Free agent Alex Bregman has a new home, agreeing to a three-year, $120 million deal with the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday night, sources told ESPN’s Jesse Rogers.
The $40 million salary is $10 million-plus more per year than others were offering, sources said. The deal includes two opt outs.
Bregman was the biggest free agent remaining on the market and now lands with a Boston team that adds a big bat to go with a retooled pitching staff that acquired Garrett Crochet via trade and signed Walker Buehler via free agency.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora wanted Bregman badly, having previously coached him with the Houston Astros. And with the contract, the Red Sox make a big-money splash after guaranteeing only $52.3 million to free agents this winter, leading to significant frustration from their fan base.
Bregman, who previously played all nine seasons with the Astros, had received interest from several teams, with the Detroit Tigers, Toronto Blue Jays and Chicago Cubs most heavily linked to him, along with Boston and Houston.
After slumping mightily at the start of the 2024 season, Bregman’s bat began to come around in June and the rest of the Astros followed, ultimately jumping the Seattle Mariners to claim their seventh AL West title in eight years.
Bregman, who will turn 31 on March 30, finished the season with the Astros with a .260 batting average, 26 home runs and 75 RBIs in 145 games. Houston lost back-to-back AL Wild Card games to the red-hot Tigers.
The two-time All-Star had surgery following the season to remove a bone chip from his right elbow, and agent Scott Boras said Bregman, who has exclusively played third base since 2020, was willing to move to second base if needed.
The Red Sox already have star Rafael Devers at third, so where Bregman will play in the infield is a question that will need to be resolved.
Bregman, who is coming off a five-year, $100 million contract, slashed .275/.376/.488 with 157 home runs and 554 RBIs from 2017 to 2023, compiling 34.2 FanGraphs wins above replacement, eighth-most among all position players. Overall, he has a .272 career batting average with 191 home runs and 663 RBIs.
He rejected a one-year, $21.05 million qualifying offer by the Astros on Nov. 19.
Bregman’s ascension directly correlates with the Astros’ run of dominance, as his first full season came in 2017, when the franchise won its first championship — a title later stained by the sign-stealing scandal that led to the firing of general manager Jeff Luhnow and field manager A.J. Hinch.
The Astros went on to make seven consecutive appearances in the AL Championship Series and won another championship, during which Bregman established himself as one of the game’s best third basemen and became, along with Jose Altuve, one of the team’s core leaders.
Information from ESPN’s Jeff Passan and Alden Gonzalez was used in this report.