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What insiders are predicting for the Red Sox in free agency this offseason

Boston is predicted to be in the mix for several of the top free agents this MLB offseason. Although free agency is officially underway, it might still be some time before the biggest names sign new contracts. The winter meetings won’t take place until December 7, which is typically when many top free agents begin to find new homes.

With plenty of time until then, numerous insiders and outlets have released their predictions for MLB free agency recently. Most seem to agree that the Red Sox will be among the more active teams this offseason.

### Boston’s Payroll Situation

Boston is in a strong position to spend this offseason. According to Red Sox Payroll, the team currently has roughly $219 million committed for next season. This places them about $25 million below the first luxury tax threshold and approximately $45 million under the second. This financial flexibility should allow the Red Sox to pursue key free agents.

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## Top Free Agent Targets and Predictions for the Red Sox

### Alex Bregman, 3B, Red Sox

**What they’re predicting:**
The Red Sox appear to be the favorite to re-sign Bregman, though not by a large margin. In an MLB.com survey of 46 voters, 43% believe Bregman will stay with Boston. Sports Illustrated also predicts Bregman will re-sign with the Red Sox. ESPN’s David Schoenfield and The Athletic list Boston among the best fits for him, though MLB Trade Rumors writers do not expect him to remain in Boston.

**Contract projections:**
– Six years, $171 million (The Athletic)
– Six years, $160 million (MLB Trade Rumors)

**What to know about Bregman:**
Bregman was arguably the Red Sox’s best hitter last season, posting a .273 batting average with an .821 OPS, 18 home runs, and 62 RBIs over 114 games. However, he struggled late in the season, hitting just .187 with a .581 OPS in the final 27 games due to a quad injury earlier in the year.

Last offseason, Bregman signed a three-year, $120 million deal with Boston after a slow free agency period. This year, teams like the Tigers, Cubs, and Astros have expressed interest. He officially opted out of his contract in November.

Ideally, the Red Sox would re-sign Bregman, but there are alternative options in free agency and within the system — including promising prospect Marcelo Mayer, who filled in for Bregman during his injury.

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### Kyle Schwarber, DH/OF, Phillies

**What they’re predicting:**
Boston is among the favorites to sign Schwarber, though they are not the strong favorite. Thirteen percent of MLB.com voters see Schwarber joining the Red Sox, second only to the Phillies. The Athletic lists Boston among the three best fits for him, alongside the Phillies and Reds. MLB Trade Rumors writers, however, do not predict the Red Sox will sign Schwarber.

**Contract projections:**
– Five years, $145 million (The Athletic)
– Five years, $135 million (MLB Trade Rumors)

**What to know about Schwarber:**
Schwarber, turning 33 in March, was one of the top sluggers in baseball last season. He led the National League with 56 home runs and 132 RBIs, while hitting .240 with a .928 OPS. Power was a missing element for the Red Sox offense in 2025, as they ranked just 15th in home runs.

Signing Schwarber would provide Boston with a stable, everyday designated hitter and a much-needed power bat following the trade of Rafael Devers.

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### Pete Alonso, 1B, Mets

**What they’re predicting:**
Alonso is also among the free-agent hitters the Red Sox might sign, though they are not the top favorite. Twenty-two percent of MLB.com voters see Alonso joining Boston, second only to the Mets. Two of four MLB Trade Rumors writers predict Alonso will sign with Boston. The Athletic lists the Red Sox among the three best fits for him (with the Mets and Phillies).

**Contract projections:**
– Five years, $140 million (The Athletic)
– Four years, $110 million (MLB Trade Rumors)

**What to know about Alonso:**
Like Schwarber, Alonso is a power hitter but bats right-handed. He has hit at least 30 home runs in every full season (except the COVID-shortened 2020). Last season, Alonso batted .272 with a .871 OPS, leading the NL in doubles (41) and posting 38 home runs and 126 RBIs.

Signing Alonso could address two needs for Boston: adding right-handed power and filling the first base position. With Triston Casas rehabbing from a torn patellar tendon, the team has yet to name a confirmed starting first baseman for 2026. Additionally, Alonso’s durability is a plus, missing just nine games across the last four seasons.

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### Munetaka Murakami, 3B, Japan

**What they’re predicting:**
Only a few MLB.com voters think Murakami will sign with Boston, and one of four MLB Trade Rumors writers predicts the same. The Athletic lists the Red Sox as one of Murakami’s best fits alongside the Cubs and Blue Jays.

