Alex Bregman Signing Marks New Era of Cubs Baseball

The Cubs signed Alex Bregman on Saturday night, a move that was somewhat overshadowed by the Bears’ historic comeback against the Packers. Although the Cubs’ interest in Bregman has been well documented, it didn’t seem like a situation that would find a resolution so soon. Scott Boras is known for dragging out negotiations, even well into February like he did with Bregman last year. This time, however, the third baseman was ready to lock in his team of the future.

Trading for Edward Cabrera on Wednesday was a step in the right direction and showed that the Cubs’ offseason was indeed salvageable. It was never doomed by any means, but the concerns that they wouldn’t do what it took to bring in elite talent were more than justified. Fans were in a “we’ll believe it when we see it” mode, and now they’ve seen it.

Bregman’s $175 million deal is the third-largest in franchise history, and his average annual value will set a new Cubs record once we learn exactly what it will be. The previous AAV was Jon Lester $25.8 million, a number Bregman should exceed by around $5 million. The narrative that Tom Ricketts is unwilling to spend on talent is has been put to rest rather quickly, at least for the time being.

While Hoyer landing Bregman isn’t shocking, especially if you saw some of the breadcrumbs (here and here), it is surprising. The former Astros star was one of Hoyer’s main targets entering the offseason, though the incumbent Red Sox appeared to be the favorites to retain him. Then the Diamondbacks joined the competition, with the Blue Jays getting a few shoutouts as well. As of last week, it felt like the race was down to Boston and Chicago. Hoyer was in a bidding war with his former colleague Craig Breslow, who runs baseball ops for the Red Sox.

In the end, Bregman ended up choosing Chicago. Sean McAdam and Chris Cotillo of MassLive reported that several factors made the Cubs a more appealing destination for Bregman, the first was the inclusion of a no-trade clause. After playing for two teams in the last two years, Bregman understandably wanted some security to ensure that he could raise his family in the same city.

The biggest hurdle the Red Sox failed to overcome was the deferred aspect of the deal, with McAdam reporting that the team wanted to push a great deal of their $165 million offer well into the future. The Cubs have been unwilling to defer any money since doing so for Lester and Jason Heyward, and it’s hurt them when negotiating with other players. Hoyer wasn’t letting that stop him this time around.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic has reported that the Cubs deferred $70 million of Bregman’s contract, which brings the AAV down quite a bit. The exact details of how the money is deferred and when it will be paid have yet to be announced, but Ricketts’ willingness to defer money for future free agents could be monumental for the team’s future.

Red Sox fans are quite angry over how this has all gone down, and they have every right to be, especially when Boston traded Rafael Devers to make room for Bregman. That may not have been the only reason Devers was moved, but it’s one of them. After just one year at Fenway, Bregman is gone too. It’ll be an interesting next month in Boston as Breslow looks to save what could be seen as a failure of an offseason.

The Cubs had a good team as of last Sunday, and now they’ve gotten even better. Adding both Cabrera and Bregman within a matter of four days shows that Hoyer is ready to compete for a World Series and believes in the guys on the roster. Instead of settling for a good team, he did what it took to make it great. The best part of this all is that they might not be done, although that’s probably it for the large transactions.

As mentioned earlier, the signing of Bregman came during one of the biggest Bears games of the last few decades. Bregman was well aware of this, sharing a post on his Instagram Story after the comeback was complete.

Alex Bregman is already embracing Chicago.

🐻 ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/lpTtEAdrjN

— Jacob Zanolla (@jacobzanolla) January 11, 2026

Not Cubs related, but I still can’t get over that Bears game last night. Even with that extremely questionable defense, the whole team seems to figure it out in the second half. Whatever Ben Johnson is doing at halftime has been working.