MARCH 22: The deal has now been announced.
MARCH 21: Bregman will be paid $11MM annually from 2020-22 before earning $28.5MM in both 2023 and 2024, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports (via Twitter). He also has a 10-team no-trade clause for the 2023-24 seasons.
MARCH 20: The deal includes a $10MM signing bonus, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network (via Twitter). That’s unusual for a pre-arb contract; Heyman even suggests it may be unprecedented. Bregman can also boost his salary through escalators based upon MVP award finishes, the details of which are not yet known.
MARCH 19, 9:12pm: The Houston Chronicle’s Chandler Rome clarifies (via Twitter) that the contract is technically a five-year, $100MM extension. The new contract does not override Bregman’s 2019 salary, but it does cover his three arbitration seasons and what would have been his first two free-agent seasons.
It’s a technicality but not an insignificant one; because Bregman’s 2019 contract is a separate entity from his 2020-24 contract, the extension comes with a $20MM luxury hit (the average annual value of the deal). Had it been structured as a six-year pact overriding his current salary, the deal would’ve come with a $16.66MM luxury hit.
However, signing Bregman to a six-year deal with that $16.66MM hit would’ve pushed Houston to just about $3.5MM shy of paying the luxury tax in 2019, leaving the Astros with minimal wiggle room for in-season additions on the trade market. Instead, they’re about $19.5MM shy of the $206MM threshold right now, which should leave them plenty of room to take on salary in midseason trades.
8:55pm: The Astros have agreed to terms on a six-year, $100MM contract with star third baseman Alex Bregman, reports Mark Berman of FOX 26 Houston (via Twitter). That contract covers the current season, three arbitration years and what would’ve been the first two free-agent seasons for Bregman. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal had tweeted not long before that the two sides had been discussing an extension.
Bregman, 25 at the end of the month, has rapidly ascended from No. 2 overall draft pick (2015) to one of the game’s premier players. The LSU product has improved in each MLB season, topping out with his first All-Star appearance and a fifth-place finish in American League MVP voting in 2018. Last season, he posted a brilliant .286/.394/.532 batting line with 31 homers, 51 doubles, four triples and 10 steals in a season that both Baseball-Reference and Fangraphs was worth about seven wins above replacement.
The contract extension comes just weeks after Bregman voiced “disappointment” with the fact that the Astros renewed his contract for the upcoming season at $640,500. “I understand that it’s a business,” Bregman told MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart at the time, “but I feel like good business would be wanting to make a player who performed at a high level on your team happy and want to feel like he wanted to be kept and feel like they wanted him to play here forever.”
Whether Bregman was referencing a desire to sign an extension or merely felt he should’ve been compensated at the record pre-arb levels attained by Mookie Betts ($950K) and Kris Bryant ($1.05MM), the point is now moot. The nine-figure extension offer emphatically makes clear that the ’Stros view Bregman as a vital part of their future. At the same time, it also affords him the opportunity to reach the open market in advance of his age-31 campaign — enough time to perhaps lock in one more significant payday before reaching his mid-30s.
Historically speaking, Bregman’s contract is the third-largest deal ever promised to a player with between two and three years of MLB service time. Buster Posey’s eight-year, $159MM pact tops the list for that service class, although unlike Bregman, he was a Super Two player and already eligible for arbitration when agreeing to that deal. He was also coming off a 2012 season in which he was named National League MVP, and beyond that, he had a National League Rookie of the Year Award on his mantle as well.
As for non-Super-Two players with between two and three years of service, Mike Trout’s original six-year, $144MM contract still stands out as the high-water mark. Like Posey, he had a more impressive resume than Bregman through his first two-plus seasons before agreeing to that deal.
This marks the second extension for the Astros on what has been an apparently busy day for president of baseball operations Jeff Luhnow and the rest of the front office. Houston agreed to a two-year, $17.5MM extension with reliever Ryan Pressly earlier tonight as well.
Bregman now joins 2017 American League MVP Jose Altuve as the only Astros locked up through the 2024 season. That pair will form the cornerstones of the Astros’ impressive nucleus for the next six years, and it’s still possible that others could be locked into longer-term pacts as well. Altuve, Bregman and Pressly are the only Astros players who are guaranteed any money beyond the 2020 season, and the team does have several important pieces up for free agency in the near future. Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole and Collin McHugh are all free agents at the end of the 2019 season, while George Springer will hit the open market after the 2020 campaign. Carlos Correa, meanwhile is arbitration-eligible through the 2021 season. No one should expect the Astros to lock up all of those players — even securing two would be an impressive feat — but the Bregman deal likely doesn’t put an end to the team’s extension efforts.
