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

[Rcal10]

8 hours ago, JD94 said:

I’m not so sure. Boston apparently has a deal lined up for Arenado. Nolan will likely be cheaper than Bregman (Colorado is still paying part of his contract). I could see Boston preferring that route whereas the Cubs will offer more AAV because Arenado is not an option for us (which is fine). 
 

I have a weird feeling Bregman chooses the Cubs tomorrow. Reports out of Houston saying they are out and Bregman will sign a short term deal with opt outs. It’s felt like he’s wanted to come here this whole time. Having Tucker and Pressly obviously helps and we should honestly win this division rather easily, especially with Bregman. Boston is likely, at best, the 3rd best team in their division and will be a borderline wild card team. 

This is entirely possible. As my post said “if all are equal”. The scenerio you suggest is not all equal. I agree with you that if the Cubs have a better deal he will come here. I also agree that the Red Sox make some sense for Arenado. 

[JD94]

1 minute ago, Rcal10 said:

This is entirely possible. As my post said “if all are equal”. The scenerio you suggest is not all equal. I agree with you that if the Cubs have a better deal he will come here. I also agree that the Red Sox make some sense for Arenado. 

This is true. I guess I’ll say it this way: The consensus is we are offering between 28-30 AAV. For the sake of the discussion, as you said, let’s call Boston’s offer exactly equal. You put park factor in their favor, which I agree with by the way. But I put the Cubs are a better team and he has 3 people on the Cubs he’s really close with. I think that’s enough to push him here. I think comfort plays a big part when all things are equal. If you gave me personally that same decision, I’m choosing to go play with my friends 10 out of 10 times. Because I would be more comfortable.
 

Plus (without doing my own research) I’m pretty sure I saw where his numbers would have been generally the same had he played at Wrigley instead of Houston last year. 

 

Im still calling he chooses the Cubs today. Feels like that dam is about to bust and it happens today. I could be wrong though. Just going off a gut feeling. 

[Rcal10]

4 minutes ago, JD94 said:

This is true. I guess I’ll say it this way: The consensus is we are offering between 28-30 AAV. For the sake of the discussion, as you said, let’s call Boston’s offer exactly equal. You put park factor in their favor, which I agree with by the way. But I put the Cubs are a better team and he has 3 people on the Cubs he’s really close with. I think that’s enough to push him here. I think comfort plays a big part when all things are equal. If you gave me personally that same decision, I’m choosing to go play with my friends 10 out of 10 times. Because I would be more comfortable.
 

Plus (without doing my own research) I’m pretty sure I saw where his numbers would have been generally the same had he played at Wrigley instead of Houston last year. 

 

Im still calling he chooses the Cubs today. Feels like that dam is about to bust and it happens today. I could be wrong though. Just going off a gut feeling. 

Cool. Honestly i am not sure how I feel about Bregman for $30M. Lose a 2nd and 5th rd pick and most likely have to trade Nico. And then we actually hope he is here for only 1 year. I still think they can make the team better in ‘25 by adding a solid starting pitcher and a bench bat or two, instead of the Bregman signing. 
 

[Dfan25]

If he is signing with the cubs I think it happens in the next 48 hours at latest . Boras has been in this situation before with Hoyer , and he probably knows the Cubs aren’t going up in years at this point .

 

The 1st full squad workout is Friday and if Bregman  wants to opt out after 2025 , I think he wants things as normal as possible with his spring training .

 

He is in Arizona already as he lives there , so if this is going to happen , I would expect it really soon , so he can take his physical on Friday at the latest .

Cubs play a regular season game really early this year . Position players have to be ready to play a full 9 innings basically in mid march .  Him holding out a couple of more weeks wouldn’t be great .

Edited February 12, 2025 by Dfan25

[Rcal10]

21 minutes ago, Dfan25 said:

If he is signing with the cubs I think it happens in the next 48 hours at latest . Boras has been in this situation before with Hoyer , and he probably knows the Cubs aren’t going up in years at this point .

 

The 1st full squad workout is Friday and if Bregman  wants to opt out after 2025 , I think he wants things as normal as possible with his spring training .

