Dana Brown’s first few weeks with the Astros has already seen the new general manager sign Cristian Javier to a five-year, $64MM contract extension, and more long-term deals seem to be on Brown’s radar in the near future. Jose Altuve was one of several players cited by Brown as extension candidates, with the new GM making the particular point that the longtime second baseman “should be in Houston for life.” This is music to Altuve’s ears, who told MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart and other reporters that “it’s really good to hear that” from Brown. “I hope to retire here, so I think we’re on the same page.”
Altuve has become a franchise icon over his 12 seasons with Houston, and has already signed one big-money extension with the club — a seven-year, $163.5MM deal that runs through the 2024 season. A new contract could overwrite the last year or two of that previous deal, of course, or the Astros might simply look to tack a few more seasons onto Altuve’s existing pact. 2025 is Altuve’s age-35 season, yet there isn’t any sign of slowing down, considering that Altuve’s 164 wRC+ in 2022 was the best of his career.
More from the defending World Series champs….
- The Astros claimed Matt Gage off waivers from the Blue Jays earlier this week, and Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi adds some interesting details behind the transaction. Gage will receive a split contract with a $770K salary in the majors and $170K in the minors, and the Astros included a $125K signing bonus. The bonus was included in order to convince Gage to join the team, because Gage had the right to reject Houston’s claim and test free agency since the Jays placed him on release waivers rather than standard outright waivers. Before offering the signing bonus, Brown first had to contact the league office to confirm that the unusual tactic was allowed in release waiver situations.
- Manager Dusty Baker gave a positive update on Lance McCullers Jr. yesterday following the news that the righty had been temporarily shut down due to arm soreness. Baker and Brown made similar statements today to FOX 26’s Mark Berman (Twitter links) and other reporters, with Brown noting that he is “not alarmed at all” by the “day-to-day” nature of McCullers’ issue.
So, Altuve was fast but bad at stealing bases. Then, 2017 happened, and he learned not only how to steal bases, but also how to steal signs. Interesting stuff
*was first bad at
Still living rent free!! Damn I LOVE it!! Make sure you keep booing and yelling F@&* Altuve. I mean, it really seems to work!
Rangers fans are clueless, can’t get mad at them for not being knowledgeable about baseball. They seem to forget Beltran played on the Rangers before the Astros, which means he was cheating there too. They just don’t acknowledge it because even with cheating they can’t finish better than 4th place lol.
What the hell are you talking about?
Dumb f….
On a serious note I do wonder how the HOF voters will view Altuve when it comes his time. On current trajectory he seems like he would have been in.
I guess Beltran will be a decent litmus test for Altuve. If you don’t vote for him because he cheated, then I’m not sure how’d you’d justify voting for Altuve.
(Side note: I think both belong in. They had the credentials if you take out the cheating scandal. I seriously doubt either of them did it for years and years. That would have come out by now.)
I do think Beltran deserves to be in the HoF, along with Altuve. It’s just a joke that some people are too easily offended by here on the internet. I don’t care about moral stuff since everyone has issues. Some drink, some smoke, some gamble, etc.
You may not have a problem with it, but its part of the standards for entry in the HOF.
No it isn’t. It may be part of your (useless) standards for the Hall, but the Hall itself doesn’t say anything about what falls under the character clause.
Tell that to Ty Cobb
Beltran and Altuve are completely different, Beltran came up with the entire scheme and took it team to team with him. Beltran and Cora should be banned for life for what they came up with and implemented on that team.
Completely different? Disagree….if you took part in the cheating scandal you are not “completely different”. Sorry.
Altuve had 5 straight seasons with 30+ Stolen Bases (with a career high 56 in 2014) prior to 2017 so the trash can had no real benefit in his abilty to steal bases
I am talking about stolen base percentage here.
His best percentage was something like 90% in ’14 (56 steals, 9 caught stealing) he has not stolen. Since the start of the 2018 season Altuve has stolen 48 bases in 64 attempts, which is still around a 75% success rate
I was mainly looking at 2017 versus the past few seasons in terms of stolen base rate. His numbers before 17 and 17+ have been similar. Still, the recency bias plays here, with his elite percentage last season. I guess fewer caught stealings have come with way fewer attempts too.
As many expect that the pitch clock and bigger bases will result in more Stolen Base attempts this coming season that may be the barometer to judge by
How long has it been since the rangers have finished a season over .500? How about when was the last time the rangers made the playoffs?
To be fair, the Rangers were the last team not named the Astros to win the AL West (2016)
A’s won since Rangers
2016 was 7 years ago to be fair
I don’t share the general hatred of the Astros as many but from 2010 to 2016 the Rangers made the playoffs 5 times and went to the World Series twice. Astros have dominated the American League in general since but the Rangers are at least trying to be competitive again
A’s won the West in that joke of a season 2020. But not too sure many people count that season.
Spice
What does the lack of success of the Rangers have to do with this?
Are you saying an opinion is invalid is someone’s team isn’t good?
Some fans need a reality check. When “your team” wins a WS, the organization did…but YOU haven’t accomplished anything.
You must be a Mall Cop fan.
Altuve didn’t participate in the sign stealing. If you knew anything, you would know that.
