We’ve talked about Alex Bregman’s forthcoming opt-out about as much as we’ve talked about his play on the field lately. Following last week’s report from Jeff Passan that Bregman is likely to opt-out of his contract at the end of the season, Sox CEO Sam Kennedy was asked about it during a radio appearance today and expressed surprise, saying that the team hasn’t discussed anything with Bregman beyond this season, but that “he wants to be here [and] we want him to be here.” So there you go: everyone loves it here in our fair Commonwealth.
And it’s not surprising that the Sox want Bregman to stick around since, in addition to putting up 3.4 bWAR so far this season, he’s apparently calling Carlos Narvaez in the middle of the night to talk about optimizing the Red Sox pitching staff. (Tim Healey, Boston Globe)
Of course any discussion of Alex Bregman’s future should include his age and recent injury history. Though with respect to the latter, it’s hard not to look around the rest of the league and feel like everyone is injured all the time. You could practically put together an All-Star team of players currently on the IL. (Chad Jennings, The Athletic)
And injuries helped Kyle Harrison eventually find his way up to Boston. It was “a long time coming,” says the pitcher, who has been refining his arsenal down in Worcester since being acquired in the Rafael Devers deal back on Fathers Day. (Chris Cotillo, MassLive)
And finally, the Yankees are back in town this weekend for another big late season series. One of the Yankees most famous and coolest fans, Spike Lee, spoke a little bit about the rivalry and being heckled by Red Sox fans at his home on Martha’s Vineyard. He didn’t mention me specifically, but 22 years ago I saw Spike on the street in Washington, DC and shouted “Yankees suck!” as I walked by. In retrospect, I wish I hadn’t done that, and instead just told him how freaking awesome Do The Right Thing is or something. But hey, that’s what the rivalry does to you. (Hayden Bird, Boston.com)
