Alex Bregman's deal with Boston is terrible news for the Orioles

Late Wednesday night, Chandler Rome of The Athletic reported that the Boston Red Sox have come to terms on a short-term contract with former Astros' All Star third baseman Alex Bregman. The contract is for 3 years and $120 million, reportedly with opt-outs after both the first and second years. Jeff Passan of ESPN reported that the $40 million annually was more than $10 million per year higher than any other offer Bregman had received.

This news comes on the heels of the essential Bob Nightengale suggesting late last week that Bregman was holding out for a long term deal. He'd previously been offered at least a 6-year deal from the Astros, and reports had suggested he'd gotten at least that kind of deal offered to him by the Tigers and Blue Jays.

Unfortunately for Orioles fans, Nightengale's report was not to be. It's possible that the Astros' offer had come off the table after the Kyle Tucker trade and the reports of those other two teams offering long term deals were nothing more than smoke, but we'll never know for sure.

Former Astros third baseman Alex Bregman is coming to torment the Orioles and the rest of the AL East in 2025

What we do know is that Bregman, coming off a Gold Glove award winning year and entering his age 31 season on a borderline Hall of Fame worthy career path, now stands in the way of the Orioles capturing an elusive AL East title.

Bregman makes the Red Sox lineup significantly deeper, and it'll be a big step forward for them as they look to right the ship in 2025. That team has been deeply challenged since they traded Mookie Betts a number of years ago but having signed Bregman and previously having acquired an ace in Garrett Crochet, the Sox look poised to make a serious run for the division title this year.

It'll be all the more difficult for the Orioles, who have still yet to address the hole left by Corbin Burnes atop the rotation. Entering 2025, Grayson Rodriguez and Zach Eflin will be the 1-2 combo in Baltimore. And while there are a lot of reasons to really like those guys, one has to wonder whether the tandem have the unique upside that someone like Burnes brought to the table. Kyle Bradish is still recovering from Tommy John surgery and could return in the second half, assuming his rehab goes smoothly. But that's not a real solution either.

Regardless of how the Orioles let things play out, we have to acknowledge that the season just got a bit more difficult from Baltimore's perspective. If there's any way to move that left field wall back to where it was in 2024, just for the nights where the Red Sox come to town, that would be ideal. Barring that, we'll just be on the lookout for a true breakout year from Jackson Holliday to make us feel better.