Bregman to sign 5 yr 175 million deal with the Cubs

[Old Red]

18 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

What's the silly part? That Bregman wanted a no trade clause or that the Sox wouldn't give one? 

It seems like the Red Sox were too heavy on the deferring also.

[mvp 78]

2 minutes ago, Old Red said:

It seems like the Red Sox were too heavy on the deferring also.

Cubs had deferrals too, but the Sox deferrals made the offer non-competitive to the Cubs' apparently. 🫠

[drewski6]

2 minutes ago, Old Red said:

It seems like the Red Sox were too heavy on the deferring also.

Yeah, I really dont see how the combination of 10m lighter vs cubs offer (but in actuality quite a bit lighter than that because of the excess deferrals)

+

A NTC

Gets it done.  Maybe they thought there offer was the most competitive, but nobody would sign here at a discount without a NTC.  Whats the point? If someone is taking less to come here its becuase they want to be here not to let the sox trade them whenever to whomver.

[Old Red]

1 minute ago, mvp 78 said:

Cubs had deferrals too, but the Sox deferrals made the offer non-competitive to the Cubs' apparently. 🫠

On paper it seems to be only a $10M difference, but all the fine print made it seem like a lot more especially the NO trade.

[Hitch]

19 hours ago, Randy Red Sox said:

try listening to the Bastards of Boston podcast.  i think they speak for the vast majority of Sox fans.

[moonslav59]

I think $165M/5 was an overpay, and guessing what JH's future budgets might be, I think we'd see much less additions had we outbid the Cubs, so I'm not torn up over this.

It's still a major loss from the 2025 team that needs to be addressed.

I'm still waiting for the Devers loss to be addressed, too, but I guess one could argue Contreras & Hicks come close to covering it for 2 more years, anyway. Gray's $21M = Buehler's loss, financially and Gio's loss in production, but we need a big bat. We need a 3Bman or possibly a 2Bman. One player might fit both needs.

I still would like a #2SP'er, but I think that's a pipedream.

Maybe we add a 3Bman (Paredes or Viento?) and a RP'er. That might get us close to a slight improvement over 2025.

That would be very sad.

[moonslav59]

34 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Cubs had deferrals too, but the Sox deferrals made the offer non-competitive to the Cubs' apparently. 🫠

Looks that way. I'm not sure just the refusal of the no-trade clause was the deal-breaker.

[mvp 78]

4 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I think $165M/5 was an overpay

Yeah, if you are bidding in the FA market, you're going to have to ignore your internal models and overpay when you are competing with other bidders. If you're being rational all the time, all the good players will go elsewhere and you won't retain your players are bring on new ones. 

[mvp 78]

6 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Looks that way. I'm not sure just the refusal of the no-trade clause was the deal-breaker.

It was the combination of the no trade and the deferrals being not competitive compared to the Cubs. 

🫠

[Old Red]

39 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

It was the combination of the no trade and the deferrals being not competitive compared to the Cubs. 

🫠

The present day value was way too low, because of decades of deferred money was a report I read along with the no trade.

[FredLynn]

I'll write it again: Henry is a cheap SOB who will not make competitive offers to high end talent. We are going to be stuck with teams that will never compete seriously for a ring as long as he owns the team. Of the 30 teams in MLB the FLOPS ranks 23rd in percentage of revenue invested in salaries for the players, the rest going to the John Henry Family Relief Fund. Yes, there is still time to sign a couple of the high end FAs out there, but there is no reason to believe that will happen. We are going to be stuck with another season barely making the playoffs, if we make them at all.

[JoeBrady]

2 hours ago, Old Red said:

It seems like the Red Sox were too heavy on the deferring also.

Without details this is all chatter, but the word I heard is that they wanted to defer for decades(!).  I have no problem with deferrals.  You withhold 50% of my salary, but give me 10% more next year, NP.  But decades?  No, I want to see it in my lifetime, not my kids.

[JoeBrady]

2 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Looks that way. I'm not sure just the refusal of the no-trade clause was the deal-breaker.

I also have a problem with that.  If this is a Devers type of deals, I might need to trade you for a variety of reasons.  But a 5-year deal, where I only expect you to be productive over 3 years, what's the difference.  He'll likely still be able to play in years 4 & 5, and he wouldn't any real trade value by that point anyway.

Maybe even worse is the 'company policy' issue with NTC.  Nobody likes a good policy and procedure book more than me, but I'm not crazy about locking in policies that we might not be able to enforce.

[mvp 78]

7 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

Without details this is all chatter, but the word I heard is that they wanted to defer for decades(!).  I have no problem with deferrals.  You withhold 50% of my salary, but give me 10% more next year, NP.  But decades?  No, I want to see it in my lifetime, not my kids.

Cubs offer was more money sooner and with a no trade clause. Sox just didn't really come close enough. Breggie had the Sox offer in hand for a long time and wasn't happy with it. The second he got the offer from the Cubs he signed. 

[mvp 78]

4 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

I also have a problem with that.  If this is a Devers type of deals, I might need to trade you for a variety of reasons.  But a 5-year deal, where I only expect you to be productive over 3 years, what's the difference.  He'll likely still be able to play in years 4 & 5, and he wouldn't any real trade value by that point anyway.

Maybe even worse is the 'company policy' issue with NTC.  Nobody likes a good policy and procedure book more than me, but I'm not crazy about locking in policies that we might not be able to enforce.

He's a better to above average 3b now. He'd be Eugenio Suarez level 4-5 years from now. Would be fine with me TBH. 

