Baseball Isn’t Boring
BIB on the Radio: Reacting To Sam Kennedy's Curious Alex Bregman Comment
15 Feb 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Yeah, there should be some passion.
This doesn't have to be boring, boring, boring. Hey, one thing the game needs is more people like you, you, you. Do I, bro? Man, run around tight hand. It's Mookie Betts.
It's Daniel Bard. It's Steve Aoki. Here's Saul Tlamacchia. This is Brock Holt. Hey, this is John Lester. Baseball. Baseball. Baseball isn't boring.
Welcome to Baseball Isn't Boring. Here's your host, Rob Bradford. Baseball isn't boring with Bradford on WEI.
Yeah, we're so grateful to Alex Bregman and what he meant to us. But look, in the end, when you have choices the way he did, you work really hard to be in a position to become a free agent and to perform at that level. He chose a different path, and we wish him well. And looking forward to seeing him at the end of the season at Fenway.
The no trade plus thing. Is that an organizational policy that you don't give out full or partial no trades?
Oh, look, if Alex Bregman wanted to be here, ultimately he'd be here.
Yikes. Yikes. This is the Baseballs and Boring Show. I'm Rob Bradford live from Fenway Park. Oh, Lee County. Jet Blue. Jet Blue Park.
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Chapter 2: What comment did Sam Kennedy make about Alex Bregman?
At the spring training facility of the Red Sox up in the broadcast booth in Gordo of the Play Tessie podcast. is back at the baseballs and boring studios in Brighton and Gordo. I'm a little bit behind the scenes. You texted me, said, there's no way he said that. It's a, it's a crazy quote. It's a crazy quote. I mean, now that I hear it,
I feel like that is something – and we've talked about that dynamic on the bench, how there's always usually something that takes – to take away. A couple that jumped to mind is the whole like, oh, you know, we screwed up the John Lester thing, the Pablo Sandoval body fat thing. There's been plenty of them, right? But that one was – Yeah, yeah. Thoughts? Thoughts, Gordo?
It felt like he was ready to say it. He was asked if they had an organizational policy against no trade clauses, and that was the answer to it. Isn't that weird?
It feels like he wanted to fit that in somewhere, and he didn't want to answer the question about if they're willing to hand out no trade clauses or not, and so he just fit in the line that he had ready to go, which is weird because there's no upside to saying that.
The obvious, and I don't know what any follow-ups were, but the obvious rebuttal to that, Gordo, is, well, yeah, but you think that it was fair to say that? That if you want to be here, that he'd be here when you offered him less money and a no-no trade clause? And more deferrals, too. It's an objectively worse offer. Yeah. Yes.
I mean, so it's kind of crazy to say, well, if you want to be here, it's one thing to do like the whole going way back, the mark to share a deal where I think that they felt like they had made a competitive offer or, you know, or, you know, if, if they said Pete Alonzo, we're going to offer the same as the Baltimore Orioles and, and Hey, listen, if you want to be here, I'll be here.
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Chapter 3: How does the organizational policy on no-trade clauses affect player decisions?
Like that fits some places, right? In no world does it seem to fit here. And I would imagine Alex Bregman is sitting there saying, what are you talking about? Because, Gordo, I'm going to be honest with you. I had one player say to me definitively he wanted to be here. He wanted to resign. So, yeah. I think we all thought that. That's not surprising to hear.
I think it's unfair to Bregman, to be honest with you, Rob. To put that on him, to say that he didn't want to be here, that to me is unfair when your offer was in no way, shape, or form on any level what the Cubs offered. And the Cubs are a good organization. It's not like he chose to go to the Pittsburgh Pirates and took the money. The Chicago Cubs are a good organization.
They're a historic organization. They're an organization on the rise, and they made a better offer than you did. So, yeah, to me, I think it's unfair to put that on. Yes, but if you want to weigh in on this or anything with the Red Sox, 617-779-7937. I should say anything with the great game of baseball as well, 617-779-7937.
Zach Coe would be happy to talk to you and get you in the queue, in line to talk the great game that we're talking about. But I think that, you know, they obviously stemmed. Tim Haley was asking about the no trade thing. And that's another thing that bugs me. I'm not surprised, I guess. But we all know what their policy is, right? Their policy is no no trade.
I had Zach Scott, who used to work for the Red Sox, on the Baseballs and Boarding podcast a few weeks ago. And he was talking about he lived through that life where, yes, there is this idea of a no trade clause policy.
flag in the ground but at the same time he said we get around that we get around that with Pedroia we get around that with Daisuke there's ways to get around that or at least attempts to get around it and ultimately Gordo what bugs me about this is that it's the very simplistic way of looking at it which is you knew that this guy that you were valuing more than anybody that
that you knew the way that you had to get them was in the world of free agency. You knew that that gets uncomfortable. You know how you know? Because the year before, even though it fell to you, the year before, you acquiesced and gave the opt-outs, something that you didn't want to do. But you knew that you had to do that to get the player.
