Boston Red Sox third baseman Alex Bregman will be opting out of the final two years of his deal, per multiple reports.
Bregman, who turns 32 in March, was one of the marquee free agents this past offseason,
but struggled to land the long-term deal he was looking for. He ended up signing a three year, $120 million deal with the Red Sox with opt outs after each season right around the time camps opened.
There was $20 million per year deferred in the deal, which meant the overall value of the package was around $90 million rather than $120 million. That means that Bregman is giving up roughly $60 million — $30 million per year — in present day value to re-enter the market. Bregman missed some time due to injury but put up a 128 OPS+— his second highest in the last six seasons — while slashing .273/.360/.462.
Coming off a better offensive season than he put up in 2024, and with no draft pick compensation attached to him (since he received the Qualifying Offer, which a player can only be tagged with one, last offseason), Bregman opting out seemed like an inevitability. Third basemen do oftentimes find the free agent market to be more difficult to navigate, as Matt Chapman saw a couple of years ago, but Bregman seems likely to cash in.
It will be interesting to see how aggressive Boston is in trying to bring him back. They forfeited their second round pick as a result of signing him due to the QO, and then had drama in spring training when incumbent third baseman Rafael Devers pushed back on moving off of third base before ultimately agreeing to DH. Devers ended up getting traded to the San Francisco Giants in June.
