Jed Hoyer sounds off on Cubs' failed pursuit of Alex Bregman

For better or worse, the Chicago Cubs' pursuit of All-Star third baseman Alex Bregman will be filed away as a failure.

Sure, when Jed Hoyer woke up on Wednesday morning, like the rest of Major League Baseball, he likely was not forecasting the Boston Red Sox pulling the trigger on a three-year, $120MM offer to Bregman.

On the surface, when the deal was first reported, it seemed as if the Red Sox were paying Bregman $40MM per season. It was an amount that seemed too high to believe considering Bregman is entering his age 31 season and showed signs of regression last season with the Houston Astros. Reporting from Buster Olney on Thursday made it seem that Bregman's deal with the Red Sox includes heavy deferrals, to the tune of it being worth $90MM for three years in present-day value.

Given that this is now the third time this offseason the Cubs have lost a free agent they were heavily pursuing due to deferrals, it was only natural Jed Hoyer was asked about it when he met with reporters on Thursday.

The issue with the Cubs pushing back on deferrals as an organization is that deferrals are the way that contract structures are trending across Major League Baseball. It''s cute to think that the Los Angeles Dodgers are the only team making use of that structure but look no further than Nick Pivetta having a $1MM base salary with the San Diego Padres in the first year of his new four-year deal with the San Diego Padres. Making it even more mind-blowing that the Cubs are now against the deferrals is the fact they were ahead of their time in using them. The contract structures for both Jon Lester and Jason Heyward at the time of their signing with the Cubs included heavy deferrals. Sure, the Cubs may still be paying that money but they had the luxury of winning the World Series in 2016.

Along the lines of luxury, the Cubs have approximately $30MM in space before they reach the first level of the luxury tax threshold at $241MM. Don't expect the Cubs to suddenly use the $30MM earmarked for Bregman this season before Opening Day. After missing on Bregman, Hoyer did confirm that the Cubs' roster is nearing completion.

There isn't a Bregman-caliber free agent remaining on the table, so there is no real surprise revelation that the Cubs won't be spending $30MM before Opening Day. Even if the Cubs make the rumored Justin Turner addition and add another relief pitcher, that should still leave them with $10MM-$15MM in space to make moves ahead of the Major League Baseball Trade deadline.