The concept of Jose Altuve moving from second base to left field first emerged when the Astros reengaged with Alex Bregman late in the offseason. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported at the time that there were talks of re-signing Bregman, sliding Isaac Paredes from third base to second base and shifting Altuve to the outfield. Many initially took that with a heavy dose of skepticism; Altuve, after all, has played all of six major league innings at a position other than second base — and they were all at shortstop.
As Houston brass continued to paint a Bregman reunion as a long shot, however, they kept getting Altuve work in left field. Both manager Joe Espada and GM Dana Brown spoke about wanting to get some looks at Altuve in left and wanting to reduce Yordan Alvarez’s time on the outfield grass. Even when Bregman signed in Boston, the Altuve/left field experiment continued to progress.
The position change seems less like an experiment and more like a reality by the day, and Espada’s latest comments only further that shift. Speaking to the Astros beat this morning, Espada left open the door for Altuve to get some playing time at second base but also suggested it will no longer be his primary position (via Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle).
“Right now, the plan is for [Altuve] to play the majority of his games in left field,” Espada stated. “The days that he plays second base opens the door for [Alvarez] maybe getting a start in left field, someone getting a DH day. So this move allows us to be creative and do stuff like that.”
Espada added that frequently shuttling Altuve back-and-forth between the two positions “is something that I am going to avoid.” The second-year manager stopped short of outright proclaiming Altuve the Astros’ new everyday left fielder, but it certainly seems things are trending in that direction.
Altuve is a former Gold Glove winner at second base, but his defense has declined considerably as he’s entered his mid-30s. Defensive Runs Saved has pegged him at -13 or worse in each of the past three seasons. Statcast’s Outs Above Average isn’t as down on Altuve’s glovework during that three-year period but does agree he’s been a negative since 2023, including a particularly rough -8 mark in 2024.
That’s problematic in and of itself, but it’s particularly egregious when Houston has one of the best second base defenders in the sport (statistically speaking) on its roster already. Mauricio Dubon hasn’t even logged a full season’s worth of second base innings in his career, but in 1154 frames at the position he’s been credited with 12 DRS and 8 OAA. The Astros also inked longtime Rockies second baseman Brendan Rodgers, another plus defender at second base, to a minor league deal and invited him to camp.
At the very least, when ground-ball pitchers like Framber Valdez and Hunter Brown are starting games — Valdez is the top ground-ball starter in the sport over the past three seasons — it makes sense to have a superior defender in there. Either Dubon or Rodgers would fit the bill. Espada’s comments make it sound like Altuve is being pushed to left field more frequently than that, however.
Houston’s decidedly lackluster outfield mix is surely a factor as well. Owner Jim Crane seemed determined to dip under the luxury tax threshold after paying the tax in 2024, and as a result the outfield looks thinner than at any point in recent memory. The Astros traded their final season of control over Kyle Tucker to the Cubs in a deal netting new third baseman Isaac Paredes, rotation candidate Hayden Wesneski and new top prospect Cam Smith. With Tucker gone and Alvarez ticketed for more DH time in ’25, Altuve joins a mix of Jake Meyers, Chas McCormick and free agent signee Ben Gamel in the outfield. There are still a handful of interesting free agents out there — David Peralta or Alex Verdugo could fit the ’Stros — but Crane’s preference is to remain south of the $241MM tax threshold; the Astros are currently at $236.8MM, per RosterResource.
If Altuve’s outfield move yields early dividends, it’s easy enough to see it becoming a permanent arrangement. The nine-time All-Star is entering the first season of a five-year, $125MM extension signed 13 months ago. He’s owed $30MM each year from 2025-27 before his salary greatly reduces to $10MM per season in 2028-29. That extension also came with a $15MM upfront signing bonus that has already been paid out.
As bad as his defense has been at the keystone, it can only be an improvement for the Astros. The major question is will Dubon’s defense be enough to make up for his complete lack of a bat? Or does this signal a renewal of their pursuit of Arenado?