100 million just to buy out 2 free agent years. Nice deal for Alex
So much for a labor stoppage in a few years
Arbitration isn’t cheap.
Arenado got $26M in his final arb year.
They dont get anything close to that their first time through arb
Betts got 10.5, then 20.
the average player isn’t Nolan Arenado either.
Bergman isn’t the average player either
Bregman, too.
That was my first thought too but I think the Astros could have gotten a good deal. Two free agent years for him could have cost $60 million or more all he’d have to do is make more than $40 million through arbitration to come out ahead, which I think definitely would have been possible.
Yep took the Astros to the cleaners with this deal for a player like him. Now if this was judge or Betts etc this would’ve been a terrible deal for them. They Should get 2x this.
Given his current contract situation, I’m sure the Yankees would love to basically pay Judge a 70mil average in the final 2 years. Betts definitely should considering he’s a FA after next year
A “player like him”? You mean a great player that just put up a ~7 win season at age 24?
It’s a good gesture by Houston to possibly sign him again after this contract. Locking up that talent.
He got robbed. Using Betts as my comparison, he got $10M for Arb 1, $20M for Arb 2, and at least $25M for arb 3, assuming nothing goes wrong. If Bregman gets 85% of that, it is $47M, meaning he sold two prime years for $53M.
He got robbed by taking essentially a 2yr/53M deal? I don’t know if I would consider 26.5M per year “getting robbed”. Could he have done better? Maybe. What’s not to say if he hit the market at 28 years old instead of 30 he got a 7/175M type deal? Taking 50+M guaranteed is not a bad thing. Plus it sounds like he received a 10M signing bonus. 10M now is worth far far more than 10M a few years down the line.
$26.5M is potentially a steep discount for each of those years, not to mention he will have already been systematically underpaid every year leading up to free agency.
But I think the escalators mentioned are significant. If the escalators bring the compensation up to market level if he’s performing at that level then this deal makes a lot more sense. This way both the team and player are bearing some risk for compensation/performance.
That said, to say at 28 he’d be looking at 7$175M seems grossly low at first blush. Based on his current play, at 28 he could be looking at something like the Arenado deal or whatever Rendon ends up with. 7/$175M would be closer to what he’d expect at 30 not 28.
That $10M in present day dollars still won’t make up for the difference in contract he’d get at 28 versus 30. So while yes it mitigates some of the potential lost upside, it doesn’t nearly cover all of it.
Similarly, he could have a career ending injury within that contract, that’s the gamble. It happens during arb, he gets nothing.
Don’t forget he gets the Texas tax break, vs for example tax rates in places like CA or NY.
Means even more money in his paycheck.
“If nothing goes wrong”…you defeated your own argument. The risk taken by the team factors into what is paid.
What does Aaron Judge think about this? Can’t be a good precedent for a Judge extension?
Both have just a little over 2 years of service time, bregman at 12.7 career bWAR and Judge at 13.2 bWAR, they’re comparable
Judge is also going to be outside of his prime when his arb years are over. He’s already 27, so it’s not exactly comparable because year to year might be safer if he take a decline as he ages.
a 6 year deal would buy out basically his entire prime and you wouldnt be overpaying for traditional decline years. not saying an extension is gonna happen quickly but locking up years cheaper now might be better off than having to pay for decline years for a fan favorite/face of the franchise player later
Judge probably prefers to not sign an extension so he can go into FA as a 30/31 year old instead of a 32/33 year old. Bregman is still a FA at age 30/31. He could definitely still sign an extension though
Hmmmm. No. fWAR shows Judge at 8 in 17 and 5 in 18 vs Bergman at 7 and 3 respectively. That’s 3 WAR better as well as roughly 40 games less than Bregman- plus a ROY for Judge. I don’t think the two are compatible.
bregman has 12.2 fWAR to 13 fWAR for Judge. Not too much of a difference. judge has played about 60 games less than bregman though, which isnt nothing, you’re right, but less than a half of a season
That’s not what fWAR shows.
