3 Boston Red Sox who won't make the Opening Day roster thanks to Alex Bregman

Craig Breslow and John Henry finally silenced the haters on Wednesday night, ponying up to land two-time All-Star third baseman Alex Bregman on a three-year, $120 million deal (which includes opt-outs in both 2025 and 2026). Bregman fit what the Boston Red Sox were looking for to a tee, a righty-hitting infielder capable of playing second base whose pull-happy swing appears tailor-made to bang doubles off the Green Monster. Some question marks still remain — in the bullpen and the outfield, specifically — but this was a massive get, both for Boston's odds of winning the AL East this season and as proof of concept that this front office and ownership group really were serious about building a contender.

Of course, while it's tremendous news for the Red Sox organization and their fans as a whole, not everyone is so thrilled about adding Bregman to the mix. With one more spot on the Opening Day roster accounted for, that's one less player who will break camp with the Major League team, and the four players below in particular are feeling the squeeze.

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3. UTIL Nick Sogard

As a switch hitter who could stand just about anywhere in the infield, Sogard's versatility would've been a candidate to either steal the second-base job outright or at least earn himself a spot on Boston's bench with a strong spring. Now, though, he's almost certainly headed back down to Triple-A, where he turned some heads in Worcester last season.

2. INF Vaughn Grissom

With Bregman seemingly locked in as Boston's starting second baseman, the question becomes: Who will serve as the team's fifth infielder, with Rafael Devers at third, Trevor Story at short and Triston Casas at first? Grissom was penciled in as an everyday player this time yesterday, but now he might be ticketed for the Minors given that he still has options remaining.

The Red Sox acquiring him as part of the return for Chris Sale indicates they believe in his upside, distant though it may seem at this point, and they'd probably rather give him consistent reps in Worcester rather than have him starting just once or twice a week in the Majors. Plus, the other candidate for this spot, Romy Gonzalez, is a more proven commodity at the MLB level and has greater defensive versatility.

1. INF/OF Kristian Campbell

This is very, very far from an indictment of Campbell, one of the best prospects in all of baseball and a guy who seems ticketed for stardom sooner rather than later. But while his ceiling is tantalizing, and his ability to also play the outfield could make him a better righty option off the bench than, say, Rob Refsnyder, why stick him on the bench rather than allow him to gain more experience at the Minor League level? Campbell has just over a year of professional experience, only 75 games of which have come above A-ball. He'll be far better off in the long run ironing out the kinks in his game at Triple-A for a little while, letting other bench pieces like Gonzalez and Refsnyder serve as lefty-mashers off the bench.