Bregman says he's open to a reworked deal with the Sox - any chance of this happening?

[Bellhorn04]

The team could desperately use a piece of good news and they just freed up $250 mill or so.

I am already sensing a cynical reaction to this and I'm expecting some folks to go with slim and none as the chances. 🙃  

[mvp 78]

I've posted about it recently. I think there's a chance of it happening. He's a guy that is really working with the younger guys and is active even while on the bench. He seems to have a great attitude. I think he's the type of player that Breslow and Cora want the younger guys to emulate. If so, that's a guy you figure out how to keep around. 

[moonslav59]

I'd do what it takes to lock Bregman up, but I'm not sure about more than 4 years. 3-4 might get scary, too.

[TheSplinteredSplendor]

Red Sox rumors: Why Alex Bregman is in driver's seat in Boston contract talks, per insider

[Kimmi]

On 6/25/2025 at 1:13 PM, Bellhorn04 said:

The team could desperately use a piece of good news and they just freed up $250 mill or so.

I am already sensing a cynical reaction to this and I'm expecting some folks to go with slim and none as the chances. 🙃  

I would prefer not extend Bregman for any longer than his current deal, though I understand there's a good chance that he'll opt out otherwise.  

With that being said, the Sox could use some positive news on how they 'repurpose' some of that money, and Bregman is the type of player that is not only good on the field, but great in the clubhouse.  We need some veteran leadership.  I'm guessing I wouldn't be thrilled with the terms of an extension, but I'd be happy to keep him around longer.

[dgalehouse]

40 million bucks is a lot of scratch for a " good clubhouse " guy.. 

[Old Red]

11 minutes ago, Kimmi said:

I would prefer not extend Bregman for any longer than his current deal, though I understand there's a good chance that he'll opt out otherwise.  

With that being said, the Sox could use some positive news on how they 'repurpose' some of that money, and Bregman is the type of player that is not only good on the field, but great in the clubhouse.  We need some veteran leadership.  I'm guessing I wouldn't be thrilled with the terms of an extension, but I'd be happy to keep him around longer.

Agree. The 3 year deal he has now is long enough, which would be his 31,32, and 33 years. Bregman got off to a great start unlike last year, and many were all in on that. It would have been interesting to see how he would have ended up if he had stayed healthy.  Of course he won’t have Raffy in front of him now.

[Kimmi]

17 minutes ago, dgalehouse said:

40 million bucks is a lot of scratch for a " good clubhouse " guy.. 

It's an incredible amount.  How much better of a deal can he realistically get if he opts out, considering his recent injury?

[Kimmi]

11 minutes ago, Old Red said:

Agree. The 3 year deal he has now is long enough, which would be his 31,32, and 33 years. Bregman got off to a great start unlike last year, and many were all in on that. It would have been interesting to see how he would have ended up if he had stayed healthy.  Of course he won’t have Raffy in front of him now.

I guess we'll have to wait and see how he produces once he returns.  His swing seems tailor made for Fenway.  But 3 years was long enough.  I guess we hope that he doesn't opt out so that we can have him for next year.

[moonslav59]

7 minutes ago, Kimmi said:

I guess we'll have to wait and see how he produces once he returns.  His swing seems tailor made for Fenway.  But 3 years was long enough.  I guess we hope that he doesn't opt out so that we can have him for next year.

I fully understand the reasons to avoid long term deals. Just look at history, but look at the history of our $10M/1 and $20 to $40M/2 deals.

It's very hard to win without a few really top players, and who do we have for 2026, other than Crochet? We may lose the only other one, in Bregman, if we don't offer an longer deal. We do have a few better than average players in several slots and some with high upside, but I can't see us building a championship team by signing only short or shorter term mid-level deals.

[Kimmi]

5 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I fully understand the reasons to avoid long term deals. Just look at history, but look at the history of our $10M/1 and $20 to $40M/2 deals.

It's very hard to win without a few really top players, and who do we have for 2026, other than Crochet? We may lose the only other one, in Bregman, if we don't offer an longer deal. We do have a few better than average players in several slots and some with high upside, but I can't see us building a championship team by signing only short or shorter term mid-level deals.

I get it.  I cringe at these contracts, but I get it.

My hope is always that the youngsters will become those few really top players.    Narvaez is already one of the top catchers in the game.  As for the others, there's a reason why they are ranked as highly as they are.