Let’s see them switch positions for a month. Thinking Bregman would fair a great deal better in the outfield than seeing the behemoth clogging up the middle of the diamond.
im looking at it right now.
Still no. Look at the two full seasons, not with 2016. Maybe I don’t hear enough about the astros, but never have I heard comparison between the two. Bregman did. It receive ROY votes or MVP votes – Judge placed 2nd in both each year. I just can’t see the comparison. Maybe (on the Yankees) Sanchez to Bregman.
That’s super cute to think Sanchez is on the same level as Bregman. Sanchez is the most over-rated player in MLB. The media hypes him up and people buy into it with massive homer glasses. He is a poor man’s Chris Davis that is bad at Fielding his position.
Bregman is a top 10 player in all of MLB and just had a season that only 4 other guys have ever had. While Bregman and Judge are not good comparisons for each other, they are far closer to each other then either is to Sanchez. Haha dude hit .186 last year.
You should look at stats other than BA. Just saying. Must be a funny thing that one of the top 10 players in the MLB did not even get a vote for MVP. It all makes sense now astrosfan- you think one poor year equals a career just like one great year equals a career. I see..
No one said he was a top 10 player in 2017. You can argue that 1 year isn’t enough to call him a top 10 player, but he definitely played like one last year.
That was the stat that’s most laughable, but BA is a very good indicator of the hitter. It’s a singular stat that only the hitter owns. Not a team stat, but a personal ability stat.
Bregman finished 5th in MVP voting and only two first place votes were given to someone not named Betts. Sanchez didn’t receive a single vote and Judge wasn’t in the top 10 (he was 12th). Your argument is invalid and your homerism is shining brightly.
Top 10 player? Ha, is he a top 10 3B? Probably but a top 10 player lol give me a break. He had 1 good year and one replacement year. Let’s see what he does this year. He’s below avg 3B defensively according to fangraphs but he did have a great year at plate. Let’s see if he can back it up.
My homerism? What was the batting average of the player who just signed a $330 million contract?
Judge and Bregman are not comparable. .
Never said they were, simply had to point out your absurdity that Bregman and Sanchez were. Bregman and Judge are far closer than Bregman and Sanchez.
@luciusciano – the batting average of the guy who just signed a $330M contract sure as hell wasn’t below the Mendoza line (or even close). Not only did Sanchez hit below .200, but he had a pitiful sub-.300 OBP and a pitiful sub-.700 OPS. His oWAR was 1.2 and his dWAR was 0.5.. What other numbers do you want us to look at that will shine him in a better light?
You CANNOT hit below .200 and be a good hitter. It’s not possible.
@ry.the.stunner I have a feeling you guys are thinking of different players. Seems like Luciusciano is talking Judge and you’re talking Sanchez
Bregmen did get MVP votes. He placed 5th. You can see it on baseball-reference right there.
You make strange arguments. Bregman plays third. Hes better.
The only comparison between Sanchez and Bregman is that they’ve both won playoff games for the Astros with their defense.
Batting average is not remotely a stat that “only the hitter owns.” The defense matters quite a bit whenever a ball is put into play. Or, to put it in starker terms, do you know what the difference is between a .250 hitter and a .300 hitter? It is one hit every 5 games. That’s it.
I don’t care that Harper hit .249 last year, he also hit 34 home runs and drove in 100 runs.
LOL
Bregman is no Judge. Period.
they’re both among the best players in the game, but okay
Judge is DEFINITELY no Bregman. Did you see that error today. My 8 yr old might’ve fielded that ball. But at least he hustled after it.
Bregman projected for 5.5 WAR, Judge projected for 5.3 WAR on Fangraphs Depth Charts. They’re both great players
“Projected”…I see what you did there
Bregman is obviously a better all-around player.
WAR looks at everything, sir.
War ignores intangibles.
Not being an Astro’s or Yankees fan and looking from the outside, Bregman seems like an absolute jerk while Judge seems like the nicest guy in baseball. So I don’t think the intangibles will help Bregman as much as Judge.
Why does Bregman seem like a jerk? One of the nicest guys in baseball, just has an affinity for filming/documenting everything.
You’re right. Bregs doesn’t K NEAR as often.
