Red Sox Prime Landing Spot For Top Free Agents: Insane Contract Predictions

So you’re saying there’s a chance? The Boston Red Sox figure to be active players when free agency opens following the 2025 World Series. According to the New York Post’s Jon Heyman, the Red Sox are possible landing spots for the top four free agents who will be on the market.

Most analysts predict Chicago Cubs outfielder Kyle Tucker will be the best bat available.

“An incredibly consistent 29-year-old all-around talent who might be priced out of Chicago,” Heyman wrote Thursday. “Landing spots: Dodgers, Giants, Red Sox, Cubs.”

Couple of takeaways here. First, given the Red Sox glut of outfielders currently on the roster, it will take some big-time maneuvering by chief baseball officer Craig Breslow to make room for Tucker.

Second, will the Red Sox be willing to pay top dollar for top talent?

“Tucker’s best comparable might be Mookie Betts, not because of the similarities of their games but rather the level at which they produce while maintaining minuscule strikeout rates,” ESPN’s Jeff Passan wrote Thursday. “Few players are as good at any of the three facets of the game as Tucker, let alone all three. Betts is the most obvious, and he signed a 12-year, $365 million deal that started in his age-28 season.

“So, yeah, the number is going to be big — likely in the $400 million range,” Passan added. “The Philadelphia Phillies could desperately use a big corner outfield bat, particularly if the next player on this list takes his talents elsewhere. The San Francisco Giants need a complement to Rafael Devers in the middle of the lineup. Others, including the Cubs, will be in the mix. The market will find Tucker, as it eventually does with the best players in every class.”

Signing Tucker would also complicate Boston’s ability to re-sign third baseman Alex Bregman, who is expected to opt out of his contract. Heyman lists Bregman as the No. 2 free agent bat.

“He fits Boston beautifully, but with his big year there (and no qualifying offer eligibility), he’ll have more options this time. Red Sox, Tigers, Cubs, Angels,” Heyman noted.

“Complicating matters for the Red Sox, though, are the teams in need of better production at third that might be willing to spend for what Bregman provides,” Passan noted. “The Phillies. The Yankees. The Tigers. And it will take more than three years this time even though he’ll be going into his age-32 season. After one of the more lucrative pillow contracts ever, Bregman is bound to get the five-year-plus deal at an average annual value of $35 million-plus that eluded him last winter.”

“Negotiations could get interesting,” Masslive.com’s Sean McAdam reported Friday. “The Red Sox value his defense, his right-handed production and the intangibles he brings. But will they commit to, say, five years and $165 million to a player who will play at 37 in the final year of such a deal? Those are precisely the kind of contactual commitments that principal owner John Henry has consistently avoided and, indeed, warned against.”

Other free agents who could be good fits for the Red Sox, according to Heyman:

• Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette (with predicted move to second or third base) and right-hander Shane Bieber

• Phillies designated hitter Kyle Schwarber

• Houston Astros left-hander Framber Valdez

• New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso

• San Diego Padres right-handers Dylan Cease and Michael King

• Detroit Tigers second baseman Gleyber Torres