Probably singles another pursuit of arenado because why would they move a HOFer off his only position just for the sake of it
Even mookie betts had a reason to move off of right
Sad, Altuve was the worst defensive 2B in the game. fangraphs.com/leaders/major-league?lg=all&qua… Moving him improves the team’s defense at an important defensive position. That is why they would move him.
A team can hide a bad defensive player in LF where few balls are hit their way, but they can’t do that at 2B. Altuve volunteered to move off 2B. Even he knows why he should move.
I think it has nothing to do with Arenado and more a sign that the Astros believe Cam Smith is the real deal.
See how his defense is dodging bullets from the LF Bronx bleachers. Least he won’t have to shop for batteries for his buzzer. Incoming!
Are Yankees fans really that stupid? Do you think they don’t realize that the Yankees invented the kind of cheating the Astros used and that a beloved Yankee Carlos Beltran brought the system to Houston?
always great to see established stars willing to change positions for the good of the team
*cough cough devers cough cough
Will the buzzer on his shoulder help him play better defense?
No, but the chip on yours might be incentive enough.
Whether he used a buzzer or not, he still is and will forever be remembered as a cheater.
It is hard to believe that some people refer to that, when it was nothing more than a brain fart by a YouTube guy, who has since said he invented the whole thing.
I thought it was something about a tattoo that he didn’t want his wife to see?
Yeah I guess it will harder to steal signs out there in leftfield even with the buzzer?
Stay out of this captain. You really shouldn’t talk to your daddy like that.
@coup-Daddy? Where were you guys last season? I guess my Daddy was sleeping last year?
Lol, why target only 1 year? Where was our son in 2023 when he missed the playoffs? 2022 when he was swept by his dad? 2021 when he saw his dad win a pennant? 2020 when he lost early again. 2019 when he saw his dad win another pennant? Etcetcetc
@Coup- Definitely sounds like the makings of a Illegitimate family. Lol.
Haha yeah. Every family has the read-headed stepchild with freckles who gets abandoned and chokes during the same time of the year, every year.
First of all, more power to any player that can ‘steal signs’ while playing in the field. Its legal, btw. Second, any sign stealing scheme came straight from the NYY in the person of Carlos Beltran, who brought it TO HOU, FROM the NYY. Third, if you have to hate on others to feel better about your pathetic, under achieving bunch of two-bit hacks, aka the NYY, that’s your problem. HOU has OWNED the NYY for the last decade. Why? Primarily because the NYY have insanely refused to embrace situational hitting. Its HR or bust. LAD exposed that again for all to see in the last WS. And basically because they just haven’t been good enough. Judge can hit all the regular season HRs he wants, but it doesn’t mean anything. He’s a postseason career no-show. And he in absolutely no way deserved the MVP in ’17. He was MIA offensively for two months (JUL/AUG) that year, when he couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat. So you just keep grinding on that delusional, misplaced hate, and HOU fans will keep shining those trophies.
They got caught, the scheme is fully known to the public. They cheated. end of story, they earned their Asterisk.
There is no asterisk. Anymore than the Yankees teams full of PED players have asterisks next to theirs.
Does your tin foil hat help you think better?
Pretty loser of you to equate holding a grudge against known cheaters to being a conspiracy nut? You sound like the one with problems pal.
It also sets them up that if Cam Smith destroys AA and AAA this year that he can get some reps in LF as well as 3B in September.
I think this sets them up that if Cam Smith tears up AA and AAA early, that he takes over at 3B and Paredes moves to 2B. Dubon is good defensively and can’t hit. Paredes hits well and is a better defensive 2B than he is at 3B.
Altuve is the consummate teammate. Hats off to him that their our still guys like him around. Worry some about his arm strength but left field is not a lot of ground to cover in Houston. Arenado could still be a good addition. Crane is not cheap. He understandably doesn’t like long term contracts with aging ballplayers.
Yep. It is a shame he is the poster boy for the sign stealing stuff when he never took part in it. Dude is the ultimate teammate (never threw his teammates or other players in the league under the bus)
The entire organization, coaches and players, was in on it.
And especially the owner.
Actually they weren’t cheating. The rule was you couldn’t steal signs and transmit them electronically. When is kicking a garbage can transmitting a sign electronically? How stupid can you be!
