Talks between Alex Bregman and the Tigers are reportedly at a “standstill”

Spring training is just a few weeks away, but many free agents are still unsigned Alex Bregman probably the most notable. The Tigers are one club that has been linked to him, but Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press reports that talks are “at a standstill.”

Heading into the offseason, MLBTR ranked Bregman as the third-best free agent of the winter Juan Soto And Corbin Burnes. Soto and Burnes are now both under contract, so Bregman remains the top player. We projected a seven-year, $182 million deal, which represented something of a midpoint for Bregman’s negotiations at the start of the offseason. The Astros reportedly offered Bregman $156 million over six years, although the third baseman was trying to get to $200 million.

Instead of meeting in the middle, Houston walked away. They made a deal with the Cardinals Nolan Arenadoalthough Arenado used his no-trade clause to waive that. Instead, they acquired Isaac Paredes by the Cubs and signed Christian Walker take first base. Since then, Bregman has been linked to clubs like the Tigers, Blue Jays, Red Sox and others, but with no apparent momentum.

The Cubs reportedly doubted the possibility of a short-term deal with Bregman, but agent Scott Boras said last week that Bregman was not considering that route. Jed Hoyer, the Cubs’ president of baseball operations, also recently downplayed the possibility of the Cubs being involved. “I think that’s likely,” Hoyer said at the Cubs convention a few days ago when asked if the Cubs third baseman was already in the organization. “Of course we will look for additions. Infield is an area we are focusing on (for the bench), but I think the likelihood is yes.”

Matt Shaw may be the best solution there, but he hasn’t made his major league debut yet. There’s no guarantee he’ll hit the ground running in 2025, so there’s a case to be made for adding someone who’s established, but it appears the Cubs are trying to be opportunistic rather than aggressive in Bregman’s market.

As the 2025 season approaches, there will be some sort of star competition. Around this time last year, Boras began switching to short-term trades Cody Bellinger, Matt Chapman, Blake Snell And Jordan Montgomery. Boras apparently took this turn with the client Pete Alonsoas Alonso’s camp reportedly recently offered the Mets a three-year deal.

But with Bregman still hoping for a longer deal, this appears to be leading to overall sluggishness in the third base market. The Tigers had a fairly quiet offseason with one-year deals for Alex Cobb And Gleyber Torres are their main movements so far. You have Jace Jung And Matt Vierling as potential internal options at the hot corner, so they have some leverage to wait out Bregman.

With Vierling also capable of playing in the outfield, Jung seems like the logical choice for third base right now. Last year he was successful in 30.9% of his plate appearances, but that was only a small debut with 94 plate appearances. He didn’t have strikeout rates like that in the minors and still managed to draw a lot of walks in his major league debut. As with Shaw, there’s no guarantee he’ll be able to take the job and run with it, but the Tigers may feel like they have enough cover not to jump into a Bregman deal.

As long as Bregman stays out there, it seems to prevent other dominoes from falling. The Cardinals came into the winter with the intention of doing something like a reset but haven’t been able to implement it yet, which appears to be at least partly because Arenado wanted clarity on Bregman’s situation before agreeing to a trade. That leaves St. Louis in something of a holding pattern, potentially keeping Arenado and other veterans until the start of the 2025 season.

Daniel Kramer of MLB.com also reports that the Mariners will have to wait and see due to the Bregman situation. Even though the M’s don’t have Bregman in their sights, they are still affected by the situation. Kramer writes that the M’s “believe they are capable of making a significant move before spring training” but are waiting to see if a Bregman deal sparks movement elsewhere, as a move up to third is on the cards on your to-do list.

Seattle has been pretty quiet this winter due to the signing of an infielder Donovan Solano to a one-year, $3.5 million contract, which is her most notable move. Kramer reports that the M’s don’t plan on using him at second base and that he will play first base more than anywhere else. This perhaps indicates that Solano will join in Luke Raleysince Solano is better against lefties and Raley is the opposite.

For third base, Kramer suggests several possible scenarios that could occur over the course of the offseason. He mentions that the Red Sox could sign Bregman, which might make someone like him Triston Casas more available. Casas doesn’t play third, but it could perhaps lead to Solano moving across the diamond there for more time. Kramer also suggests the possibility that the Tigers could sign Bregman and make Jung available, or a similar situation with someone like the Blue Jays Orelvis Martinez or Addison Barger. It’s also possible that infielders like it Luis Arraez the Padres or Willy Castro of the Twins will become more available once Bregman is no longer on the field.

Until then, the Mariners remain undecided, although they have explored other options. They had conversations with the Cubs about it Nico Horns and Bellinger, although the Hoerner deal seemed less likely when Paredes was sent to Houston in 2010 Kyle Tucker act. Perhaps the Hoerner trade talks could be revisited if Bregman gets a Cub, which is perhaps another reason for the M’s to wait. The Bellinger connection was reported earlier in the offseason.

Another avenue the M’s considered, according to Kramer, was receiving Nathaniel Lowe from the Rangers. However, it appears that Texas didn’t feel good about dealing Lowe within their division, which resulted in him being dealt to the Nationals instead.

Right now everything feels like the part of the standoff where everyone has their hand on the holster waiting for a move. It’s possible that bodies will fall to the ground as soon as someone flinches, but for now it’s just staring.