The Detroit Tigers made their long-awaited free agency splash.
After signing both Gleyber Torres and Alex Cobb to one-year deals, they eventually reunited with Jack Flaherty to give themselves another high-level arm alongside Tarik Skubal in the rotation.
While getting Flaherty back is certainly nice, it wasn’t quite the addition some fans were hoping for.
Alex Bregman remains unsigned, and with the Tigers being connected to the two-time World Series champion throughout the offseason, it would feel like a major loss if they weren’t able to land him.
At this stage, it seems like there are just three other teams competing with Detroit for his services; the Houston Astros, Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs.
Two of those teams, the Red Sox and Cubs, seem to be caught up in the length of a prospective deal, not wanting to offer him anything long term. Considering Bregman is looking for something in the six-year range, it’s hard to imagine either of those teams will win the sweepstakes.
That leaves the Astros and Tigers.
At the beginning of winter, Houston extended him a $156 million contract over six seasons, a fair offer, but not exactly what Bregman wanted.
It appeared like both were set to go their separate ways, but newfound rejuvenation from that organization made it seem like a reunion could be coming.
And according to Jon Heyman of The New York Post, the Astros have improved upon their initial offer, something that is a bit out of character, especially when considering they have already covered their corner infield holes by acquiring Isaac Paredes in a trade and signing Christian Walker.
That news might have been alarming for the Detroit fan base, but Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 followed it up by reporting, “… that improved offer is unlikely to get the deal done, according to a source.”
Once again, the Tigers have life when it comes to the Bregman sweepstakes.
It feels like he is there for the taking if the front office and ownership group can muster up the type of contract he’s looking to get this offseason.
With them being so involved this late in the process, not landing him now would feel like a huge loss.