[Hitch]

We also shouldn't overlook that Bregman has a young family and is moving for the second time in two years. The guy wanted somewhere he knows he's going to stay for the duration and bring up his kids in one place.

My gut is if the Sox had given him that he might be here. Though the details around the referrals are sketchy so impossible to be sure.

[Old Red]

9 minutes ago, Hitch said:

We also shouldn't overlook that Bregman has a young family and is moving for the second time in two years. The guy wanted somewhere he knows he's going to stay for the duration and bring up his kids in one place.

My gut is if the Sox had given him that he might be here. Though the details around the referrals are sketchy so impossible to be sure.

He’s moving for the second year in a row of his own choice. It’s not like Houston didn’t make him an offer to stay there, or Detroit last year to go there. I understand he wants to get every penny he can, but I don’t care that he has to move to get it.

[mvp 78]

17 minutes ago, Hitch said:

We also shouldn't overlook that Bregman has a young family and is moving for the second time in two years. The guy wanted somewhere he knows he's going to stay for the duration and bring up his kids in one place.

My gut is if the Sox had given him that he might be here. Though the details around the referrals are sketchy so impossible to be sure.

All we know is the Sox got outbid again. 

[JoeBrady]

59 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

All we know is the Sox got outbid again. 

Assuming that's true, I have no problem.  You have to be able to draw a line, whether I agree with the number or not.  But, so long as the RS were willing to spend $30M+, then it just a matter of re-directing that money.  If this was another 'well, we tried but then do nothing next', then it's problematic.

[vegasbob]

16 hours ago, Old Red said:

The Cubs come to Boston in late Sept to close out the 2026 season. I’m pretty sure Bregman will get a loud and long not so good reception.🤫

That assumes he is physically able to play in September 

[mvp 78]

Per AJ Pierzyski, Breggie was frustrated the Sox didn't meet his market after their initial offer. Breggie went back to them with the higher offer from the Cubs and the Sox didn't believe it existed. Refused to bring their offer up as it would be bidding against themselves.

[Kimmi]

On 1/11/2026 at 10:27 AM, notin said:

Only a $5mill drop in AAV for Bregman.

 

These GMs continue to confound me with the lengths that they will go to in order to sign a player.

I am glad to see that many posters agree that this contract was too much to give to Bregman, as much as we love him.

[Kimmi]

4 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Yeah, if you are bidding in the FA market, you're going to have to ignore your internal models and overpay when you are competing with other bidders. If you're being rational all the time, all the good players will go elsewhere and you won't retain your players are bring on new ones. 

You have to be willing to overpay to an extent.  Grossly overpaying in order to beat out another team who  already has a too large offer to the player I disagree with.  The Sox reported offer of $160M/5 would have been overpay enough.  

[Old Red]

25 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Per AJ Pierzyski, Breggie was frustrated the Sox didn't meet his market after their initial offer. Breggie went back to them with the higher offer from the Cubs and the Sox didn't believe it existed. Refused to bring their offer up as it would be bidding against themselves.

Sounds like Brez not reading the room very well, which is not surprising at all.

 

[Kimmi]

2 hours ago, Hitch said:

We also shouldn't overlook that Bregman has a young family and is moving for the second time in two years. The guy wanted somewhere he knows he's going to stay for the duration and bring up his kids in one place.

My gut is if the Sox had given him that he might be here. Though the details around the referrals are sketchy so impossible to be sure.

This is a fair point, Hitch.  I can understand a player wanting the security of being in the same place for the sake of his young family.  I really respect a player who will leave some money on the table in order to prioritize family or something else.

That said, my impression here is that Bregman went for the most money.  I'm not saying that the no-trade clause didn't factor into his decision, but I think Sox would have had to offer more money to get Bregman to stay.

[drewski6]

7 minutes ago, Old Red said:

Sounds like Brez not reading the room very well, which is not surprising at all.

 

It really does sound like our bres, doesnt it.  Sitting there smug look, arms folded across the chest.  I call your bluff! He declares.

Okay, buddy, as Bregman walks out chuckling to himself.

[mvp 78]

24 minutes ago, Kimmi said:

You have to be willing to overpay to an extent.  Grossly overpaying in order to beat out another team who  already has a too large offer to the player I disagree with.  The Sox reported offer of $160M/5 would have been overpay enough.  

It's not an overpay if that's what the market is bearing. Two teams were in that ballpark. Last year, another team was up there too. 

[Kimmi]

16 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

It's not an overpay if that's what the market is bearing. Two teams were in that ballpark. Last year, another team was up there too. 

I have to disagree with that statement.  For me, it's not what the market is bearing that makes it an overpay or not, it's what the player is worth in terms of production.

I still blame the Dodgers.

[Old Red]

1 minute ago, Kimmi said:

I have to disagree with that statement.  For me, it's not what the market is bearing that makes it an overpay or not, it's what the player is worth in terms of production.

I still blame the Dodgers.

And with the Red Sox they have a set limit. It might have been $165M for Bregman, but from reports it was s t r e c h e d out over a long time. What a player is worth to one team might not be that much to another. Alonso was worth $150M to Baltimore, but only $85M to Boston.

[JoeBrady]

51 minutes ago, Kimmi said:

That said, my impression here is that Bregman went for the most money. 

There's no way to be sure.  Chicago is a pretty good opportunity, similar to the RS.  I remember Bay going to the NYM, or Cano going to the Mariners, and thinking these guys are ruining their careers for money they will never spend.  But the Cubs are a good franchise.