Negotiations with Alex Bregman stalled, Houston Astros say - ESPN

The Houston Astros welcomed first baseman Christian Walker to the team Monday, in one of two moves that almost certainly marks the end of Alex Bregman's time in Houston. But Bregman's tenure didn't end without a concentrated effort by the Astros to keep the two-time All-Star.

On a day when Walker signed a three-year, $60 million contract that will pay him $20 million annually, which came just more than a week after the Astros acquired infielder Isaac Paredes from Cubs in the trade that sent outfielder Kyle Tucker to Chicago, the talk around the Astros seemed to focus more on who won't be back next season.

«The way I view it right now is Paredes is going to play third base and Walker is going to play first base,» Astros general manager Dana Brown said Monday in Houston. «And Bregman's still a free agent.»

The Astros had hoped to re-sign Bregman, the team's third baseman for the past nine seasons, but Brown said the negotiations stalled.

«I thought we made a really competitive offer, showing that we wanted him back,» he said. «But we had to pursue other options. We couldn't just sit there. We locked in Paredes early in that trade, knowing that he could play third or first and then when the opportunity to add another bat came up, we just jumped on it.»

Adding a first baseman was an offseason priority for the Astros after they released struggling first baseman Jose Abreu less than halfway through a three-year, $58.5 million contract.

«We knew we had to get better at first base,» Brown said. «We pursued [Walker] and we're excited to have him because we know that we're going to have a really good first baseman that can defend and also hit the ball on the seats from time to time.»

Walker was attracted by the sustained success