Alex Bregman to sign with Red Sox: Star third baseman agrees to three-year, $120 million deal, per report
Stalwart third baseman Alex Bregman is leaving the Houston Astros. Bregman and the Boston Red Sox have agreed to a three-year contract worth $120 million, reports Chandler Rome. Rome adds that the deal includes opt-outs after each season. The team has not yet confirmed the signing.
The Astros selected Bregman with the No. 2 pick in the 2015 draft and he is the latest star player to leave Houston as a free agent. He joins Carlos Correa, Dallas Keuchel, and George Springer as homegrown Astros who moved on once they hit the open market. At this point, Jose Altuve remains the only member of the club’s 2017-22 heyday who has spent his entire career in Houston.
Bregman, 31 in March, is coming off a down year at the plate, slashing .260/.315/.453 with 26 home runs in 2024. Those 26 homers were his most since his 41-homer season in 2019, though the .315 on-base percentage was his lowest by 35 points since his partial rookie season in 2016. Also, Bregman walked in 6.9% of his plate appearances in 2024, well south of his 11.9% career rate.
Our R.J. Anderson ranked Bregman the third-best free agent available this offseason. Here’s his write-up:
Bregman has been one of the most productive third basemen in the sport for much of his career. He’s compiled the sixth-most WAR at the position since 2020, putting him ahead of Rafael Devers and behind only the who’s who of this era’s third basemen. He’s had a terrific career to date. Yet this exercise is, in part, about looking forward. The more we dug in on Bregman, the more we developed reservations about his bat. There’s no denying his feel for contact but we’re not as confident about the other elements. For instance, Statcast’s calculations suggest he would have at least 30 fewer career home runs had he hit the same array of batted balls in one of 17 other MLB fields. You can’t hold that against Bregman — you golf the course you’re on — but it does suggest his power might play down elsewhere. There’s also the matter of his walk rate, which cratered to a career-low 6.9% last season as he grew more aggressive. Bregman’s bat-to-ball and defensive skills remain good enough for him to provide value; there’s just a little more reason to say “hm” here than his name value indicates.
How will Bregman fit with the Red Sox?
The Red Sox are banking on Bregman’s offensive game translating well to Fenway Park, an accommodating environment for right-handed batters. He has ranked among the game’s leaders in pulled fly ball rate every year since 2021 and, as a right-handed hitter in Houston, that meant peppering the Crawford Boxes with home runs.
Other than Fenway, his new home venue, no other stadium in the sport matches Bregman’s batted ball profile as well as Houston. While the sample size is quite limited, Bregman is a career .375/.490/.750 hitter in 98 plate appearances at Fenway with seven home runs in 21 games.
With Boston, it’s possible that Bregman shifts to second base so that Rafael Devers can remain at third base. Bregman has spent the vast majority of his big-league career at third, but he does have experience in the middle infield. Whatever the specifics of his role, the Bregman signing caps what’s been an active offseason by recent Red Sox standards. Earlier in the winter, Boston added Garrett Crochet and Walker Buehler to the rotation and Aroldis Chapman to the bullpen.
The Red Sox finished the 2024 season at 81-81 and missed the playoffs for a third straight year.
