{"id":515552,"date":"2026-01-11T18:30:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T18:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/515552\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T18:30:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T18:30:12","slug":"whats-next-for-a-red-sox-team-that-hasnt-spent-in-free-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/515552\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s next for a Red Sox team that hasn\u2019t spent in free agency?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"isPasted\">If you\u2019re a Red Sox fan, you\u2019re probably sick and tired of reading the same story every offseason: Boston didn\u2019t do enough in free agency. This time, it was Alex Bregman. The Red Sox failed to outbid the Cubs, and the All-Star third baseman is headed to Wrigleyville.<\/p>\n<p>Bregman agreed to a five-year, $175-million deal with Chicago that includes no opt-outs, a full no-trade clause, and $70 million in deferred money, according to The Athletic\u2019s Ken Rosenthal.<\/p>\n<p>If your optimism now rests on Bo Bichette being the Red Sox\u2019s fallback plan to improve the roster, brace yourself \u2014 he\u2019s going to cost more years and more money than Bregman.<\/p>\n<p>The deal the Cubs gave to Bregman wasn\u2019t something the Red Sox couldn\u2019t do. They simply didn\u2019t want to commit to the player on anything other than their own terms. Boston could have offered the deferrals that Chicago issued in the deal, lowering the AAV (average annual value).<\/p>\n<p>Bregman was the best free agent fit for this team outside of Pete Alonso, who signed with the Orioles at the beginning of the offseason. The veteran is a proven winner, making the postseason in each of his big league seasons and winning two World Series championships, and he instantly changed the dynamic in the Sox\u2019 clubhouse the second he arrived at spring training.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Third baseman Alex Bregman and the Chicago Cubs are in agreement on a five-year, $175 million contract, sources tell ESPN. One year after their failed pursuit of Bregman in free agency, the Cubs land one of the biggest bats of the winter.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JeffPassan\/status\/2010194423968346301?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">January 11, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Last February, the Red Sox shocked fans by signing Bregman to a three-year, $120-million deal that included opt-outs that allowed him to dip back into free agency and get one last big payday. The deal had deferrals, and more importantly, he would be mentoring the young clubhouse and an emerging core that featured Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer, and Kristian Campbell.<\/p>\n<p>It was the first time in a long time that the Sox made a big splash in free agency. In fact, the Sox were very aggressive last year, trading for Garrett Crochet and signing him to a six-year contract extension. Boston finally started to give the impression they were serious about winning and signaled to the fan base they were ready to take advantage of this window of young talent.<\/p>\n<p>The arrival of Bregman and Crochet led to a playoff berth, ultimately losing in the American League Wild Card round to the Yankees in the Bronx.<\/p>\n<p>As the offseason began to unfold, the Red Sox were rumored to want to add two power bats. They\u2019ve added one in\u00a0Willson Contreras. They\u2019ve also let viable options in Alonso, Bregman, and\u00a0Kyle Schwarber sign in other markets.<\/p>\n<p>Boston reportedly didn\u2019t offer anything more than a three-year deal to Alonso. Schwarber wanted to remain in Philadelphia, and it would have taken a massive offer to lure him back to Boston.<\/p>\n<p>The Sox have been linked to\u00a0Ketel Marte, but the D-backs have reportedly removed him from the trade block. Even if the Sox and D-backs re-engage in trade talks, Arizona knows they have Boston over a barrel, and it\u2019ll cost Breslow a massive trade package.<\/p>\n<p>Marte makes a ton of sense, and Boston fans aren\u2019t going to care what it\u2019ll take to land him at this point. Since 2023, the 11-year veteran has been one of baseball\u2019s most complete offensive players, earning back-to-back All-Star nods in 2024 and 2025 while slashing .283\/.376\/.517 with 28 home runs last season. His contract\u2014six years, $116.5 million\u2014is widely viewed as team-friendly, especially when stacked against what Bregman could command on the open market. Defensively, Marte remains reliable, ranking in the 74th percentile in range among second basemen.<\/p>\n<p>The attention is now turned to Bichette, but he\u2019s expected to meet with the deep-pocketed Phillies this week. In addition, Philadelphia recently hired Don Mattingly to be its new bench coach. Mattingly and Bichette have a great relationship, serving as a mentor for the former Blue Jays shortstop.<\/p>\n<p>If the Red Sox miss out on Bichette, too, their options dwindle dramatically as to who they could bring in and play third base.<\/p>\n<p>One potential alternative is<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you\u2019re a Red Sox fan, you\u2019re probably sick and tired of reading the same story every offseason:&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":515553,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2389],"tags":[42,5,48,139,54,3211,4,89,63118,63120],"class_list":{"0":"post-515552","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston-astros","8":"tag-astros","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-boston-red-sox","11":"tag-houston","12":"tag-houston-astros","13":"tag-houstonastros","14":"tag-mlb","15":"tag-red-sox","16":"tag-top-red-sox","17":"tag-top-story-2"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115877892921817826","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=515552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/515553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=515552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=515552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=515552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}