Houston Astros third baseman Alex Bregman underwent wrist surgery on Monday, the team announced. He's expected to resume baseball activities in January and be ready for the start of spring training without delay. Bregman, 27 years old, is coming off a miserable postseason. He hit just .217/.304/.300 with 15 strikeouts in 69 plate appearances.
His poor performance led to him getting demoted within the Astros lineup, and had him attempting various mechanical fixes. It's worth noting that Bregman had claimed his right hand had "felt weak" after he had suffered an injury late in the year. Monday's news, then, should come as confirmation that he wasn't making an excuse.
Bregman's recent slide from elite status was one of the top questions we posed about the Astros entering the offseason:
Whereas Bregman had hit .286/.384/.527 (144 OPS+) in four seasons prior to the investigation, he's since batted just .261/.353/.431 (114 OPS+). Perhaps the nature of that split is just a coincidence -- and to be fair, he remains a useful enough player thanks to his defense at the hot corner -- but the cause is almost irrelevant. What matters to the Astros is that they have to get him back on course if they want to remain an AL powerhouse -- especially if Carlos Correa is permitted to walk.
Bregman has three seasons remaining on his contract. He's scheduled to make nearly $75 million during that time, but more than $60 million of that will come during the 2023-24 seasons.
The Astros have already addressed one of their other question marks this winter, inking manager Dusty Baker to a one-year contract extension. Houston also reportedly made an extension offer to free-agent shortstop Carlos Correa, but he seems unlikely to take that offer.
