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Bleacher Report's top destination for Alex Bregman will send Astros fans into orbit

If Bregman hits the open market in free agency, this could be a tough pill to swallow.
Emma Lingan
Emma Lingan

Climbing Tal's Hill

Houston Astros v Philadelphia Phillies / Heather Barry/GettyImages

The Astros will have exclusive negotiating rights with pending free agent Alex Bregman for five days after the World Series, and the six-year, $151 million contract extension Matt Chapman signed with the San Francisco Giants last Wednesday should serve as a starting point – especially since Chapman and Bregman happen to share an agent in Scott Boras.

Bregman is a year younger than Champan. He has more home runs, a higher OPS+ and two World Series championships. By that logic, it's reasonable to expect Bregman to get a similar contract to that of his fellow third baseman, but with an extra year (and possibly a slightly higher annual salary).

After fumbling the bag with the likes of Chapman, Blake Snell, Cody Bellinger and others last winter, Boras will likely want to continue to get back on track and help Bregman, one of his highest-profile clients, nab the best deal possible. He'll undoubtedly have an extremely high market value for several teams as well, given his powerful bat, defensive responsibility and championship pedigree.

With that in mind, the Astros should not be considered a favorite to win a bidding war under owner Jim Crane; the largest free-agent contract Houston has has inked during Crane’s ownership tenure is Josh Hader’s five-year, $95 million deal last winter. In the event that Bregman does, in fact, hit the open market this offseason, a number of teams would make sense as potential landing spots – some more so than others.

Bleacher Report's top destination for Alex Bregman will send Astros fans into orbit

In a recent column for Bleacher Report, Zachary D. Rymer ranked 10 potential landing spots for Bregman ahead of MLB free agency, and Astros fans aren't going to like which team he has at No. 1.

According to Rymer, of all the teams that could potentially get in on the Bregman sweepstakes this offseason, none need him quite as much as the Seattle Mariners do. Mariners hitters lead the league in strikeouts this season with 1,470, and while Bregman may no longer be the MVP-caliber hitter he was earlier in his career, his strikeout rate has been in the 90th percentile or better every year since 2017.

Of course, the last thing Astros fans want is for Bregman to end up with an American League West rival, much less one that could feasibly challenge Houston for the top spot in the division next season. But if the Mariners can make the money work, they could unfortunately be an ideal fit for a right-handed slugger like Bregman.

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Emma Lingan

Emma Lingan

Emma Lingan is an MLB Staff Writer for FanSided primarily covering the Pittsburgh Pirates. She has been covering baseball for more than a decade dating back to her time as a student at Wake Forest University, and she has won two gold medals as a member of the U.S. National Team delegation (2016 Pan-American Championships & 2017 World Baseball Classic). A native of Washington, D.C. and current resident of Nashville, Tenn., she is also entering her seventh season as a credentialed NHL media member and currently covers the NHL’s Nashville Predators for The Hockey News. When she's not watching hockey, baseball or football, she enjoys podcasting, reading, going to the gym, consuming large amounts of coffee and taking long walks with her dog, Minkah. You can follow her @Emma_lingan on Twitter and Instagram.