Alex Bregman joins team of his former favorite player and looks to get Red Sox back to postseason

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Alex Bregman couldn’t hold back the smile when he was asked who might have had the biggest impact on his decision to sign with the Boston Red Sox. “My favorite player Dustin Pedroia,” Bregman said of the club’s former second baseman and two-time World Series champion. “It was really cool to be able to talk to him as well as so many other former players here in Boston and current players on the team as well.” A day after Bregman’s $120 million, three-year contract was announced, he sat at a 25-minute news conference between his agent, Scott Boras, and Boston Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow. I could tell knowing John back with the Marlins and such, he had a real onus about ‘we need to do things differently than what we’ve done before.’ “This is a point and time where I believe Red Sox ownership was hungry for championship play and exhausted with what had happened the last five, six years.” Called the “perfect fit” by Breslow, the 30-year-old Bregman joined the Red Sox after winning two World Series titles and reaching the playoffs in eight consecutive seasons with Houston. “I’m a winning player and this is a winning organization.” Coming off an 81-81 season, the Red Sox acquired left-hander Garrett Crochet from the White Sox and signed fellow pitchers Walker Buehler, Patrick Sandoval, Aroldis Chapman and Justin Wilson during the offseason.