The signings of Abreu and Montero will never be forgiven or forgotten. Now you’re gonna lose 2 home grown all stars. Morons
Bregman is definitely on the decline, no doubt about that. I think if we can offload Framber and Bregman we can retool and prepare for 5-10 more years of dominance if things pan out. Its short sighted to keep aging stars when the team is obviously not good enough as constructed. The angels got literally nothing for Shohei.
First we only got one prospect (Smith) in this deal. He fits comfortably near the top of our minor league staff with likely a year and a half before he gets to Houston. Third baseman Parades will be an adequate replacement for Bregman at the hot corner. He will not bring the baseball IQ that had me thinking of Bregs as a future coach. Wesneski is a bullpen piece. I would like to see him spend some time starting in AAA to see if his career as a starter can be salvaged before he is relegated to the pen full time. There are better people than me to answer your question, hopefully we will hear from one or two of them.
I'm torn on Bergman On the one hand I love what he's done for us and I want to keep guys that want to be here But , he's also getting up there , going to demand a lot , and I'm a bit worried about his elbow . Part of his package is his defense . Offensively , I think he's going to be fine . The rumored deal is 6 - 156 ? I think maybe we could go 6-180 and front load it or something like that . Granted we just traded for 3b / 1b , but Alex would be very nice to bring back . You can bat him anywhere in the lineup and he's a tough out
$150M/6yrs would have been the best realistic deal. That ain’t happening. $180M/6yrs would be a fair deal with an appropriate amount of risk considering Bregmans history with the franchise and current/expected production. That is very unlikely to be enough. $200M/7yrs would be a very risky but understandable deal, especially now considering how the free agent position player market has played out. This seems like the floor now. Paying Bregman anything beyond $220M is a gross overpay that Houston just shouldn’t offer. It sucks but it’s true.
The longer Bregman drags out, the more I'm thinking the Astros' offer (or a slightly increased offer) is probably closer to reality. A desperate team that misses out on another target could overpay... but every other team in the mix, or leaked to be in the mix (Boston, NY, Nats, Arizona) are either pragmatic, have already done their miss-out overpay (NY - Fried), or are still burned based on recent overpays (Arizona - Montgomery). I feel like if the $200 million offer was realistically there, and that's all Boras/Bregman cared about (most money possible), there would have already been a signing. Or maybe the Bregman's are really going to think about every possibility and not rush into it.
I would be apt to agree But also , the market has been crazy for some guys recently. I don't think it's impossible for Alex to get 200 million. I wish we could go longer . I'd give him 8 -220 in theory depending on how the contract is structured. I'm not sure about the Astros finances . Can we front load a deal or would we prefer to defer / have a even pay structure ? I feel like keeping Bergman SHOULD happen. but maybe in this market it doesn't . The other question is how much does bregman do for you outside of his direct production ? Helping pitchers etc ... Especially if we add a few younger guys , is he helping coach them up ? Yordan Alvarez and Tucker are great players and probably would be great players no matter which team they were on , but coming up on a team with Yuli , Brantley , altuve etc ... Im sure a lot of knowledge was passed down. Anywho We traded Tucker for an MLB bat and arm 1 to 1 on the bats We need more bats . Bregman is a good one . If we can add some length to our lineup with our rotation we should be in a good spot to contend. Then it's up to RP to be better this year and maybe we can add an OF bat. I like chas OK , and I know the stats say Meyers is serviceable because of his defense . Idk , we need to pick one to keep and then get another OF with a good arm
If Bregman wants $20 mil more then pay him $2 mil a year for 10 years after his contract ends. $2 mil a year is nothing compared to the $1 mil a year Bonilla signed in the 90s. 7/180 and $20 mil deferred for 10 years. In seriousness, I know the Astros would never do this as they don't want to set a precedent for their players.
Let's say Alex on the field is worth $25M per season through age 37, which is the deal Chapman got. Can we all agree about that? That contract is 7yrs/$175M Is Alex's off field value $5M per year? That would include mentoring giving advice and suggestions to young players, helping game plan, community and charitable experiences, and whatever value fan morale and experiences brings plus any number of things I did not think of. Are those things worth $5M per season? If both those things are true, then Alex is worth a 7 yr /$210M deal. The question then becomes, does the front office make decisions based on value and worth or is it to avoid commitment and have freedom regarding whether or not to spend money in the future.
I'd only add to this reply, Tucker was great in 2020 and 2021 post season. He had some clutch moments in the 2022 run, disappeared in 2023 and was 0-7 in the short 2024 post season. He wasn't a total bust every post season, but when he was he was pretty bad.
I think i'm crazy, but I've just about convinced myself that he could be more useful inthe the depths of his contract. I'm now thinking that bregman should get resigned. play third for a few years and then move to the right side of the infield (1st or 2nd) as Altuve starts to decline. Altuve could push to alternate with Yordan in a corner outfield or DH. 1st could lengthen bregman's usefulness.
