This story originally appeared in the Globe’s Sunday Baseball Notes. Read the rest here.
Alex Bregman’s decision to opt out of his heavily deferred, three-year, $120 million deal with the Red Sox comes as no surprise. In signing the deal, Bregman employed a strategy previously employed by other clients of agent Scott Boras: Take a short-term deal, opt out after one year, then return to the open market without the albatross of a qualifying offer that would require a signing team to forfeit a top draft pick.
After the 2023 season, third baseman Matt Chapman signed a three-year, $54 million deal with the Giants. Near the conclusion of a spectacular 2024 campaign, he signed a new six-year, $151 million deal with the Giants. Similarly, Blake Snell — coming off a Cy Young season in 2023 — signed a two-year, $62 million deal with the Giants. He opted out of the deal after one year, returned to the open market last winter, and signed a five-year, $182 million deal with the Dodgers.
Chapman always represented a likely harbinger for Bregman, who like his colleague a year ago just finished his age-31 season. Now, Chapman’s $151 million guarantee represents an obvious basis of comparison for teams interested in Bregman.
Other Red Sox notes:
⋅ Bregman isn’t the only righthanded Red Sox hitter on the open market. Rob Refsnyder — who hit .269/.354/.484 in 2025, including a .300/.391/.470 line at Fenway — will be a free agent. Though he’d mused about the possibility of retiring after the 2024 season, the 34-year-old plans to play in 2026 and has had informal talks with the Sox about a possible return, though he should have a healthy market given his productive against lefties and strong clubhouse reputation.
⋅ The Mariners reached the ALCS in no small part because of the work of former Red Sox righthander Eduard Bazardo, who had the longest outing of his big league career — 2⅔ scoreless innings — in Seattle’s epic 15-inning Game 5 victory over the Tigers.
Bazardo signed with the Red Sox as an undersized 18-year-old for just $8,000 in 2014, gained strength and velocity, got a couple cups of coffee in 2021-22, then with the Orioles in 2023 and the Mariners in 2023-24 before finally forging a meaningful role in Seattle’s bullpen this year at age 30.
“From a 150-pound 18-year-old throwing 88 to now consistently throwing mid-90s with an above-average breaking ball, he’s done well for himself. It’s really cool to see,” said Red Sox assistant GM Eddie Romero. “He’s always been fearless. He comes into tough situations and I’m like, ‘He’s not going to walk this guy. He’s going to go right after him.’ That’s part of why he’s been successful.”
⋅ While the Sox had their best home record (48-33) since 2021, their improvement was driven chiefly by pitching. Despite an offseason meant to provide home lineup balance, the Sox had one fewer homer at Fenway in 2025 (86) than they did in 2024 (87). When their righthanded hitters put the ball in play at home, they hit liners or fly balls to the pull side just 14.7 percent of the time – 20th among big-league teams. Their pitching staff, on the other hand, allowed just 72 homers at Fenway, down from 88 in 2024.
⋅ One area of offensive concern: Outside of their July eruption, the Sox got beaten by velocity for most of the season. The team hit .230 (25th) and slugged .355 (23d). Those struggles may add to the intrigue of Pete Alonso, who slugged .561 with nine homers against pitches 95 miles per hour or faster.
⋅ Team CEO/president Sam Kennedy, in an appearance on the “310 to Left” podcast, on whether adding a middle-of-the-order masher will be a priority this offseason: “For sure. … That’s an area that definitely needs focus and where we’ll have our focus this offseason, but hard to know where all the conversations will lead.”
⋅ Members of the Red Sox were thrilled to hear that the Twins requested an interview with bench coach Ramón Vázquez as part of their search for a manager. Vázquez is heralded as a tremendous baseball mind and strong leader, attributes that helped him manage four teams to winter ball championships in Puerto Rico.
Alex Speier can be reached at alex.speier@globe.com. Follow him @alexspeier.
