Just one day after the GM Meetings concluded in Las Vegas, the Boston Red Sox made the first major splash in free agency as, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, former Milwaukee Brewers slugger Jake Bauers has agreed to a four-year, $58-million deal with the team. 

A 2013 seventh-round pick of the San Diego Padres, Bauers spent the first three seasons of his major league career between the Tampa Bay Rays, Cleveland Guardians, and Seattle Mariners, where he struggled to establish himself at the plate, hitting just .213/.307/.348/.655 with 27 home runs in 328 games from 2018 to 2021. 

After spending 2022 in the minor leagues with the Triple-A affiliates of the Cincinnati Reds and New York Yankees, Bauers returned to the big leagues in 2023, hitting .202/.279/.413/.693 with 12 home runs in 84 games for New York. Ahead of the 2024 season, Bauers was traded to Milwaukee, where he posted a .199/.301/.361/.662 slash line with 12 home runs in 116 games. The disappointing season led Bauers to consider retirement. However, he returned to Milwaukee after his wife found out she was pregnant and his family needed health insurance. 

Then, at 29, Bauers began to turn his career around in 2025, posting what was, at the time, a career year with a .235/.353/.399/.752 in 85 games. He then built on that strong season in 2026, when he broke out in a major way. In 144 games, the left-hander hit .266/.389/.484/.874 with a team-leading 26 home runs, 22 doubles, and 86 runs driven in. 

After the best regular season of his career, the 30-year-old left-hander became a legend in Milwaukee as the Brewers won the first World Series in franchise history. While Bauers hit only .191/.345/.277/.621 in 13 postseason games, he was the driving force in the team’s NLCS win over the back-to-back defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers. In Milwaukee’s four-game sweep of Los Angeles, the 30-year-old hit .286/.412/.571/.983 en route to being named NLCS MVP. 

Defensively, Bauers has played first base and corner outfield in his major league career, where he has been below average. In 2,974 innings at first base, the 30-year-old has posted -7 defensive runs saved, -9 outs above average and -12 fielding run value. In 1,750.2 innings in left and right field, he has posted -13 DRS, -15 OAA and -12 FRV. 

In addition to paying Bauers $58 million over the next four years ($14.5 million AAV), the Red Sox will lose a second- and fifth-round pick in the 2027 MLB Draft and $1 million in international signing bonus pool space because the Brewers issued Bauers a qualifying offer.