Alex Bregman's contract with Red Sox reminds Pirates fans what they'll never have

Just when we thought we were beginning to run out of ways to blast the Pittsburgh Pirates and their infuriating refusal to spend on team payroll, Alex Bregman and the Boston Red Sox came through with more fodder. Thanks, guys.

The Red Sox agreed to terms with the free agent slugger on a three-year, $120 million contract this week – a foreign concept to Pirates fans who have spent decades watching Bob Nutting pinch his pennies and hire inept front office personnel who clearly lost the essential threads of building winning teams along the way. Even with the unspecified amount of deferred money in Bregman's contract with Boston, it's safe to say that the Pirates would never make an offer that even remotely resembles this one – because they never have.

The largest contract in Pirates franchise history is the eight-year, $106.75 million extension signed by outfielder Bryan Reynolds in April 2023. Prior to that, the richest deal in franchise history was the eight-year, $70 million contract signed by third baseman Ke'Bryan Hayes in 2022. Yes, that means that in one year with the Red Sox, Bregman will make more than half of what Hayes will make in eight years with the Pirates.

Alex Bregman's contract with Red Sox reminds Pirates fans what they'll never have

Even the offers Bregman turned down – six years, $171.5 million from the Detroit Tigers and four years, $120 million from the Chicago Cubs – would be more than enough to make Nutting blush.

Annual values notwithstanding, this Pirates team hasn't signed a free agent to a multi-year contract since 2016, when they agreed to a three-year, $26 million deal with Ivan Nova. The Pirates handed out the largest free agent contract in franchise history just a year earlier, when they signed Francisco Liriano to a three-year, $39 million deal in 2015.

Even after general manager Ben Cherington promised more additions to the roster – no, Adam Frazier and Tommy Pham don't count – the Pirates' team payroll is still roughly $4 million less than it was last year, when it was already one of the lowest in the league. Buckle up for another last place finish in the National League Central, Pirates fans; spend Nutting, get Nutting.

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