Alex Bregman signed with the Cubs and this is truly a brain teaser. I’m amazed! I’m beside myself and the me next to me is wearing the Riddler tights with question marks all over them. I have been deceived and deceived! Come on, thesaurus, give me another one! I’m speechless. Here: Eh. Dot dot dot. What? I don’t understand. So, what does this do for Matt Shaw? Michael Busch? Nico Hoerner? Ian Happ? How can one new bat clog up an entire lineup? It’s fine for Alex Bregman. Cubs just gave him a big deal; they don’t plan to put him in a platoon. How does this affect literally everyone else in their lineup? If I were the Cubs, I’d start by trading Matt Shaw to the Pirates for Jared Jones or trading him to the Padres for their entire farm system. No, he’s not worth that much, but I’m just saying this is the way the Padres trade. “Hey, Padres, you want (insert non-Padres player)? Then give us everyone in your farm system.” As it stands, Shaw is the odd one out, but this, pardon the wording, upsets Busch. This could move Hoerner down the lineup, which is not where he should be. It could also impact Moises Ballesteros’ at-bats. I already gave you a Matt Shaw sleeper, but I have to lower his projections in my rankings (already available on the Patreon), if the Cubs don’t move anyone before Opening Day.
As for Bregman, he is one of the most predictable players in terms of statistics. It doesn’t mean he’s excellent; it just means you need to know what to expect. He’s a 150 game, 25 homer, .260 hitter with almost zero velocity. If he has a fluke and only plays 114 games like last year, he’s exactly the same as any other year, minus the stats he would have compiled in the other 36 games. If you want a good laugh, watch Bregman’s 2019. The only one who can’t find humor in that is Gleyber. Projections for 2026: 87/26/77/.263/3 in 591 ABs. Anyway, here’s what else I saw this offseason for fantasy baseball 2026:
Psyche! All of my 2026 fantasy baseball rankings are on the Patreon. Don’t wait for the rankings to appear later this month. Anyway II, the summary:
Jake McCarthy – Traded to the Rockies. You know what time it is, right? It’s time for Jake McCarthy to have a great year, and then become absolute dog shit for the rest of his career. Nolan Jones and Brenton Doyle have shown you the way, now move on. Projections for 2026: 43/9/41/.260/16 in 416 ABs
Michael Toglia – Signed by the Reds. El oh el. Naturally! There’s nothing the Reds love more than highly passable cornerbacks. (I saw someone’s article about Toglia and they called him a fascinating lottery ticket. Easy there. Fascinating is Neil deGrasse Tyson; this shizz is a shrug.)
Max Kepler – Arrested for suspension related to PEDs. Phew. Bless his heart for how horrible he would be without PEDs. Lots of 77 MPH grounders to the pitcher. Unless I heard wrong and it was a Pez related suspension. The last time there was one of these, Norm Cash showed up at a game with a JFK Pez dispenser. Very bad taste with how JFK’s head goes back to give you candy.
#Bregman #Cubs #big #deal