Agent Scott Boras spoke to the media at the general managers meetings in San Antonio on Wednesday and discussed the situations of many of his clients, noting that infielder Alex Bregman underwent a procedure to remove a bone chip from his right elbow. Per Boras, Bregman will resume swinging in a few weeks and should be fine for spring training. Chandler Rome of The Athletic was among those to relay the news on X.
The news doesn’t come out of nowhere, as Bregman dealt with some elbow soreness in August. He didn’t go on the injured list but did miss about a week and then served as the designated hitter for a few games once he returned to the lineup. He was back at third base at the end of August and through September but clearly the issue lingered enough that it needed offseason attention.
Assuming the timeline provided by Boras is accurate, it shouldn’t be a big deal for Bregman, as he will seemingly have plenty of opportunity to heal up. But it will nonetheless be something for clubs to monitor before making a sizable investment in Bregman.
He recently ranked third on MLBTR’s annual list of the Top 50 Free Agents with a prediction that he could secure a guarantee of $182M over a seven-year deal. As clubs like the Astros, Mariners, Blue Jays, Mets, Yankees and Tigers, among others, consider forking over that kind of cash, any kind of health situation will be something to watch closely. The free-agent market doesn’t really have another viable everyday third baseman, but the trade market could feature guys like Nolan Arenado or Eugenio Suárez.
Durability has generally been a strong suit in Bregman’s career. He missed a small amount of time in 2020 due to right hamstring discomfort then in 2021 due to a left quad strain, but he appeared in at least 155 games from 2017 to 2019, then again in 2022 and 2023 before getting into 145 this past season. He’s hit .272/.366/.483 in his career with above-average defense at third base, allowing him to produce 39.7 wins above replacement so far, in the eyes of FanGraphs.