It’s a joke. Stealing signs would probably help more with hitting than baserunning. I don’t care as much about 2017 as you all may seem to think. I was an Astros fan not too long ago, so it’s not out of spite. I don’t follow who did what because it’s not a serious thing to me. Thus, the joke
The only chance that had of being clever was gone with the typo.
Somebody posted an analysis of old footage counting how often banging noises were signaling each separate Astros hitter. Altuve was towards the bottom of the list, leading to the allegations of some sort of buzzer system under his jersey. The article even said there’s footage of somebody banging a trashcan and then Altuve yelling at them in the dugout (though the percentages still showed that Altuve occasionally took advantage of the system). I forget who was at the top of that list, I wanna say Bregman and Reddick.
Not Reddick. Altuve, Reddick, and Kemp didn’t use the system according to the guy that analyzed the bangs. I want to say Springer was at the top of the list but I could be wrong.
It was Marwin Gonzalez
No use arguing facts. As soon as they leave the Astros they are a superstar wanted by all. Springer, then Cole, then Correa, then Verlander
Verlander? Are you seriously trying to say that he wasn’t ALREADY a “superstar”? Two no-hitters + Cy Young Award winner + multiple All-star appearances.
Reading is hard. I never said he wasn’t a superstar before coming to the Astros. I said after leaving all 4 of those all stars were wanted by all
Technically, those guys were wanted by all BEFORE they got to the Astros , though Verlander was undervalued at the time.
Technically Springer and Correa never played for a team before they were on the Astros.
My point is they were both high first round picks.
A reward for all the losing the Astros did.
Amazing to see Cesar Cedeno has a higher WAR with Houston over same time as Altuve
6 years and $180 million tacked on for Altuve? I see 5 years and $150 million as a bare minimum.
I love Altuve but his next FA season he will be 35 yrs old.
He has zero defensive versatility and plays an average second base.
Speed is a large part of his game.
I completely see him finishing his career as an Astro but his next contract will be way less than 6 seasons, or probably even 5 and won’t approach $150M.
My guess is 3yrs and $75M with a vesting option for a 4th yr.
Life would just be better without the Astros in general.
I certainly don’t like Houston, but they show how every team is going to have something to complain about. The teams that don’t make the playoffs are ridiculed for not making them. The teams that do and are eliminated are mocked for losing or “choking.” The teams that win the world series are seen as flukes, cheaters, or short-season “fake” champions (Dodgers in 2020). There are reasons to hate, but you can do that to every team. I just personally found the Altuve joke too good to pass up. I was even a Houston fan before they became good, tbh.
Hey if that was the case maybe the mariners would win the division title. They win the wild card and all of a sudden mariners fans think they have a good team. Hope they pitch Robbie Ray against the stros some more that is some entertaining baseball
Mariner fans are exhausting. First time their team has been above average in two decades and they think they belong on Houston’s level. I even heard someone say they were better than Houston based on having a lead in more innings (or some stupid stat like that) in the ALDS. They are slightly above average, which means capable of winning a short series. But not true contenders.
Haha nothing better than a rangers and mariners fan trying to hate on the top team in baseball. How’s the basement by June been for you guys? Mariners made it to the playoffs what 1 time in 20 years ? Wow that’s impressive
“Music to Altuve’s ears”. In response he ripped his shirt off in celebration, exposing the wire that lead to his ears. He promptly covered up, because his wife or something didn’t want people to see a tattoo or something.
Cheaters
T-R-O-L-L !!!
You say the same thing to your wife when she cheats on you?
Wanna hear a funny joke. The Texas rangers were a strike away from winning the World Series not once but twice and choked both times. Only team that chokes more is the Mets
Another original “Mets choke” post, hopefully you got enough likes to feel good about yourself.
@ Latino What’s funny is you were probably a Rangers fan then….
Right you caught me. I was ranger fan til they choked on the final strike in back to back seasons and then cried myself to sleep and decided to root for a worse Astros team at the time. Do you even put thought into your comments or just like to throw words out and see what happens. Welcome to the mute list
Cool, you get that lame, overused response from your third grade friends?
But you be you…. Keep taking credit for your teams accomplishments even though you had nothing to do with it.
When a team claims a player off release waivers, what rights are they claiming if the player can refuse the claim and become a free agent? I’m unclear about this process.
They are claiming the rights to his contract. Gage has the choice between his current contract or being a FA (this is different for players who have reached 10-and-5 rights), similar to the choice an outrighted player without 3 years of service time has. My understanding is that the Astros GM had to check with MLB to see if he could add a signing bonus to the contract as an incentive to stay with Astros.
Can’t wait to watch Tatis and his Friars dethrone the Astros in 2023. I know it, and all of you pansies on here know it too.
Padres are a bunch of woosies who have never won and will never win anything. Third rate franchise. Overhyped crappy players. Ringworm heads.
Cheating bunch of tools the Astros are and their fans continue to follow them like sheep. It’s pathetic…..
So you don’t root for Tatis anymore?
So remind us again: what was Tatis banned for again? Using a banned substance, wasn’t it? Sounds an awful like cheating don’t you think?