he Boston Red Sox are heading into a final series with the rival New York Yankees as the two teams vie for playoff positioning.

Either team could overtake the Toronto Blue Jays for the American League East division title or they might find themselves facing each other again in a wild card series to open the playoffs.

In any case, the upcoming series will be full of intrigue with plenty on the line. But the Red Sox are caught up in some off-field intrigue as well. One of their best and most accomplished players, third baseman Alex Bregman, could decide to opt out of his contract at the end of the year and return to free agency.

Last week, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported that Bregman was virtually certain to exit his contract and seek a larger one going forward. But when asked about that report on 93.7 FM WEEI’s “Greg Hill Show,” Red Sox CEO Sam Kennedy indicated that decision was a surprise to the team.

“We were all surprised by that report, given we just haven’t had discussions with Alex about anything other than the goal at hand right now, with what’s in front of us these next 15 games,” Kennedy said, as seen in a video posted to X. “So that will all take care of itself. He wants to be here, we want him to be here and I’ll leave it at that.”

After languishing on the free agent market, Bregman agreed to a relatively short-term deal with the Red Sox and has slashed .279/.362/.474 in his third-career All-Star season since. Given his individual success, it would make sense for him to exercise his opt out and force the Red Sox to give him a longer-term deal or risk another team swooping in.

But Kennedy’s surprise could indicate that the team is holding out hope Bregman will stick with his current contract or at least would let the Red Sox know more about his thinking before any decision is made. If Kennedy and company hope to keep him, though, they might have to prepare to pay up.