Detroit Tigers Chances To Sign Alex Bregman Improve If Free Agency Goes Longer
Entering free agency, the Detroit Tigers were seen as a serious threat to sign Houston Astros superstar third baseman Alex Bregman.
The fit always made perfect sense with a gaping need at third base and the fact Bregman would bring a veteran presence and winning mentality to a young team still trying to figure out how to ultimately take the next step towards contention. Not to mention the fact that Tigers manager A.J. Hinch coached Bregman through the best baseball he has played in his career from 2018-19.
For all the reasons why this possibility made a ton of sense, there was just not a lot of noise between Detroit and Bregman. Rumors started flying as free agency kicked off and big money names started coming off the board. But with the Winter Meetings coming to a close and Bregman still remaining unsigned, every day that goes by moving forward without the two-time All-Star putting pen to paper, the chances only increase for the Tigers to swoop in and make the huge move.
For one, potential suitors are dropping like flies. Obviously, the most likely outcome entering the offseason was a reunion with Houston for Bregman given it's the only professional ball club he's ever known and the team expressed a desire to keep him. However, with the two sides seemingly far apart in compensation, it appears the Astros are taking a different strategy and choosing to rebuild instead as evidenced by trading away probably their best player in Kyle Tucker. It's not that the Tucker trade completely eliminated Houston from the Bregman sweepstakes, but signing him to a long-term deal now would run counter to the strategy it appears they are taking.
Then of course there's the Red Sox, who always felt like an odd fit given the fact they already have a $300 million third baseman in Rafael Devers and would have to do some serious shifting around whether it be moving Devers to first or moving Bregman to second. Despite Bregman's close ties with Alex Cora, spending a ton of money to move one of the best third basemen in baseball to another position - whether it be Devers or Bregman - never made a whole lot of sense.
While Detroit will still have to fend off the New York Yankees - who make sense now after missing out on Juan Soto and coming in second in the Tucker chase - the chances for the Tigers to sign Bregman are increasing by the day.
Scott Harris was never going to come into these negotiations as the highest bidder on the longest contract, it's just not the way he operates and how he has built this team. But if a situation played out - and it appears to be playing out - where Bregman's market thinned out and Harris could convince him to sign potentially a shorter term deal with a decent AAV or get him to take a discount on a longer term deal by selling the idea of playing for Hinch, that's the exact situation where Detroit would find themselves at the center of the sweepstakes.
Bregman and the Tigers have mutual interest, that was never going to be a question. It was always going to be a question of if they could realistically hammer out a deal which works for both sides.
And every day that goes by in Bregman's free agency, the chances of that only get higher.