 

He is in Arizona already as he lives there , so if this is going to happen , I would expect it really soon , so he can take his physical on Friday at the latest .

Cubs play a regular season game really early this year . Position players have to be ready to play a full 9 innings basically in mid march .  Him holding out a couple of more weeks wouldn’t be great .

I agree. Cubs will most likely want him signed soon. With a start of the season in 6 weeks I can’t imagine they want him behind. Plus the early schedule is brutal. You don’t win a division in April, but you certainly can lose one with a terrible start. 

[JD94]

1 hour ago, Rcal10 said:

Cool. Honestly i am not sure how I feel about Bregman for $30M. Lose a 2nd and 5th rd pick and most likely have to trade Nico. And then we actually hope he is here for only 1 year. I still think they can make the team better in ‘25 by adding a solid starting pitcher and a bench bat or two, instead of the Bregman signing. 
 

I think we should be excited to add a really good player. He makes us better. They kind of chose their path with the rotation. There’s not much else in free agency that moves the needle over what we have. Sure we can say trading for Cease would be better than adding Bregman, but the Padres seemingly want a kings ransom for him. There probably just isn’t much on the trade block that Jed thinks makes sense. I’d much rather put that money on Bregman than sit on it. Justin Turner is fine, but he doesn’t do a whole lot for me. Like yeah, if Bregman signs elsewhere, go get him. I just think Bregman is the most significant move we can make at this point. 

[chibears55]

2 hours ago, Rcal10 said:

Cool. Honestly i am not sure how I feel about Bregman for $30M. Lose a 2nd and 5th rd pick and most likely have to trade Nico. And then we actually hope he is here for only 1 year. I still think they can make the team better in ‘25 by adding a solid starting pitcher and a bench bat or two, instead of the Bregman signing. 
 

I certainly hope Hoyer makes sure Bregman is here for at least 3-4 years if he willing to give up those 2 draft picks for him.

[chibears55]

Rizzo still available 🤷‍♂️🙄

[JBears79]

1 hour ago, TomtheBombadil said:

I imagine there’s tons of interest in Casas. Hell, he’d make a good Cub if Theo can find a way. Lumping him with Yoshida as tomato/tomahto is maybe why 2.0 is

——

Two things:

- If you can’t exploit the massive pool of essentially free talent because no 2nd and 5th in 2025 then your org is f’d anyway. That stuff was a joke already during 1.0, and now that everyone’s essentially free and the talent pool larger for our overlords during 2.0 this is even less of a thing 

- This tying Hoerner’s fate to Bregman is wildly overblown and a product of the culture of mediocrity in Cubslandia. Really they have nothing to do with each other outside of conjecture from Cubs twitter (filled with obvious plants like BN, a blog that took off under the Ricketts making its bones explaining the salary cap). Hoerner, while a strong two way starter, for years has been an unlikely trade candidate who would not be with the org beyond this extension *for baseball reasons*: namely tons of groundballs and not so much power. Signing a 3B doesn’t change that! 

I’m sooooouped if they sign Bregman. Materially he has had a monster, unCubs like career with skills and experience in high demand (well, in a baseball world baseball is a priority): top HS prospect, dominated the SECz, #2 overall pick, dominated the minors, two way player, top of the league approach, top shelf conditioning including more than a half dozen deep playoff runs…Getting a winner like this into this second rate org is exciting! Yeah, sure, they wouldn’t get to plug Shaw in just like the one recipe calls for but bc they went and got a better player!

Its not like it even blocks Shaw. Plenty of ABs to go around and for him to earn his way into starting. Hell you could even dangle Nico for a starter at the deadline if Shaw is playing well with Bregman in the fold

[JD94]

I love Matt Shaw. He’s a prospect though. He’s unproven. In no world should the Cubs say “nah I’m good on a proven star player” because Shaw might be good. Go get the guy that you know is good. Shaw will still get plenty of opportunities to prove himself. As other have said, signing Bregman doesn’t mean you have to trade Nico. If Shaw hits the ground running and a trade for a pitcher falls into Jed’s lap that just happens to include Nico, then fine. I imagine Jed plans on Nico being a part of the 2025 Cubs though. Shaw can get some run at 2B to start the year until Nico is ready. 