I guess it helps that he doesn’t swing for the fences as much as Judge does, even though he can hit plenty of bombs himself.
Judge prolly has better agent
Pretty fair deal for both sides. Glad they could get him locked up.
Springer is the odd man out
I actually think Correa will be the odd man out. Springer will get 5/110, you heard it here first.
I suspect they made offers to both. Question is would they take them.
Why would you take it if you were springer. I’m going to free agency. Bregman on other hand was chomping at the bit to make an Instagram and twitter post about it so he wanted to do it.
Springer is a Boras guy, isn’t he?
If so, free agency was almost a certainty.
Astros recently extended another Boras player (Altuve), so it’s not out of the question but I don’t see Springer returning to the Astros. He’s not as young as the other core players and OF is probably easier to replace
Springer is not worth it. that would be a mistake. they need to see if correa comes back from his injury fine and throw money at him. he is the better and younger player.
hard to say springer is not worth it after the world series he had in 17 I mean he put the team on his back.
You have to realize you can only fit so many $100 million dollar contracts on a payroll. Bergman, Altuve already they will not be able to offer both Springer and Correa contracts and field a balanced team. Ss is obviously the more premium position to pay for but I personally like Springer more
I agree! I dont know why I like Springer so much, but I think he has a higher ceiling than anybody else on the Astros roster.
I think his power/speed combo is great and if his hit tool shows up for a full season, he is on par with, I dont wanna say Mike Trout, but…Mike Trout
I agree. Bregman moves to short when Correa moves on.
Keep springer. Having your core up the middle helps to win. Probably nOw more than ever, with the rule changes and minimal conferences.
Maybe not, Nova may be ready in 2-3 years.
I don’t see Correa’s wife being okay with him staying in Houston, so you are probably right.
*Springer’s wife
Springer has made it known how much he would like to play near home (NE) and his wife is from NY. He’s gone. I pled for a trade involving him to PHI for Nola prior to the Harper signing. I still hope HOU trades George while his value stays high
Why in the world would the Phillies trade Nola for Springer
Wow. Two extensions in one rainy day. Maybe tomorrow’s game should get rained out, too.
Raining 9 figure contracts today
Borass missing out on the fun.
Does the ego get an extension too?
Didn’t Harper’s hair get a modeling contract?
3/20/19 – Trout secures hair modeling contract worth more than Harper’s.
Harper cries… *sniff
It’s not arrogance if you can back it up.
It’s not arrogance. It’s insecurity and little league antics like staring into the camera until it zooms in on you and other sec little league stuff he does in dugout. Or puppy dogging altuve everywhere he goes trying to get noticed. Almost like a sever case of LMS.
Yes! A very team friendly deal. Good Job Jeff!
solid team-friendly deal
I see these numbers and I am hoping Atlanta gets Acuna done early
Albies too
Great. I like extensions. I remember being a kid and watching my favorite player leave.
Good deal for both sides, here.
March 19th- when the real hot stove heats up.
That’s pretty darn funny.
Nice deal for the little guy.
All these big time players getting wrapped up before free agency. They know a strike is coming…
Perennial All-Star. Gold glove. Altuve locked up. Cole following. Springer is next Should get about a 4-5 year deal.
Correa is as good as gone. He will want too much, unfortunately.
And the juice isn’t worth the squeeze for what he will want.
Mercy!!!! Can Swihart be next???????
why would Swihart want to be extended. He just saw trout sign 430 million, obviously Swihart wants to top that, and he will after all he’s a star and future hall of famer
Do you see that Dansby?
Just a hunch, but it appears Luhnow is attempting to negate any ill will after Bregman voiced his displeasure over this year’s salary increase.
You don’t hand out a 9 figure contract bc the player gets pissy.
Breg will probably be their SS one day if/when Correa walks. 100MM seems like a lot for only buying out two arb years but in all likelihood this guy would’ve been a 250MM player by the time he hit FA.
SS?ha He’s a below avg defensive 3B according to fangraphs and all the analytics. No way in hell can he play SS if he can’t play 3B.
Where do you come up with this garbage?? He’s actually a superior SS to Correa, however he is also an above average 3B.
Not defensively he’s not. He’s below avg. go to fangraphs and look for your self. Can’t play 3B, def won’t be able to play SS
we get it. for some reason you dont like Bregman. Yes he is a really good player despite your thoughts. Snub you for an autograph? He is actually a really nice guy who helps people put quite often and does charitable work but keep hating negative Nancy.
