Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show
Sharing our takeaways from Alex Bregman's introductory press conference with Cubs
15 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What were the highlights of Alex Bregman's introductory press conference?
That was the Alex Bregman introductory press conference. You could hear it right here on 670 The Score. And that is courtesy of the Marquee Sports Network bringing us the audio brought to you by your local Hyundai dealers. So he spoke for about... 33 or 34 minutes, I would say. Got introduced, put on his jersey. And I didn't get to see the back of the jersey.
So do we know what number he's going to wear yet?
It's number three.
It is.
Three because he wants a third World Series championship.
Yeah, I heard that. But because of our vantage point, Matt Spiegel did ask that question. And Nico Horner did come up. I hear he's on the afternoon show sometimes.
Yeah. And I wish Jed, and I understand why he didn't, but I wish Jed would have had a more pronounced answer to the question about Nico's future. And obviously at this time, those two are slated to play together, be in the same lineup, be in the same infield on a daily basis. But even the Matt Shaw portion of the conversation, because he,
he talked about specifically Jed Hoyer the way that he sees them having a lot of different people a lot of different position people are going to need a day off which of course Alex Bregman quick to not refute it but to state his intention of playing every single day you don't pay somebody five years and 175 million dollars for them to be a part-time player not even on the Dodgers No, no.
$35 million a year should get you a little bit more. I was intrigued about the conversation because I remember being at spring training a couple of years ago and asking specifically about, why don't you guys do deferments?
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Chapter 2: What number will Alex Bregman wear with the Cubs and why?
So I was interested to hear that they had started that even back during the summer of kind of greasing the wheels for this type of contract.
Well, players want it, too. You know, players want the deferments because of how money depreciates over time. So that's something that players want to be able to have, too, because they feel like they're making more money because of the value of the contract over time. So that's definitely a reason why a guy like Alex Bregman or Shohei Otani famously would want that. That's the biggest example.
And you heard... Jed Hoyer referred to it when he said that that was a conversation he had to have with Tom Ricketts because it is the way of the world now, which means if the best in the game are going to do it, Toronto is going to do it.
If the Dodgers are going to do it, even if even if the Giants and other teams who are trying to get big free agents do, that means you have to like otherwise you're going to be left out of these deals. And he mentioned the history of doing that with guys like Jon Lester, Jason Hayward.
So to see that, according to Jed Hoyer, Tom Ricketts is amenable to that, and they actually showed you that they were able to do that, even if it's just for certain players right now, that is a good sign of things to come.
I think it's all about the size of the contract. And once the contract gets to a certain level and you see how it's going to push you towards that luxury tax, that's when you have to. And he said this deal could have been done before kickoff if the deferments weren't involved because you got to take out the spreadsheets and understand what a dollar today is going to mean a dollar down the road.
And figuring out the math portion of that, you don't want to get stuck in a Bobby Bonilla situation if you feel me.
I would love to get stuck in a Bobby Bonilla situation.
An organization doesn't want to get stuck in a Bobby Bonilla situation. A player, of course, he's like, well, let's make sure you're making up on the back end with this deferment how much money I could have made if I had just taken this money out because of the way inflation works in the dollar and everything else.
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Chapter 3: How will Alex Bregman and Nico Horner fit into the Cubs' lineup?
And teams are going to have to because other teams agreed to it. So that's where we're at. And he did also say he was watching the game, understood that the deal broke in the fourth quarter of the Bears game. Jed Hoyer was watching the game. And then Bregman joked that this could go one of two ways. And it was great that... It helped the Bears come back. I say that with a smile on my face.
It's a bit of a tongue-in-cheek joke.
I think Alex is misinformed because there's only one way it could go. It's like the Bears could have just kept losing, which no one would have blamed Alex Bregman for. Or now it's an extra boon to him, the fact that the deal gets done and they make a miraculous comeback.
Yeah, I'm very curious to see how many people end up asking Alex Bregman if he understands that he helped the Bears come back. I feel like that's going to be a fun joke or a fun piece of conversation. He's going to hear that a million times. And we know who's going to the game. So we got that question answered in the press conference, which I did not expect.
So props to whoever asked that question or at least how it got brought up because that was fun to hear.
Was that Brian Baker? I know Brian Baker broached the topic of the Bears.
Ryan Baker?
Yeah, Ryan Baker. And so you wonder how many of these Cubs will be there. I think everybody that's going to Cubs conventions is going to find their way into that stadium. Unless they just don't want to be cold like me.
All right, the tickets are not exactly cheap.
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Chapter 4: What are the implications of player deferments in contracts?
You see the wear and tear on players, specifically players who are pushing 30 or over 30, and playing 162 just doesn't make a lot of sense. Do I need to give you the antidote? And maybe it's not an antidote, but the example then of the shortstop, Dansby Swanson, you can think you can play every day, but rest is good.
Yes. I'm also aware that Dansby got moved down to seventh in the lineup, and that's where he was the most consistent. And that's a concern as well. Is it going to be about players wanting to feel comfortable? For example, Alex Bregman wanting to play every day, or is it going to be about who's got the hot hand and some consistency needing to ride day after day in that lineup?
It's a beautiful, beautiful situation for credit council to be in, to actually have viable backup hitters, if you will, who can come in and do damage. And if you have a guy off your, if it's Moises Ballesteros or whoever else coming off your bench, that you know that guy can get a hit in a big spot. and that guy can do that, that makes your lineup better, especially when guys go on the I.L.
because that's inevitable. All these players in your starting lineup on day one aren't going to make it through the season without an I.L. stint.
No, but it's not fun when you're talking about two of the highest-paid players on the team in Dansby Swanson and Alex Bregman and already thinking there's going to have to be some origami that we're not aware of in order to make this work, some tetrasing, whatever you want to call it. The fact of the matter is somebody's got to go.
Oh, well, I think when you talk about the Tetris thing of it all, I mean, understand that those two guys you just talked about, they're the four blocks in a row. That's what you drop to get a Tetris. So they'll be highly sought after to play day. I'm not saying give them a bunch of time off. I'm just saying if they both play 150, you'd be very happy with that result.
Oh, I don't think you're saying it. I think that they're saying it because... The organization? There's going to have to be an awkward conversation that has to happen somewhere in all of this.
Shouldn't be awkward if it's Matt Shaw. Let me tell you something. Understand how a depth chart works.
Yeah, if only. I mean, that's part of this. They knew what they were doing when they did it because the inverse was also true. When they didn't get Alex Bregman, we all understood that Matt Shaw was plan B.
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