Levine: Alex Bregman Open to Short-Term Deals, Cubs Have Talked to Scott Boras About It

[Stratos]

2 hours ago, Bertz said:

I have not exactly been rah rah for Bregman previously, but I think I'm fully out on him after reading this.

You have to have one hell of a subsequent deal lined up for Nico (or Shaw?) for this to feel anywhere near worth it.

Note that Shaw can play some 2b if Nico isn't 100% by OD.  Same at SS for Swanson.

Bregman might be adding anywhere from 1 to 2 WAR to the team if we assume a solid but not amazing year for Shaw and Shaw adding depth at 2B, SS, and 3B.  Could be more WAR he adds if there's injuries.

A couple months in AAA throughout the year wouldn't kill Shaw either, especially working on the glove at 3b and 2b.

[Bertz]

19 minutes ago, Stratos said:

Note that Shaw can play some 2b if Nico isn't 100% by OD.  Same at SS for Swanson.

Bregman might be adding anywhere from 1 to 2 WAR to the team if we assume a solid but not amazing year for Shaw and Shaw adding depth at 2B, SS, and 3B.  Could be more WAR he adds if there's injuries.

A couple months in AAA throughout the year wouldn't kill Shaw either, especially working on the glove at 3b and 2b.

None of this sounds worth a Bellinger contract and a 2nd round pick.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I'm not overly jazzed about signing Bregman, and I'm borderline against it if it requires trading Nico, but also worth noting that ZiPS loves Shaw, so a straight forward comparison is gonna show minimal upside.  But the error bars on that Shaw projection are large, so there's more value in the certainty of Bregman than it might appear.

[CubinNY]

One would think this has to come to a head pretty soon. I still think he goes back to Houston.

[squally1313]

This is mostly self serving, but saw a tweet about Dansby vs Bregman and thought it was worth pointing out that they are a month apart in age, Dansby produced more fWAR in 2023 and in 2024, is projected for more fWAR in 2025, plays a more important position (which, yes, in included in fWAR), and is currently on a 5/$125m deal, whereas Bregman turned down a 6/$156m. Still a lot of things that can go wrong in the Swanson deal, but so far the market is looking at it pretty positively. 

[Rcal10]

Honesty I think they can make better use of $25m to $27M Bregman would cost by signing Robertson and maybe Cahna and trading for Cease. 

[KCCub]

 

I'm just actually shocked with how this is playing out. 

[Dfan25]

 

[JD94]

 

[Post Count Padder]

Maybe I'm missing something, why would the Red Sox want to add a 3B? Even if they move one or Devers to DH, then were does Yoshida play? Shift Duran to CF and Rafaela back to 2B?

[Post Count Padder]

That said, you have to believe this reaches its resolution sooner rather than later. Pitchers and catchers report in less than 2 weeks and Boras clients have not had great success holding out into ST/ the season.

[KCCub]

17 minutes ago, Post Count Padder said:

Maybe I'm missing something, why would the Red Sox want to add a 3B? Even if they move one or Devers to DH, then were does Yoshida play? Shift Duran to CF and Rafaela back to 2B?

They've been shopping Yoshida. They desperately want to move Devers off of 3b. They've also weirdly floated Casas out there as a trade candidate for pitching as well. 

 

I also don't understand why they want Arenado so bad. I would rather just give Bregman the 6 years at his age than trading assets for 3 years of aging Arenado -

 

 

Edited February 4, 2025 by KCCub

[NorthsideAvenger]

21 minutes ago, Post Count Padder said:

That said, you have to believe this reaches its resolution sooner rather than later. Pitchers and catchers report in less than 2 weeks and Boras clients have not had great success holding out into ST/ the season.

Don't the Cubs (and Dodgers) report sooner?

[Rcal10]

8 minutes ago, NorthsideAvenger said:

Don't the Cubs (and Dodgers) report sooner?

I think the Cubs report Sunday.

[Rcal10]

18 minutes ago, KCCub said:

They've been shopping Yoshida. They desperately want to move Devers off of 3b. They've also weirdly floated Casas out there as a trade candidate for pitching as well. 

