Dana Brown pretty much admits that the Astros had no shot at keeping Alex Bregman

Between Jim Crane's much-maligned financial restrictions and the gap between the team's reported offer and the player's reported asking price, it always seemed like a long shot for the Houston Astros to hang on to long-time third baseman Alex Bregman. And in case that wasn't evidence enough, the team acquired third baseman in Isaac Paredes as part of the return for Kyle Tucker, then signed first baseman Christian Walker after nearly trading for St. Louis Cardinals veteran Nolan Arenado — all in the span of 10 days or so.

Sure enough, GM Dana Brown made it all but official on Monday afternoon. During Walker's introductory press conference, Brown was asked about what the move meant for any hope of signing Bregman, and where talks currently stood. His answer was unequivocal, both in terms of just how unlikely a reunion is at this point and who Brown thinks is at fault for the impending divorce.

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Dana Brown puts blame for Alex Bregman departure squarely on Scott Boras

Brown made sure to use the past tense when discussing talks with the two-time All-Star, telling reporters that "negotiations stalled" and "I thought we made a competitive offer to bring him back".

That word, "competitive", is one Brown came back to multiple times over the course of the press conference, and it wasn't hard to read between the lines and infer what he meant. From pretty much the moment Houston's season ended in a Wild Card upset against the Detroit Tigers, Brown made clear to anyone who would listen that re-signing Bregman was the team's No. 1 priority. And there's not much reason not to take him at face value: "Rebuild" isn't a word in the Astros' vocabulary, and bringing Bregman back on a long-term deal was the quickest way to ensure that they'd be right back in the mix in 2025.

Multiple reports had that "competitive" offer at around six years and $156 million, for an AAV of $26 million — hardly unserious, but also not blowing anyone out of the water. And with Boras in his corner, that's exactly what Bregman is holding out for; while we've seen Boras clients settle for a little less to stay where they want to be (heck, Jose Altuve just did as much a year ago), for the most part his goal is to reset the market, which is why Bregman was rumored to have Manny Machado's $31.8 million mark in his sights.

If that is in fact where Bregman's price was set, Houston probably had no choice but to move on, at least if Crane's budget is set in stone. But Brown isn't about to let Boras control the narrative, not without making clear just what went down here.