**Contract projections:**
– Eight years, $158.5 million (The Athletic)
– Eight years, $160 million (MLB Trade Rumors)

**What to know about Murakami:**
The 25-year-old third baseman, dubbed the “Japanese Babe Ruth” for his power, was officially posted on Friday and has a 45-day window to sign with an MLB team. Murakami set the NPB single-season home run record with 56 in 2022 and has consistently hit 30+ home runs in full seasons.

Last year, he hit 22 home runs with a .273 average and 1.042 OPS in just 56 games. However, he has struggled with strikeouts and hitting fastballs over 93 mph. Murakami could be an option at third base if Boston loses Bregman, though some see him as a better fit at first base.

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### Dylan Cease, RHP, Padres

**What they’re predicting:**
A few MLB.com voters believe Cease will sign with Boston. Additionally, two of four MLB Trade Rumors writers foresee Cease joining the Red Sox.

**Contract projections:**
– Six years, $174 million (The Athletic)
– Six years, $189 million (MLB Trade Rumors)

**What to know about Cease:**
Cease, who turns 30 in December, is arguably the top pitcher available this offseason. Despite an 8-12 record and 4.55 ERA last season, he recorded 215 strikeouts over 168 innings in 32 starts. He finished in the top four of Cy Young award voting in three of the past four seasons with the White Sox.

Cease would bolster the Red Sox rotation and likely replace outgoing free agent Lucas Giolito.

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### Framber Valdez, LHP, Astros

**What they’re predicting:**
Some MLB.com voters predict Valdez will sign with Boston. The Athletic lists the Red Sox among Valdez’s three best fits, alongside the Orioles and Blue Jays.

**Contract projections:**
– Seven years, $196 million (The Athletic)
– Five years, $150 million (MLB Trade Rumors)

**What to know about Valdez:**
Valdez, who will turn 32 this November, posted a 13-11 record with a 3.66 ERA, 1.245 WHIP, and 187 strikeouts over 192 innings in 31 starts last season. Although his 2025 numbers could be described as a slight dip, he was a consistent top-10 AL Cy Young candidate in the three previous seasons.

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### Eugenio Suarez, 3B, Mariners

**What they’re predicting:**
A few MLB.com voters think Suarez will join Boston, and one MLB Trade Rumors writer predicts the same.

**Contract projections:**
– Three years, $69 million (The Athletic)
– Three years, $60 million (MLB Trade Rumors)

**What to know about Suarez:**
The 34-year-old slugger hit 49 home runs combined between the Diamondbacks and Mariners last season. However, his performance declined after the trade, hitting just .189 in Seattle. His batting average has also trended downward since 2020.

Boston was reportedly interested in Suarez before he was traded to Seattle and considered moving him to first base, making him a potential option regardless of the Bregman situation.

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## Other Notable Free Agent Predictions Involving the Red Sox

The Athletic lists Boston as a best fit for right-handed pitcher Michael King (Padres) and left-handed pitcher Ranger Suarez (Phillies).

– **Michael King, RHP:** Age 30, two seasons with sub-3.50 ERA as a starter, projected $75-$80 million total contract.
– **Ranger Suarez, LHP:** Went 12-8 with a 3.20 ERA last season, projected six-year, $153 million deal.

Additionally, several MLB.com voters predict the Red Sox could sign:

– **J.T. Realmuto, C (Phillies):** Turning 35 in March, hit .257 with 12 homers in 134 games last season. Projected to sign a contract worth about $15 million per year.
– **Luis Arraez, Infielder (Padres):** One of baseball’s best hitters for average recently, hitting .292 in 2025. Projected to sign a two-year deal worth $24-$30 million.

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With a strong payroll position and multiple roster needs, the Red Sox are shaping up to be a major player in this winter’s free agent market. Fans can expect a busy offseason as Boston looks to bolster its lineup and pitching staff ahead of the 2026 campaign.
https://www.boston.com/sports/boston-red-sox/2025/11/08/red-sox-mlb-free-agency-predictions-rumors/

A new partnership between McAvoy, Zadorov has Bruins defense regaining some bite

For Charlie McAvoy, it wasn’t just the results — or lack thereof — for the Bruins over the last few weeks that was testing his patience. Rather, it was the manner in which the Bruins were losing those games that was confounding a locker room searching for answers.

For all of the preseason talk of the 2025-26 Bruins being a team forced to win low-scoring games while relying heavily on a stout defensive unit, much of the opposite has played out over the first month of the campaign. After Boston’s lopsided 7-2 loss to the Senators on Monday, the Bruins ranked 29th in the NHL in goals allowed per game (3.82) and 29th in high-danger scoring chances allowed per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 play (13.4).

