landed on this list of players who are the most likely to get traded. (Jayson Stark, The Athletic)
Moreover, the Bregman acquisition doesn’t necessarily close the door on the potential Nolan Arenado trade. (Tom Carroll, WEEI)
As it stands, the Bregman deal pushed the Sox to the second-most wins in the AL in FanGraph’s projections. But that doesn’t mean things will be easy for the Sox this year: the entire AL East is projected to be over .500. (Chad Jennings, The Athletic)