Sox Lose Bregman, Sign Suarez (1/21/26)

Talk about good news and bad news for Boston Red Sox fans. The bad news was the cheap Red Sox front office struck again as they were outbid on the services of Alex Bregman by the Chicago Cubs on January 14th. The Cubs offer was a 5 year, 175 million dollar contract with 70 million deferred and a full no trade clause. Why is that important? The Red Sox offered 5 years and 165 million but it wasn't the 10 million that Bregman told the Sox to piss off on. The Sox refused to give him a no-trade clause. Bregman saw the writing on the wall that if the Sox front office was willing to trade franchise icons Mookie Betts and Rafael Devers, then they were avoiding no-trade clauses to get out from bad contracts. Bregman now can make 175 million in Chicago and have no danger of being traded without his say so. This is a horrible look for the Red Sox who essentially started the downfall of Devers by signing Bregman last winter, and ultimately traded Devers because they had Bregman. Now they have neither of them and fans are very upset. The Sox also just set a precedent that they're only going to sign free agents they can potentially trade. Who the hell would want to sign here then? If the end-game is John Henry shedding as many long term contracts he can as MLB heads toward a Lockout in 2027, at least be honest about it.

                                                 Traded Devers for ultimately nothing

Then all of a sudden a ray of hope hit the fanbase today. Out of nowhere the Red Sox signed 30 year old left handed pitcher Ranger Suarez from the Philadelphia Phillies to a 5 year 130 million dollar contract. Suarez is essentially a long term replacement for Lucas Giolito as he went 12-8 with a 3.20 ERA in 26 starts last season. More importantly, he's 4-1 with a 1.48 ERA in the post-season. The kind of guy the Sox missed when they only had 3 starters remaining by the end of the season. He's had some injury issues in the past but he's coming off back to back 12-8 seasons including an all-star season in 2024. All of a sudden the Sox have a rotation that can match both the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees. He joins a group including Garrett Crochet, Johan Oviedo, Brayan Bello and Sonny Gray, which now looks a lot better than having to rely on Kyle Harrison, Kutter Crawford and the kids Peyton Tolle & Connelly Early. Still, having four guys for depth is nothing to sneeze at and that's going to come in handy if and when someone gets hurt or straight up sucks. If you're 1-5 is now Crochet, Suarez, Oviedo, Gray and Bello, I'll take that 5 times out of 5. 

                                                       Welcome to Boston

The other news is Bo Bichette signed with the New York Mets for 3 years and 126 million dollars and Kyle Tucker signed with....who else...the back to back world champion Los Angeles Dodgers for a whopping 4 year, 240 million dollar contract. 80 million a season for the 28 year old outfielder. Sox fans are very angry because there's essentially no all-stars left to sign and they're furious at the idea of having an potential infield of Triston Casas, Marcelo Mayer, an aging Trevor Story and Romy Gonzalez. With 5 guys in the outfield including Jarren Duran, Wilyer Abreu, Ceddanne Rafaela, Roman Anthony and Masataka Yoshida and Wilson Contreras strictly as a 1B or DH, they're clogged at certain positions and woefully inadequate in others. Still, there's another month before spring training and another move might be coming. At least the Sox improved their pitching & pitching depth, but scoring runs might be an issue.