Charitable work? Like what? The team mandatory things he goes too, or the camps he holds where he charges kids a ton money?
Bergman’s already played a solid amount of SS in his career and that’s where he’d be if the team didn’t have Carlos Correa. He was roughly a scratch SS last year there. Maybe he won’t be their primary SS in 4 years but he certainly hits enough to make up for average to slightly below average defense.
I know what the stats say but if you actually watch Astros games you’d know he isn’t below avg at 3B
Stats like Fielding percentage shows him to be #10 in all of baseball at 3B. Stats like war, etc also do not account for intangibles and various factors. Trolls and nerds who’ve never played the game past little league quote stats like war to assess players.
Fielding Percentage is a very meh stat to use lol
I was agreeing with your previous statement, but to say FP is a “meh” stat is absurd. It’s a legitimate stat that measures attempts versus errors. It might be the most legitimate stat as all of the new-age stats like war, etc are rooted in theorems and pseudo-science, not good ol’ facts.
I’m 100% positive there wasn’t 13 better defensive 3B than Chapman last year
Fp is meh. I can field every single ball hit right to me, problem is I can’t move 2 feet to either side as I have no range. Someone else might have more errors but he’s covering a 100 Yard’s to either side and I can’t cover 2 yards. That’s where analytics comes into play,
Bregman can’t get to routine balls he should cus he doesn’t have the range, and some of the ones he should easily get too he doesn’t so therefore he has to make an acrobatic play just to make it work.
Reality is yeah it looked awesome but he should’ve easily gotten to that ball with ease to begin with. No range.
Have you ever seen Bregman field?
Ok, this all makes sense now Uncle Rico. If coach would’ve put you in you would’ve taken the team to state, right??
It’s a good deal for the Astros. Anytime you can lock up the prime years of a player of that caliber you are doing something right.
The Astros are a smart, well run organization.
Hooray for tanking!
More like hooray for Aiken not signing! He’s irrelevant now, Rangers got screwed out of the top 3 SS and got stuck with nothing (Tate for beltran), and more importantly Bregman played like a star last year
Dilly Dilly!
Tanking got two players and that’s it.
Don’t forget McCullers. And Whitley (probably). And Tucker (possibly). Tanking wasn’t just about 1st-round draft position… it also increased their bonus allotment to sign other picks.
Whitley was drafted in 2016 and the Astros were a playoff team in 2015
I guess he can thank Trout for motivating the Astros to keep up with the Angels.
You are definitely a butthurt Rangers fan. Kudos for Trout, he absolutely deserves it, but there is no reason for the Astros to “keep up with the Angels.”. One is a current perennial contender with a recent WS ring, and one will be scraping the AL West cellar for a few more years.
Don’t understand sarcasm?
Not last night I couldn’t. My friend Jack Daniels was with me all night haha.
It’s not sarcasm. He’s a sad Rangers fan who just wants to be part of the news. Beltre is gone and now the Rangers are going to be irrelevant for a long time.
Wow, shocked the Astros paid this guy this much. This is great deal for the little guy. He wouldn’t have gotten half of this on open market come free agency. He’s more like a 50 for 5 guy.
All of Lunhows brain trust/support staff bolted on the Astros this offseason, is this deal the first sign of the beginning of the reprucussions of them exiting?
Are you serious? If he became a free agent right now he gets 200 million easy.
Lol, no way in hell. he had a replacement year numbers and a really good year last year. Let’s see if he can do it more than once.
If he was replacment level why was his war 4.1…. That literally means he was 4.1 wins better than replacment level. You sure aren’t a guru
Wrong, read again
We must stop feeding the troll. It feels like it grows power when we respond to it’s absurdity.
You need to take your fan koolaid glasses off. He’s below avg 3B defensively 3 years in row. Replacement bat 2 years and a great year last year. Let’s see if he can do it again.
Batting average was only 2 points higher than his second year (first full) with a WAR of 3.5. Not sure where this “replacement bat” stuff comes from
He walked more than he struck out last year as a 24 year old. Pretty darn impressive. He’s legit
85 strikeouts in 705 plate appearances. That’s almost Pujolsian
And he’s 24!!!! Scary
Did you say a similar bs about the overpaid and super overrated Pillies $300 man, Bryce Harper?
