If anything, the Alonso situation should be showing Vlad what the league thinks about 1b value.
#2, why didn't Houston trade Bregman last year then?
Understand I'm just playing devils advocate here. I think comparing 2 teams in different situations isn't overly useful. And there's no 1 bad guy in a 2 way negotiation if a deal doesn't get done , without knowing the details.
My feeling is Vlad overvalues himself to the point where blindly caving to his number would be stupid. My feeling is also that Atkins and Shapiro are too risk averse in this specific scenario to get close enough for Vlad to even consider concessions.
I blame neither party fully, but lean towards like...55-60% Vlad. But even then, I understand why he's asking for it, he holds all the leverage going into FA.