According to Houston Astros' beat reporter Brian McTaggart, the Astros have offered third baseman Alex Bregman a 6-year deal worth around $156 million. However, what does that mean for our Washington Nationals, who have been connected to Bregman at various points in free agency so far?
While news has been absolutely quiet on the home front with regard to the Nationals, arguably their biggest free agent target in Bregman has a market that is beginning to take shape. The initial takeaway is that the Nats will have to ramp up their efforts in order to make a land a big fish like Bregman, as free agents can really be signed at any time.
My one stance this entire offseason has been that a lot of the big bats are going to wait until Juan Soto signs his new deal, as teams that lose out on him are more likely to pivot to many of the other big bats in the class like Bregman, Pete Alonso, Anthony Santander, and others. With latest reports suggesting that we could know where Juan Soto intends to sign in the very near future, we could see a lot of dominoes begin to fall very quickly, especially with the Winter Meetings quickly approaching as well.
I have been pretty open that I would LOVE the team to break the bank for Bregman, as I think he's truly a perfect fit for the club and would check a ton of boxes, and honestly this report gives me even more optimism. While this may seem like a crazy take considering the Nats haven't really been connected to anyone of note in terms of reaching out or talking to agents of big names, the fact that the Astros made this offer seems like a last stand.
As McTaggart pointed out in his article, the Astros have never offered a free agent a deal for over five years, and the most money he has shelled out was $151 million to Jose Altuve on his 2018 extension. I think that the Astros are making Bregman this deal early, so that if the reports are true that Bregman and Scott Boras are chasing a figure closer to the $200 million number, they can decline the Astros and they can pivot to another free agent to fill the gap at the hot corner like Willy Adames. They have had no issues letting big name free agents walk in the past, such as George Springer, Gerrit Cole, and Carlos Correa in past years, so who's to say that Bregman won't be the next one?
While obviously we still need some sort of intuition that the Nationals would even consider going over that $156 million figure, which I believe they would for the right free agent, this news is encouraging in my perspective. Surely, the team isn't going to sit on their hands all winter and watch teams like the Oakland Athletics shell out $67 million for one pitcher and think that fans will be content. Now is the time to make the big addition to bolster the team's chance of success and reaching the postseason, and Bregman to me still makes the most sense as the team's big splash.
I truly don't have any idea at this time when Mike Rizzo and the team's front office plans to make a big splash, but if I was in charge I would immediately be making a call to Scott Boras and telling him that we would be willing to go higher in order to secure Bregman for a long time in DC. Only time will tell if my 6-year, $180 million prediction that I made in my offseason GM experiment will be enough, or if it will even be offered to Bregman, but here's to remaining optimistic.
Do you think the Nationals will land Alex Bregman? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.