What to Make of Astros' Extension of Jose Altuve

A day after the Royals locked up franchise face Bobby Witt Jr. for the next decade, the Houston Astros followed suit with their face of the franchise. Infielder Jose Altuve reportedly agreed to a five-year extension, a deal that’ll see him stick around through his age-39 campaign but could have a major effect on future deals.

A Look at Altuve

Astros second Jose Altuve got off to a late start thanks to an injury sustained in the World Baseball Classic. But when he returned, the 33-year-old showed why he’s been one of the game’s best offensive second basemen over the past decade.

Altuve hit .311 with 17 home runs and 40 extra-base hits, along with a .915 OPS over 90 games. The veteran second baseman also played a key role for the Astros in October, when he hit four home runs across the 2023 ALDS and ALCS.

From 2014-23, no batter in the Majors has more cumulative hits (1,642) than Altuve.

Altuve has been a dominant fastball hitter in his career thanks to fast hands and a quick bat, all of which allow him to make quality contact up in the zone. The 33-year-old’s hit 35 home runs over the past two seasons off fastballs, good for a top-20 finish over that span.

His pull-heavy tendency has allowed him to hit for power in a right-handed hitter paradise in Houston and Altuve’s plus contact netted him over 2,000 career hits to this point.

Defensively, Altuve posted a below-average OAA (-3) in 2023. From 2021-22, Altuve had a combined +5 OAA.

Per MLB.com, the extension for Jose Altuve comes in at five years and $125MM ($25MM AAV). It’ll keep Altuve in Houston through his age-39 campaign.

Analysis

There are a few interesting takeaways from the extension handed out to Jose Altuve. The first one that stands out is that the Astros locked up not just a franchise piece but one of the best pure hitters in the game. Not to mention, the deal gives Altuve a chance to do something that Craig Biggio did in his career: record 3,000 hits as a Houston Astros.

However, the most curious part of this deal is what effect Altuve’s extension will have on Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker.

Per Spotrac, the Astros have around $126MM in tax-allocated money for 2025 before the extension. The first tax threshold for 2025 is $261MM. Should Houston decide not to go past the threshold, that doesn’t leave much room to get Bregman and Tucker done, as well as manage contracts for the likes of Jeremy Pena, Framber Valdez, and Chas McCormick.

Houston has Tucker for the next two seasons, while Bregman can be a free agent after 2024. There were reports in November that the Astros were “skeptical” of keeping Bregman around past this upcoming season and this deal might not make it easier to keep him around.