{"id":229984,"date":"2025-10-21T18:55:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T18:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/229984\/"},"modified":"2025-10-21T18:55:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T18:55:10","slug":"red-sox-get-bad-news-on-alex-bregman-replacement-target","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/229984\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Sox Get Bad News on Alex Bregman Replacement Target"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">In his first season in Boston, after signing with the Red Sox on a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spotrac.com\/mlb\/player\/_\/id\/17617\/alex-bregman\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">three-year, $120 million free agent contract<\/a>, Alex Bregman made his third All-Star team, belted 18 home runs with an .821 OPS, and with just nine errors compiled <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mlb\/stats\/fielding\/_\/seasontype\/2\/position\/3b\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a .969 fielding percentage<\/a> that ranked eighth among all MLB third basemen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">And then, shortly after the end of the regular season, Bregman decided <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/news\/alex-bregman-free-agency-opt-out-clause\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">not to exercise his option<\/a> to continue his contract with the Red Sox, making him a free agent for the second offseason in a row.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">While some MLB pundits <a href=\"https:\/\/bosoxinjection.com\/previous-alex-bregman-comments-suggest-if-he-re-signs-with-red-sox-itll-be-for-life\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">believe that Bregman may yet re-sign<\/a> with Boston under a new, longer-term deal, his return is far from a sure thing. The Red Sox understandably are drawing up contingency plans to replace the three-time All-Star who will turn 32 at the start of next season.<\/p>\n<p><img id=\"10915080\" alt=\"Alex Bregman\" caption=\"NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 30: Alex Bregman #2 of the Boston Red Sox looks on during game one of the American League Wild Card Series against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on September 30, 2025 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Ishika Samant\/Getty Images)\" credit=\"\" sourcealt=\"\" sources=\"[]\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"4502\" height=\"3001\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" style=\"color:transparent;aspect-ratio:inherit;object-fit:cover\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Alex-Bregman-Kazuma-Okamoto.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">According to <a href=\"https:\/\/bosoxinjection.com\/4-external-2-internal-solutions-for-red-sox-if-alex-bregman-leaves-in-free-agency\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">one expert, Stephen Parello of <\/a>BoSox Injection, a leading candidate on the free agent market eyed by the Red Sox as a Bregman replacement will now be unavailable.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">MLB experts believed that Japan&#8217;s Yomiuri Giants \u2014 winners of a record 22 Japan Series championships \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlbtraderumors.com\/2025\/09\/npb-kazuma-okamoto-tatsuya-imai-posted-mlb-free-agents.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">planned to post their six-time NPB All-Star<\/a> corner infielder Kazuma Okamoto, making him available to any MLB team willing to meet his, and the Giants&#8217; price. <\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">Under <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/glossary\/transactions\/japanese-posting-system\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the posting system, Japanese pro teams<\/a> may offer any player who does not yet have nine full years of service to MLB teams, but the MLB team that signs the player must pay a hefty posting fee to the NPB team, as well as the player&#8217;s salary.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">Unfortunately for the Red Sox \u2014 and any other teams interested in pursuing Okamoto \u2014 the 29-year-old NPB three-time home run leader will not be posted after all,<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/francysromeroFR\/status\/1980287089641242915\" rel=\"nofollow\"> according to a report Monday<\/a> by international baseball expert Francis Romero.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">&#8220;Several industry sources believe that the Yomiuri Giants will not post 3B\/1B Kazuma Okamoto after the season,&#8221; Romero wrote on his social media feed. &#8220;Okamoto, 29, is one of the best hitters in Japanese baseball, with 248 career home runs.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">The Red Sox, of course, were not the only MLB team reportedly interested in signing Okamoto, were he actually available. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cubshq.com\/cubs-baseball\/story\/cubs-could-turn-to-japans-kazuma-okamoto-to-fill-power-need-24306\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Chicago Cubs<\/a> and, unsurprisingly, New York <a href=\"https:\/\/yanksgoyard.com\/rumored-yankees-free-agent-target-pulled-off-the-board-before-offseason-even-begins\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Yankees have also been rumored<\/a> to be in pursuit of Okamoto. The posting period begins Nov. 1, meaning that the Giants \u2014 who have never posted one of their players \u2014 still have time to change their minds about making Okamoto available.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">More MLB: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/sports\/mlb\/trayce-thompson-free-agency-10909522\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Red Sox Expected to Lose 2nd-Round Pick With Famous Name to Free Agency<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In his first season in Boston, after signing with the Red Sox on a three-year, $120 million free&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":229985,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[3959,49,48,462,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-229984","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-boston-red-sox","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}