ALEX BREGMAN — Does anyone else feel like there’s so much waiting going on this offseason? We’re waiting to see if the Cubs will pivot to David Robertson after trading for Ryan Pressly. We’re waiting to see if Dylan Cease or Michael King are actual Cubs targets. Earlier this offseason, we were forced to wait pretty long for the Pressly and Kyle Tucker trades to go through, even after they were widely reported as being done.
And then there’s the looming joy/dread of waiting for PECOTA to tell us what this team actually amounts to (on paper). And don’t get me started on Opening Day. Obviously, I can’t wait for the regular season to begin, but for the Cubs, it’s against the God-Mode Dodgers and it begins halfway through Spring Training … so that doesn’t sound particularly fun.
And underneath it all, we (and the Cubs) are evidently still waiting to see if Alex Bregman will ever shift his preference to a short-term/opt-out heavy deal, potentially transforming the Cubs lineup within a couple of weeks of pitchers and catchers reporting to Arizona.
And I’m sorry to say, I am now forced to make that waiting even more unbearable, given the recent reporting from Jim Bowden.
The Cubs Are Alex Bregman’s Most Aggressive Suitors?? What??
On X, Bowden just dropped the most ridiculous “what do I do with this information” post of all time:
(Note: I read this as the Blue Jays are the most aggressive team for Pete Alonso and the Cubs as the most aggressive team for Alex Bregman. Not both for either or either for both. I suppose it’s up to interpretation, but the Cubs have effectively never been attached to Pete Alonso this offseason.)
Wut.*
After weeks of rumored Cubs’ interest on the periphery of the Alex Bregman sweepstakes, there is now one reporter claiming that there is no question the Cubs are the most aggressive team for free agent third baseman Alex Bregman. Okay. I guess I’ll just be red-lining my emotions for another couple of weeks then.
My gut continues to tell me that the Cubs are not serious suitors for Alex Bregman. We’ve discussed why a billion times (payroll restraints, roster fit, draft pick compensation, etc). But these rumors just keep coming. Local guys, national reporters, big outlets, randos on social media. Everyone seems to believe the Cubs are actually in this race. And yet, I can’t shake my belief that the Cubs are just being used to push his desired landing spot – Houston – up over their previous six-year offer.
But when you see something like this — someone planting their flag so firmly in the sand … “No question!” — your mind starts to wander. Like, maybe the Cubs are popping up in all these bigger rumors (a trade for Cease/King, a signing of Robertson, etc.) because they’re somewhat dependent upon whether or not they land Bregman.
To put a finer point on that: If the Cubs do wind up landing Alex Bregman on one of those deals he can opt out of at the end of the year, maybe that would give them the extra motivation to push all in on 2025 by getting a 39-year-old reliever like David Robertson or trading a lot for one year of an ace like Cease. And maybe without him, they’re happier to play it safe and address any needs midseason. Does that track?
Signing Bregman (and pushing for any of those related moves) at this point in the offseason seems so out of character for Jed Hoyer (and Tom Ricketts), though, so I will just continue trying my best not to let my heart get in the way of my head. And in the meantime, I’ll just keep waiting to see if this is the group we’ll get … or if the Cubs roster will look ENTIRELY different on Opening Day than it does right now, on January 31.
One final note/point of confusion/skepticism for Bowden’s report: If the Cubs really are hanging out only in the opt-out category of a deal for Bregman (as pretty much everyone has reported), how can they be seen as the most aggressive suitor for Alex Bregman? Even if they were to offer him a crazy-high short-term AAV, is that really “more aggressive” than the $150M+ offer he had (still has?) on the table from the Astros? I wouldn’t say so. So are they actually offering him something longer? Is it a multi-year deal, shorter than the 5-6 years he’s getting elsewhere, but longer than the 1-3 years we’ve otherwise expected? Maybe something creative like that? I don’t have the answer, but that’s throwing me for a loop, as well.
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