Ohtani's Contract Opens Up Possibility for Astros to Keep Bregman
The Shohei Ohtani news didn't affect the Houston Astros like other teams. They were never in on the sweepstakes and only benefitted by having him leave their division and not sign with their instate rivals.
However, the 10-year, $700 million contract the superstar signed could actually impact them in a much greater way.
On the surface, handing out that amount of money seems improbable for the Astros to do.
But the structure is what might help them keep their own star Alex Bregman.
Ohtani will only get paid $2 million per year throughout this contract and will receive $680 million in deferred payments from 2034 through 2043. This allows the Los Angeles Dodgers to stay competitive on the field while also landing a star of this magnitude.
Theoretically, Houston could do the same thing in a contract extension with Bregman.
After reports surfaced that the Astros would prefer to keep Jose Altuve with the franchise if they had to pick one over the other, many speculated that their star third baseman would hit free agency after the 2024 season.
Well, with a contract structure set up in a way like Ohtani's, that would put much less strain on what Houston's owner Jim Crane would pay up front and potentially allow them to keep Bregman with the organization.
Of course, that is all speculative.
Ohtani's contract structure is shocking and is rare for many reasons. Bregman also might not even be interested in signing something like that so this could all be a moot point.
However, this simply highlights another possible way that the Astros could keep one of their franchise cornerstones throughout the rest of his career.
