{"id":405768,"date":"2026-01-11T07:28:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T07:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/405768\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T07:28:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T07:28:10","slug":"cubs-to-sign-alex-bregman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/405768\/","title":{"rendered":"Cubs To Sign Alex Bregman"},"content":{"rendered":"

With most of Chicago focused on the Cardiac Bears<\/a> Saturday night, the Cubs attempted to steal a little bit of the spotlight by agreeing to a five-year, $175MM contract with free agent Alex Bregman<\/a>.\u00a0 In doing so, the Cubs land MLBTR\u2019s fifth-ranked free agent to take over at the hot corner.<\/p>\n

Bregman, a client of the Boras Corporation, bests the contract offers he received last offseason.\u00a0 His new contract, the third-largest in Cubs history, includes a no-trade clause but lacks opt-outs.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When last offseason\u2019s proposals fell short of Bregman\u2019s expectations, he pivoted to a heavily-deferred three-year, $120MM deal with the Red Sox.\u00a0 The quality of his 2025 season, plus his ineligibility for a qualifying offer this time around, led to this long-term deal.<\/p>\n

MLBTR projected<\/a> a six-year, $160MM contract for Bregman back in November, which he managed to top on a five-year term. Though a sixth year would\u2019ve been a rarity for a player set to turn 32 in March, the five-year length results in a hefty $35MM average annual value.\u00a0 That\u2019s easily the highest AAV in Cubs history, and it\u2019s tied for 14th all-time<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For the Cubs, the addition of Bregman is the biggest splash in an active offseason. The club acquired<\/a> young starter Edward Cabrera<\/a> from the Marlins three days ago, adding upside to the rotation at the expense of a top-50 prospect in Owen Caissie<\/a>. The Cubs have largely rebuilt their bullpen with a quintet of free agent signings: Phil Maton<\/a>, Hunter Harvey<\/a>, Caleb Thielbar<\/a>, Hoby Milner<\/a>, and Jacob Webb<\/a>.\u00a0 They also retained swingman Colin Rea<\/a> and starter Shota Imanaga<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bregman gives the Cubs a major offensive upgrade without the loss of a draft pick, as he rejected a qualifying offer from the Astros in 2024. His salary brings the team\u2019s projected 2026 payroll to $231MM, a full $25MM over last year\u2019s $206MM figure, according to RosterResource<\/a>. Meanwhile, their CBT payroll stands at $247.6MM for 2026, putting the Cubs $3.6MM above the first luxury tax threshold.\u00a0 The Cubs did not exceed the CBT in 2025, so they\u2019ll reside in the lightest tax bracket if they stay over in \u201926.<\/p>\n

Bregman, 31, played in 114 games with Boston this year, making 495 plate appearances. Although he missed a month and a half with a right quad strain, he continued to excel on offense, batting .273\/.360\/.462 and grading out 25% better than average by wRC+. After posting a career-low 6.9% walk rate in his final year with the Astros, Bregman bumped that up to 10.3% in 2025. He maintained his reputation as a high-contact hitter, with his 14.1% strikeout rate grading out in the 88th percentile. His 90.1 mph average exit velocity and 44.4% hard-hit rate were both career bests. He also continued to perform well defensively, earning 3 Outs Above Average for his work at third base. Overall, Bregman\u2019s 2025 contributions were good for 3.5 fWAR and his third career All-Star nomination.<\/p>\n

A lot of that came from his red-hot first two months. At the time of his injury, Bregman had a 156 wRC+ through 226 PA. His production following his return was more uneven. He posted a 128 wRC+ in July, followed by a 108 wRC+ in August and just a 76 wRC+ in September. In the first half, Bregman was 52% better than average by wRC+. In the second half, he was right around average.<\/p>\n

Though he wasn\u2019t his usual self in the last two months of the year, Bregman\u2019s lengthy track record still made him one of the top free agents in this year\u2019s class. Since debuting with the Astros in 2016, he has batted .272\/.365\/.481 with 209 home runs and a 133 wRC+. His first two All-Star appearances came in 2018-19. Bregman averaged 8.1 fWAR and finished in the Top 5 in AL MVP voting in both years, finishing as the runner-up in 2019.<\/p>\n

