Cubs Star Is Disproving Narrative About His Contract
After a slow start raised questions about the Cubs' decision to give Alex Bregman a five-year, $175 million contract, the veteran third baseman has turned things around in a major way.
Video Transcript
There were plenty of early season concerns about Alex Bregman and his contract with the Chicago Cubs, but there can be little doubt now that five years and $175 million, money well spent for Chicago.
Bregman's early season struggles contributed to a slow start for the Cubs as a whole, but his recent hot streak is propelling the Cubs when it matters most.
His $26.3 million annual salary might not age well as you get deeper into the contract and as Bregman gets into his mid-30s, but the Cubs front office identified that this team is in a win now window, trying to win the World Series.
They're in the middle of, an opportunity to win the NL Central, to be the best team in the National League, maybe the best team in baseball.
They're currently three games behind the Milwaukee Brewers at seventy-one and fifty, three and a half back of the Tampa Bay Rays for the best record in MLB this year, and Bregman's success has been a huge part of that.
Three homer effort against the Nationals on Wednesday is just the tip of the iceberg.
But over his last twenty-six games, Alex Bregman is hitting three twenty-four with a ten fifty-four OPS, nine doubles, nine home runs in 108 at bats.
And it's no coincidence the Cubs nineteen and seven over those twenty-six games.
The hot streak brings his OPS back up to seven fifty-eight with sixteen home runs on the season, three point one fWAR, currently on pace for a twenty-one homer season and over four fWAR on the year, and that's what you paid him for.
You paid him to be a reliable bat.
You paid him because Alex Bregman has never had an OPS plus below one ten in his career.
You know you're getting the above average hitter, a good defender, a solid contributor every day.
You know you're getting a playoff experienced bat, which is something that the Cubs will need.
So if he continues on his current track, that OPS rises, he hits over the final six weeks of the regular season, he's very likely to finish second on the team in fWAR and is one of their more reliable and trustworthy hitters heading into the playoffs.
That is absolutely the worth, the money the Cubs spent on his contract, especially because we have every reason to believe that next year, twenty twenty-seven, that production's not going to go anywhere.
The sample size of Bregman's consistency is just too long, too much sample size, and good hitters find a way to bounce back and put together a good year even when they start off slow.
