Alex Bregman’s rough 2024 is costing the Astros wins and him a whole lot of money

A lot of the talk around the Houston Astros to start the season wasn't with their offseason moves, per se, but instead with who they needed to try and extend long-term. Extensions for guys like Framber Valdez and Kyle Tucker were certainly a hot topic and remain on the table, but the elephant in the room was that Alex Bregman was entering his walk year without a long-term commitment from the Astros, even though the team clearly seems to have entertained the idea.

Bregman's case was always a little weird. He's certainly been a huge part of Houston's run of dominance in recent years and many were predicting he would receive $200+ million on the open market with Scott Boras as his agent. However, Bregman's production has been steadily declining in recent years and it was already dubious that he would be worth committing that kind of long-term deal to.

With Bregman's horrid start to the 2024 season, his doubters may have been on to something.

Alex Bregman's poor 2024 start may cost him and the Astros dearly

Ever since 2019, there has been a noticeable change in Bregman at the plate. He has remained a solid-to-good defender in the field, but the days of him hitting 30+ homers have been over for a while now. His ability to draw walks at a high rate has kept him a valuable hitter, but he hasn't been the impact bat he once was, and trending downward already at the age of 30 isn't an ideal place to be.

However, few saw Bregman struggling as much as he has in 2024. Through 90 plate appearances this season, Bregman is slashing .203/.289/.266. The walks have mostly continued, but everything else, including the quality of contact, has cratered. For the Astros, that has meant one of their best hitters turning into a non-factor in the middle of the lineup and costing them precious runs during one of their worst stretches in recent years.

For Bregman, the timing couldn't be worse. Not only is he not helping the Astros right now, but teams that were already a bit hesitant to commit big money to him are probably looking at his 2024 start and going "we may need to go in another direction." With Boras' voodoo seemingly wearing off this past offseason, that could mean Bregman losing out on tens of millions of dollars in free agency as well as the nonzero possibility that Houston could move him at the trade deadline if the season continues to go south.

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