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Dana Brown Discusses Ryan Pressly, Alex Bregman, Jose Altuve

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The Astros have been in the news a lot lately. They traded Ryan Pressly to the Cubs. They reportedly still have the door open a crack for Alex Bregman and, relatedly, have some willingness to move Jose Altuve from second base to left field. General manager Dana Brown addressed those various topics while speaking to the media today, with Chandler Rome of The Athletic among those to report on his comments.

On Pressly, Brown said that the relationship between himself and the reliever “took a slightly different turn” when the club signed Josh Hader going into the 2024 season. “Any time you take a major-league player out of a role where they feel comfortable, it’s going to fracture your relationship some,” Brown said. “I think we continued to communicate. He was a true professional and I kept it real as a true professional myself. Ultimately, I wouldn’t say (the relationship) was the same as (when) we first met, but I think there was some frustration, which I totally understand from a competitor.”

Pressly had been the club’s closer for several years. He racked up 12 saves in the shortened 2020 season and then finished the next three campaigns with between 26 and 33 saves. But the club was looking to bolster the bullpen going into 2024, mostly due to factors unrelated to Pressly. The Astros had lost Héctor Neris, Phil Maton, and Ryne Stanek to free agency and then Kendall Graveman required shoulder surgery that was likely going to keep him out for the entire year.

They decided that the best way to add to the bullpen was to get Hader, signing him to a five-year, $95MM contract. He took over the closing duties in Houston, bumping Pressly to a setup role. It seems Pressly was privately a bit miffed by the change, though he didn’t make any public complaints. He was credited with 25 holds and four saves last year while posting a 3.49 earned run average.

Rumors of a Pressly trade have been floating around all winter. Part of the logic was that the Astros have some desire to avoid the competitive balance tax in 2025, which also provided some motivation for the Kyle Tucker trade. Pressly’s contract pays him $14MM this year, a salary in range of market rates for a solid closer but perhaps a bit high for a setup guy on a club trying to limbo under the tax line.

The complication, from an outside perspective, was Pressly’s 10-and-5 rights. Since he had at least 10 years of service and at least five with the Astros, Pressly had the right to block any trade. Since he’s from Texas, it was fair to wonder how much appetite he had for leaving the Astros, but the reports about the behind-the-scenes discord perhaps shed some light on his decision. By approving a trade to the Cubs, he will get a fresh start and likely get a chance to be a closer again.

For the Astros, they sent $5.5MM to the Cubs in the deal but that still allowed them to clear $8.5MM and duck under the tax, at least for now. Rome adds that Brown is trying to trade Rafael Montero but without getting anywhere. That’s not especially surprising since Montero posted ERAs near 5.00 in each of the past two seasons and has been outrighted off the roster. He is still owed $11.5MM for the final year of his deal, a three-year pact signed in the 2022-23 offseason. At that time, the club had parted ways with GM James Click and had not yet hired Brown. Owner Jim Crane was running the baseball operations department during the interim, a time in which the Astros signed Montero and José Abreu.

It remains to be seen whether the club will stay under the tax line. Recent reporting has suggested that re-signing Bregman is still possible, even though the club has acquired Isaac Paredes and Christian Walker. Those two project as the club’s third and first baseman respectively but the club has apparently considered re-installing Bregman at third, moving Paredes to second and Altuve to left.

Despite those reports, Brown characterized the possibility of re-signing Bregman as a “longshot” last week and continued to downplay the chances today, saying that the plan is something that been the subject of in-house discussions and not something that has been discussed with Bregman’s agent, Scott Boras. “We are definitely having conversations within our front office,” Brown said. “We haven’t reached back out to Boras. At some point, it could turn to that. We’re taking a deep look at what it would look like if we acquired him and how it would look for us financially, does it make sense to do it? I would mostly say it’s all internal conversations as to what we would like to do in terms of Bregman.”

RosterResource currently projects the club’s CBT number as $236MM, just shy of the $241MM base threshold. Signing any player of note would push them back over the line. That’s especially true of Bregman. The Astros have reportedly offered him $156MM over six years, which is an average annual value of $26MM. Rome reported last week that the offer is still on the table, despite the club pivoting to Paredes and Walker, though Brown’s framing of things today suggests their dialogue with Boras has been fairly casual. Bregman has also been connected to clubs like the Tigers, Red Sox, Blue Jays and Cubs but remains unsigned with spring training set to ramp up in about two weeks.

As mentioned, a domino effect of Bregman returning to Houston would be Altuve ending up in left field, though that seems like it could be a factor this year with or without Bregman. “We aren’t taking anything off the table and we’re weighing all options,” Brown said. “We’ll see what it looks like in left field with understanding that he’s going to play some second base or be at second base quite often, depending on what the coaching staff comes up with. But we’re not taking anything off the table in terms of seeing what he looks like in left field.”

Altuve has been almost exclusively a second baseman in his big league career, with six innings at shortstop being his only experience anywhere else. He’s never been regarded as an especially strong defender, but his already-weak metrics have slid even lower of late. Altuve has been worth -82 Defensive Runs Saved over his entire career, with DRS tagging him with a -13 grade or worse in each of the past three seasons.

