Jed Hoyer reveals Alex Bregman's relentless winning drive mirrors a former AL MVP, a rare trait prized by the Cubs' president.
There haven’t been many players that the Chicago Cubs have been willing to pay in free agency. Jon Lester, Jason Heyward, and Dansby Swanson are a few of the players that the front office has gone out to sign to big contracts.
Lester signed a six-year, $155 million deal in 2014, Heyward signed an eight-year, $184 million deal in 2015, and Swanson signed a seven-year, $177 million deal in 2022. Unsurprisingly, those were the three biggest contracts in the team’s history entering the offseason.
The Cubs are very selective about which players they will give out large contracts to. They didn’t want to pay Shohei Ohtani two offseasons ago, Juan Soto last offseason, or Kyle Tucker this offseason.
Of course, those players went on to sign record-breaking contracts. So, the Cubs were likely never in on those superstars.
However, the front office did all they could to sign Alex Bregman this winter. This marked the second straight offseason that the Cubs have targeted Bregman in free agency. This time around, the two sides were able to agree on a five-year, $175 million contract.
Given Chicago’s active pursuit of Bregman in each of the past two offseasons, it’s clear that the front office thinks highly of the two-time World Series champion. President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer spoke on that while appearing on a recent episode of The REKAP Podcast.
“For Bregman, for me -- we were in on him last spring -- he’s a guy that for a long time [I] admired even going back to college,” Hoyer said. “It’s a combination of being a really, really good player, but also being totally obsessed with winning and getting better and making other people better. There are a lot of things about him as a player that are really appealing.”
There’s no doubt that Bregman brings winning to this Cubs organization. He has made the playoffs in nine of his 10 Major League seasons and has played in 102 playoff games so far in his career.
He’s just a player who wins.
Bregman has really become one of the best players in the league, with an all-around strong game. He has finished with at least a 3.5 WAR in each of the last four seasons and was recently listed as the No. 35 best player in MLB Network’s recent Top 100 player rankings.
Hoyer has watched Bregman from afar over the past decade and praises him for his winning mentality. That winning mentality is not totally common in today’s game. That’s why Hoyer believes he’s very similar to this former American League MVP.
“I think that the player that I’ve been around that probably is most like him would be [Dustin] Pedroia in the sense of just loves the game, dirtbag type of player," Hoyer said. "But also, if he goes 3-for-4 and the team loses, he’s annoyed. If he goes 0-for-4 and the team wins, he’s good. When I was with Pedroia, that was really the thing for me that was like the most endearing quality was all he cared about was contributing to a win.”
Having a player who only cares about winning is such a big thing for this Cubs team. He knows what it takes to win and knows how to navigate a 162-game season. He’s a veteran with plenty of postseason experience.
Being compared to a Red Sox icon shows just how much the front office values Bregman. He’s a player they expect to help them get back to the World Series.