Red Sox's Final Offer To Alex Bregman Revealed (Report)

The Boston Red Sox seemed confident that a deal would get done with Alex Bregman.

On Saturday at "Fenway Fest," Red Sox manager Alex Cora said that the ball was "in his court," referring to Bregman and the offer Boston had just made. In many ways, hth odds had never seemed higher that Bregman would be back -- which made it a gut punch when later that evening, it was reported that the three-time All-Star had chosen the Chicago Cubs.

Bregman's reported deal with Chicago is worth five years, $175 million, with $70 million deferred. There is also a no-trade clause, something Boston was hesitant to give him. But on Sunday, the final piece of the puzzle fell into place.

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Red Sox's final offer to Alex Bregman was...

According to Sean McAdam of MassLive, the Red Sox offered five years and $165 million guaranteed to Bregman -- but the sticking points, perhaps as much as the $10 million gap behind the Cubs, were the lack of a no-trade clause and the schedule of how the heavy deferrals the Red Sox included would be paid.

"Obviously, the Cubs offering more money on an annual basis was a huge factor. In the end, too, multiple other factors made Chicago’s offer more attractive," wrote McAdam

"Boston’s unwillingness to include a full no-trade clause like the Cubs did proved to be a sticking point as well. So did, according to sources, how the Red Sox planned to schedule out payments of the significant amount of deferred money in their offer."

Bregman is about to turn 32 and has two young children. It was obvious based on that context, and everything we'd heard during the season, that he wanted the security of knowing his next home would be his last one.

With that in mind, why couldn't the Red Sox wrap their heads around giving him a no-trade clause? Could they not understand his hesitation, given what he'd just seen them to to Rafael Devers as a fairly direct result of his own arrival?

The Red Sox are too risk-averse, plain and simple. And they seem to be convinced that their offers, both in free agency and on the trade market, are better than the receiving parties think.

It's an ugly pattern, and it's why Boston is suddenly in deep trouble as spring training approaches.

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