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Media insider provides critical context to latest Astros, Alex Bregman report

Astros Alex Bregman
It certainly looks like this will be Bregman's last year with the Astros. Composite image by Jack Brame.
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Bob Nightengale of USA Today, “the Nation’s Newspaper” mind you, dropped this nugget earlier this week:

“The Houston Astros have no interest in trading third baseman Alex Bregman, but have privately resigned to losing him in free agency in a year, realizing it may take $300 million to keep him.”

In addition to the $300 mil, it may take an eight or nine-year contract, both numbers that Astros owner Jim Crane doesn’t go near.

According to Nightengale, the Astros feel they can compete for a pennant in 2024 and they need Bregman to accomplish that. They’re willing to endure the long goodbye and lose Bregman after next season. If that’s how it plays out, the Astros will be left with nothing but a draft choice in return.

Are you buying Nightengale scenario for the Astros?

Here’s the thing about Nightengale. I once worked with him in Phoenix. Nightengale had a reputation for being an accurate, relentless digger. Today he has sources within the Astros – the very top of the organizational chart. You can’t get higher up than his whisperers. If he says the Astros have given up on negotiating a contract extension with Bregman, you pretty much can take it to the bank, where you may run into Bregman depositing large canvas sacks with dollar signs on them.

That’s about Bregman’s future prospectus, what does it mean for the 2024 season, which looks like it’ll be his last in an Astros uniform?

Bregman has been an Astros fans’ favorite the past eight years, his entire career in the majors. Will Astros fans, knowing Bregman is a short-timer in 2024, treat him differently? Sure, Bregman will tell the media that he’s fully committed to the Astros and he loves Houston and the fans. But it will be like your steady girlfriend saying, “Maybe it’s time we started seeing other people.” He may even pull the old, “It’s not you, it’s me.” (Invented by George Costanza, circa 1993.)

No one questions that Bregman is a baseball rat, it’s his obsession, his devotion. But he will spend 2024 under a microscope. What happens if he’s chasing a foul pop and pulls up before taking a header in a dugout? Will fans look suspiciously at him? Will they think to themselves, the old Alex Bregman would have done a Triple Lindy into the dugout? Is he avoiding injury on his agent’s orders so not to risk his big payday come free agency?

Will fans be less forgiving of a batting slump? Will his teammates look at him differently, like he’s not 100 percent in the foxhole with them? Will he choose to sit out games when nagging injuries happen – when he normally would play through them?

Last season, the Angels held onto Shohei Ohtani rather than trade him mid-season for a haul of useful talent. Many questioned that strategy, especially with crosstown rival Dodgers (among others) breaking their piggybank to land the MVP this offseason.

It’s understandable that the Astros are all in on 2024, with their World Series window possibly showing cracks. They’re apparently willing to bite the bullet and keep a lame duck Bregman.

But if Nightengale is right, and Bregman is headed out the door, wouldn’t the Astros be smarter to say goodbye now, with his trade value still high, and hope the return investment pays off? With baseball’s winter meetings in full swing, is it the right time for Astros general manager Dana Brown to approach other teams … “hey, you got a second to talk?”

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Kyle Tucker returns to Houston this weekend. Composite Getty Image.

Two first-place teams, identical records, and a weekend set with serious measuring-stick energy.

The Houston Astros and Chicago Cubs open a three-game series Friday night at Daikin Park, in what could quietly be one of the more telling matchups of the summer. Both teams enter at 48-33, each atop their respective divisions — but trending in slightly different directions.

The Astros have been red-hot, going 7-3 over their last 10 while outscoring opponents by 11 runs. They've done it behind one of the best pitching staffs in baseball, with a collective 3.41 ERA that ranks second in the American League. Houston has also been dominant at home, where they’ve compiled a 30-13 record — a stat that looms large heading into this weekend.

On the other side, the Cubs have held their ground in the NL Central but have shown some recent shakiness. They're 5-5 over their last 10 games and have given up 5.66 runs per game over that stretch. Still, the offense remains dangerous, ranking fifth in on-base percentage across the majors. Kyle Tucker leads the way with a .287 average, 16 homers, and 49 RBIs, while Michael Busch has been hot of late, collecting 12 hits in his last 37 at-bats.

Friday’s pitching matchup features Houston’s Brandon Walter (0-1, 3.80 ERA, 1.10 WHIP) and Chicago’s Cade Horton (3-1, 3.73 ERA, 1.29 WHIP), a promising young arm making one of his biggest starts of the season on the road. Horton will have his hands full with Isaac Paredes, who’s slugged 16 homers on the year, and Mauricio Dubón, who’s found a groove with four home runs over his last 10 games.

It’s the first meeting of the season between these two clubs — and if the trends continue, it may not be the last time they cross paths when it really counts.

BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Astros -112, Cubs -107; over/under is 8 1/2 runs

Here's a preview of Joe Espada's Game 1 lineup.

The first thing that stands out is rookie Cam Smith is hitting cleanup, followed by Jake Meyers. Victor Caratini is the DH and is hitting sixth. Christian Walker is all the way down at seventh, followed by Yainer Diaz, and Taylor Trammell who is playing left field.

How the mighty have fallen.

Pretty wild to see Walker and Diaz hitting this low in the lineup. However, it's justified, based on performance. Walker is hitting a pathetic .214 and Diaz is slightly better sporting a .238 batting average.

Screenshot via: MLB.com



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