Kenley- do you really believe that? He has a 2 year set of data to go off of. I am not saying he is not legit, I don’t know, but how can we say he commands that much money when he has one greatbuear and one good year. Give it 2-3 more before you say he is HOF material.
Not bad for Bregman…can hit the open market at 30 and get another $100+mil contract
I bet he can’t wait to get in front of a camera so he can start talking about it….
I picture him taking a selfie video
Good deal for both sides. Bregman is a top 10 mlb player, finished 5th in MVP voting last year at age 24. Easy decision to lock him up now, during his prime years… real question is why leave Correa at SS now that Bregman agreed to the extension? The only reason Correa is at SS was to not upset him so that they could sign him.
Is he even a top 10 3B? He’s had 1 good year. Let’s see if he can do it again, before we start talking about him as a top 10 lol
get over yourself
Bregman must’ve boinked the gurus sister and didn’t call her the next morning……
Bregman skill set screams consistent and he’s gotten better every year. He walks more than he K’s had a very reasonable BABIP and just posted a 7 WAR season. That screams repeatable. You’re using personal bias towards him if you’re saying otherwise. That’s an elite slash line with underlying numbers to support it. The only knock on the guy is that he doesn’t play GG defense at 3rd. But you know what he’s not awful either and with the way he hits the baseball he can be slightly below average there and still be an absolute stud. D Metrics were very favorable when he first came up as well so i’m not even sure there’s not hope for improvement there.
You are a fool
In the AL there are TWO Third baseman’s that are better/equal to him. Chapman and Ramirez. In the NL Arrenado, Rondon, Machado and Bryant are in his class (Nolan and Anthony are superior). So to answer your stupid question; YES he’s a top 10 third baseman.
Sweet now he can really make some epic videos of surprising drive-thru workers and waitresses.. Goood dude, great for the game!
Haha ,yeah he posts them himself, I couldn’t believe it. Someone was telling me and I had to go look for myself. Look at me look at me. They always are clowning on him and making fun of him on mlb network. They say based on what they’ve heard he gives Ricky Henderson rumors a run for the money.
Great player , good deal!!!! Just glad we had ‘Benny” in L..F.!!!!!!!!
From 2016 to 2022 Arenado will make $130 million. This is a great deal for Houston
Bregman would’ve just been entering arbitration. That’s like comparing Blake Snell’s salary to Patrick Corbin’s right now. If that number didn’t look really good for the Astros something would be very very wrong.
No. It’s like comparing the net earnings for arenado’s 3 years of arbitration plus first 2 years of free agency to Bregman 3 years of arbitration plus 2 years of free agency. Over those time frames arenado will make 30 more million than a-breg. Considering inflation and bregmans progression, this is a solid looking deal.
You are correct. I misread that one that last night.
astros are getting up there with salaries. they will soon have to make some decisions.
Agreed. But they’ve got a stocked farm system to keep them amongst the game’s elite. They’ve done it better than anyone in baseball; producing elite talent at the major league level whilst keeping the farm deep and rich with talent
Does this mean they will let Springer and Correa walk? Surely they can’t afford all of them? Put their eggs in the Altuve Bregman basket?
This year with trout, sevy, arenado and Nola have started this extension trend that will be flooding the league. The last two years of free agency have scared players when it comes to potentially hitting the market. I’m a huge fan of Alex so I’m happy for him !
With that Astros payroll going up more they might end up letting springer/Correa walk and at least one of verlander and cole (possibly both) could be gone after this season
Another extension, and still Trout’s deal is not surpassed. How long must we wait?!
It’s been a day of extensions
You get one
You get one
Everyone gets one
he is not worth it he is overrated
He us only getting better i feel like it’s a bargain for prime years compared to other young player like manny and bryce albeit they’ve done more in the league so far in thier careers but today how much better is manny and bryce than Alex. I think next year he will have similar years compared to bryce and manny
I’ve got no stats to back this up, but dudes a chode. Cannot stand him. Nothing like running your mouth and get worked over like a 3 dollar hooker by the Red Sox.
Did we just forget what he did to the Red Sox in ‘17? Oh. We forgot about that did we? Doesn’t fit your narrative, does it?