Moving him to left field is obviously risky on account of his lack of experience out there, though the Crawford Boxes give Daikin Park one of the shallower left fields in the majors, so perhaps it’s easier for the Astros to take such a gamble. Altuve himself recently expressed a willingness to do whatever it takes to bring Bregman back to the club though it’s less clear how he would feel moving to left independent of that.

If Altuve can stick in the outfield, it could help the club out there since that’s a clear weak spot on the roster. The club plans to have Yordan Alvarez spend more time as the designated hitter this year and also traded Tucker. That leaves them with Jake Meyers, Chas McCormick, Taylor Trammell and Mauricio Dubón as their projected group out there. Having Altuve in left without Bregman on the roster could open up second base time for someone like Zach Dezenzo, who has always hit well in the minors but doesn’t currently have a path to regular playing time.

It’s also possible that the club pivots to Jorge Polanco, who is reportedly another free agent the Astros have been in contact with, in addition to Bregman. Polanco is coming off a rough season and just had knee surgery but has a strong pre-2024 track record. The club could consider Polanco in left field as well, though he’s four years younger than Altuve and is a former shortstop.

Polanco is also a switch-hitter, which seems to suit the club’s preferences. In the post-Tucker world, Alvarez is the only lefty projected for regular action as of now. Brown has long said that he would like to add a lefty-swinging outfielder as a way to add balance and reiterated that today, saying that adding a left-handed bat is “sort of a priority.” Adding Polanco and then putting either him or Altuve in left would be an unusual way of accomplishing that but is perhaps more attractive than signing a free agent like Alex Verdugo or Jason Heyward.

There are a lot of moving pieces and they all make the Astros an interesting club to watch in the remainder of the offseason. Pitchers and catchers report to spring training in about two weeks.

Astros Have Continued Interest In Jorge Polanco

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The Astros have ongoing interest in Jorge Polanco, reports Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. According to Chandler Rome and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, Houston could experiment with Polanco in left field if they land him.

That’d be a first for the switch-hitting Polanco, who hasn’t played a single major league inning in the outfield. He has logged over 7500 defensive innings in his career. Nearly all of them have come in the middle infield, while he also has a handful of starts at third base. His professional outfield experience consists of 73 innings in rookie ball in 2011-12.

Playing Polanco in left field would be no less of a roll of the dice than it would be to send Jose Altuve out there. The latter option is seemingly on the table only if the Astros re-sign Alex Bregman, who’d retake his spot at third base while pushing Isaac Paredes to second base. Altuve has never started an MLB game at a position other than second base (or designated hitter), but he indicated over the weekend he’d be happy to try his hand in left field if it meant getting Bregman back on the roster. In any case, the Astros haven’t seemed enamored with the unsigned lefty-hitting outfield options (e.g. Alex Verdugo, Jason Heyward).

Houston’s interest in Polanco seems to be as a fallback if Bregman signs elsewhere. General manager Dana Brown said on Saturday that while Houston has had recent talks with their longtime third baseman, it remains a “long shot” that he’ll return. The Athletic reported last week that the team’s previously reported six-year, $156MM offer remains on the table. However, it’s not clear if the Astros are open to pushing that any further. Unsurprisingly, Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 wrote this afternoon that Bregman was unlikely to return unless the team upped its offer.

While Polanco would obviously be far less expensive, it’s questionable whether he’d fit in Houston’s spending plans. The Astros are set to offload $8.5MM of Ryan Pressly’s salary once his trade to the Cubs is finalized. That dropped the team’s estimated luxury tax number to roughly $236MM (per RosterResource). They’re now about $5MM below the $241MM base tax threshold; they were a little more than $3MM above the line before the Pressly trade.

Houston exceeded the luxury tax threshold last season. That their offer is still out to Bregman confirms they’re open to doing so again in certain circumstances. That’s not surprising with regards to a homegrown star who has been one of the faces of the most successful run in franchise history. Paying the competitive balance tax to accommodate Polanco — who hit .213/.296/.355 in a career-worst season with the Mariners last year — could be a tougher sell for ownership.

It seems likely that Polanco will beat $5MM wherever he winds up. He was one of the game’s better offensive second basemen between 2021-23. He’d played through a patellar tendon injury in his left knee last season. He underwent postseason surgery and is expected to be ready for Opening Day. The knee injury coupled with the challenge of hitting at Seattle’s T-Mobile Park make him an intriguing rebound target as he enters his age-31 season. Even if Polanco ends up settling for less than $5MM, the signing would at least put the Astors right on the border of the threshold. If they prefer to stay below the CBT line, they’d probably need to offload more money in a trade or have limited payroll room for midseason acquisitions.

Mets Notes: Bregman, Nimmo, Minter

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Infielder Alex Bregman remains unsigned, with his market taking some turns recently. While returning to the Astros once seemed impossible, it now seems that door is open a crack. Other teams are still lurking but it doesn’t seem like the Mets will be jumping in. Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 reports that the Mets are no longer in the running.