While he hasn\u2019t reached those heights in the years since, Bregman has still been a well-above-average hitter. He has posted a wRC+ between 117 and 137 in every year from 2020-25. Bregman\u2019s defense has also held firm. Since the start of 2020, he has been worth 10 DRS and 17 OAA. He ranks eighth among qualified third basemen in that span by OAA.<\/p>\n

That track record, Bregman\u2019s excellent clubhouse reputation, and his still-excellent 2025 drew ample interest in free agency. The Red Sox were clearly keen on a reunion, with recent reports indicating they had made him an \u201caggressive\u201d offer. Outside of them and the Cubs, his known suitors included the Tigers, Diamondbacks, and Blue Jays (before they signed Kazuma Okamoto<\/a>). The Tigers and Cubs were interested in Bregman last offseason as well. Detroit reportedly offered him six years and $171.5MM, albeit with significant deferrals. Chicago\u2019s offer was in the four-year, $115MM range. One year later, the Cubs committed an additional $60MM to lock Bregman up.<\/p>\n

Bregman likely sought a $200MM guarantee during the 2024-25 offseason, and even accounting for the deferred money in this year\u2019s $40MM salary, the straight $175MM from the Cubs means he\u2019s cleared that bar.\u00a0 It\u2019s a strategy we\u2019ve seen Boras execute successfully with Bregman, Blake Snell<\/a>, Matt Chapman<\/a>, and Pete Alonso<\/a> in recent years, with Cody Bellinger<\/a> serving as the next test case.<\/p>\n

With Bregman slotting in at third base, the most impacted player on the Cubs\u2019 roster is incumbent third baseman Matt Shaw<\/a>. As a rookie, Shaw posted a .226\/.295\/.394 line in 437 plate appearances, good for a 93 wRC+. Factoring in his serviceable defense (-1 DRS), Shaw was worth 1.5 fWAR in 2025. That was acceptable production for the rookie and former top prospect, though there are clear areas for improvement heading into his sophomore season. Shaw\u2019s average exit velocity and hard-hit rate ranked in the third and seventh percentiles, respectively. He also struggled against fastballs, with a -6 run value against sinkers and a -1 value against four-seamers.<\/p>\n

Shaw came up through the system as a middle infielder before shifting to third base in earnest in 2024. At present, Dansby Swanson<\/a> and Nico Hoerner<\/a> occupy the shortstop and second base spots on the big-league roster. Swanson is under contract through 2029 and won\u2019t be moving off short any time soon. Hoerner has been an above-average hitter and excellent defender in the past four seasons, tallying 17.5 fWAR.\u00a0 Hoerner moved to second base in 2023 in deference to Swanson.<\/p>\n

With the 28-year-old Hoerner eligible for free agency after 2026 \u2013 with earning power likely to get a boost from his ability to play shortstop \u2013 his name has surfaced in trade rumors this winter.\u00a0 The best 2026 Cubs team has Hoerner at second base and Shaw in a utility infield role, but it\u2019s at least conceivable that either player could be dealt this offseason.<\/p>\n

For Red Sox fans, the past seven months have provided a painful sequence of events at third base.\u00a0 Rafael Devers<\/a> was dealt to the Giants<\/a> in a surprise June blockbuster, and now Bregman has departed as well.\u00a0 The Red Sox, the only team yet to have signed a Major League free agent this winter, could turn to Bo Bichette<\/a> if they don\u2019t consider Marcelo Mayer<\/a> sufficient at third.\u00a0 Bichette has never played third base, however, and chief baseball officer Craig Breslow has yet to sign a free agent for more than Bregman\u2019s three years (which only lasted one).<\/p>\n

Jon Heyman of the New York Post<\/a> first broke news of the signing, with ESPN\u2019s Jeff Passan<\/a> adding terms and Bob Nightengale of USA Today<\/a> providing further details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With most of Chicago focused on the Cardiac Bears Saturday night, the Cubs attempted to steal a little…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":405769,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[5154,64,63,591,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-405768","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-alex-bregman","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=405768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/405769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}