Alex Bregman is headed to Boston on a three-year deal that comes with a massive $40MM average annual value (albeit with deferrals). The two-time All-Star was also known to have multiple six-year offers on the table, one of which was from the Astros.
The Tigers also proposed a six-year offer, as first reported by Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free-Press. Petzold initially reported that Detroit’s offer was for narrowly above $170MM and included an opt-out clause after the second season. It had some amount of deferred money. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale specified it as a $171.5MM offer.
Detroit’s offer came with an approximate $28.58MM average annual value, before accounting for deferrals. Bregman obviously fared much better on an annual basis on the agreement with Boston. It seems as if Detroit offered the highest overall guarantee. The Astros had a six-year, $156MM offer on the table for most of the winter. While they reportedly bumped that towards the end of the process, they didn’t seem optimistic about getting a deal done.
Indeed, it doesn’t seem that Houston was even in the running by the end. Nightengale reports that the Cubs, Tigers and Red Sox were the finalists. As with Boston, Chicago only seemed interested on a short-term deal. However, they weren’t willing to match the Sox’s offer on an annual basis. Nightengale reports that the Cubs proposed a four-year, $120MM deal. According to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand, that would have included opt-outs after the second and third seasons.
The Tigers and Cubs would each have kept Bregman at his traditional third base position. They’re likely to turn the hot corner to young players with top prospect pedigree but little to no MLB experience (Jace Jung and Matt Shaw, respectively). Bregman is ticketed for second base work in Boston, where Rafael Devers will stick at the hot corner.
Boston can have him at that amount. No thanks.
Literally anyone would rather take 3/120 over 6/170
I would’ve expected 30 Aav for bregmans 3 year contract not 40
If I were the Tigers, I would call up the Angels and see about a Baez for Rendon swap. Perhaps Rendon comes back before the end of the year and gives the Tigers a boost for 2025?
Two of the worst contracts ever. They both just need to be cut loose.
As bad as Baez has been, Rendon may never play again after hip surgery much less return to play this season.
Rendon is one of the worst players in MLB and is always hurt. He doesn’t even like baseball.
THIS.
He’s a complete jake.
PASS.
Rendon isn’t coming back his career is pretty much over. When he does return he’ll just get hurt again like always
Baez owed 3/73. Rendon owed 2/76. Rendon might be able to swing a bat in September and be ok next year, but even that feels like a stretch. 24M/year in basically dead money is manageable for a team like Detroit and Baez can at least contribute as a decent utility infielder off the bench with pinch running ability. Obviously not living up to his contract but significantly more than Rendon can offer.
Rendon is getting surgery and probably out for the entire yr. He cant hit, always hurt. Boras took the Angels for a ride.
Rendon won’t play this year. At least Baez is healthy. Who knows, maybe the hip was excruciating? I’m content with giving Jung a shot
Bennie this is the dumbest idea ever…Rendon is a clubhouse wart, while all reports say Baez is a positive influence in clubhouse. Rendon will most likely never take another MLB at bat. And while some fans may hope Baez doesn’t, there at least is a fraction of a chance he can get back to a serviceable level.
I have actually heard otherwise about Baez from someone who works part time at Comerica. We’ll I did not hear he was a negative influence, I heard he barely interacts with the young players.
Same guy said of Turnbull when he was Tigers “he was an odd dude”.
I’ve never sensed Javy seemed like part of the clubhouse. Not that he is negative, but he seems aloof. Everyone is reverent toward him but he often seems to stay to himself in the dugout. Who knows. It’s hard not to wonder if one of the reasons for the relaxed play during 31-11 was his absence.
But I don’t think he’s anywhere nearly as bad as Rendon. What I’ve read paints Rendon as someone who doesn’t even care about baseball. Gotta wonder if he poisons that clubhouse. This may be big case of addition by subtraction.
Cubs
Agree. Better to use that money on a mid-season pitching acquisition.
Yeah, give Shaw a chance at 3B with a backup plan (Berti, Workman). Still need a decent backup option at 1B for Busch. Canario and Berti just aren’t legit options
They need to start giving Ballesteros more 1B reps in the minors.
Maybe Alcantara or Caissie can take IB reps, too.
Ballesteros won’t be a catcher in 2 years time. Cubs trying to ride him out at the position but in the end he’s better off at 1st
Now the tigers can turn to a very much less expensive and short-term deal for either JD Martinez or Justin Turner….
for what they offered Bregman, it would seem they could afford both on a one year deal.
