Houston – The door to the signing of the free agent Alex Bregman is “ajar” for the Astros, but keeping the third goal player with the team could still be a long way, said general manager Dana Brown on Saturday.
Speaking during the team’s fanfest, Brown spoke for a long time of the possibility of signing Bregman again, who spent his entire career of nine years with the Astros.
“What is interesting is that when we have carried out certain exchanges and certain actions this offseason, we have never realized that Bregman would still be on the market at that time,” said Brown. “We had a few conversations and I could stop there, but we had a few conversations.”
He added that these conversations were “positive” before it was asked if it means that the door to the re-signing of Bregman is still open.
“I would say it is cracked, isn’t it,” said Brown. “The fact that he is always available, it makes things interesting, guy, this guy is such a good player, he has done so many wonderful things here. So we are going to stick to the cracked door and see what lead Our conversations.
If Houston brought Bregman, it would create a world situation on the ground. They exchanged the Kyle Tucker voltiseur in Cubs in exchange for the inner field player Isaac Paredes before recruiting the first goal player Christian Walker this offseason.
“Our group is rather well formed,” said Brown. “We have made some movements and some exchanges and solidified our top five in our alignment and therefore it is far from being the case, but the fact that (Bregman) is a free agent, we will have discussions about it as we have discussions on all other free agents.
The day Walker was presented in Houston, Brown said that Walker would be the team’s first goal player and Paredes would play third. But Brown said on Saturday that if Bregman signed again, he would play the third goal.
“I love watching Bregman play the third goal, so I can’t imagine putting Bregman or asking (manager) Joe (Espada) to place Bregman in a position other than the third goal,” said Brown. “It’s his house. He organizes internships when he plays the third goal, and he is as special as anyone, Gold Glove there and therefore I cannot imagine playing elsewhere.
Bregman is twice all-star who won a Gold Glove last season and a Silver Slugger Award in 2019 when he arrived second to the Al MVP vote.
Espada said he had stayed in touch with Bregman, 30, throughout the off -season and that even if he was trying to give him space, he wanted to make sure he understood that he wanted to stay in Houston forever.
“I tell him all the time … It’s at home,” said Espada. “I understand the process, you sit with your family, you try to do the best for you, your family and your children. But it is with us and it is his family.
Even if Bregman would remain in the third goal if he signed again with the Astros, we do not know if his return would force Jose Altuve to leave the second goal, a position he held throughout his 14 -year career.
Altuve expressed at the end of last season his desire that Bregman remains in the team, but Espada did not mean if he had told him about the possibility of changing positions to facilitate this.
“If we get there, we will have this conversation with him, but his desire to do everything you need to win, it’s important for us,” said Espada. “It is a cornerstone of this team. It is the heart of this organization. He understands this. … But if we come to this point, I am sure that we will have this conversation and that we will talk about the way it will evolve.