Sources – Alex Bregman Lands Free Agent Agreement With Red Sox

Free agent Alex Bregman has a new home after accepting a three-year-old, $ 120 million deal with Boston Red Sox on Wednesday night, sources told ESPNS Jesse Rogers.

The annual $ 40 million salary is $ 10 million plus more a year than other teams offer, sources say. The deal includes two opt-out and deferred money.

Bregman, who was the biggest free agent left in the market is expected to play other base for Boston, said sources, after first played third for Houston Astros Since 2020. He gives Red Sox another big bat to go with a re -entered pitching staff after the team acquired Garrett Crochet via trading and signed Walker Buehler and Aroldis Chapman via free agency earlier this season.

Boston manager Alex Cora wanted Bregman badly after he previously coached him in Houston. And with the contract, Red Sox made a big money splash after guaranteeing only $ 52.3 million for free agents this winter, which led to significant frustration from a fan base of a team that has not been in the mail season since 2021.

Bregman, who previously played all nine seasons with Astros, had received interest from several teams, with Detroit Tigers, Toronto Blue Jay Jays and Chicago Cubs, which was most attached to him with Boston and Houston. The Tigers offered him a six-year deal of $ 171 million and Astros was about six years, $ 156 million, sources said.

Bregman’s right -handed bats have a track record for success at Fenway Park. In 21 career games he has a .375 batting average with seven homemakers and 15 RBIs. His career 1,240 ops on Fenway is the best in Major League History among players with at least 90 record performances.

After falling mighty at the beginning of the 2024 season, Bregman’s bat began to get around in June, and the rest of the team followed when Astros eventually jumped Seattle Mariners to demand their seventh Al West title of eight years .

Bregman, who will be 31 on March 30, ended the season with a .260 batting average, 26 home runs and 75 RBIs in 145 games. Houston lost back-to-back Al Wild Card Series games to Tigers.

The two-time all-star had surgery after the season to remove a bone chip from his right elbow, and agent Scott Boras said Bregman, who has played exclusively third base since 2020, was willing to move to the second base if it was necessary.

Red Sox already has Star Rafael Devers on third, so Bregman’s expected move to second would allow him to stay there. And while Bregman has only logged 32 laps in second place in his great league career, Cora mentioned him last month as someone he imagined as “a gold glove second basseman” when the two were together in Houston.

Bregman, who comes from a five -year contract of $ 100 million, cut .275/.376/.488 with 157 homemade and 554 RBIs from 2017 to 2023, and compiled 34.2 Fangraphs wins over replacement, Octopus most among all position players. In general, he has a .272 career -batting -average with 191 home runs and 663 RBIs.

He rejected a year of qualifying offer of $ 21.05 million of Astros on November 19, which means Houston will receive a compensatory election after the fourth round of this year’s MLB draft. Boston loses his second highest choice to sign him and lose $ 500,000 of International Signing Bonus Pool Allocation.

Bregman’s ascent correlates directly with Astros’ dominance race when his first full season arrived in 2017, when the franchise won his first championship title, later occupied by the sign-tuning scandal that led to firing by general manager Jeff Luhnow and field manager AJ Hinch .

Astros continued to perform seven consecutive performances in the all Championship series and won another World series, with Bregman establishing himself as one of the game’s best third Basemen and became with Jose Altuve, one of the team’s core leaders.

Bregman was originally drafted by Red Sox out of high school in 2012, but he chose to attend college at LSU. Houston then chose him second in 2015 draft.

Red Sox will hold their first training in full squad on Monday in Fort Myers, Florida. They host Astros in the regular season 1-3 August and then visit Houston 11-13 August.

News on Bregman’s agreement with Boston was first reported by Athletic.

Information from ESPNS Jeff Passan, Buster Olney and Alden Gonzalez was used in this report.