The Mets were connected to Bregman earlier this winter but it always seemed like a somewhat less-than-perfect fit since the club has a lot of other options for the infield corners. First baseman Pete Alonso and the club have been in a bit of a staring contest for months and it’s still possible that he comes back to Queens. Even without Alonso, the Mets could have Mark Vientos as their regular first baseman and then have third base open for a competition between Brett Baty, Ronny Mauricio and Luisangel Acuña. Bregman is reportedly willing to move to second base but the Mets have Jeff McNeil there. McNeil can also play the outfield but the Mets have a somewhat crowded mix there.

Bregman is a more established big leaguer than any of the Mets young options but he wouldn’t come cheap. He reportedly has been unwilling to accept a six-year, $156MM offer from the Astros this winter, hoping to get something in the $200MM range. While the Mets might have had some interest in going with a more certain player like Bregman for the 2025 season, signing Bregman would be a larger commitment in terms of dollars and years. He’s about to turn 31 years old and the Baty/Acuña/Mauricio trio are all in the 22-26 range, so perhaps the Mets would rather dedicate their money elsewhere.

It also seems like Alonso is more likely to sign a short-term pact, having pitched a three-year deal to the Mets, while Bregman is still holding out hope for a long-term deal. Considering all those factors, it seems that a reunion with Alonso is probably more likely than pivoting to giving a big deal to Bregman.

Turning to players already on the roster, the club held Amazin’ Day recently, which allowed members of the media to get updates on certain players. Per two reports from Bill Ladson of MLB.com, both outfielder Brandon Nimmo and left-hander A.J. Minter are hoping to be ready before or around Opening Day.

Nimmo, the longtime Met, was playing through plantar fasciitis in his left foot during the latter parts of last year’s schedule. It’s possible that affected his performance, as he slashed .248/.361/.454 in the first half but just .190/.277/.319 in the second, followed by a tepid .220/.328/.280 performance in the postseason. He tells Ladson that he had an injection in his foot after the season and has ramped up to jogging, but has not yet started sprinting. He says he will probably miss some early spring training games but expects to be ready to go by Opening Day.

Getting a healthy season out of Nimmo hasn’t always been easy. Due to various injuries from 2016 to 2021, he only once topped 92 games and maxed out at 140. In 2022 and 2023, he finally showed what he could do with proper health. He got into at least 151 games in both of those campaigns and slashed a combined .274/.365/.450 for a 131 wRC+. Last year, despite the foot injury, he got into 151 contests but his production dipped to .224/.327/.399 and a 109 wRC+.

Nimmo turns 32 in March but his contract runs through 2030, so the club will obviously want to keep him healthy and productive for as long as possible. The fact that he’s trending towards Opening Day readiness is a good sign but the club will probably opt for playing things slow for long-term health if any speed bumps arise.

Minter, 31, was just signed a few days ago. His 2024 season was ended by left hip surgery in August. Regardless, the Mets liked him enough to give him a two-year, $22MM deal with an opt-out after year one. His recovery timeline in the wake of that procedure has been a little murky but he’s hoping to be ready for the start of the season as well.

“The goal is to be ready for Opening Day, hopefully,” Minter said. “With that being said, my hip does feel really good. I’m happy where I am. I don’t want to put a date on it. … The Mets are going to have their protocols. They want me to take it day by day. But for me, personally, my goal is to be ready close to Opening Day.”

Over the past five years, Minter has posted an earned run average of 2.85 over 267 appearances. He has struck out 30.1% of opponents while limiting walks to a 7.8% clip. His contributions were more limited last year due to the hip injury but the Mets are clearly hoping he can be back to his old self once that’s fully in the rear-view mirror.

Jose Altuve Discusses Alex Bregman, Potential Move To Left Field

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As the top remaining free agent on the market, Alex Bregman has been the talk of baseball in recent days. That conversation bled over into the Astros’ FanFest event today, with a number of key members of the organization (including GM Dana Brown) commenting on Bregman’s free agency and the extent of Houston’s involvement at this stage of the winter. One such commenter was franchise face Jose Altuve. The nine-time All-Star spoke to reporters (including The Athletic’s Chandler Rome) today about Bregman and his free agency and had nothing but glowing remarks for his longtime teammate.

“I said it at the end of the season, said it in the offseason, we need to bring him back,” Altuve said of Bregman, as relayed by Rome. “He’s a big part of this team. You know how negotiations go. He’s a free agent, so he gets the chance to pick the best offer. But as a teammate, I want him back and hopefully we can make something happen for him.”

At the outset of the offseason, Brown made clear that the Astros’ top priority for the winter was keeping Bregman in the fold. Shortly after the winter meetings, however, the odds of a reunion between the two sides began to drastically shrink when the club dealt Kyle Tucker to the Cubs for third baseman Isaac Paredes before following that move up with a failed pursuit of third baseman Nolan Arenado before rounding out their infield by signing first baseman Christian Walker. The additions of Walker and Paredes left the club with an apparently settled infield mix, and at the time Bregman appeared to be receiving strong interest from a number of other clubs.