So to get the player, you knew that you were going to have to do this, this no-trade thing. And by the way, Gordo, this isn't Xander Bogarts asking for a no-trade for an 11-year deal. It's a five-year deal. It's okay. It's okay. Am I wrong? No, you're not wrong.
And the whole organizational policy on no trade clauses to me in general and citing that as a reason why you fell short on Bregman, to me it doesn't make any sense. This isn't like some low-level employee citing a policy put in place by a company president to why they couldn't handle something for a client or whatnot.
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Chapter 4: What are the implications of Bregman's decision to join the Cubs?
If they sign Alex Bregman, do you believe that they were going to sign Ranger Suarez? No, of course not. That's why it happened so fast afterward. It was the pivot. Right, but that was the pivot, and then you still had to pivot away from that, and that's when we leave. Okay, you don't want to give up what you need to give up for Matt Shaw, and you don't have really any other options.
You land at Caleb Durbin, which as we said, good player and everything else, but not the skill set that you were looking for in terms of hitting the ball out of the park. There was no logical pivot off of Alex Bregman. And they knew they had to know that. It was almost like, well, we just assumed that we're going to get him. And wait, what? I thought he wanted to play here.
That's how it feels right now. Well, it just it feels like and when you see a quote like that from Sam Kennedy, it's like, well, if he wanted to be here, he'd be here. Maybe we have different definitions of what it takes to want to be in a place. But to me, like wanting to be in a place doesn't mean bending at every corner to make it happen.
To me, Sam Kennedy wants Alex Bregman at the Red Sox price. And that's not, to me, wanting to be a Boston Red Sox does not mean bending the knee everywhere to accommodate the Red Sox lowball offer, whatever it may be in a situation. In this case, I think he did want to be here, but... to give up a no-trade clause, to take less money, to take worse deferral clauses. It was asking a lot.
It was asking a lot of the guy, especially a guy who had only been here for one season. All right, let's go to the phones. Allison in Cambridge, always good to talk to you. How are you, Allison? Welcome to the first baseball as an important show of the season. Very exciting. How's it going, Allison?
I want to say that it's so nice to have a Sunday morning baseball show. It's been a long time. It's old school. Old school. Old school, but new school. So the first thing that occurred to me was with what happened with the offseason and not getting Alex Bregman or Pete Alonzo is that I think we're going to go back to having Alex Cora have to be the leader of the team again.
I mean, that's what happened first when we lost Xander. And then Alex Bregman really helped Alex Cora out. I mean, maybe Roman Anthony. That's a lot to ask of him. Maybe somebody else. But for the beginning, it's going to be Alex Cora again. There is going to be so much on his plate. It also seems like this team is going to be a lot of platooning. And I'm not sure.
The only way this works is if our defense is impeccable. Is our defense going to be impeccable with the people they brought in? I don't think so. And there's a lot of moving people around. And the thing that just kills me, we should have Pete Alonzo and Alex Bregman, that we should have them on a few years, at least five years.
Why can't we have people who are great leaders and great players and give you what you need in all that way? and that we can love them. I mean, this way of just bringing in somebody like Kyle Schreiber for one year, Bill Love for one year, Alex Bregman, as it turned out, for one year. This is not right. This is not fair.
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Chapter 5: How does the Red Sox roster compare to last year's team?
I wish I had sound of that. This probably isn't loud enough. Maybe I should get sound of the snow. Yeah, well, I don't know. I don't have to tell you. Listen, I can only put you in a position to succeed. So, speaking of succeeding, great start, great show, great calls. Keep them coming. 617-779-7937. Baseball isn't boring with Brad Foe on WEI. All right, let's go. Let's go.
Gordo, what do you got? McFarlane! I see. That was an open-ended question, and you nailed it. I was like, does he want the McFarlane right now? And I was like, I think he wants the McFarlane. McFarlane! Your instincts are so keyed. It's insane. It's so good. But also, I would have settled for the music that you want. Your Ace of Spades, your Motorhead, what you want.
I know that you're just all about the game, but you must have something. Something. Like a song? No. Yes. Like a song. Like, yes. Or a musical interlude. Yes. You want me to get behind the glass with Zach Coe at the break and get us an intro for next? By the way, the way you said that, I feel like you just gave Zach a nickname. His full name? Well, I'm Brad Foe. My dad's Dad Foe.
And that's Zach Coe. Did I put too much emphasis on the last name? You kind of did. You kind of did. Anyway, so there's a lot to talk about. We just had Sam Kennedy talking on the bench here at JetBlue Park, which that was the undeniable takeaway, right? That one line where he said, if Alex Bregman wanted to be here, he'd be here.
