At the beginning of the offseason, it seemed plausible that the Detroit Tigers would be the Boston Red Sox’s top challenger for Alex Bregman.

Last offseason, the Tigers offered Bregman six years, $171.5 million — the largets offer he had in terms of total dollars. However, as we’ve heard about the Chicago Cubs, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Toronto Blue Jays as threats for Bregman, it’s been radio silence on the Tigers’ end.

On Saturday, we received confirmation from a Detroit insider that to this point, the Tigers haven’t been involved in the slightest.

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Are the Tigers out of the mix for Bregman?

According to a report from Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press, the Tigers have not been engaged in Bregman’s market to this point in the winter, and there’s no indication that they will be anytime soon.

“The Detroit Tigers aren’t involved,” Petzold wrote. “At least not yet.”

“The Tigers haven’t shown any new movement, a person with knowledge of the situation told the Free Press on condition of anonymity because they’re not permitted to speak publicly. The interest from the Tigers remains lukewarm, just as it has all offseason, with eight weeks until the first game of spring training.”

Clearly, the Red Sox have bigger fish to fry, as Arizona, Chicago, and Toronto all seem to be stepping up their efforts. That may just be a sign that things are coming to a head relatively soon, but it doesn’t guarantee success for Boston by any means.

But it seemed as though most in the industry expected the Tigers to get involved again for Bregman, purely because after whiffing on him last year, they barely got any production from the left side of their infield this year.

Bregman is Boston’s best option at third base in free agency, but not their only option among currently available bats to man open infield spots. They’re reportedly considering free agent Bo Bichette to play second base, as well as potential trades for second baseman Ketel Marte and third baseman Isaac Paredes (per Alex Speier of The Boston Globe).

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