Offensively, Bregman will absolutely suck for two months if he doesn’t play in spring training. The guy is a notoriously slow starter and missing spring training won’t help him improve.
Agreed - as long as they both are being professionals about it all, it shouldn't be an issue. Harper and Machado still hadn't signed at this point during their $300MM free agencies. Fans are impatient, but teams and players understand how this all works.
There's still 10 days before he'd report to spring training. Besides that, last year was really the only year he had a really slow start. 2024 - awful 2023 - slightly below average 2022 - average 2021 - above average 2020 - no april 2019 - average
An exploding offer simply doesn't make sense. There is no pending decision waiting on Bregman, except maybe Arenado and that is a mediocre opportunity at best, which will still be there later. Being frustrated and demanding an answer by an artificial deadline is just emotion. Stay patient and see what happens. An answer Tuesday is no different than an answer Monday 10 EST.
Spring Training begins next week. Bregman needs to make up his mind. Detroit and Toronto aren’t likely to increase their offers substantially at this point.
If Alexander got the majority of his report from Jon Heyman, it means Boras is still trying to negotiate through the media.
And you would be cutting off your own nose to spite your face. It makes zero sense to pull the offer. The only reason to do it is TO PUNISH HIM FOR NOT TAKING IT OR MAKING YOU WAIT. It would be different if you were waiting for his decision to determine other moves to make but we are beyond that now.
Correct. At this point, there are no comparable free agents left that can provide the impact Bregman does for the Astros, so there’s no reason to pull the offer or attach a deadline to it.
I will say this: if Bregman waits to sign until after ST starts and signs a short term contract, he’s royally ****ing himself. I don’t at all expect him to do that, but it would be a disastrous outcome for him.
I agree. Bregman is a notoriously slow starter and protector long hot and cold streaks. Because of this, along with his age, a shott term, prove it deal is much riskier for him than most players in his position.
I mean, fan is short for fanatic. It’s not a surprise that people are emotionally invested or tired of the process with spring training starting in 6 days…
Reminds me of the Correa situation all over again. He's not getting what he wants he might sign with a random team on a shorter deal and try to get a better contract later.
Correa was 27 when he first entered free agency. He was young enough to afford to bet on himself for a year. Next year, Bregman will be in his age-32 season looking for a long-term contract if he opts out after the season. That four-year age difference is why the offers for him are not likely to improve next season.
Like I said it doesn't have to make sense to you and no it doesn't have anything to do with emotion or waiting.
So let me ask you. You are GM and give Boras and Bregman a deadline. 2 days after your deadline, Boras calls you up and says Alex agrees and is ready to sign. You have not done anything else with the roster and camp hasn't started yet. What do you do?
So, here’s how this Bregman situation breaks down in my baseball mind: The guy won’t even lace up his cleats unless he’s getting at least $200 million, and he’d rather sit at home and take the year off than accept the Astros’ measly $156 million. Bregman knows exactly what he’s worth—whether anyone else agrees is another story. I like Bregman, have nothing against him.