A top defensive pairing of McAvoy and Mason Lohrei also left a lot to be desired in Boston’s own end, with the Bruins outscored 10-7 in their 120 minutes of 5-on-5 reps together. What was once projected to be a strength for Marco Sturm’s team had instead become its more glaring liability.

“I think that was why it was probably the most frustrating when we were going through that pocket [of losses]. We were defending poorly, and that has to be our strength,” McAvoy said. “So we’ve done a much better job the last couple games with that.”

It’s hard to ignore the cause-and-effect that has now played out over the last three games for Boston. In the last three games — all wins for the Bruins — the team’s defensive structure has largely tightened up. As Boston’s defensive fortitude has found its footing, it comes as little surprise that McAvoy has played some of his best hockey of the season.

McAvoy’s best stretch of play has also coincided with skating alongside a new partner: Nikita Zadorov. With that duo now anchoring Boston’s defensive corps, it looks as though Sturm and his staff have a winning combination to lead their defense moving forward.

“They’re playing against the top players every night, and they’re just playing it simple,” Sturm said of the Zadorov-McAvoy pairing. “Sometimes both of them want to do extra and want to do something special because they want to get the guys going. They want to win. They want to do this and that. No, just concentrate on your own game. Shutting those top players down, that’s all I want. And that’s what they are doing right now.”

With a bruising behemoth in Zadorov skating alongside McAvoy, Boston’s top defensive pairing seemingly has the snarl, skating, and skill needed to both negate opposing top lines and land punches down the other end of the ice.

So far this season, the Zadorov-McAvoy pairing has logged 73:24 of 5-on-5 ice time together. Over that stretch, the Bruins have only allowed one 5-on-5 goal — a tally generated by arguably the best line in hockey, Colorado’s Lehkonen-MacKinnon-Necas grouping on October 25.

On Saturday, in what stood as Boston’s best defensive effort of the season against a dynamic Carolina offense, that top pairing once again left their fingerprints all over a hard-fought 2-1 win at TD Garden. The Hurricanes generated just one high-danger scoring chance in the 17:28 of 5-on-5 shifts that the Zadorov-McAvoy pairing logged, with most of their time spent matching up against Carolina’s top line of Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis, and Nikolaj Ehlers.

Zadorov has been as advertised next to McAvoy, routinely toppling skaters around the boards and snuffing out scoring chances by using his 6-foot-7, 255-pound frame to his advantage.

“He’s strong, man,” McAvoy said of Zadorov, who doled out a team-high six hits on Saturday against Carolina. “There’s so many times during the game where I’m just like, ‘Wow, it’s just a man’s game.’ He’s able to physically dominate guys, which I think is his superpower, right? He has that size, and he uses it in such a way. It’s trust. I’ve got to be in the right spot for him, and the same for him with me.”

While Zadorov is at his best as the team’s resident battering ram on the blue line, his bruising approach and solid play in the defensive zone has allowed McAvoy to flourish offensively. As Zadorov locks things down around goalie Jeremy Swayman, McAvoy pushes the pace and has been assertive with the puck — assisting on both of Boston’s goals from Casey Mittelstadt and Viktor Arvidsson in the 2-1 victory.

Having a steady defensive partner in Zadorov could give McAvoy the runway to be more aggressive offensively when the situation arises. But McAvoy, who also flattened Bradly Nadeau with a bone-crunching check following an attempted “Michigan” goal, stressed that he can perform the same defensive role when needed for Zadorov.

“I think the unique thing with our corps is everybody can do that,” McAvoy said of Boston’s offensive upside from the blue line. “You guys have seen it sometimes when Z gets space — we call him ‘Bobby’ for a reason. So it’s the same thing. It goes both ways. If I’m able to make a play, I want him to go, and he does the same thing with me. All of our defensemen, everybody back there, has the ability to go when we’re clean and your partner’s covering.”

Slotting Zadorov next to McAvoy is not the sole reason for Boston’s defensive rebound, especially in Saturday’s win where a Carolina team leading the league in goals per game (3.90) was limited to one tally and their second-lowest shot total (29) of the year.

The return of Hampus Lindholm to Boston’s lineup has provided a calming presence in the defensive zone, with Boston now 5-1-0 on the season when the veteran is in the lineup. Meanwhile, Mason Lohrei awaits another chance to return, and rookie Jonathan Aspirot has been a steady, stay-at-home presence on the third defensive pairing, with opponents scoring just one 5-on-5 goal during his 42:19 of 5-on-5 ice time.