Since then, however, Bregman’s market has seemed to soften somewhat. The Blue Jays, Tigers, Red Sox, and Cubs have all expressed varying levels of interest in the infielder throughout the winter, but many of those suitors have seemed to have interest in Bregman only as a shorter-term addition while his camp has insisted that he remains focused on landing a long-term deal. The lack of movement in Bregman’s market, in conjunction with some apparent frustration within the Astros clubhouse about the club’s decision to replace Bregman in the lineup, has led the sides to begin talking again with Brown calling the discussions “positive” even as a deal coming together remains “a longshot.”

If the Astros were to successfully re-sign Bregman, that would require the club to make a change to its current infield plan. Bregman would dislodge Paredes from his current anticipated role as the club’s regular third baseman, and with Walker in the fold he wouldn’t be able to take over at first base on a regular basis. Yordan Alvarez’s presence as the club’s regular DH makes a move there similarly impossible. That, according to Rome, has led the Astros to consider the possibility of moving Paredes to second base while kicking Altuve from his career-long home at the keystone into the outfield as the club’s regular left fielder.

For Altuve’s part, he’s made it clear he’s on board if that’s what it takes to get Bregman back into the fold. “I want to win and he’s going to be a guy that’s going to make this team better,” Altuve told reporters, including Rome. “We have a better chance to win a championship with him. That’s my answer: I’m willing to do whatever for him to stay.”

It seems likely that if Bregman was brought back into the fold, that would be the alignment the club uses. Rome notes that manager Joe Espada told reporters today that moving Paredes into the outfield is something the club is “not really thinking about.” Neither Altuve nor Paredes have experience on the grass as professionals, though Paredes’s defense on the infield has generally been better regarded by advanced metrics in recent years. 2024 was a particularly rough season for Altuve with the glove, as he was the worst defensive second baseman in baseball according to Defensive Runs Saved and ahead of only Jorge Polanco according to Outs Above Average and Fielding Run Value.

Paredes, meanwhile, has just 67 games of experience at the keystone across three seasons in the majors but has been a roughly average defender all around the infield to this point in his career. That could make moving Altuve to left field a defensive upgrade to the club’s infield mix while also helping to address the club’s lack of options in the outfield after dealing Tucker. Jake Meyers is locked in as the club’s regular center fielder but the corners appear likely to be shared by Taylor Trammell, Chas McCormick, and Mauricio Dubon as things stand. That trio would be a solid enough solution for one outfield spot but is stretched extremely thin by covering both outfield corners.

GM Dana Brown: Astros Had “Positive” Talks With Alex Bregman, Signing “A Longshot”

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Just when it seemed like Alex Bregman’s time with the Astros was nearing an end, reports surfaced earlier this week that Houston’s six-year, $156MM offer to the third baseman from earlier in the offseason remained open, and that the club was perhaps considering a scenario that would see Jose Altuve move to left field, Isaac Paredes installed at second base, and Bregman back in his old spot at the hot corner.

Astros GM Dana Brown addressed the situation with MLB.com’s Brian McTagggart and other media members today, saying that the club indeed “had some conversations” with Bregman’s camp, with those talks moving in a “positive” direction.  While Brown described re-signing Bregman as “a longshot,” he noted that the door wasn’t closed on the chances of a reunion between the two sides.

“I would say [the door is] cracked,” Brown said.  “The fact that he’s still available, it just makes it interesting.  Like ’man, this guy is such a good player, he’s done so many wonderful things here.’  We’ll stick with the cracked door and see where our conversations lead.”

Houston almost addressed the third base position by acquiring Nolan Arenado from the Cardinals in December, but Arenado chose to exercise his no-trade clause.  While reports later surfaced that Arenado wasn’t entirely adverse to playing in Houston, at the time he had some concerns over the direction of an Astros team that had just a few days earlier traded away another star in Kyle Tucker.  However, once Arenado turned down the trade, the Astros pivoted to sign Christian Walker as their new first baseman, and thus Paredes was penciled into the third base slot.

Walker’s signing was officially announced just over a month ago, leaving Bregman as the odd man out in Houston even if the Astros never technically withdrew their original offer.  Suitors like the Tigers, Blue Jays, Red Sox, and Cubs have all been linked to Bregman in varying degrees but no deal has been reached, which seems to have led the Astros to circle back.  As Brown plainly put it, “we never realized that Bregman would still be on the market at this point.”

Whether Bregman takes that six-year, $156MM offer or the Astros perhaps bump the price a bit to help seal a deal, re-signing Bregman at any price would significantly boost the club’s payroll.  As per RosterResource’s projections, the Astros’ projected luxury tax number sits just over $244MM, putting the team above the first tax tier of $241MM.  Owner Jim Crane has implied that the Astros are willing to match last season’s $244MM payroll and $262MM tax number, as “it just depends on what players are available.”  Re-signing a known quantity like Bregman might well make Crane more comfortable about increasingly spending, though the Astros might also be moving some money off the books soon, if Ryan Pressly (owed $14MM in 2025) waives his no-trade clause to allow a proposed trade to the Cubs.

