Red Sox Most Improved Team, Survey Says — Even Before Alex Bregman Move

The Red Sox got a lot better late Wednesday night after a reported agreement with All-Star infielder Alex Bregman. That could be bad news for the rest of baseball.

Adding Bregman makes an already improved team even better. Boston bookended the offseason with two major moves, the first being the Garrett Crochet trade and now the Bregman move. Even without the latter, the rest of baseball thought Craig Breslow and the Red Sox front office did as much as anyone else in the game to make their team better.

The Athletic on Thursday published a spring training survey of 32 insiders in the game, a group that included executives, coaches and scouts. The Red Sox, according to that group, is the most improved team in baseball — and that was before reportedly reeling in Bregman.

Coincidentally, the Red Sox edged out the Yankees — who signed Max Fried while trading for Devin Williams and Cody Bellinger.

“(The Red Sox) young guys are legit,” one source told The Athletic. “They’re about to get into a really fun stretch.”

The deal for Crochet might be the most impactful move made in the league over the offseason, save for maybe Juan Soto’s megadeal with the Mets. As such, the survey also tabbed that blockbuster with the White Sox as the second-best of the offseason, right behind the trade sending Kyle Tucker to the Cubs. The one-year deal to sign Walker Buehler also got some votes for the best free agent bargain of the winter.

On top of all of that, the Red Sox also are getting credit for what’s coming. Roman Anthony was one of the top “phenoms to watch” this spring, right behind Roki Sasaki, a big-league-ready Japanese pitcher the Dodgers landed.

“That kid is going to be a flat-out star,” one person told The Athletic.

The future is quite bright in Boston.