Alex Bregman, a constant presence in the American League playoffs for the past decade, is moving on from the Houston Astros — and perhaps providing exactly what the Boston Red Sox have been missing.
Bregman, the two-time All-Star third baseman who played key roles in a pair of World Series-winning teams, has reached agreement with the Red Sox on a three-year, $120 million contract that includes opt-out clauses after the first two seasons.
A person familiar with the agreement confirmed the details to USA TODAY Sports on the condition of anonymity, as the deal has not been finalized.
With the departure of Bregman, 30, that epic and controversial Astros dynasty that won World Series in 2017 and 2022 is now down to one core player – second baseman Jose Altuve. It was Altuve – who has signed a pair of extensions with Houston and is locked up through 2029 – who lobbied Astros owner Jim Crane late in the season to retain Bregman, years after the club saw both shortstop Carlos Correa and center fielder George Springer depart via free agency.
But the Red Sox waited it out and designed a package that Bregman couldn’t pass up with spring training camps opening up this week. Bregman will reunite with Red Sox manager Alex Cora, the Astros’ bench coach in 2017, Bregman’s first full season after which they won the World Series and later became ensnared in a sign-stealing scandal.
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For the Red Sox, Bregman gives them one of the game’s consummate winners, a player who likely peaked with a 41-homer, 8.9-WAR season in 2019 yet remains both a lineup and clubhouse cog. He’s played at least 145 games in six of his seven full seasons, including last year when an elbow injury limited him to part-time DH duties.
And he represents the kind of free-agent strike that’s been badly missing in the seven years since the Red Sox won the 2018 World Series, as efforts to build a sustainable winner had the effect of making Boston an unattractive spot for free agents.
But Bregman needed a home, and with a $40 million average annual value, will make a significantly higher salary than the $26 million he’d have earned had he accepted the Astros’ standing offer of six years and $156 million. He also turned down the Detroit Tigers’ offer of six years and more than $170 million.
Despite his elbow injury in 2024, Bregman hit 26 homers as his OBP dwindled to .315, and the Astros overcame a slow start to reach the postseason for the eighth consecutive year. Yet their streak of AL Championship Series appearances ended at seven, and they’ve slipped from 106 wins in 2022 to 90 in ’23 and 88 last year.
The Astros still won the AL West, but their reduced win total forced them into the wild-card round, where they were swept in two games by the Detroit Tigers.
Their 2017 championship was marred by the sign-stealing scandal, one that reportedly enveloped most or all of the position players. Altuve and Bregman were chosen to be the initial public-facing veterans of that scandal, the fallout dogging them with boos from opposing crowds since the scandal was unearthed after the 2019 season.
Yet Bregman is on the Red Sox now, tasked with producing at the plate and cultivating a championship culture. He knew little else in Houston.
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