“Jim Crane has been very positive in terms of what this organization does to win….If we could do something that makes sense for this organization, we’ll do it.  If it doesn’t make sense financially, then we probably won’t do it,” Brown said.

Red Sox Interested In Alex Bregman On Shorter-Term Contracts

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Alex Bregman and the Red Sox have been linked together for much of the offseason, and multiple reports have indicated that the Sox have indeed showed some level of interest in Bregman.  This interest is apparently in a somewhat limited capacity, however, as the Boston Globe’s Alex Speier, writes that the Sox have been focusing on shorter-term offers with Bregman, with an eye towards signing him to “a deal of no more than four years” in length.

While four years is a pretty big commitment in the broad sense, it is certainly below the expectations that Bregman and his camp set at the start of the offseason.  The Astros are known to have made Bregman a six-year, $156MM offer to stay in Houston, but Bregman was reportedly looking to hit the $200MM plateau in his next deal.  It remains to be seen if that asking price is still realistic, but as of last week, Bregman was still looking for longer-term offers rather than considering a pivot to a shorter-term pact with opt-outs included.

In the most recent Bregman developments, KPRC 2’s Ari Alexander reported yesterday that Bregman had received at least three offers of five or more years over the course of the offseason, though it isn’t known which teams made those offers or if they’re still on the table.  It would appear as though the Astros’ offer is still in play, as even though Houston signed Christian Walker and seemingly installed Isaac Paredes as their new third baseman, bringing back Bregman would see the Astros move Paredes to the keystone and longtime franchise icon Jose Altuve would move from second base to left field.

Against this backdrop, it would seem like the Red Sox are facing an uphill battle in convincing Bregman to sign for a maximum of four years.  It can probably be assumed that such a four-year deal carries a high average annual salary and an opt-out clause or two is attached, fitting the standard model of shorter-term contracts signed by other Scott Boras clients.  Such a deal would allow Bregman to re-enter free agency perhaps as early as next offseason, when he would aim to have another big platform season under his belt, and he would no longer be attached to a qualifying offer.

However, this scenario would see Bregman returning to the market in advance of his age-32 season, when teams might have even more misgivings about offering him a longer-term contract.  And, as Bregman approaches his 31st birthday in March, he must certainly feel like he has already done enough in his outstanding career to merit a long-term commitment.  Speculatively speaking, it could be that Bregman is facing a decision between accepting the Astros’ sixth guaranteed year (and the familiarity of staying with the organization), or perhaps taking a five-year deal that offers less long-term security but more money.

A traditional big spender in free agency, the Red Sox have largely shied away from major free agent commitments in recent years.  Trevor Story (six-years, $140MM) and Masataka Yoshida (five years, $90MM) are the only free agents to receive three or more guaranteed years from Sox since October 2019, and the lack of result on those contracts may have only further soured ownership on opening the checkbook for lengthy open-market deals.  Boston’s biggest contract of any kind since October 2019 was its ten-year, $313.5MM extension with Rafael Devers, which presents another obstacle in the way of a Bregman deal.  The Sox have reportedly given some thought to moving Devers off the hot corner and across the diamond to first base, but Devers’ agent pretty firmly shot down that possibility back in November.

Boras said at the start of November that Bregman was open to a position change himself, and a move to second base instead of his longtime third-base spot.  Such flexibility would’ve seemingly expanded the number of suitors that might be interested in Bregman, and it was specifically viewed as a possible nod to the chances of Bregman landing in Boston, if Devers was indeed staying put at third base (though Bregman is a much better fielder).  Of course, the issue regarding Bregman anywhere in Boston’s infield is the fact that the Red Sox have star infield prospects Kristian Campbell and Marcelo Mayer both knocking on the door of their big league debuts, so the Sox may not want to lock down second base for the forseeable future.

In a pure baseball sense, Bregman’s right-handed bat is an ideal fit for Boston’s lefty-tilted lineup, and a hitter of his caliber is an upgrade to virtually any team.  Bregman is also friendly with manager Alex Cora due to their past time together in Houston when Cora was the Astros’ bench coach, and past reports have indicated that Cora and Red Sox president Sam Kennedy are the chief drivers of Boston’s interest in Bregman, while chief baseball officer Craig Breslow perhaps isn’t quite as on board.  This split of opinion in management might perhaps explain why the Red Sox haven’t been as aggressive as others in courting Bregman, or offering him even a fifth guaranteed year.

Report: Alex Bregman Has Received Multiple Offers Of At Least Five Years

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With the month of February now just a week away, Alex Bregman remains a free agent. That has led to speculation that he may have to pivot his focus and try to secure a short-term pact, but that doesn’t seem to have happened yet. Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 reports today that Bregman has received offers of five years or longer from at least three teams this offseason, including the Astros. It’s not specified which clubs made these offers or when.

Bregman came into the winter as one of the top free agents available. He has hit .260/.349/.449 over the past three years while also getting strong grades for his third base defense. There was a bit of concern in 2024, as he got out to a slow start, slashing just .216/.283/.294 through the end of April. He eventually corrected and finished the year with a .260/.315/.453 line but his 6.9% walk rate was a career low.

