Former Astros All-Star Set Up for Massive Pay Day in Free Agency

The Houston Astros knew they had their work cut out for them to retain third baseman Alex Bregman in free agency last winter.

He was receiving a lot of interest from other franchises and had set his sights on securing a deal that would pay him $200 million.

When offers that large weren’t presented to him, there was some hope that he would come back to the Astros. Instead, he decided to sign a three-year, $120 million deal with the Boston Red Sox that includes opt-outs after the first two years.

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Bregman certainly isn’t hurting for money with such a massive sum being earned this year, but it wasn’t quite the long-term deal he was hoping for when he hit the open market.

That lucrative contract offer could certainly some this offseason, as it seems like a foregone conclusion that he will opt out and try his hand as a free agent again given how productive he has been thus far in 2025.

There are a lot of things working in Bregman’s favor, such as the Rafael Devers trade saga, clearing the way for him to be the clear-cut option at third base.

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On top of that, he is a proven winner and is producing at an incredibly high level, which should equate to incredible earning potential.

“I’ve been laughing about this for two weeks,” one AL exec said, via Jayson Stark of The Athletic (subscription required), “just thinking about (his agent) Scott Boras’ reaction to the Devers trade with Bregman, because you know he’s sitting there thinking: ‘Just give me a blank check, because whatever I want, you guys are going to have to pay me.’”

The only knock against Bregman right now is that he has been sidelined since May 23 because of injury, with his numbers being excellent across the board.

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He has a 158 OPS+, which is right in line with the height of his career to this point in 2018 and 2019 when he made two American League All-Star Teams, won the Silver Slugger once and was top five in AL MVP voting both years.

Through 51 games and 226 plate appearances, Bregman has a .299/.385/.553 slash line, hitting 11 home runs with 17 doubles and 35 RBI. He already accumulated 2.9 bWAR despite having a career-worst 18.6% strikeout rate, which still remained below the league average of 22.4%.

He isn’t getting any younger, turning 32 years old next March 30, but his production this season shows that he has plenty left in the tank to offer a team.

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A reunion with Houston seems unlikely with Isaac Paredes performing at a high level and being five years younger.

But, maybe the Astros would look to bring him back and exact their plan of moving him to second base, as the keystone remains a huge void in the Astros’ lineup with Jose Altuve playing mostly left field.

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