MLB Rumors: Red Sox’s Alex Bregman Backup Plan Includes Ex-MVP Candidate?

Yes, the Boston Red Sox want to re-sign third baseman Alex Bregman. But chief baseball officer Craig Breslow knows you can’t always get what you want. So it’s always good to have a backup plan.

The Boston Globe’s Tim Healey reports a possible alternative for the Red Sox could be trading for St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado.

“Arenado is good friends with Trevor Story, and the Red Sox were close on a deal with St. Louis in February before Alex Bregman signed,” Healey notes. “And Arenado is more than willing to move off third base — where he has won 10 Gold Gloves — to first base or elsewhere, a league source said.”

Two Problems

The problem with Arenado is two-fold. First, the eight-time All-Star hit a career-worst .237 in 2025. His on-base percentage (.289) and slugging percentage (.377) also were career lows. That’s not exactly encouraging for someone about to turn 35 years old.

Second, is his contract.

“Arenado is owed $42 million ($5 million paid by the Rockies) over the next two seasons,” Healey notes.

That said, Arenado’s body of work is impressive. It includes six Platinum Gloves, five Silver Slugger Awards and six top-10 finishes in MVP voting.

“In some sense, the numbers speak for themselves,” said former Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom, now the Cardinals’ president of baseball operations. “I would not look past the fact that he played hurt for a lot of that year. You talk about guys posting and the value of that, and he battled through a lot of things.”

“So I do think there were some mitigating factors. But there’s no doubt — he’d be the first to tell you — it wasn’t up to the standard he set over the years,” Bloom told Healey.

“Perfect Transaction”

It might be a good thing the Red Sox could be interested in Arenado. That’s because ESPN’s Jeff Passan said signing Bregman would be a “perfect transaction” for the Philadelphia Phillies.

“(W)hile re-signing Kyle Schwarber is clearly a priority, plenty of other teams will be in that market, too, because of the shorter-term deal he’ll command,” Passan notes.

“The Phillies don’t need to skimp, though. They need an impact bat for the middle of the lineup and an impact person to lead the next generation. Considering the work (Bregman) did in Boston this past season, one player checks all the boxes and offers precisely what the Phillies could use in every regard,” Passan concludes.

Bregman, a three-time All-Star, officially hit the open market after opting out of his three-year, $120 million contract. 

The 31-year-old Bregman brought stability and leadership to the Red Sox in 2025, hitting .273 with 18 home runs and 62 RBIs. But he also missed almost two months of the 2025 season with a right quad strain.