Sooooo, Alex Bregman is still a free agent and while I remain skeptical that the Cubs are serious contenders to sign him MLB insiders continue to insist that they are.
There wasn’t necessarily new information on Wednesday, but both national and local baseball reporters indicated that the Cubs are lurking and waiting to see if Bregman changes his mind on agreeing to a short-term contract. First, from 670 The Score and Marquee Sports Network reporter Bruce Levine.
Via Audacy.
The highest-profile name on the Cubs’ radar remains free agent third baseman Alex Bregman. The Cubs are hanging around in the Bregman derby, looming as a possible landing spot if he shifts his focus to a shorter-term deal.
A deal similar to the one that outfielder Cody Bellinger signed with Chicago ahead of the 2024 season would be the blueprint for a potential union between Bregman and the Cubs.
Again, more of what we’ve seen reported in the past couple weeks. The Cubs have interest in Bregman, but only if the third baseman settles for a short deal with opt-outs included. Levine had already brought up the Cody Bellinger comparison in his earlier reporting.
The only interesting bit of speculation from Wednesday comes from Jon Heyman, who yes is seen as a mouthpiece for Bregman’s agent Scott Boras, but Heyman is not backing down from saying that the Cubs are indeed a threat to get the top free agent available.
Heyman was asked who he’d consider the favorites to sign Bregman and his best guess is that either Bregman returns to the Astros and if not them, the Cubs seem like the other fit.
“There is an allure to the Cubs. We just saw his great friend Ryan Pressly leave the Astros to go to the Cubs. There are two Astros now on the Cubs. I mean, the Cubs are an interesting team, they’re a fun team. They got Tucker in right field. You’ve got Pressly as the closer. That may be an extra allure for Bregman. I know he and Pressly were close. Maybe the Cubs could come in there. So, I’m going to say one of those two teams.”
— B/R Walk-Off (@BRWalkoff) January 29, 2025
The Astros reportedly have a six-year, $156 million offer still on the table for Bregman, who rejected the deal back in December. Bregman is said to be looking for an annual salary of at least $30 million and to this point has been resistant to sign a short-term contract.
The Toronto Blue Jays, Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers have also show interest in signing Bregman, but seeing as though we’re now only a few days from the start of February, it’s safe to say that no team has come close to meeting Bregman’s contract demands.
Seeing as the Astros have re-emerged in the Bregman pursuit, the involvement of the Cubs could of course be manipulated to get some extra cash from Houston as we’ve previously discussed.
Alex Bregman’s final 475 plate appearances in 2024:
.279/.331/.515, 139 wRC+, 25 HR
Maybe a Scott Boras leverage play, but the Cubs have come a-calling. https://t.co/LgwuM5RHk1— Aldo Soto (@AldoSoto21) January 15, 2025
But hey, as each day passes that Bregman doesn’t sign, the chances improve that Bregman eventually caves and does begin to think about joining the Cubs. We’ll see how much longer he and Boras wait out the market.