Despite a less-than-perfect walk year, Bregman still came into free agency with a strong profile and justification to secure a strong deal. MLBTR predicted him for a seven-year, $182MM pact. Many observers expected him to return to the Astros and various reports indicated that the club made him an offer of $156MM over six years. Bregman and his reps, however, were looking to get to the $200MM plateau.

Today’s report indicates that some other clubs may have been willing to get into somewhat similar range as the Astros. It isn’t known which clubs made these offers or exactly how much money was on the table, but Bregman has been connected to teams like the Cubs, Red Sox, Tigers, Blue Jays, Mets and Phillies throughout the offseason.

Though that points to a decent market, it seems none of them were quite strong enough to get Bregman to put pen to paper. Though the Astros seemed to blink in their staredown with Bregman by acquiring Isaac Paredes and Christian Walker, recent reporting has suggested the club has kept its offer on the table and is still somewhat open to a reunion. Such a scenario would involve Bregman returning to the hot corner, Paredes going to second base and Jose Altuve to left field.

Whether that will end up happening or not likely depend on the other offers and if any club is willing to budge. If they are all somewhat similar and no club meaningfully separates itself from the pack, perhaps Bregman will choose to remain with the only club he’s ever known.

It’s also possible that some of Bregman’s suitors are no longer interested, even if they may have made strong offers earlier in the winter. The Tigers signed Gleyber Torres, reducing their need for an infield addition somewhat. They have remained engaged with Bregman but have reportedly hit a standstill. The Red Sox would perhaps have to move Rafael Devers to first base to fit Bregman in, making things awkward. Second base is more open at the moment but they may prefer to leave that spot open for Kristian Campbell, Marcelo Mayer or Vaughn Grissom. The Blue Jays added Anthony Santander recently, who isn’t an infielder but should make the team less desperate for an offensive upgrade. The Mets and Pete Alonso are seemingly playing hardball with each other but could still reunite, though the Jays seem to be somewhat involved there as well. The Phillies appear to have tried to trade Alec Bohm in conjunction with pursuing Bregman but never seemed to gain much traction there. The Cubs seemed to only be interested if Bregman were willing to pivot to a short-term pact. Jon Heyman of The New York Post says today that the Cubs are “believed” to be showing “significant interest” in Bregman alongside the Astros, though with the Red Sox and Tigers also involved.

Though the offers haven’t been strong enough for Bregman to sign anywhere, it’s perhaps understandable why he hasn’t done a short-term pivot. That’s a path that many other free agents have taken, including Matt Chapman and Cody Bellinger last winter. But if Bregman has had somewhat decent offers in the five- or six-year range, perhaps he doesn’t feel the need to go that way just yet. Just over a week ago, Bregman’s agent Scott Boras said there interest on long-term deals has been strong enough that changing course wouldn’t be necessary, matching this week’s reporting.

Time will tell if Bregman circles back to Houston or ends up elsewhere. The Astros made him a qualifying offer at season’s end and would receive a compensatory draft pick if he signs elsewhere, while the signing club would be subject to the associated penalties. Pitchers and catchers report to spring training in just over two weeks.

Astros Have Kept Offer Out To Bregman

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This afternoon provided a surprise when USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported that the Astros were leaving the door open to bringing back Alex Bregman. It was generally expected that the Astros had moved on once they acquired Isaac Paredes and signed Christian Walker to play the corner infield spots.

However, it seems the Astros never fully closed the door on their longtime third baseman. Houston had reportedly made Bregman a six-year, $156MM offer before they landed Paredes as part of the Kyle Tucker return. Bregman obviously did not accept, though it does not seem that the team has pulled the offer even after what seemed to a pivot to contingency plans.

Chandler Rome of The Athletic reports that Houston’s offer “remains on the table.” Rome writes that pressure within the Astros’ clubhouse has contributed to the team reopening discussions with the two-time All-Star in recent days. It isn’t known if that means they’re open to pushing their offer beyond $156MM, or if they’re simply hoping that Bregman’s asking price will come down to their level now that he’s unsigned deep into January.

Nightengale suggested this afternoon that if the Astros managed to keep Bregman, they could slide Paredes to second base while bumping Jose Altuve to left field. Rome confirms that the team is indeed considering that scenario. While Altuve to the outfield doesn’t seem to be set in stone, Rome writes that Bregman would stick at third base if he signed back in Houston. They’d need to find somewhere else in the lineup for Paredes.

Money remains a stumbling block. The Astros exceeded the luxury tax threshold last season. Rome reports that owner Jim Crane has been reluctant to do so for a second straight year. Houston already projects narrowly above the $241MM base threshold, with RosterResource calculating their CBT number around $244MM. The Astros could make a trade to dip below that mark. They’ve been working to offload most or all of the $14MM owed to setup man Ryan Pressly, though the veteran righty has full no-trade rights and could scuttle those plans. Mauricio Dubón ($5MM) and Chas McCormick ($3.4MM) are on manageable arbitration salaries and could be possible trade options if Houston can’t deal Pressly.