Put it all together, and a Bruins defense that was prone to unraveling through the first month might finally be showing signs of cohesion — and not a moment too soon for Sturm and his staff.

“We needed to play that way against a team like that,” Sturm said. “We wanted to have a good start. We wanted to kind of slow them down, especially in the first. Today was probably one of the best games we played, structure-wise, for 60 minutes.”
https://www.boston.com/sports/boston-bruins/2025/11/01/bruins-boston-charlie-mcavoy-nikita-zadorov-nhl-hockey-defense-hurricanes/

Solar energy startup Active Surfaces wins inaugural PITCH.nano competition

The inaugural PITCH.nano competition, hosted by MIT.nano’s hard technology accelerator START.nano, provided a platform for early-stage startups to present their innovations to MIT and Boston’s hard-tech startup ecosystem.

The grand prize winner was Active Surfaces, a startup generating renewable energy exactly where it is needed through lightweight, flexible solar cells. Active Surfaces aims to reimagine how photovoltaics are deployed in the built environment with its ultralight, peel-and-stick panels. Shiv Bhakta MBA ’24, SM ’24, CEO and co-founder, delivered the winning presentation to an audience of entrepreneurs, investors, startup incubators, and industry partners at PITCH.nano on September 30.

Active Surfaces received the grand prize of 25,000 nanoBucks—equivalent to $25,000—that can be spent at MIT.nano facilities.

“Why has MIT.nano chosen to embrace startup activity as much as we do?” asked Vladimir Bulović, MIT.nano faculty director, at the start of PITCH.nano. “We need to make sure that entrepreneurs can be born out of MIT and can take the next technical ideas developed in the lab out into the market, so they can make the next millions of jobs that the world needs.”

Bulović explained that the journey of a hard-tech entrepreneur takes at least 10 years and $100 million. By linking open tool facilities to startup needs, MIT.nano can make those first few years a little easier, helping more startups reach the scale-up stage.

“Getting VCs [venture capitalists] to invest in hard tech is challenging,” explained Joyce Wu SM ’00, PhD ’07, START.nano program manager. “Through START.nano, we provide discounted access to MIT.nano’s cleanrooms, characterization tools, and laboratories for startups to build their prototypes and attract investment earlier and with reduced spend. Our goal is to support the translation of fundamental research to real-world solutions in hard tech.”

In addition to discounted access to tools, START.nano helps early-stage companies become part of the MIT and Cambridge innovation network.

Inspired by the MIT 100K Competition, PITCH.nano was launched this year as a new opportunity to introduce hard-tech ventures to the investor and industry community. Twelve startups delivered presentations that were evaluated by a panel of four judges—venture capitalists and startup founders themselves.

“It is amazing to see the quality, diversity, and ingenuity of this inspiring group of startups,” said judge Brendan Smith PhD ’18, CEO of SiTration, a company that was part of the inaugural START.nano cohort. “Together, these founders are demonstrating the power of fundamental hard-tech innovation to solve the world’s greatest challenges in a way that is both scalable and profitable.”

The startups presenting at PITCH.nano spanned a wide range of focus areas:

– **Climate, Energy, and Materials:** Addis Energy, Copernic Catalysts, Daqus Energy, VioNano Innovations, Active Surfaces, and Metal Fuels
– **Life Sciences:** Acorn Genetics, Advanced Silicon Group, and BioSens8
– **Quantum and Photonics:** Qunett, nOhm Devices, and Brightlight Photonics

A common thread among these companies is their use of MIT.nano to advance their innovations.

“MIT.nano has been instrumental in compressing our time to market, especially as a company building a novel, physical product,” said Bhakta. “Access to world-class characterization tools normally out of reach for startups lets us validate scale-up much faster. The START.nano community accelerates problem-solving, and the nanoBucks award is directly supporting the development of our next prototypes headed to pilot.”

In addition to the grand prize, a 5,000 nanoBucks audience choice award went to Advanced Silicon Group, a startup developing a next-generation biosensor to improve testing in pharma and health tech.

Now in its fifth year, START.nano has supported 40 companies across diverse market areas including life sciences, clean tech, semiconductors, photonics, quantum, materials, and software. Fourteen START.nano companies have graduated from the program, proving its success in helping early-stage ventures progress from prototype to manufacturing.

“I believe MIT.nano has a fantastic opportunity here,” said judge Davide Marini, PhD ’03, co-founder and CEO of Inkbit, “to create the leading incubator for hard tech entrepreneurs worldwide.”
https://news.mit.edu/2025/active-surfaces-wins-inaugural-pitchnano-competition-1020