Astros failed attempt to re-sign Alex Bregman shouldn’t surprise Houston’s fanbase

The Alex Bregman era in Houston officially came to an end Wednesday night as the star third baseman signed a three year, $120 million contract with the Boston Red Sox, ending a long time of wait and anticipation from Astros fans who were hoping Bregman would eventually sign back with Houston. That of course, never had much hope and the fanbase can now finally move on. While many decided to thank the 2x World Series champion for his achievements, some were disappointed in his choice and felt this whole free agency period was quite strange. 

At the end of the day, it’s another star free agent built by the Astros organization that moved on for a big payday elsewhere. Owner Jim Crane has never been one to hand out large max contracts, even to the standout players in his organization. That was exactly what Bregman was looking for initially, and while the Astros offered the largest contract in team history of six years and $156 million and even reportedly increased their offer, it was not enough. While it certainly was a fair deal, it takes even more these days to truly bring back a superstar player with other big markets handing out large sums of money with high averages like the Red Sox. 

With the face of the franchise Jose Altuve’s incredible team spirit and loyalty to take team friendly contracts and stay dedicated to one team is incredible, that unfortunately isn’t the reality for a majority of MLB players. Astros fans feel accustomed to Altuve’s great loyalty, as well as Yordan Alvarez signing what is now a huge bargain of six years and $100 million, that Bregman might do the same.

The whole situation ended up being quite similar to Carlos Correa’s free agent situation with him not getting the ideal long term deal and settling for a short term one with a high average and opt-outs with a three year and $105.3 million contract altogether. Both players' agents are Scott Boras, and in both situations, it wasn’t a very smooth process. 

Astros have a history of stars like Alex Bregman moving on

This shouldn’t be a surprise to the fanbase as now it is a history of big time players moving on, such as Correa for an AAV of 35 million in 2022 and before that, 2017 World Series MVP George Springer for six years and $150 million in 2021, a huge amount at that time. While Springer himself seemingly had no interest in coming back, the Astros obviously were not going to compete with the Blue Jays. Houston had initially offered Correa five years and $160 million, but he was looking close to a $300 million deal. 

The former Astros shortstop did end up getting close to that amount after the Twins extended him on a six year, $200 million deal in 2023. While other teams continue to offer much larger amounts, players like Bregman will leave Houston. Kyle Tucker was more than likely going to do the same and get a huge contract, which is why the Astros traded him beforehand for some value of third baseman Isaac Paredes, Cam Smith and Kyle Wisneski. 

The Astros were just fine after losing Springer and Correa, as they won the World Series in 2022. However, with another standout leader and pillar of the Astros golden era gone, can the team still continue their success? We shall see. 

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