Alex Bregman's 'Terrible' Season Takes Some Heat Off Red Sox

Did the Boston Red Sox actually make the right call letting Alex Bregman walk?

May 31, 2026; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Chicago Cubs third baseman Alex Bregman (3) throws on the run against the St. Louis Cardinals during the first inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images | Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

The Boston Red Sox have had a terrible season so far. At this point, there's no reason to sugarcoat the fact. Boston has simply not performed up to expectations. The Red Sox came out of the gate slow and fired former manager Alex Cora and a handful coaches, but things haven't changed. Boston is missing two of its top players in Roman Anthony and Garrett Crochet and are nine games under .500 at 27-36.

Boston entered the season with a lot of negative buzz around the franchise because it didn't do enough to improve the offense in the offseason. The Red Sox acquired Willson Contreras, which was a great move. But, despite the fact that Boston publicly talked about how much it needed more power, it let Alex Bregman walk, made a "significantly" lower offer to Pete Alonso than the Baltimore Orioles, and didn't even make an offer to Kyle Schwarber, despite reported interest. Boston acquired Caleb Durbin to fill the hole at third base, but it was known that he didn't bring power with him. He clubbed 11 homers as a rookie last year.

Boston Should've Done More

Mar 2, 2026; Dunedin, Florida, USA; A detail view of Boston Red Sox hats and gloves during the first inning against the Boston Red Sox at TD Ballpark. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images | Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

Boston was ripped to shreds before the season because of the decisions for the offense it made in the offseason. It was rightfully so. Boston should've done more and missed the mark on the need for more power. Schwarber and Alonso have both been good this season and would've helped. Imagine if the club had Contreras at first base and either Schwarber or Alonso in the DH spot? We'd be talking about this team a lot differently.

While this is the case, not bringing back Bregman hasn't been a horrible look for the Red Sox so far. He's slashing .243/.327/.342 with a .669 OPS, five homers, 19 RBIs and nine doubles in 65 games played. Bregman has not been as good as he was last year in Boston and ripped his own season to shreds while saying that he has been "terrible."

"I’ve been terrible," Bregman said, as transcribed by ESPN's Jesse Rogers. "I need to play better. Offensively, it's been awful. I’ve failed many times in this game. I’ve struggled. I’ve started slow before, I’ve started fast before. When you’re struggling, there is only one way forward and that’s straight, head-on through it. It comes down to executing in the game. I haven’t executed all year. Runners in scoring position, I’ve been god-awful. I need to be better. If I’m better over the last how many games, we probably win the majority of them."

For all of the negatives around the Red Sox this season, letting Bregman walk actually hasn't been a major talking point because he has taken a step back in Chicago. Maybe the two sides just needed each other and now are worse off after the split.