Tork is out if either if these 2 (JD Martinez or Justin Turner) are signed. I say let the kids play to see what we have.
After Tork’s comments, I have moved him behind Malloy on the depth chart, and now understand the Torres signing and the Keith to 1B move better.
I did just read they were looking at Turner
A resounding no. They are not as good as Carpenter.
The Tigers are not going to take Carpenters DH at bats in favor of an old DH-only RH hitter on a retirement tour
I was kinda hoping Boras wouldn’t win this one either. Bummer. It’s out of control
Detroit dodged a bullet.
So did Houston, Chicago, Toronto, and any mystery team.
Perfect contract fit for Bregman. He’ll play in a stadium that maximizes his potential free agent earnings in the future. Not unreasonable for him to get 5/150 next year.
He’s not gonna want to take a paycut… how can he expect to pay his bills on less than $40/year
Depends significantly on deferrals. But you take 3/120 because of the opt outs not because it’s more than 6/171.
You and I would, sure.
Bregman waited until the beginning of ST to sign in order to secure a new precedent. After locking up $40M per year, you think he’s going to opt out in order to secure an AAV (subject to deferrals) of less than $30M?? I highly doubt it.
5/150 is 30M AAV. If his market (or an extension from Boston) looks like that it reasonably gets him much closer to the 6/200 he was looking for than any other offer out there. Worst case scenario he makes 120M and hits free agency at 34
Yeah, my “less than 30M AAV” comment was off the 6/171 you mentioned above.
I still don’t see any scenario where any team is willing to pay a 32 year old Bregman $150M when only one or two were willing to pay a 31 year old Bregman $150M-$170M this year.
There is precedent for that with Bregman considering Matt Chapman literally just did that. And Bregs goes in with a bigger low-end guarantee of 40M/year he can fall back on. Plus if Boston makes the playoffs, he gets to show once again why competitors should want him.
A lot of ifs… Chapman’s calling card has always been defense (save for one or two seasons early in his career). No doubt Bregman has a solid glove, but I just don’t seen his situation improving a year from now being one year older. If he has a monster year and if Boston makes the playoffs and if Bregman goes off in the playoffs …
Bregman definitely won the stare down. I think the Red Sox will be left holding the bag
Boston doesn’t care that much if it hurts them in the backend of the contract. 3 years is enough to establish their elite group of young hitters within their lineup, and long enough to not owe any of them big money for the next 3 years. Plus have some good expendable and tradeable players now.
Have to pray AJ Preller doesn’t get fired. He might be the only gm stupid enough to not check the splits. Or Bostons gm gets fired and another team is stupid enough to hire him.
What splits? I thought that contract for Pivetta was great. Getting paid like a solid 3/4 in the rotation with potential to pitch like a 2 and a floor still in the rotation.
Whatever splits that made you think I was talking about Pivetta.
Preller was the giveaway.
Yeah, because just like Rockies players are expected to perform the same when they leave, Red Sox players don’t take a drop when they lose the Green Monster. (Mookie the exception). Isn’t that right, XB?
It’s refreshing to see my Blue Jays miss on a free agent by miles instead of finishing 2nd. This is what it’s come to.
You didn’t miss on Alonso or Bregman. Save your money and lock up Guerrero long term.
Our front office is determined to let him walk for nothing at the end of the year. At this point I have zero faith in them getting him to sign.
I’m waiting for the “Blue Jays Shown Interest in Alex Bregman” article.
Wow, that Harris was willing to offer him a 6 year deal is just terrible. The Tigers are so much better off without him and the roster inflexibility they’d be stuck with for years just as the farm boys are just getting started. Vierling is a bonafide everyday starter, and Jung needs to play, too.
Cubs Detroit need to fire gms and get new ones. Thanks for getting us to a good place but after these Bregman offers you aren’t right to take us any further. Unless they knew for certain Bregman wouldn’t say yes and were just bidding him up. Very risky to offer such awful contracts.
@Yours Yeah Cubs, Tigers, Astros and Sox all have GMs that don’t know what they re doing but you do. Get real….
Not even fit to tie the Superfife’s shoes!
When was the last time we won the World Series?
@Tigers3232 I obviously do. My track record is incredible and speaks for itself.