[ToolDRT]

Nothing really new, but it’s a slow day 

 

 

[Jason Ross]

[Rcal10]

9 hours ago, chibears55 said:

I certainly hope Hoyer makes sure Bregman is here for at least 3-4 years if he willing to give up those 2 draft picks for him.

I don’t think the Cubs are too worried about the draft picks and I am pretty certain he isn’t getting a straight 4 year deal from the Cubs. I haven’t seen anything that would suggest the Cubs are offering anything like that. Seems most reports have them offering creative ideas where Bregman can opt out after year one. 

[UMFan83]

32 minutes ago, 1908_Cubs said:

26 minutes before Ofman posted that, a radio personality from Detroit said this:

 

[Dfan25]

FWIW , in a follow up tweet , Ofman said he still be shocked if the Cubs get Bregman .

[Jason Ross]

Just now, Dfan25 said:

FWIW , in a follow up tweet , Ofman said he still be shocked if the Cubs get Bregman .

In his defense, I'd be shocked, too. Not because I don't think the Cubs have a legit chance (there's enough smoke out there that makes you believe they could be the likely destination ultimately) but because I wouldn't have guessed the Cubs would have ever had a chance on him at this stage with how they do FA.

[JD94]

1 minute ago, Dfan25 said:

FWIW , in a follow up tweet , Ofman said he still be shocked if the Cubs get Bregman .

That guy has insisted this whole time we aren’t getting Bregman. He’s either hella sourced or he’s just going to die on that hill. 

[ToolDRT]

Sounds like he’s detroits to lose. Which is fine. Don’t get crazy and guarantee him a bad contact. 

[Bertz]

I'm totally fine with Bregman going to Detroit, but when's the last time Ofman had sources worth a damn.  Legitimately back to the Hendry era, no?

[ToolDRT]

1 minute ago, Bertz said:

I'm totally fine with Bregman going to Detroit, but when's the last time Ofman had sources worth a damn.  Legitimately back to the Hendry era, no?

Seems like he got some bears stuff wrong recently too. I’m more inclined to believe the other guy that was linked. 

[Jason Ross]

1 minute ago, Bertz said:

I'm totally fine with Bregman going to Detroit, but when's the last time Ofman had sources worth a damn.  Legitimately back to the Hendry era, no?

Yeah it's been a hot minute. I think, IIRC, it was Ofman who early in the offseason last year was suggesting the Cubs were involved in Soto trade talks much more heavily than it eventually seemed to have been (as it seems more exploratory than anything). 

[Jason Ross]

Just now, ToolDRT said:

Seems like he got some bears stuff wrong recently too. I’m more inclined to believe the other guy that was linked. 

I think they probably all fit into the bigger puzzle. 

For example - I think if Bregman were willing to sign a shorter deal, he'd have done so already. Same as with signing with Detroit on a six year deal. Feels like either: Bregman is going to take the AAV and sign with the Cubs or the Tigers will blink and give him another year. But that's my read of the tweets.

[TarzanJoeWallis]

To me this seems like he doesn’t want to go to Detroit but will if they go to seven years. Which is highly unlikely, I’d think. Basically, we are going to the Cubs unless you offer seven years. 

[JD94]

1 minute ago, 1908_Cubs said:

I think they probably all fit into the bigger puzzle. 

For example - I think if Bregman were willing to sign a shorter deal, he'd have done so already. Same as with signing with Detroit on a six year deal. Feels like either: Bregman is going to take the AAV and sign with the Cubs or the Tigers will blink and give him another year. But that's my read of the tweets.

Agreed and I don’t think he really wants to go to Detroit either. I’m sure he would for the right deal obviously, but doesn’t feel like he really prefers them. 

[Jason Ross]

Just now, JD94 said:

Agreed and I don’t think he really wants to go to Detroit either. I’m sure he would for the right deal obviously, but doesn’t feel like he really prefers them. 

Feels a bit like Kris Bryant's FA. Where Bryant took the money and ended up in Colorado. Detroit isn't Colorado from a baseball perspective, but it also isn't a sexy destination.