The Cubs handed Alex Bregman $175 million to be a stabilizing force in the middle of their order. Two months in, he is in the worst offensive slump of his career, and a signing that was supposed to anchor Chicago is instead becoming a question the team has to answer.
Since signing a five-year, $175 million contract with the Cubs in the offseason, Bregman’s struggles have dropped him to an all-time low in his career, with one national outlet bluntly noting he hasn’t been the only thing going wrong in Chicago.
Why this stings more than a normal slump
Bregman was paid for exactly what he isn’t providing right now, which is reliable production from a championship-pedigree bat. A slumping minimum-salary player is a footnote. A slumping $35-million-a-year signing is a story, because the money raises the stakes on every cold week and shrinks the team’s patience. The Cubs built part of their lineup identity around him, and that bet is underwater early.
The reasons for some patience
Bregman has a long track record of being a good hitter with excellent plate discipline, and players with that profile tend to climb out of holes rather than fall through them.
Two months is a real sample but not a definitive one, and the underlying skills that made him worth the contract don’t usually vanish at his age. The likeliest outcome is a correction. The question is how much damage the slow start does to Chicago’s season in the meantime.
The bigger picture in Chicago
Bregman isn’t the only issue, with other regulars scuffling too, which both takes some heat off him and paints a worrying picture of a lineup not clicking. The Cubs need their expensive new addition to look like himself soon, because a contender can’t carry a dead spot in the middle of the order for long. If Bregman heats up, this becomes a forgotten April and May. If he doesn’t, $175 million starts to feel very heavy.
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