Vierling was one of the best players on the team. He needs to be in the lineup most days.
Vierling is a strong OF, and better than Devers at 3B. They really need someone who can play a strong defense there.
I agree. I like that now we know they’ll give that kind of deal. Just hope it’s to a better player next time. I started to get nervous when they were saying Houston wasn’t a finalist, and Chicago and Boston wanted him short term. Like, oh no, the left side of Detroit’s infield will be a black hole for years, lol.
$40 million for a 2nd baseman!!! Ouch! That’s gonna leave a mark!
An aging second baseman at that.
I’m so glad that Toronto didn’t pull the trigger on this. It’s clearly obvious that he didn’t care about winning and all he cared about was money.
Better chance of winning in Boston. Well until they signed Bregman.
Bregman now 5th highest paid player (AAV) in mlb for 2025 – same as Aaron Judge. Wow! Where do Bosox 3 star rookies Anthony, Campbell, Meyer) now fit in that lineup?
Black Hills Mud Hens
Bregman now 5th highest paid player (AAV) in mlb for 2025 – same as Aaron Judge.
========================
I curious if you understand what the term “AAV” stands for? Because Bregman’s AAV isn’t close to Judge’s.
This is the thing people fail to realize if MLB chooses to implement a salary cap… players are still gonna want to play in bigger cities. They will take less, just like Bregman.
He didn’t take less
I mean in a way he did, and in a way he didn’t. If he balls out, that’s 40m AAV and he will get another contract to get him closer to his 200m asking price. So in a sense he didn’t take less. But if he were to fall off a cliff production wise, or end up having a serious injury it could end up costing him almost 50m had he just accepted Detroit’s offer. But a player like bregman, I could see him aging well. His power might drop off a little the older he gets, but he should still get on base, hit for a decent average and play great defense, everything needed to get a new contract after his 3 years is up, or if he opts out and can secure a long term contract in the 30-35m range. If everything goes well he definitely has immense earning power left in the bucket.
Lots of “ifs” in your comment. An aging Bregman is now the 5th highest paid position player in MLB, there is no chance he opts out after this season.
@Braves_saints_celts He gets all his $ in 3 years. He gets a huge chunk year 1. He could take that nice 1 year pay and opt out and get a similar offer that was available to him yesterday. Is he going to drop off so bad he can’t get 50m in 3 years dunno. Should get some of it though hopefully. Doesn’t matter as long as he invests his $ he should make that $ up. He could make more $ opting out but has a awesome floor to fall back to. He didn’t take the safest way to make the most $ but probably the best odds to make the most $ and if everything goes up in flames 120m is a great guarantee.
MLB doesn’t need a salary cap, it needs a salary floor. In this day and age of league wide wealth and prosperity there is no reason for some owners (especially those collecting revenue sharing money) to pretend like they don’t have two nickels to rub together. Give every team a set payroll starting number and all 30 teams will have to spend somewhat
Union and the owners would want a salary floor and cap. You either have both or no cap at all.
This report would seem to suggest Bregman would have settled for 6 years at a $30 million annual salary. In other words, he and Boras whiffed on the initial ask for $200 million, then the consolation prize and took a huge AAV (which will be revised downward once the exact amount being deferred is specified), to soothe his ego. That’s an indisputable loss for his camp.
Even if Bregman improves in Boston and produces say, close to 6 wins in value (and I believe there are reasons for optimism), I keep seeing comments from Red Sox fans who would be content with, if not hope for him to opt out after the 2025 season. That speaks volumes about his true value to a franchise.
Don’t kid yourself, his reputation took a beating this offseason.
Wasn’t it Detroit that beat Houston in the playoffs last year? Bregman was probably never going to Detroit no matter what they offered him.
Yeah, that’s the reason.
Oh well. Torres will be as good as Bregman at 2B, offensively.
Wonder if Grissom spends some time out in the grass now that Bregman is apparently taking 2B. I also wonder if the talk about Bregman moving to 2B is just to play down the notion that they need to trade Casas or Yoshida, thus hampering any leverage in negotiations
Grissom likely just a guy so doesn’t matter what they do with him. Find a team desperate for 2b and see if they have any interest.
Grissom will probably be dumped to a small market, low payroll team or someone like Seattle. A low risk shot for them perhaps. Them top prospects are blocked now. Let alone Grissom.
Wow!
