Alex Bregman, a cornerstone of the Houston Astros’ ascension into an American League superpower, is departing the only franchise he’s ever known.
Bregman is in agreement on a three-year, $120 million contract with the Boston Red Sox, a league source told The Athletic’s Chandler Rome, ending a 10-year association with the Astros during which he blossomed into a bona fide superstar. In joining the Red Sox, Bregman reunites with former Astros bench coach and current Boston manager, Alex Cora.
Alex Bregman’s contract with the Red Sox is for three years and $120 million, source tells @TheAthletic. Opt outs after each season.
— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) February 13, 2025
Bregman entered the winter as the third-highest-ranked position player on The Athletic’s Free Agent Big Board, trailing Juan Soto and Willy Adames. Both Soto and Adames signed by the beginning of December while Bregman’s market drug into February — enough time for the Astros, as well as several other teams, including the Chicago Cubs to enter the sweepstakes.
The Athletic’s Tim Britton projected Bregman to receive a seven-year, $189 million contract. Instead, Bregman settled for a shorter term, higher AAV contract, with opt outs after each of the three seasons.
Selected second overall during the 2015 draft, Bregman played just 146 minor-league games before making his major-league debut on July 25, 2016. In the next eight years, Bregman morphed into one of the faces of Houston’s golden era and one of the sport’s most decorated third basemen.
Since 2017 — Bregman’s first full major-league season — only Cleveland Guardians superstar José Ramírez has been worth more wins above replacement among third basemen, according to FanGraphs. The Astros captured four American League pennants, played for three more and won two World Series titles with Bregman atop their lineup and at third base.
Only Mike Trout accrued more fWAR than Bregman in 2018 and 2019, a two-season stretch in which Bregman appeared primed to become a face of baseball. He won MVP of the 2019 All-Star Game, finished second to Trout in AL MVP voting and waged a home run pimp-off with Soto during the World Series.
After the Astros lost to Soto’s Nationals in Game 7, The Athletic revealed details of Houston’s electronic sign-stealing at Minute Maid Park during the 2017 and 2018 seasons. After Major League Baseball handed down its punishment, Bregman’s appearance and prepared remarks at a disastrous, team-initiated press conference only stoked the fury from the public and across the sport.
Some of the braggadocio Bregman displayed during the previous two seasons disappeared, but his behind-the-scenes leadership did not. Multiple teammates during the past two seasons called Bregman the unquestioned leader of Houston’s clubhouse — a player with an advanced baseball IQ and ability to analyze the game faster than anyone they’d ever seen.
On the field, nagging soft tissue injuries, chronic slow starts and a gradual power decline prevented Bregman from sustaining his seismic rise. After hitting 99 home runs in his first four seasons, Bregman has managed 92 during his past five. Bregman remains an on-base machine with pristine plate discipline, but a plummeting walk rate this season invited some concern.
Bregman hasn’t made an All-Star team since 2019, nor has he finished in the top-10 of MVP voting, but remains one of the sport’s most surehanded defenders with a postseason pedigree few others can match. Bregman won his first Gold Glove Award in 2024 after three other years as a finalist.
Bregman has taken 434 plate appearances across 99 career postseason games. Among active players, only longtime teammate Jose Altuve has appeared in more. Agent Scott Boras seized upon Bregman’s playoff experience at the onset of his free agency, describing his potential arrival as an “infusion of championship blood” for any organization. The Astros advanced to the American League Championship Series in all but one of Bregman’s eight full seasons — the 2024 season.
In September, Altuve all but demanded that Houston’s baseball operations department retain Bregman, whom Altuve said “made this entire organization better than where we were before him.”
(Photo: Alex Bierens de Haan / MLB Photos via Getty Images)
