The Houston Astros last week offered the largest contract in their history to their 30-year-old third baseman Alex Bregman, but even their team record offer may not be enough to keep the two-time All Star at Minute Maid Park — which will be renamed Daikin Park on January 1, 2025.
Local Houston media reported the Astros’ offer to Bregman, who is now a free agent after spending all nine years of his career in Houston to be $156 million over six years. That comes to an average annual salary of $26 million, considerably higher than his current paycheck which had averaged $20 million over the five years of his Astros contract.
The Astros avoided arbitration with Bregman and retained him for two extra years by signing him to the extension in 2020. For the first three years of the contract Bregman was paid an annual salary of $5.7 million for one season then $13 million for two more before getting a raise to $30 million each year in 2023 and 2024.
With Soto Off the Table, Bregman Now a ‘Priority’
Now, however, that relationship appears to be over and Bregman appears determined to test the free agent market after declining the Astros’ $21 million qualifying offer in November. But his market has been on hold as all of MLB awaited the signing of Juan Soto. That deal was finalized Sunday. Soto will join the New York Mets at a staggering price of $765 million over 15 years.
The Red Sox reportedly made an offer to Soto of more than $700 million. But Soto did not take it, and with that superstar off the table, one American League East team “might immediately be prioritizing” signing Bregman, according to a report by Rob Bradford of the Boston radio station website WEEI.com.
That team is the one Bradford covers on a regular basis, the Boston Red Sox.
“The Red Sox will turn to using some of the resources not spent on Soto to make plays for other high-priced free agents,” Bradford wrote. “Per sources, one of the players the Red Sox might immediately be prioritizing is Alex Bregman. The longtime Astro – who will be 31 years old on Opening Day in 2025 – would necessitate surrendering a draft pick since he was tagged with a qualifying offer by Houston. But Bregman does check off a lot of key boxes for the Sox.”
Bregman ‘Open’ To Moving from 3rd Base to 2nd
Those “boxes” include his “veteran leadership,” as well as the fact that he is a right-handed bat. Perhaps most importantly, Bregman is “open” to switching positions from third base to second, according to Bradford’s report. The Red Sox have their own All Star third baseman in Rafael Devers, who isn’t going anywhere after signing a 10-year, $313.5 million contract prior to the 2023 season.
But the Red Sox have struggled to fill their second-base hole since they lost Dustin Pedroia to injury in April of 2017. Pedroia, who seemed headed for a Hall of Fame career before his devastating knee injury, finally handed in his official retirement papers in 2021. Pedroia, the 2007 AL Rookie of the Year and 2008 AL MVP, struggled through the remainder of 2017, but played only six games for the Red Sox after that, and the team never found a long-term replacement.
Bregman has been an integral player on the only two World Series-winning teams in Astros history, in 2017 and 2022. SpoTrac projects his free agent contract at $119.8 million over four years, a price already exceeded by the Astros’ offer. But reportedly Bregman and his agent Scott Boras, who is also Soto’s agent, will not settle for less than a $200 million deal.
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Alex Bregman Signing Prediction: $200 Million Star a ‘Priority’ for AL East Team