The Cubs have not gotten a great return to this point on their $175 million Alex Bregman investment.
In his first year of a five-year deal with Chicago, the three-time All Star has been relatively pedestrian through 82 games, posting a .236 average and .671 OPS to go along with six home runs. The Cubs are cruising along, however, and at 46-38 they are currently in possession of a wild card spot. If Bregman can rekindle some of his previous magic, he’ll have an opportunity to become a postseason hero for a franchise that certainly reveres those.
Right now Bregman is in the doghouse when it comes to fans who like their players to give 100 percent on the diamond. During a 4-3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday, Bregman failed to run out a routine ground ball and received some pointed criticism from analyst Jim Deshaies.
Alex Bregman incident
The incident occurred in the top of the sixth inning when Bregman bounced an easy grounder to shortstop Karniel Pratt. Convinced he’d be out by a good bit, Bregman took it easy down the line. Pratt ended up juggling the ball but had ample to recover and still get the out.
Deshaies followed with a proportional response.
“Could’ve gone a little harder,” the announcer said. “You don’t have to try and win an Olympic medal every time you get down the first base line, but you need to go a little harder than that.”
There’s no arguing that. These types of plays always look especially bad when it becomes clear a runner would have been safe if they simply kept running. There’s no spin zone for Bregman that anyone wants to hear.
It is worth pointing out that players rarely get burned to the point their lack of effort ages poorly immediately. But that’s why running hard all the time is the only acceptable policy. Bet it doesn’t happen to Bregman again this year.