 

I also don't understand why they want Arenado so bad. I would rather just give Bregman the 6 years at his age than trading assets for 3 years of aging Arenado -

 

 

What prospects do the Cardinals think they will get for an aging high, overpriced very average ballplayer? They are getting anything but salary relief.

[Stratos]

4 hours ago, Bertz said:

None of this sounds worth a Bellinger contract and a 2nd round pick.

I forgot about the QO.  You're probably right.

[Stratos]

3 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

What prospects do the Cardinals think they will get for an aging high, overpriced very average ballplayer? They are getting anything but salary relief.

Probably mostly a salary dump 

[KCCub]

10 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

What prospects do the Cardinals think they will get for an aging high, overpriced very average ballplayer? They are getting anything but salary relief.

It’s mainly a salary dump and will depend on if the Cardinals chip in any cash or not. He’s owed 3/$52m and projected for 3.1 fWAR (ZiPS) this season. The return won’t be a lot, but it won’t be nothing either 

[ToolDRT]

I don’t get it

 

 

[CubinNY]

W.O.W

[KCCub]

Matt’s write up here -

 

[Rcal10]

26 minutes ago, ToolDRT said:

I don’t get it

 

 

I did make a suggestion a few days ago that maybe the Cubs did offer a multi year, creative deal, But I was was told that wasn’t a possibility. Looks like that is exactly what they did. As for being excited about it, I can’t say I am. I feel there is better use of $25M to $30M for this team. I saw Grichek signed for $5M. He would have been a good bench bat. I would think Canha can’t be more. I would be happy with him and Robertson as FA and a trade for Cease. I like that better than adding Bregman.  

[JunkyardWalrus]

31 minutes ago, ToolDRT said:

I don’t get it

 

 

4 years and $100 million, even? I mean, ya gotta think about it. North of? Eh...

[Jason Ross]

10 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

I did make a suggestion a few days ago that maybe the Cubs did offer a multi year, creative deal, But I was was told that wasn’t a possibility. Looks like that is exactly what they did. As for being excited about it, I can’t say I am. I feel there is better use of $25M to $30M for this team. I saw Grichek signed for $5M. He would have been a good bench bat. I would think Canha can’t be more. I would be happy with him and Robertson as FA and a trade for Cease. I like that better than adding Bregman.  

In theory a Cease trade helps the Cubs more. But it requires the Padres to be realistic, and if they're not being realistic, then it becomes an unrealistic outcome for the Cubs, as well. I'd like to think the Padres would have to get real with it, but they might not get there in the next little bit, and there's no guarantee the Cubs end up winning that anyways. 

I made my thoughts on Bregman clear in the Trueblood article, but I can see an argument here for moving for Bregman when you can, giving yourself a more defined outcome over Shaw up front, and then giving yourself the freedom to explore a Hoerner trade over the next four months or so, and how they looks could be many things, perhaps a team who's rich in pitching has an infield injury mid-year and you can MLB-for-MLB swap, or maybe it's a three-team-swap where Hoerner is traded for prospects, and a SP comes back. Maybe a team who was concerned about the injury has their worries dissuaded with a healthy three months. 

I don't think it'll happen in the end. But I can see outcomes where Bregman makes sense. And horsefeathers it, I'll say this too - the Cubs signing Alex Bregman would be flat out fun. It would be. And maybe it'd suggest the Cubs were just a little over playing the poor-card. (but I also suspect that wouldn't be the case and logic suggests some course correction on the back end),

[JD94]

We can’t have it both ways. Mad they won’t sign enough good players and mad when they try to sign a good player you don’t want. Maybe this is Jed saying “I have extra money to spend, why sit on it when I can go get a really good player?” Maybe Preller isn’t budging off Shaw for Cease and that’s just not a realistic possibility. Adding Bregman makes us better than we are today. Period. You can’t argue that. I will not fault Jed for making moves that make this ball club better. I hope he gets it done. 
 

As 1908 said, then you have time to see if Shaw is ready and potentially move Nico for pitching over the next couple of months.