And how did they know to hit the trash can? This has been in the news…
Thats true. However, three players – Altuve, Josh Reddick and Tony Kemp did not participate. And that declaration didn’t come from them – it came from the other players on the team. Get over it.
Cheater cheater pumpkin eater
It’s a shame he cheated
Rodgers would play solid defense and would allow the Astros to keep deploying Dubon as a super sub. Offensively dropping him down to the bottom of the order might help too
Poor little guy is gonna need a cutoff man to make the throw to the cutoff man.
Poor little guy won’t need a cutoff when he’s a first ballot Hall of Famer.
I’d hope the voters would be smarter than that… be a real shame to have a cheater like him in the Hall.
Below average sprint speed, one of the weakest arms in the game, one of the worst fielders in MLB at any position in 2024,. this doesn’t seem particularly promising, particularly with Altuve having declined to a 3 bWAR player in 2023-2024.
It’ll be interesting, but with Alvarez far better suited to DH than playing the field, what else was Houston suppose to do, other than not signing Altuve to 5/125m, that is, when they had already extended Alvarez for four of the five years of that deal nearly two years prior.
Hard not to extend a player coming off a 161 then a 151 OPS+ in 2022 and 2023 even if he only played 90 games in the latter season and even if he’d be 35 through 39 years old during the 5/125m extension. Though… maybe not.
Having two expensive DHs on your roster, one of whom you’re signing until he’s almost 40 should have been a warning. I’m not optimistic that this is going to work particularly well. Altuve has all the ingredients of a minus 15 fielder in Left in 2025. Not just bad, but fundamentally unplayable—and with four years to go on his deal.
Then what?
He won’t be Big Donkey bad, but don’t expect him to break even out there. Biggio 2.0
Out of all the second basemen I’ve seen (I’m 39) I’d probably rank him #1.
Better than Cano, or are you discounting Robbie because of the PED suspension? Not snark, I’m truly curious, especially due to your username, because Cano was super smooth at the keystone and amazing offensively, even if he was a showboat.
Slightly above Cano. Honestly was thinking quite a bit about Cano when I wrote that. Altuve a flair for the dramatic puts him slightly above I think. My middle infield would be Jeter and Altuve if I were picking a roster to go up against other generations. They would be batting 1-2 also.
Hmmm, just checked BRef, ages 22-34 (Altuve’s career to date) Cano was much better by WAR, an admittedly flawed stat, 64 to 52, mainly on the back of his great D. Cano was on his way to the HOF before the suspension, and Altuve will get there if voters don’t hold the cheating scandal against him, You couldn’t go wrong picking either of them.
Jeff Kent here, but I admit I’m biased
Still one of the most exciting players I’ve n baseball I don’t care what anyone says.
Bzzz
Can Smith will be in the opening day starting lineup. It’s a matter of where will he play. I don’t think Jake Meyers or Chad McCormick are the answers either. Everyone but Jordan Alvarez is RH batter.
2B Mauricio Dubon
2B Brendan Rodgers
3B Isaac Paredes
3B Cam Smith
LF Jose Altuve
LF Cam Smith
DH Jordan Alvarez
DH Jose Altuve
If Smith continues to hit .600 through the next 3 weeks of spring training, he could very well force his way onto the roster and Dubon to the bench with Paredes moving to 2B. Paredes will start either at 3B or 2B.
Putting Altuve in LF is a straight up desparate, bone headed move, and a direct result of management refusing to address their dreadful lack of offensive production in the OF. They passed on at least a half dozen solid options. Jake Meyers and Chaz McCormick are not the answer.
Not understanding why a team would move the worst defensive 2B in baseball off the position instead of signing a high priced OF is pretty boneheaded. Especially after Altuve volunteered to make the move. There were no options on the market that were better hitters than Altuve. Moving him to LF solves their lack of offensive production in the OF.
Fun in the bleachers for the shy guy
Who single – handily won the 2022 World Series. Chas McCormick playing CF and making the amazing catch. to win against the Phillies in 6 games..