{"id":516957,"date":"2026-01-12T17:35:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T17:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/516957\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T17:35:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T17:35:11","slug":"chicago-cubs-alex-bregman-signing-re-establishes-team-as-big-market-force","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/516957\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Cubs\u2019 Alex Bregman signing re-establishes team as big-market force"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Cubs signed free agent 3B Alex Bregman to a deal that \u201creintroduced themselves as a major-market force,\u201d according to Patrick Mooney of THE ATHLETIC. Sources said that the deal is for five years, $175M. This commitment marks a \u201cdramatic shift from Chicago\u2019s lukewarm pursuit last February,\u201d when the Ricketts family ownership group authorized team President of Baseball Operations Jed Hoyer to offer Bregman a four-year, $115M contract. Bregman\u2019s \u201cmuch-anticipated arrival\u201d lines up with next weekend\u2019s Cubs Convention, an annual event that sometimes turns into an \u201cairing of grievances over the franchise\u2019s lack of spending on the top free agents.\u201d For an organization that \u201coften takes a detached view of talent evaluation and acquisition,\u201d this also \u201cfelt kind of personal, an acknowledgement that intangibles matter\u201d (THE ATHLETIC, 1\/11<\/a>). Mooney in a separate piece writes the Cubs\u2019 \u201cmarketing machine gets the positive attention from a Saturday night news break\u201d during the Bears\u2019 win over the Packers. Bregman\u2019s name is \u201cbig enough to go viral on social media and become an instant headline during the NFL playoffs.\u201d When Bregman is introduced at the anticipated news conference this week, Cubs Chair Tom Ricketts, Hoyer and President of Business Operations Crane Kenney will \u201chave proof that this big-market franchise is still willing to spend the money for a top free agent and continue adding to a playoff contender\u201d (THE ATHLETIC, 1\/12<\/a>). <\/p>\n

BIG MARKET MOVE: In Chicago, Maddie Lee wrote Bregman\u2019s deal \u201cwasn\u2019t just the Cubs\u2019 biggest of the offseason by far.\u201d The contract\u2019s average annual value of $35M (not factoring in deferrals) \u201cclocks in as the largest in club history.\u201d Its total value is also \u201cone of the largest in team history.\u201d Coming off the Cubs\u2019 first playoff berth in five years and after \u201cconservative spending all offseason, it was time to make an aggressive move\u201d (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 1\/11<\/a>). SI\u2019s Tom Verducci wrote the Cubs, \u201ccriticized for dragging their feet and treating the first luxury tax threshold like a stop sign,\u201d in the past five days traded for P Edward Cabrera and signed Bregman to a contract that \u201cputs them over the first threshold.\u201d Carrying a payroll north of $244M \u201cshould not be news for a big market team like the Cubs.\u201d They paid the tax in 2023 and \u201924 but dipped below the threshold to reset their tax rate, a \u201ccommon tactic to avoid the higher tax level associated with three straight payment years\u201d (SI, 1\/11<\/a>). <\/p>\n

HIT THE JACKPOT: THE ATHLETIC\u2019s Ken Rosenthal noted Bregman becomes the latest Scott Boras client to \u201chit the jackpot\u201d after opting out of a short-term, high-dollar arrangement. Combine this deal with the $40M Bregman earned in his one season with the Red Sox, and his total comes to six years, $215M. Deferrals lowered the present-day value of his Red Sox contract. According to sources, the Cubs agreement includes $70M in deferrals, which is \u201cexpected to lower the present-day value\u201d to the $150M to $155M range (THE ATHLETIC, 1\/11<\/a>). <\/p>\n

NOW OR NEVER: YAHOO SPORTS\u2019 Jordan Shusterman wrote the Bregman signing is \u201can outcome that is all the more remarkable considering the Cubs\u2019 hesitance to go all-in\u201d on him last winter. For a franchise that \u201cshould be focused on chasing championships — not fretting about its finances a half-decade from now — making the requisite offer to land a great player and certified winner in Bregman is an undeniable organizational victory for the Cubs.\u201d In a matter of days, Chicago has \u201cvaulted itself from the group of contenders toiling in winter irrelevance to the inner circle of this offseason\u2019s winners\u201d (YAHOO SPORTS, 1\/11<\/a>). <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Cubs signed free agent 3B Alex Bregman to a deal that \u201creintroduced themselves as a major-market force,\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":516958,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2399],"tags":[5,138,24,4245,161,6035,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-516957","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-cubs","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-chicago-cubs","11":"tag-chicagocubs","12":"tag-cubs","13":"tag-deals","14":"tag-mlb"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115883338970834607","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516957","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=516957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/516958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=516957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=516957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=516957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}