The Detroit Tigers aggressively pursued free agent third baseman Alex Bregman this offseason, but lost out to the Boston Red Sox, who landed the third baseman on a three-year, $120 million deal. Bregman revealed that he thought he was going to land somewhere else before he signed with the Red Sox.
“We thought we were going somewhere else the entire time,” Bregman said on Foul Territory, according to Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press. “And then in the last 30 minutes, we talked to Boston and the deal got done.”
That team in question was the Tigers. Instead, Detroit signed Gleyber Torres and Jack Flaherty this offseason and failed to land one of the bigger pieces this offseason in Bregman. The Red Sox seemingly came in at the last second.
“We thought we were going to be in Detroit the entire time,” Bregman said. “and then at the last second, Boston kind of came in.”
Many connected the dots between Bregman and Tigers manager AJ Hinch. It was a logical connection because Hinch managed Bregman when he came up with the Astros, and they won a World Series together in 2017.
“It’s a great relationship,” Bregman said of Hinch. “I think he’s an amazing manager, great guy. We talk all the time. We were talking all offseason.”
Ultimately, there are still many reasons for optimism with the Tigers heading into 2025. Adding Flaherty back into the rotation and a hitter like Torres to a lineup that has a lot of promising young players theoretically should help the Tigers build on a surprising playoff run from last season. It will be interesting to see how all of the pieces fit together both in the position player and pitching departments, but there is plenty of talent on the roster.
Unfortunately, they will not have Bregman there with them to anchor the lineup. Still, it will be interesting to see how the Tigers fare in the American League Central this season.
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