There’s essentially no way they’d get below the tax line if they re-sign Bregman. He’d very likely command more than $25MM annually. Even if they trade Pressly and decide to deal Paredes, who’ll play on a $6.625MM arbitration salary, they’d be above the line. That the Astros apparently still have an offer out to Bregman demonstrates that Crane isn’t firmly committed to staying below the tax threshold. The owner has said as much this offseason, though he has also been reluctant to approve long-term deals. Houston hasn’t signed a free agent contract longer than the five-year, $95MM Josh Hader deal from last winter since Crane purchased the franchise more than a decade ago.

The Tigers, Red Sox and Blue Jays have also been linked to Bregman. Talks between the infielder and Detroit were reportedly at a standstill as of Tuesday evening.

Report: Astros Still Not Ruling Out Alex Bregman Reunion

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The Astros’ chances of retaining Alex Bregman seemingly went up in smoke when he declined their reported six-year, $156MM offer earlier this winter. Houston pivoted quickly, first trying to engineer a trade for Nolan Arenado, which the current Cardinals third baseman nixed by way of his no-trade clause. The ’Stros pivoted again, signing first baseman Christian Walker for three years and $60MM. In doing so, they pushed Isaac Paredes — acquired from the Cubs as part of the Kyle Tucker return — across the diamond to third base. Or, so it seemed.

USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports that the Astros are still “keeping the door ajar” for Bregman. It’s a long-shot pairing in light of the new-look corner infield in Houston, but the team has at least considered a scenario where they’d move Paredes to second base and play Jose Altuve in left field, should Bregman ultimately return. It’s an out-of-the-box solution, but the Astros have been (unsuccessfully) hunting for outfielders in free agency and trade. Nightengale adds that the Astros “aren’t optimistic” about their chances, however, adding that Bregman presently has at least two serious offers in hand.

Beyond the roster considerations, there’s the financial aspect to consider. Owner Jim Crane has publicly stated that he has the “wherewithal” to match last year’s $244MM payroll and $262MM worth of luxury obligations, though the team’s actions this winter have suggested otherwise, to an extent. Houston traded its best player, Tucker, to the Cubs in exchange for Paredes, righty Hayden Wesneski and top prospect/2024 first-rounder Cam Smith. They’ve also reportedly been shopping Ryan Pressly, who’s owed $14MM but has full no-trade protection.

That said, Crane suggested when making his comments about 2025 spending that the extent to which the club did or not spend would depend on the specific players available to them. Pushing to a $260MM CBT number again for a free agent who’d be new to the organization and doing so for a longtime cornerstone player whose entire career has been spent with the ’Stros are quite different. One trait Bregman has drawn consistent praise for both from the Astros and in reports citing anonymous coaches and executives around the league is his fiery leadership and clubhouse demeanor. The Astros are more familiar with that than any team, and logic dictates that they’d likely be most willing to pay a premium for it. Currently, RosterResource projects the Astros aout $3MM north of the $241MM luxury barrier. Signing Bregman would put them over with minimal chance of ducking back underneath.

A move to the outfield for Altuve would register as a major surprise, but it’s not exactly hard to see why Houston might ponder it. Altuve’s defensive grades have cratered in the decade since he won his lone career Gold Glove. Defensive Runs Saved has pegged him at -13 in both of the past two seasons. Statcast’s Outs Above Average had him at -8 this past season. Altuve made only five errors on the season, but that seems largely due to his inability to get to balls he might’ve had a play on several years ago; Statcast graded Altuve’s range in just the third percentile this past season. His arm strength was similarly panned, landing in the seventh percentile.

There are other alignments that could be considered. The Red Sox, among other teams, have been rumored to view Bregman as a second base option. (Skipper Alex Cora recently spoke on the record about his belief that Bregman could be a plus defender there.) Houston could also leave Bregman and Altuve at their customary spots and move Paredes to left field. However, he’s notably slower than Altuve and has below-average arm strength himself. Altuve still has nearly average speed, and Houston’s left field is smaller than most thanks to the short left field porch at the newly renamed Daikin Park. The Astros have reportedly been in the market for corner outfield upgrades but have not yet found a deal to their liking.

Bregman has reportedly drawn interest from the Red Sox, Tigers, Blue Jays and to a lesser extent the Cubs, although Chicago president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer recently indicated he feels next year’s third baseman is “likely” already in the organization. At least to this point, Bregman hasn’t been open to the sort of short-term pacts to which many top free agents acquiesce late in the winter. As of this writing, it’s not clear whether Bregman has received any long-term offers other than the original six-year proposal from Houston. The Tigers have been cast as perhaps the other top landing spot, but talks between the two sides reportedly reached a “standstill” this week.

Alex Bregman, Tigers Reportedly At “Standstill”

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Spring training is now just a few weeks away but many free agents are still unsigned, with Alex Bregman arguably being the most notable. The Tigers are one club that have been connected to him but Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press reports that talks are “at a standstill.”

