The Chicago Cubs have been desperate all offseason to try and acquire the services of free agent Alex Bregman.
Rumors have swirled all offseason long that the Cubs are the most ‘aggressive’ team to acquire Bregman, but he won’t budge from wanting a long-term deal.
With Feb. 9 here already, the Cubs have officially started camp. The Cubs have a little over a month to prepare to play the Los Angeles Dodgers in Japan, and Bregman needs to decide now if he wants to be a Cub.
The Bregman sweepstakes has gone on for too long
The Bregman sweepstakes have gone on long enough. The Cubs officially opened their camp today (Feb. 9), and Bregman is still not signed. The sticking point as to why the All-Star third baseman hasn’t signed is Bregman still seeking a 6-7-year deal, which the Cubs aren’t willing to do.
Given that spring training has now arrived, Bregman has now ‘run out of time’ to have any more leverage over teams. Bregman and his agent, Scott Boras, don’t want a repeat of what happened to Blake Snell, Jordan Montgomery, and J.D. Martinez last season, but here we stand.
The 30-year-old does deserve a long-term deal, given his career, but so far, the market for him this offseason has not shown that to be feasible. At this point, both Bregman and the Cubs need to get creative with the deal for both sides to be happy.
The Chicago Cubs should give a long-term deal but with a wrinkle in it
The Cubs seem to want Bregman, by all the reports. Adding Bergman would give the Cubs another proven winner on their roster, along with his former teammates Kyle Tucker and Ryan Pressly.
Not only does Bregman bring a winning attitude to the Cubs clubhouse, but he also brings more thump to the lineup and someone who can drive in runs. The Cubs need both things from Bregman, given the Cubs were in the middle of the pack for offensive stats last season.
If the Cubs want Bregman, I think they should offer him the four-year deal they reportedly offered but add two player options for a 5th and 6th year. This deal would be the happy medium the Cubs and Bregman’s camp would settle on. Bregman will be getting the security of knowing where he’ll be playing for the next four seasons guaranteed, and if he has a great season in year four, he could opt out of his player options, which could benefit the Cubs.
The Cubs can do this deal
If the Cubs truly want Bregman as bad as they say they do and the reports say, they need to get a deal done now.
Sometimes, spending money and throwing caution to the wind has to be done to be a playoff-contending team.
Bregman is a player that the Cubs can’t ’cheap out’ on given how great he has been in his nearly decade career in Major League Baseball.
A deal should get done this week (hopefully), but if one does, Bregman will have a lot of catching up to do, given camp has already started.
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