Cubs Bregman Bid Falls Short! Boston Red Sox Steals the Show with Jaw-Dropping Contract
The Chicago Cubs have been in pursuit of star third baseman Alex Bregman for most of the offseason. In fact, the Cubs were on the short list of teams he might sign with as of Tuesday.
Chicago is coming off back-to-back 83-win seasons, and they are positioned to take a step forward in 2025. The Cubs traded for Kyle Tucker this winter, sending a clear signal they are ready to contend now.
Adding Bregman to their already improved lineup would have been icing on the cake.
Unfortunately for Chicago, the Boston Red Sox agreed to a three-year, $120 million contract with Bregman that has opt-outs after each season per Chandler Rome of The Athletic.
It wasn’t for a lack of trying on the Cubs’ part, though.
MLB insider Mark Feinsand reported Chicago offered Bregman four years for $120 million. That proposal came with opt outs after the 2026 ad 2027 seasons.
The Cubs offer is conceptually similar to the deal he agreed to with the Red Sox.
The main differences are Boston offered an average annual salary of $40 million, while Chicago offered $30 million. The other factor is the Red Sox offered an opt out after this season, while the Cubs to wait until after 2026.
Per Feinsand, that was what drove the star third baseman to take the Boston deal.
Bregman spent all of his nine-year career with the Houston Astros. His best season came in 2019, where he posted an 8.4 WAR, good for second-best in the league. He was also the runner-up in the AL MVP race to future Hall of Famer Mike Trout.
Bregman posted between a 4.1 and 4.9 WAR in each of the next three campaigns. He’s still a consistently high-performing player, but he’s also six years removed from his most productive season.
Chicago is still well-positioned to win the NL Central despite whiffing on the star.
Signing Bregman would have pushed them into an overwhelming favorite to become division champions, but ultimately, the Red simply wanted the biggest free agent bat reamining on the market more than the Cubs and made him an offer he couldn’t turn down.