That’s a LOT of money.
It’s bad that Detroit offered that much money. Even worse, that other players know about it.
It’s good as a fan knowing they will for the right player. We got extremely lucky because Bregman wasn’t that guy to me.
They, and their agents, are going tomstart asking form that money.
How does that information affect players like R. GREENE, who won’t be offered anything close to that?
It’s actually a damaging leak.
Surprising because the FO has been quite tight lipped about their activities.
I don’t believe the Tigers made a significant offer to Alex Bregman. It was a Scott Boras plant and leak.
It’s a 3 year contract. He didn’t want to play for Detroit.
A lot of sour grapes to me. It’s only a three year commitment on an aging player. Yet Detroit offered six years. Houston six years. If he signed with either of those two teams, you guys would be wetting your pants and saying what a great signing.
Who would’ve said Alex Bregman is a great signing? I think he doesn’t fit Detroit at all.
No way. I’ve been freaking out about a long term deal with him. Detroit isn’t a place where we can keep absorbing those horrible deals like the teams on the coasts can. For 2025, fine, but not any longer and obviously he’d never sign a 1 yr deal. Personally, I’ve been consistent in my comments. Give Jung a shot.
His choice but IMO a mistake. Oh well, time to eto move on.
I think a lot of people should be happy for the non signing teams. This can easily become a very ugly contract, actually is immediately in my opinion, but if he should spend any significant time on the disabled list it will be even worse. I for 1 am glad Detroit walked away from going higher to get him, let’s try to make our prospects be better than Alex, and go with what we have.
Wonder what they’ll do with those top prospects that are ready. Campbell and Mayer specifically
Mayer and Campbell may play in AAA for a while. Mayer has yet to play in AAA and Campbell has only played 19 games there.
It’s a good deal, but ilI think it was going to be tough to pass up 40mil a year though. I’d be shocked if he opts out at all unless he’s an MVP in the next couple of years.
Even if he has another 4 WAR (Gah! WAR again) season like in ’24, I can see Bregman can opt-out and score a nine-figure deal again with no Q.O. attached.
Bregman will be another albatross contract like Trevor Story. The Tigers dodged a train wreck. Now he’s going to play 2B❓even worse. They already had a half dozen players that should be playing 2B that will be forced somewhere else.
So Bregman wanted the most money he could get yet took $50M + less to sign with Boston. Something does not smell right here, but it appears both Boston and Bregman will regret this move. Looks like the Tigers dodged a bullet but if they lost out on this deal because of not offering an opt out after year one, that’s horrible negotiating by the Tigers. Glad this drama/saga has come to conclusion though
Not to change the subject but in my book he will always be a dirty rotten chitter!! Sorry just can’t forget that stain on the game I love!!
Is it wrong to pray for a career ending injury? Is it?
Glad the Tigers did not sign him at that amount and number of years.
Now that bregman off the board, rickets happy where they are at payroll wise and under the threshold. It looks like that’s that with this team hoping Busch and Shaw play 162 without injuries so cross our fingers. Maybe Houston will show sympathy by giving either parades or smith back because Tucker is out out of here anyways.
Hoyer and rickets may come out of this smelling like a rose after all because I heard Mets not bringing iglesis back. Not only dose he play 2nd, short and 3rd, iglesiss also makes only $2m. Hoyer should be on phone with agent right now.
The Isotopes are his next pigeon.
I agree, Boston is in a good place to get a wildcard spot at least. Having 3 central division teams last year opened everyone’s eyes
Tigers are winners on this deal.
They already made a big mistake with Javier Baez.
The Tigers Farm System is now rated #2 in all MLB by multiple services including BA.
The Tigers 2nd. 3rd, 4th wave of players will be reaching Detroit in ’25, 26, 27.
Thr Tigers must play/give large #
of ABs to their highly rated young position player prospects to let them “break through”@ the MLB level.
Holding their top prospects back in the minors and blocking them with long free agent veteran contracts to older veteran players will only delay their MLB development,
careers and the maximum potential and achievement of their MLB team.
Sport – It’s the power of Cora, he always gets what he wants.
The big question is whether Bregman plays 2B or 3B. If he plays 2B, Grissom is toast and the Sale trade goes down as one of the worst in history.
Funny how the people who defended the trade saying the Sox got a perennial all-star are now fine with dumping him for virtually nothing.