[notin]

Five years max.  Anyone arguing 5 is too many probably has a case, too…

[moonslav59]

5 minutes ago, Kimmi said:

I get it.  I cringe at these contracts, but I get it.

My hope is always that the youngsters will become those few really top players.    Narvaez is already one of the top catchers in the game.  As for the others, there's a reason why they are ranked as highly as they are.

I'm very optimistic about our young core and prospects. I'm probably one of the few Sox fans that is even optimistic about our farm pitching and feel that our current young pitching looks better than it has in a long time. Some of the most recent Sox pitching staffs that looked better on paper were much older with some closer to being toast than we expected- like Porcello, ERod, Price and Sale.

26 Crochet & Bello

24-25 Dobbins, Harrison & Fitts

27 Slaten, Murphy & Wink

28-29 Houck, Crawford, Whitlock, Sandoval & Criswell

Okay, 3-4 of these guys are not highly promising, but I see 6-7 with proven skills and/or high upside and another 2-3 with significant promise. We may just be a solid #2 SP'er and top closer away from a very nice pitching staff in 2026.

At to this a very long list of some promising to very promising pitching prospects:

Very promising, IMO: Perales, Tolle, Clarke, Early & Valera

Promising: Rivera, Sandlin, Cason, Paez, Monegro, Mullins, Aita, Delzine and maybe Uberstine, Moran, I Campbell, Fajardo, Futrell, D Reyes, Holobetz, J Bello and others.

 

[Kimmi]

21 hours ago, notin said:

Five years max.  Anyone arguing 5 is too many probably has a case, too…

I would argue that 5 years is too many, but as with most of the big contract players the Red Sox sign, I will be happy to have the player on the team while disliking the contract.

If I were the GM (and this is one among many of the reasons why I'm not), I would not extend Bregman for 5 more years.

[Kimmi]

21 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

I'm very optimistic about our young core and prospects. I'm probably one of the few Sox fans that is even optimistic about our farm pitching and feel that our current young pitching looks better than it has in a long time. Some of the most recent Sox pitching staffs that looked better on paper were much older with some closer to being toast than we expected- like Porcello, ERod, Price and Sale.

26 Crochet & Bello

24-25 Dobbins, Harrison & Fitts

27 Slaten, Murphy & Wink

28-29 Houck, Crawford, Whitlock, Sandoval & Criswell

Okay, 3-4 of these guys are not highly promising, but I see 6-7 with proven skills and/or high upside and another 2-3 with significant promise. We may just be a solid #2 SP'er and top closer away from a very nice pitching staff in 2026.

At to this a very long list of some promising to very promising pitching prospects:

Very promising, IMO: Perales, Tolle, Clarke, Early & Valera

Promising: Rivera, Sandlin, Cason, Paez, Monegro, Mullins, Aita, Delzine and maybe Uberstine, Moran, I Campbell, Fajardo, Futrell, D Reyes, Holobetz, J Bello and others.

 

I, too, am excited about our young players.  Our farm is looking better than it has since Dombrowski.  As noted in one of the other threads, our future is bright.

Now, to get our act together for the current season...

[moonslav59]

9 minutes ago, Kimmi said:

I, too, am excited about our young players.  Our farm is looking better than it has since Dombrowski.  As noted in one of the other threads, our future is bright.

Now, to get our act together for the current season...

Even DD's pitching prospects did not look all that good, and the end results of his prospects were not as good as the expectations.

[Nick]

I'm willing throw big $$$ at the next sure thing starter. Do we wait for Tarik Skubal? He's a Boras client so he'll probably test free agency in 2027. He will pitch all that year as a 30 year old.

We can backfill #3-#5 with our young guys. 

 

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, Nick said:

I'm willing throw big $$$ at the next sure thing starter. Do we wait for Tarik Skubal? He's a Boras client so he'll probably test free agency in 2027. He will pitch all that year as a 30 year old.

We can backfill #3-#5 with our young guys. 

 

Waiting until 2027 "wastes" another Crochet season.

[Nick]

29 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Waiting until 2027 "wastes" another Crochet season.

Hey Moon, we always talk about second ace....tell me what you got. And whoever you have for 2026, he's probably no where near Skubal.

We can do what YOU want for 2026. But if you want a Crochet #2, you have to be patient.

I didn't say anything about NOT spending for 2026.

