Cubs Rumors: Reported offer to Alex Bregman revealed as pursuit intensifies

The Chicago Cubs appear to be stepping up their efforts to land All-Star third baseman Alex Bregman.

Bregman has been at the center of Cubs rumors for much of the past week. With pitchers and catchers set to report to Arizona on Sunday, Jed Hoyer appears to be looking to close a deal with Bregman.

Matthew Trueblood of North Side Baseball reports that the Cubs have stepped up their pursuit of Bregman with their latest offer.

"So, right now, the Cubs have a "creative, potentially unprecedented" contract offer out to Bregman, one source said. The deal is believed to be worth around $30 million annually over four years, with multiple opt-outs. Bregman could end up with the right to opt out after any of the first three seasons of the deal, and the structure of the contract would be similar to the one the Cubs signed withCody Bellinger (another Boras client) last February," Trueblood reports.

News of the Cubs taking a serious approach toward landing Bregman seems to be a development in itself. On Monday night, there was a report from 670 The Score suggesting there were mixed feelings on a Bregman pursuit within the Cubs' front office.

Alex Bregman may be the final touch on the Cubs' offseason.

Trueblood stressed that news of the Cubs' offer to Bregman and stepped-up pursuit does not mean that a deal is close. Of course, given the nature of MLB's offseason, things could change at any minute.

Context clues have also suggested that the Cubs may be inching closer to being the frontrunner to sign Bregman. Earlier on Tuesday, Houston Astros general manager Dana Brown referred to Bregman in the past tense, suggesting that a return to Houston may not be in the works for the veteran third baseman.

In addition, the Boston Red Sox may be preparing to pursue fallback options.

It does seem hard to believe that the Cubs have reached the point where they may be in the driver's seat for Bregman but the reporting on Tuesday would seem to suggest that very thing. If Hoyer is able to push this deal across the finish line, it would cap an offseason where the executive took an aggressive approach to responding to the pressure of entering the final year of his current contract with the Cubs.