Bregman, Red Sox agree to $120 million contract

Alex Bregman and the Boston Red Sox have agreed to a $120 million, three-year contract, a person familiar with the deal told The Associated Press on Wednesday night.

The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the agreement was subject to a successful physical.

Bregman gets a $5 million signing bonus, a $35 million salary this season and $40 million in each of the following two years, with some of the money deferred, and he can opt out after the 2025 and 2026 seasons to become a free agent again.

He is likely to shift from third base to second with the Red Sox, who already have All-Star slugger Rafael Devers at the hot corner.

“I texted him right when it went through last night. I just couldn’t be more fired up to have him here,” new Red Sox pitcher Garrett Crochet said Thursday. “I think you look at the intangibles, and he has them all. I’ve heard a lot of good stuff about him being an absolute baseball rat, a guy that loves the game and works hard. Obviously, his pedigree speaks for itself, won a couple of World Series, the Gold Glove last year shows that he’s still at the top of his game.”

Red Sox manager Alex Cora, Houston’s bench coach in 2017, compared Bregman with former Boston star Dustin Pedroia. Cora was suspended for the 2020 season for his role in the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal that year.

“That is a person I really like,” Cora said. “With all those guys we went through a lot. We’re still going through a lot. We made a mistake in ‘17 and some of us paid the price. We’re back in baseball. We got a second chance. A.J. (Hinch) got a second chance. I did, too. Carlos (Beltrán) is still getting penalized because he did that. He should be a Hall of Famer already. He should be managing, too.”

A two-time All-Star and two-time World Series champion during nine years with Houston, the 30-year-old Bregman is coming off one of his poorest offensive seasons. He hit .260 with 26 homers and 75 RBIs in the final season of a $100 million, five-year contract, also winning his first Gold Glove.

Bregman has 19 postseason home runs, tied for sixth in major league history. He was selected by Houston with the second overall pick in the 2015 amateur draft, made his big league debut a year later and hit .284 with 19 homers, 71 RBIs and 17 stolen bases in 2017.

He had four homers and 10 RBIs in the postseason as the Astros won their first World Series title, a championship marred when a Major League Baseball investigation revealed the team used banned electronics to steal opponents’ signs.

Bregman had RBIs in his first five World Series games, homering off Clayton Kershaw in the opener and Kenley Jansen in Game 4, and hitting a walk-off 10th-inning single against Jansen in Game 5.

Bregman was fifth in AL MVP voting in 2018 and second to Mike Trout in 2019, Bregman’s two most productive years at the plate. He batted .286 with 31 homers, 103 RBIs and a major league-leading 51 doubles in 2018, then set career highs the following season with a .296 average, 41 homers, 112 RBIs and a major league-leading 119 walks.

He walked just 44 times this year with a 23.6% chase rate, his highest since 2017.

Bregman has a .272 average with 191 homers and 663 RBIs in nine big league seasons.

Because he turned down a $21.05 million qualifying offer from the Astros, they will receive an extra pick after the fourth round of the amateur draft in July. Houston forfeited its second- and fifth-highest selections for signing Christian Walker.