Duran hasn’t been able to replicate his breakout 2024 season, and with a young group of outfielders that includes Roman Anthony, Wilyer Abreu and Ceddanne Rafaela -- and more on the way with Tibbs and Jhostynxon Garcia knocking on the door -- Boston could try to move Duran to address other areas of need for 2026 and beyond....here's a blurb from MLB and I'm beginning to come around on trading Duran.

Our offense will be solid as long as we have Bregman and add a every day 1B. 

You and I want same thing. I said nothing about punting 2026.

 

 

[moonslav59]

14 minutes ago, Nick said:

Hey Moon, we always talk about second ace....tell me what you got. And whoever you have for 2026, he's probably no where near Skubal.

We can do what YOU want for 2026. But if you want a Crochet #2, you have to be patient.

I didn't say anything about NOT spending for 2026.

I did not mean to imply you do not want to add a solid P in 2026 by waiting for Skubal in 2027.

I am pretty sure that for as long as I have been a Sox fan, 53 years and counting, I have always wanted us to add an ace or solid #2 every season. I hate the idea of trying to improve the rotation by upgrading the #4 or 5 slot, and even attempts at upgrading the #3 slot often fail, especially with the Sox choices.

Okay, you want names: of course I'd start with trying like hell to trade for Skenes or Skubal without giving up Mayer or Anthony, but that may be impossible, even with an offer like Abreu, Campbell, Garcia, Tolle, Arias and Sandlin. I'm not sure who else might be available.

I'm not sure I count Luis Castillo as a #2 anymore, but Pablo Lopez & Cole Ragans are pitchers I'd count as "good enough." (Trade guys) Maybe Joe Ryan or Nate.

Probably Free Agency is the way to go, despite paying way to much and needing 2-3 more years than reasonable. I'm assuming we'll have enough money to keep Bregman and sign a SP'er and Closer, but with JH, nothing should be assumed. These guys fit the bill, for me:

SP: Cease, Gallen, F Valdez, Ranger Suarez and maybe M King, Canning, M Kelly or Seth Lugo (shorter deal) I do not think Flaherty, Eflin and the super old guys make my list.

Closer: Helsley, Robert Suarez, E. Diaz or Chapman (1-2 yr deal.) Maybe Weaver, Iglesias or Finnegan would be okay, if we check all the other high need boxes off, first.

[Nick]

48 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I did not mean to imply you do not want to add a solid P in 2026 by waiting for Skubal in 2027.

I am pretty sure that for as long as I have been a Sox fan, 53 years and counting, I have always wanted us to add an ace or solid #2 every season. I hate the idea of trying to improve the rotation by upgrading the #4 or 5 slot, and even attempts at upgrading the #3 slot often fail, especially with the Sox choices.

Okay, you want names: of course I'd start with trying like hell to trade for Skenes or Skubal without giving up Mayer or Anthony, but that may be impossible, even with an offer like Abreu, Campbell, Garcia, Tolle, Arias and Sandlin. I'm not sure who else might be available.

I'm not sure I count Luis Castillo as a #2 anymore, but Pablo Lopez & Cole Ragans are pitchers I'd count as "good enough." (Trade guys) Maybe Joe Ryan or Nate.

Probably Free Agency is the way to go, despite paying way to much and needing 2-3 more years than reasonable. I'm assuming we'll have enough money to keep Bregman and sign a SP'er and Closer, but with JH, nothing should be assumed. These guys fit the bill, for me:

SP: Cease, Gallen, F Valdez, Ranger Suarez and maybe M King, Canning, M Kelly or Seth Lugo (shorter deal) I do not think Flaherty, Eflin and the super old guys make my list.

Closer: Helsley, Robert Suarez, E. Diaz or Chapman (1-2 yr deal.) Maybe Weaver, Iglesias or Finnegan would be okay, if we check all the other high need boxes off, first.

My top target would be Cease. His ERA is up but he's still striking out 117 hitters in 91.1 innings. He's making $13.75M. His agent is Boras. Maybe we'll secure Bregman and sing Cease this off season. .

He'll be 30 all year during 2026 season. 

[moonslav59]

47 minutes ago, Nick said:

My top target would be Cease. His ERA is up but he's still striking out 117 hitters in 91.1 innings. He's making $13.75M. His agent is Boras. Maybe we'll secure Bregman and sing Cease this off season. .

He'll be 30 all year during 2026 season. 

Bregman, Cease and Chapman would be fine with me.

Trade Duran and prospects for 2-3 of these: 2B, 1B and 2nd Catcher.

Nothing here seems absurd or will put us way over the current Deverless budget.