Yeah, he said some other stuff, like he believes in what Breslau's doing, communication with Bregman's a two-way street, whatever. But that's the haymaker quote of the day, probably of the whole spring, let's be honest. Well, other than Peyton Tolley, yeah. That's true. Okay, but yeah, Tolley is the opposite end of the spectrum. That's another poll we should put up.
And by the way, if you could go to the EEI Twitter X account, and we put up a couple polls. I love that, this one. Which do you like better, the crack of the bat or the pop of the mitt? So good. Yeah, good poll. Good poll. What do we got here? We got for our results so far, I will tell you, one second. It's a great poll. And here it is. Wow. Crack of the bat running away. 81%. Whoa. Yeah.
Whoa.
But the other poll we put up earlier, is the Sox roster better than it was 365 days ago? Ooh, 52 to 48 right now. 52%. Yes. Yes. Are you surprised by that? Rob, I'm now realizing, I don't know if you meant it like this or not, but compared to 365 days ago, did you mean to compare it to when the roster had Devers? Yes. Okay. I think it's a much clearer answer.
I'm surprised that over 50% say that this roster is better than the one that had Devers and Bregman on it. Yeah, I think, yeah. Well, think about this, though. Roman Anthony not making the team. Marcelo Meyer not making the team. Christian Campbell, remember how tough a beginning of spring training he had last year? Yeah. So, yeah, there was a lot to pick through there.
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Chapter 6: What challenges does the Red Sox face in the upcoming season?
We don't have a DH and that's an easy position to get power. By the end of the year, we will have that. I just don't see where that position on this team is. So what I was going to say before I totally lost my train of thought was, yes, you have this team, and we tried to define what this team is, but you make mention of this.
We can agree, Gordo, this is the toughest division in baseball right now on paper. Yeah. Right? Yes. Yes. So... That's another part of this equation, man. You can talk about how maybe they're slightly better or slightly worse. Well, these other teams have gotten better. Toronto, the Yankees, the Orioles don't ever sleep on the Rays. Like, these other teams have gotten better.
And we had cited that MLB story that said, war-wise, that they had the third-best offseason. And maybe – but this is the problem, though. Oh, man, as I'm saying this, I'm getting mad. Because this is the problem. Because an organization can go through that exercise –
and be like, oh, well, look, our war says that we got better, and this fits here, and this fits there, and all the analytics line up and suggest that we are improving here. Well, sometimes it's just, well, does that player fit perfectly for what you are? Because sometimes that player is going to be a flawed player, which you can pick apart. But does that player...
fit for what you need, and that might be in terms of hitting home runs, that might be in the clubhouse, whatever it is. Pete Alonzo was that player. Alex Breming was that player. So that's the frustrating thing when you're building a team. I could be a great GM, Gordo, is what I'm saying. Don't you think so? Of course I think so. Okay, thank you.
you hit it right on the head when you say you're building a team here, we're not building the highest war and doing it blindly. Like you have to, you have to have pieces that fit together, both on the field and personality wise off the field. And that's why when we're talking about what, what does this last Red Sox move need to be? It needs to be for a power hitter.
Cause that's, that's a deficiency on this team. Like we need a guy that's going to hit home runs to, to put it the way Craig, Craig Breslow put it earlier in the off season, several times. in the middle of the order to, to help the rest of the lineup flow. Like when you have a guy that, that is a power threat that can drive in all these runs, it makes the rest of the lineup work.
And when you look at the lineup, you just don't see that one guy in there. I lost them. You can't hear Bradfo?
No, I think the connection crapped out. But to your point, I think the offseason was supposed to be defined by adding certainty. You mentioned it. You know what you're getting with Pete Alonso. You know what you're getting with Alex Bregman. You no longer have that. It's a question mark in what you're getting from Caleb Durbin. It's a question mark in what you're getting from Marcelo Meyer.
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Chapter 7: How does the pitching depth impact the team's performance?
You can't.
You just don't.
No, but that's the problem.
Joe, not to interrupt you, but that's the problem also is that when you go in and you're also saying, which is another thing they said, we are going to get a guy who's going to pitch in the playoffs with the understanding that at the trade deadline, that is the hardest thing to get.
And especially when you want to get a guy with years of control who has that skill set, it's almost impossible to get Dylan Cease, Garrett Crochet, and last year, Joe Ryan. So you're right. Yeah. They weren't going to get him, but they should have known that they weren't going to get him.
But what really ticks me off is when you've got a guy like Bregman, you give him a $120 million contract for three years, and that's not good enough.
Well, hell with him. Let him walk.
Last year he played 114. Two years ago he played 94 or something. I mean, so what are you getting? There's no guarantee on these guys. Availability is the number one tool.
I do like availability. Thanks, Jack. Call back anytime. I look forward to your calls all through the season. There's a lot to pick through there, Gordo. I don't know. You're probably champing at the bit. Yeah, let's talk about his bat-to-ball thing real fast because I agree.
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