Though you may want him, the Red Sox do not need Alex Bregman

If there’s one thing that’s plenty crowded with moveable talent, it’s Boston’s infield. At the Major League level, this rings true, but when thinking about everything that Boston has waiting for them in the high majors — something that they’ve spent YEARS developing — I personally think it makes less sense than ever to go out and spend big on an aging player without even getting the chance to see what Boston’s homegrown talent can do in the majors.

While I completely understand the frustration with Boston’s lack of spending, disappointment should not play into decision-making this deeply. Alex Bregman is a good player, he really is! But honestly, anyone chasing him so hard and feeling desperate to get him in Boston is overcompensating for what’s been a few years of frustration. Last season, the Sox signed Tyler O’Neill, which was great! But they needed another piece. This year they lost him, and that really sucks. But this time, they don’t necessarily have to find a replacement for him AND an upgrade somewhere else to get back on track. Rather, they have plenty of options waiting in the wings who are looking to prove themselves and break into the Majors.

 Photo by Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images

While this process obviously takes time and could result in possibly some early frustration, I don’t understand the purpose of potentially blocking Kristian Campbell and/or Marcelo Mayer from the big leagues, a jump they’ve been waiting to make for a very long time, just for the point of proving that this front office will spend money. They can do this without giving a $150 million contract to a declining guy who further congests an already crowded infield. It just makes no sense to spend that kind of money on someone who would (probably) be your second third baseman and shortstop and just a temporary presence at second.

Instead, Boston could sign someone like Ha-Seong Kim, which would give them the right-hander who is successful against lefties that they’re seeking with O’Neill gone and in the Bregman chase. Now, Kim is currently injured after tearing his labrum in August and undergoing surgery in October, making his comeback scheduled to happen sometime between April and June. Obviously, this doesn’t bring any improvement to Boston’s Opening Day lineup, but it eventually brings the reinforcement they’ll need as competition starts to ramp up.

It also lets them test out some prospects early in the season while knowing they have a necessary fail-safe with Kim to return after the first couple of months — which is the approach that makes the most sense to me at this point. You’ve spent years waiting for these guys to make it to the big leagues, spent all last year dreaming about seeing them in action… what’s the point in making a bigger name acquisition now that you’ve got what you’ve been waiting years for? Obviously, you should always be looking to upgrade your lineup, be better than you were before, or better than you even are within a season. But I don’t think a five or six-year Bregman deal is going to age very well, and I’m not willing to take the risk of that for an upgrade that seems big in the meantime, but rather linear for the significant future.

Everyone has every right to be upset at the Red Sox for not spending much this offseason, especially as the Dodgers splash away on the West Coast in their own kiddie pool of fun. But the upgrades Boston has made have suited their needs, and just because they’re not big and flashy doesn’t mean they’re not some nice upgrades to a team that was on the verge of being something last year (until they forgot how to play baseball in Colorado). This team will be better than the past few years with what it is now, and another addition that doesn’t clog up the infield as much as Bregman would is an ideal piece that is more than doable in the last couple of months of free agency.