A lot has been made about the Alex Bregman signing, or lack thereof. So here’s my final thoughts on the situation.

We, mostly me, rag on Chris Ilitch constantly for being half the owner his father was. Year in and year out, Mike wanted nothing more than to win. And in order to do that, he constantly held a top payroll in the MLB. As a fan, you could connect with his incessant want for a championship and need to win. After he passed, rest in peace, and Chris took over, it became more of a business and source of revenue for Chris. You can’t blame him, he didn’t necessarily ask for the team but he was born into it. Such is life. Moment of silence for all those suffering from being born into a billionaire, multi-professional-sports-team-owning family.

Each offseason, fans like me beg Chris to make the winning, albeit expensive, moves. And each offseason, we’re left with fucking nothing. It’s a sad, sad cycle. This year was different though. 

AJ Hinch had the gritty Tigers buzzing last year, Chris recently went through a divorce, leading some to hope this may rejuvenate his want to win, and the opportunity to sign Alex Bregman, a perennial all-star, was present. The Bregman saga went on weirdly long, and most thought it was because Chris was up to his old, cheap tricks. 

But we need to give credit when credit’s due. Alex Bregman has now signed with the Boston Red Sox on a 3 year, $120 million deal. Reports, possibly from Chris’ team themselves to save face, came out that Detroit offered Breg 6 years, $171 million. A contract that hasn’t been very often seen under Chris’ leadership. So the end result wasn’t what we wanted it, but it wasn’t due to Ilitch. That much needs to be understood.

The final reports of offers were Astros for 6 years at $156 million, Tigers at 6 years for $171.5 million, Cubs at 4 years for $120 million, and finally the Red Sox at 3 years for $120 million.

Simply put, Bregman sucks. He was definitely afraid of Comerica Park, and instead, took a ballpark that will probably pad his stats quite well as a righty. Also, Ilitch hasn’t beaten the cheap allegations just yet. We still need a few more off-season’s of reckless spending. Old habits die hard.

Oh well on Bregman, though. The gritty Tigers didn’t need you anyways. As AJ Hinch said, “if you want to be a part of it, then come. If you don’t, then we’ll beat you.”