{"id":402248,"date":"2026-01-11T09:05:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T09:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/402248\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T09:05:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T09:05:08","slug":"blue-jays-hit-with-more-bad-news-after-alex-bregmans-175-million-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/402248\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Jays Hit With More Bad News After Alex Bregman&#8217;s $175 Million Decision"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t<img width=\"780\" height=\"520\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Alex-Bregman.jpg\" class=\"attachment-featured-image size-featured-image wp-post-image\" alt=\"Boston Red Sox third baseman Alex Bregman\"   decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>The Chicago Cubs have received an update regarding free agent Alex Bregman.<\/p>\n<p>The <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/mlb\/toronto-blue-jays\/\" title=\"Toronto Blue Jays\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"140901\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Toronto Blue Jays<\/a> were expected to make some major moves after their crushing World Series loss, with speculation that they could bring back Bo Bichette and pair him with top free agent Alex Bregman.<\/p>\n<p>Now, there\u2019s a good chance that the Blue Jays will get neither.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/news\/alex-bregman-cubs-contract\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">MLB.com\u2019s Jordan Bastian<\/a> reported late on Saturday that Bregman agreed to terms with the <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/mlb\/chicago-cubs\/\" title=\"Chicago Cubs\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"140902\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Chicago Cubs<\/a> on a five-year contract worth $175 million. The signing is expected to have a massive impact on the free agency market, which could lead to another team swooping in to land Bichette.<\/p>\n<p>Hope Fading for Bo Bichette\u2019s Return to Toronto<\/p>\n<p>With Bregman now off the market, the <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/mlb\/boston-red-sox\/\" title=\"Boston Red Sox\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"140900\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Boston Red Sox<\/a> are expected to zero in on their pursuit of Bichette. USA Today insider Bob Nightengale reported that the Red Sox have already shifted their attention to the longtime Blue Jays star.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Boston Red Sox will now turn their sights to Bo Bichette,\u201d Nightengale wrote in a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/BNightengale\/status\/2010197095580610572\" rel=\"nofollow\">post on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>That could pose a major challegne to Toronto\u2019s offseason plans. Blue Jays insider <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6947549\/2026\/01\/06\/blue-jays-bo-bichette-kyle-tucker\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Mitch Bannon of The Athletic<\/a> reported that the Blue Jays had remained interested in bringing back Bichette on a new contract, though only on a shorter-term deal.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Jays will likely stay in touch with Bichette\u2019s representatives as free agency remains fluid and plans evolve,\u201d Bannon wrote. \u201cPerhaps if Bichette elects to take a shorter deal with opt-outs, similar to the contracts signed by Alex Bregman,\u00a0<a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" title=\"Pete Alonso\" href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/mlb\/player\/peter-alonso\/\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"138387\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Pete Alonso<\/a>, and\u00a0<a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" title=\"Cody Bellinger\" href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/mlb\/player\/cody-bellinger\/\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"138582\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cody Bellinger<\/a>\u00a0in recent offseasons, the Jays could make things work for a year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Blue Jays Expected to Make Bold Moves<\/p>\n<p>The Blue Jays already made waves this offseason by landing highly sought-after Japanese free agent <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" title=\"Kazuma Okamoto\" href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/mlb\/player\/kazuma-okamoto\/\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"137688\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Kazuma Okamoto<\/a>, and Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins said this week that he would be aggressive in improving the team.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou have heard me say, probably too many times to count, that we will always be open to making our organization and team better, if there is a way to do that,\u201d Atkins\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=zWs-nMqAEGI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external nofollow\">said<\/a>. \u201cAt this point, we were answering the question back in early December and even in November, that we felt good about our team. That remains the case.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While Atkins didn\u2019t get into specifics on who the Blue Jays would target, Nightengale did. In a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/mlb\/columnist\/bob-nightengale\/2026\/01\/05\/mlb-trade-rumors-top-free-agents-winter\/88024143007\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jan. 6 article<\/a>, the USA Today insider noted that Toronto wanted to find a strong pairing for Okamoto and mentioned both Bichette and Bregman.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">\u201cThe Blue Jays have spent $337 million this winter in free agency, signing four of the 15 free agents who have received contract of at least $30 million,\u201d Nightengale noted. \u201cEven after signing infielder Kazuma Okamoto to a four-year, $60 million contract, with a formal press conference scheduled Tuesday, they still want to add another power hitter. Their preference is to make Okamoto a super utility player.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nightengale noted that the Blue Jays were interested in all of this year\u2019s hottest free agency.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Blue Jays remain fully engaged in talks with infielders Bo Bichette and Alex Bregman, with outfielder Kyle Tucker also remaining a possibility,\u201d Nightengale wrote.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/author\/nated2005\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Nathan Dougherty<\/a> is a sports reporter covering the NFL for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Buffalo Bills, Detroit Lions and Miami Dolphins. Previously he wrote for the Rochester Business Journal and served as the assistant editor of athletic trade magazines Coaching Management, Athletic Management and Training &amp; Conditioning. He is based out of Rochester, New York, and loves everything football.  <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/author\/nated2005\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">More about Nathan Dougherty<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Blue Jays\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty The Chicago Cubs have received an update regarding free agent Alex Bregman. The Toronto Blue Jays were&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":402249,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-402248","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402248","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=402248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/402249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}