Where Things Stand With Alex Bregman After Red Sox Opt-Out Reports

Bregman's Opt-Out
This is the big one. Since Bregman signed his deal with Boston, it was known that he would have the opportunity to enter free agency after the season. Bregman played well enough -- despite a quad injury during the season and a slump down the stretch -- to make it worthwhile to head to the open market. Some wondered if because of Bregman's high annual value on his deal, he would end up opting in instead. Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported he will in fact utilize the opt-out. Since then, local reporters like Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com and Tim Healey of the Boston Globe have also reported that Bregman will opt out.

Timing of the Opt-Out
The reports are out there about Bregman's plans, but he hasn't officially opted out of the deal yet. The deadline for decisions, like opt-outs, is five days after the World Series. The world knows that Bregman plans to enter free agency, but Cotillo did at least bring a little hope into the picture by saying it's "possible" the Red Sox and Bregman work out a restructured deal before actually hitting the open market.

Rumored Suitors
When Heyman reported the news of Bregman's expected decision, he threw out teams like the Detroit Tigers, Chicago Cubs, Toronto Blue Jays, Seattle Mariners, and the Kansas City Royals. Cotillo also mentioned the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies, along with Chicago, Detroit, Kansas City, and Seattle. Boston, of course, also is an option.

What Bregman Wants
Cotillo shared a column on Thursday highlighting a conversation he had with the star infielder and noted that Bregman's "very high priority" is finding a place to potentially finish his career.

What's just noise
If you scroll through social media you're going to see a lot of teams linked to Bregman as well as plenty of contract projections. He's a superstar, of course teams will be thrown around. But, for now it's still a little early to judge the market outside of insiders like Cotillo and Heyman. The current projection numbers will be all over the place as well. But, those are just projections they don't have a bearing on what type of deal Bregman will get. For example, who saw the three-year, $120 million deal with opt-outs coming?

Conclusion
There's a lot of noise out there right now. It's an exciting, but also nerve-wracking time for Red Sox fans. But, there's nothing really to worry about yet until after the World Series ends.