Astros Planning To Have Contract Talks With Alex Bregman

Astros third baseman Alex Bregman is now just a few weeks away from becoming a free agent for the first time, but it seems there’s a chance he might not make it to the open market. General manager Dana Brown spoke with Brian McTaggart of MLB.com and was asked about the situation, indicating that they still hope to approach Bregman at some point in the near future.

“We were in Anaheim the other day and I ran into [agent Scott Boras] and we started talking a little bit,” Brown said. “And we both said, ‘Look, once we get towards the end of the season and things are over, we’ll definitely engage and talk about it.’ We had a small conversation about it. Right now, we’re not in any discussions about contract offers. We both agreed we will meet back up.”

Brown was hired as the GM in January of 2023 and, from the beginning, has been consistent in saying that the club planned to talk to Bregman and his reps about a new contract at some point. Bregman and the Astros agreed to a five-year, $100MM extension in 2019. When Brown was hired and began talking about the desire to get a new deal done, there were still two years left on that pact but it’s now almost complete.

Getting a deal done at this point will be challenging but not impossible. While public reputation suggests Boras clients don’t sign extensions, there are a few examples that contradict that narrative, with the most recent coming less than two weeks ago. Matt Chapman, another Boras client, agreed to a six-year, $151MM pact with the Giants to prevent him from triggering his opt-out and returning to free agency.

Bregman will have an argument to top the Chapman deal. The two players have provided similar value on the field in recent years, with Bregman generally hitting more but Chapman providing better defensive value. But Bregman is a year younger, which should give him the edge. Both players had arguably their best seasons in 2018 and 2019. They have each fallen off a bit since then but have still been solidly above average players.

Bregman was undoubtedly better at that 2018-19 apex. He hit .291/.409/.561 over those two seasons for a 162 wRC+, while Chapman was at .263/.348/.507 and a 132 wRC+. Chapman provided more with the glove but still came up short overall, producing 11.9 wins above replacement compared to Bregman’s 16.2, per FanGraphs.

Since then, it’s been almost a dead heat. From 2020 to the present, Bregman has hit .260/.350/.442 for a 124 wRC+ while Chapman has a…