Cody Bellinger, Alex Bregman, Pete Alonso are now free agents

Now that the 2025 season has concluded let the free agency frenzy begin.

Cody Bellinger has opted out of his contract with the Yankees, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post.

Bellinger had one year and $25MM remaining on his deal. He'll take the $5MM buyout instead.

Bellinger played about as well as could be expected. He hit .272/.334/.480 across 656 plate appearances.

Bellinger hit 29 homers, his best single-season total since he connected on 47 longballs during his 2019 MVP season.

He swiped 13 bases while cutting his strikeout rate to a career-low 13.7% clip.

Bellinger's left-handed swing seemed tailor made for Yankee Stadium. He hit 18 homers with a .302/.365/.544 batting line at home.

His road numbers were essentially league average, as he slashed .241/.301/.414 outside the Bronx.

That could give some teams pause about how the bat will play if he signs elsewhere.

Alex Bregman has officially opted out of his contract with the Red Sox, per a report from Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe.

Bregman will return to free agency, leaving the final two years and $80MM (including $40MM in deferred money) of the deal he signed with Boston last offseason on the table.

The news is a blow to the Red Sox infield. An All-Star in 2025, Bregman turned down larger offers in free agency in order to sign a short-term deal that gave him the flexibility to return to the open market in hopes that a stronger platform season could buoy him in a second trip through free agency.

He certainly got the strong platform season he was hoping for, as he slashed an excellent .273/.360/.462 with 18 homers and 28 doubles in 495 trips to the plate.

He was worth 3.5 WAR in just 114 games according to both Fangraphs and Baseball Reference, casting him as a clearly above-average regular capable of slotting into the middle of any lineup.

Pete Alonso has opted out of his contract with the Mets, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. He had one year and $24MM remaining on the deal.

The Mets and Alonso just went through this free agent dance last winter, as after a lack of interest from other suitors and a protracted series of negotiations with New York's front office, Alonso settled for a two-year, $54MM deal with an opt-out clause after the first season.

Alonso's goal of entering the market with a better platform season came to fruition, and he also won't have the qualifying offer attached to his services this time, for any clubs concerned over giving up draft picks to sign him.

While Alonso's numbers were decidedly better in 2025 than in 2024, the question of whether or not Alonso was still a top-tier bat wasn't really one of the chief concerns facing the Mets or other free agent suitors last offseason.

Alonso is a right-handed hitting first base-only player, and the market simply hasn't been too welcoming to such players in recent years, no matter how much pop is in their bats.

Speaking of defense, Alonso's subpar glovework has him pointed towards a future as a DH, so any team signing the slugger will face the immediate question over how much longer they're willing to deploy him at first base.

If Alonso projects as a one-dimensional player going forward, the fact that he's entering his age-31 season means that he is one year closer to the end of his prime.

Source: MLBTR