At the start of the offseason, MLBTR ranked Bregman the #3 free agent of the winter, behind Juan Soto and Corbin Burnes. Soto and Burnes are both now signed, leaving Bregman as the top guy still out there. We predicted a seven-year, $182MM deal that ended up being sort of a midpoint for Bregman’s negotiations earlier in the offseason. The Astros reportedly offered Bregman $156MM over six years, though the third baseman was trying to get to $200MM.

Rather than meet in the middle, Houston walked away. They lined up a deal with the Cardinals for Nolan Arenado, though Arenado used his no-trade clause to quash that. Instead, they acquired Isaac Paredes from the Cubs and signed Christian Walker to take over at first base. Since then, Bregman has been connected to clubs like the Tigers, Blue Jays, Red Sox and others, but without much apparent momentum.

The Cubs reportedly sniffed around the possibility of a short-term deal for Bregman but agent Scott Boras said last week that Bregman wasn’t considering that path. Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer also recently downplayed the possibility of the Cubs getting involved. “I think likely,” Hoyer said at Cubs Convention a few days ago, when asked if the Cubs’ third baseman is already in the organization. “Certainly, we’ll look to supplement. Infield is an area we’re focused on (for the bench), but I think the likelihood is yes.”

Matt Shaw is perhaps the best solution there but he has not yet made his major league debut. There’s no guarantee he will hit the ground running in 2025, so there’s an argument for adding someone established, but it seems the Cubs are trying to be more opportunistic than aggressive in Bregman’s market.

It makes for something of a staring contest with the 2025 season approaching. It was around this time last year that Boras started pivoting to short-term deals for Cody Bellinger, Matt Chapman, Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery. Boras has apparently made that turn with client Pete Alonso, as Alonso’s camp reportedly pitched a three-year deal to the Mets recently.

But with Bregman still holding out hope for a longer deal, it seems to be leading to the general sluggishness of the third base market. The Tigers have had a fairly quiet offseason, with one-year deals for Alex Cobb and Gleyber Torres being their primary moves so far. They have Jace Jung and Matt Vierling as potential in-house options at the hot corner, so they have a bit of leverage to wait out Bregman.

With Vierling also capable of playing the outfield, Jung seems like the logical choice for third base right now. He struck out in 30.9% of his plate appearances last year but that was a small-sample debut of 94 plate appearances. He didn’t have those kind of strikeout rates in the minors and still managed to draw a lot of walks while making his major league debut. Like with Shaw, there’s no guarantee that he can take the job and run with it but the Tigers might feel they have enough cover to not go crazy on a Bregman deal.

As long as Bregman stays out there, it seems to be preventing other dominoes from falling. The Cardinals came into the winter looking to do something of a reset but they haven’t been able to execute it yet, which seems to be at least partially because Arenado wanted clarity on Bregman’s situation before he’d commit to being traded. That has left St. Louis in a sort of holding pattern where they might just keep Arenado and other veterans into the start of the 2025 season.

Daniel Kramer of MLB.com also reports that the Bregman situation is leaving the Mariners playing a waiting game. While the M’s are not in on Bregman, they are impacted by the situation nonetheless. Kramer writes that the M’s “believe they’re positioned to make a notable move before Spring Training” but are holding on to see if a Bregman deal sparks movement elsewhere, since upgrading at third is on their to-do list.

Seattle has been fairly quiet this winter, with their signing of infielder Donovan Solano to a one-year, $3.5MM deal being their most notable move. Kramer reports that the M’s don’t plan to deploy him at second and he will be in the mix for playing time at first base more than anywhere else. That perhaps suggests Solano will be platooning with Luke Raley, since Solano is better against lefties and Raley the opposite.

For third base, Kramer floats various possible scenarios that could come to pass as the offseason progresses. He mentions that the Red Sox could land Bregman, which could perhaps make someone like Triston Casas more available. Casas doesn’t play third but it could perhaps lead to Solano moving across the diamond for more time over there. Kramer also floats the possibility of the Tigers signing Bregman and making Jung available, or a similar situation with someone on the Blue Jays like Orelvis Martínez or Addison Barger. It’s also possible that infielders like Luis Arráez of the Padres or Willi Castro of the Twins become more available once Bregman is off the board.

Until then, the Mariners are left laying in the cut, though they have explored other options. They had talks with the Cubs about Nico Hoerner and Bellinger, though the Hoerner deal seemed to become less likely when Paredes was sent to Houston in the Kyle Tucker deal. Perhaps the Hoerner trade talks could be revisited if Bregman ends up a Cub, which is perhaps another reason for the M’s to wait. The Bellinger connection was reported earlier in the offseason.

Another path the M’s considered, according to Kramer, was getting Nathaniel Lowe from the Rangers. However, it seems Texas didn’t feel great about dealing Lowe within their division, which led to him being dealt to the Nationals instead.

For now, it all feels like the part of the standoff where everyone has their hand by their holster, waiting for movement. It’s possible that bodies start dropping once someone flinches, but it’s a staredown for the time being.

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