The Boston Red Sox left the 2025 Winter Meetings without adding Pete Alonso, Alex Bregman or Ketel Marte to boost their offense as many fans hoped. Bregman and Marte are still on the market, along with some other infield fits, but the Red Sox seemingly remain stuck in their low-spending ways.
Boston's tendency to sign reclamation project or lower-profile players and hope for a breakout is troublesome for a team that always talks big — just re-signing Bregman won't make the Red Sox into a World Series contender. Reuniting with Bregman could be even harder now that Boston lowballed Alonso and forfeited all its leverage.
The Tigers and Cubs are reportedly involved in Bregman's market, and the former team bested the Red Sox's offer to him last year in terms of money (total money, not average annual value) and time. Whiffing on Bregman would be a complete disaster, but it doesn't seem out of the question at this point, despite the claims that he's their No. 1 priority.
Boston would be left without an internal option at third base, which could force it into another trade with the St. Louis Cardinals. The Red Sox were linked to Nolan Arenado as a potential Bregman backup last season. The Cardinals are still trying to ship him out, but Arenado has a no trade clause on his contract (which he refused to waive for a trade to the Astros ), so they have to wait for the right suitor.
Red Sox must reunite with Alex Bregman to avoid this insanely hypocritical trade with Cardinals
The Red Sox already made an unexpected trade with former chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom's Cards this offseason. The acquisition of Sonny Gray was surprising in the moment, but Bloom knows the ins and outs of the Sox's farm system and could covet more of their players to help his second rebuild along.
Arenado would be a downgrade from Bregman in almost every metric. He's older, fresh off a down offensive season (.237/.289/.377 slash line, .666 OPS) and he doesn't hit for power with just 12 home runs on his stat sheet for 2025.
Arenado and Bregman are still very close defensively, and both posted three outs above average last season. Bregman's range is slightly better — he ranked in the 83rd percentile among third basemen while Arenado ranked in the 81st.
Settling for an Arenado trade should be out of the question for a Boston team that traded its best player away to accommodate Bregman just one season ago. The Red Sox also used Alonso's age as an excuse not to sign him — he's 31, and Arenado will be 35 in April — and an Arenado trade would simply be too hypocritical (subscription required).
Arenado hasn't been a top-tier player since 2022 and the Red Sox need to do better to perform in the American League East. At this point, missing on Bregman should be out of the question, regardless of cost.