Alex Bregman feels shorted by Astros contract renewal

Houston Astros infielder Alex Bregman felt like he “deserved more” in his recent contract renewal from the team.

Most players are ecstatic to receive a contract renewal from the team they play for. In the case of Alex Bregman, it appears he wasn’t overly thrilled when the Houston Astros recently renewed his deal with the team.

After Bregman and the Astros were unable to come to an agreement on a new deal, the third baseman and shortstop told the team to simply renew him at the league minimum of $555,000 for 2019. However, the team upped his suggestion and renewed him at $640,500. But the final amount didn’t seem enough for a player that had a solid performance a year ago. And he expressed those feelings in an interview with MLB.com.

"“I’m just disappointed and I feel like I outperformed that last year,” Bregman said. “I understand that it’s a business, but I feel like good business would be wanting to make a player who performed at a high level on your team happy and want to feel like he wanted to be kept and feel like they wanted him to play here forever. I’m just disappointed it doesn’t seem like the same amount of want.”"

According to the MLB article, players are only eligible to be renewed on a one-year basis in the event they don’t ink a long-term deal or if they haven’t built up the required MLB service time to go into salary arbitration. It didn’t leave a lot of breathing room for either side, so the amount was an unfortunate result of their disagreement.

Bregman had a breakthrough year in 2018, belting 31 homers and driving in 103 runs during the course of the year. His overall production was a monumental step up from 2017, and he looks to continue that improvement this coming season. If he can, in fact, have another great season, he could make a case for a better deal next year, but time will only tell.

The Astros look to get back into World Series contention this year. They will play two exhibition games at Minute Maid Park on March 25 and 26, against the Pittsburgh Pirates, before heading to Tampa Bay on the 27th to officially open the 2019 season against the Rays.