In recent days, noting that the Red Sox didn’t have obvious holes on their depth chart like previous offseasons, president of baseball operations Craig Breslow mentioned that the team would need to be open-minded, flexible and opportunistic in improving a club that didn’t advance past the Wild Card round the past two seasons.
All three of those buzzwords were in play, when the Sox made the biggest signing so far of MLB’s offseason, agreeing with postseason hero Jake Bauers on a four-year, $58 million contract, a source confirmed to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan was first to report the signing, which is pending a physical and hasn’t been announced yet by the club.
While Breslow has never been a stranger to thinking outside the box, this move comes as at least a bit of a surprise for a couple of reasons.
Bauers is a left-handed hitter (the Sox already have quite a few). And the primary position Bauers played last season was first base (Willson Contreras is the team’s unquestioned starter there). In the outfield, where the Red Sox already have a logjam, Bauers made 16 appearances in left field and 32 in right for Milwaukee in 2026.
But a hitter is a hitter, and Breslow wants to bulk up an offense that finished 26th in homers and 20th in slugging percentage in ‘26.
The Sox had an elite pitching staff, and there was a feeling within the club a deeper postseason run could have been had with a more productive offense.
In Bauers, Boston brings in a player who will be beaming with confidence after being named MVP of the NLCS, when the Brewers swept the two-time defending World Series champion Dodgers to set up their World Series clash with the Rays.
Two moments set Bauers up for that prized LCS MVP trophy. He had a 12-pitch walk to set up a Game 2 victory and a go-ahead homer off Blake Snell to cap an 11-pitch at-bat in Game 3.
While Bauers never did get his bat going in the Fall Classic, his Milwaukee team won in five games, securing the franchise’s first championship.
Bauers is just the type of relentless and patient hitter the Red Sox love having in their lineup.
As for positional fit, Breslow and manager Chad Tracy have plenty of time to solve that equation.
Contreras, a plus defender, is still sure to take down the bulk of the at-bats at first base. Bauers could get his fair share of time at DH, where the Red Sox have Masataka Yoshida penciled in as the primary option.
Yoshida has struggled to stay healthy and hit for power since signing a five-year, $90 million contract when he came over from Japan four years ago. He is entering the final season of his contract. The Sox were tied for 21st in homers in the DH spot last year. Roman Anthony, Ceddanne Rafaela, Wilyer Abreu and Jarren Duran are currently projected to get the most time in the outfield, with Eli White another option as a right-handed-hitting backup.
Bauers was so down on himself after the 2024 season, when he hit .199 with a .662 OPS, that he contemplated quitting baseball.
Shortly after that, his wife, Lauren, revealed she was pregnant, and Bauers had a change of heart.
It wound up being a fortuitous turn of events for the Brewers and for Bauers, who had a career-best season in ‘26, slashing .266/.389/.484 with 26 homers, 86 RBIs and an .873 OPS in 578 plate appearances.
During the regular season, Bauers hit the ball harder than ever, increasing his barrel rate to 14% and reaching career highs in his average exit velocity (92.1 mph) and hard-hit rate (51.9%). According to Statcast, he ranked above the 90th percentile among qualifying hitters in all three of those categories as well as expected wOBA, average bat speed and chase rate.
Bauers’ refusal to expand the zone explains his career-best 16.3% walk rate, which ranked in the 98th percentile, although he still whiffed a lot and had a high strikeout rate (27%, 16th percentile). While a majority of his home runs came to the pull side, Bauers still showed the ability to go up the middle or the opposite way for singles and doubles. At Fenway, with the inviting Green Monster 310 feet away, going to the opposite field will serve him well.
An MLB Pipeline Top 100 Prospect prior to the 2017-18 seasons, Bauers at least lived up to that promise this past season.
Prior to 2026, Bauers, who made his debut for Tampa Bay in 2018, had a career .211 average and .672 OPS with the Rays, Guardians, Mariners, Yankees and Brewers.
A seventh-round pick of the Padres in the 2013 Draft out of Marina High School in Southern California, Bauers was dealt to Tampa Bay in a three-team trade in December 2014. After making his debut in June 2018, the Rays shipped him to Cleveland that December in yet another three-team deal -- the second of five total trades in which Bauers has been involved during his career.
But Bauers found stability and success after signing a Minor League deal with Milwaukee in January 2025, putting up a .235/.353/.399 slash line in 86 big league games that season before his breakout ’26.