BOSTON-- Ahead of the Boston Red Sox' 5-0 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday afternoon, Red Sox outfielder Wilyer Abreu spoke with WEEI's Rob Bradford about a potential contract extension with the team, telling Bradford that the team hasn't approached him recently about signing long-term. 

This isn't the first time Abreu's name has come up as a potential extension candidate. Abreu told the Boston Globe's Tim Healey that the Sox approached him about a "lengthy" extension in Spring Training of 2024. “It wasn’t the right moment to do it, so I just wanted to play and see what happened in the future,” Abreu told Healey. According to Healey, the two sides were "operating at different price points". 

Safe to say Abreu was right to bet on himself. In the two years since the initial extension conversations, he has cemented himself as one of the best defensive right fielders in baseball, posting a combined 14 outs above average, and winning back-to-back Gold Gloves while playing in one of the toughest right fields in baseball. 

Heading into the 2026 season, the Red Sox put a lot of pressure on Abreu to replace some of the production left behind by Alex Bregman and Rafael Devers; thus far, Abreu has more than delivered. Abreu leads the team in hits, runs batted in, and extra base hits, while his OPS of 1.092 is nearly 200 points higher than the next closest Red Sox hitter.

Abreu has accrued just two years of service time and won't be a free agent until after the 2030 season, so the Red Sox do not need to rush to an extension, but the longer they wait, the more money Abreu stands to make for himself. 

There has been a league-wide wave in trying to lock young stars into long-term deals long before players are set to hit free agency. The benefit for the players that sign these deals is that they are locking themselves into guaranteed money, while teams are hoping that the performance they are getting from their players far exceeds the value of the deal. Most recently Pirates top prospect Konnor Griffin agreed to a nine-year, $140 million extension. 

For the Red Sox, the extension wave began when President of Baseball Operations Craig Breslow first took over in the role after the 2023 season. Right around the time Breslow approached Abreu with an extension offer, the team inked centerfielder Ceddanne Rafaela to an eight-year, $50 million deal and starting pitcher Brayan Bello agreed to a six-year, $55 million contract with a $21 million club option for a seventh. 

The extensions didn't stop there for Breslow. In April of 2025, less than a week into his big league career, top prospect Kristian Campbell agreed to an eight-year, $60 million pact with options to make the deal as long as ten years and as much as $100 million. Later that season, agreeing to a monster eight-year deal worth up to as much as $230 million, was Roman Anthony.

Whether it be Abreu, Marcelo Mayer, Connelly Early, or Payton Tolle, the Red Sox have several extension candidates and have shown more than a willingness to discuss deals to keep their young studs in a Red Sox uniform long-term. 

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