Astros tell Alex Bregman they're happy to let him go down with the Scott Boras ship

The Alex Bregman free agency saga has reached its 5,680th day (give or take a few), and with pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training all around the league, there's seemingly no end in sight.

The latest update this week suggests that the two-time All-Star is currently weighing offers from the Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs and Detroit Tigers. Not because those three teams have offered him the most money or the best competitive situation, to be clear. In fact, the state of affairs remains the same as it has been for most of the winter: The Houston Astros have presented their former third baseman with the biggest offer by both years and total money, while Boston, Chicago and Detroit are interested but only on a shorter-term basis.

Really, the only thing that changes is how agent Scott Boras chooses to frame things in the media, shuffling who's in front and who's lagging behind depending on the day. If Bregman has narrowed things down to three teams who we know haven't been willing to meet his asking price, it's either because 1) Boras is trying to lean on the Astros to bump up their offer even further or 2) he's somehow convinced Bregman that his market will be different this time next year.

No matter what the truth is, Astros GM Dana Brown made clear on Wednesday that he's done playing these games.

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Astros GM Dana Brown draws firm line in the sand with Alex Bregman, Scott Boras

Brown met with the media for the first time at spring training in Florida, and he was, of course, asked about Bregman for the umpteenth time. And while he couldn't go into specifics thanks to the CBA's prohibiting any public comments that could affect a player's market, his non-response spoke volumes.

"As long as Bregman is a free agent, we'll continue to have internal conversations about it," Brown said, adding "it'll be like that until he signs or whatever happens."

That sure sounds like Brown has officially tapped out of these negotiations; "whatever happens" would seem to imply that he views this free agency as something that's out of his hands at this point. And really, why wouldn't he? It's clear that none of the other teams still in the running can beat Houston's price, and that Bregman still wants to return to the only MLB organization he's ever known; if it weren't, Bregman would've signed somewhere by now. For whatever reason, Boras is in his client's ear about what he can and should be worth, in defiance of all reality.

Offering more even money isn't going to fix what's broken here. If Bregman is willing to walk away from a competitive team where he's spent the first decade of his career because they won't pay him what he feels his value is — a value that no other team agrees with, either — that's on him and Boras, not the Astros.