Jose Altuve isn’t ready for his time as Alex Bregman’s teammate to come to an end after the Houston Astros were swept out of the playoffs by the Detroit Tigers in the American League Wild Card Series.
Speaking to reporters after Wednesday’s 5-2 loss, Altuve made a public plea to Astros management to re-sign Bregman as he prepares to hit free agency for the first time in his career.
“He gave a lot to this organization,” Altuve said of Bregman. “Now it’s time for us, as a team, as an organization, to pay him back and make him stay here.”
Bregman posted a message on X after Wednesday’s game:
This isn’t the first time Altuve has openly campaigned for the Astros to keep the two-time All-Star. He spoke about the situation on Sept. 19 prior to the team’s final homestand of the regular season.
“I don’t see any chances of him leaving,” Altuve said this week. “That might be just me. I really think that, at the end of the season, our front office people, GM and ownership (are) going to get a deal done for him. I don’t think—I’m sure—that we are not only a better team with him, but we are a better organization with him. We really need to make it happen.”
ESPN’s Alden González noted the Astros are expected to present Bregman with a formal contract offer “in the near future.”
This season marked the end of Bregman’s five-year, $100 million contract signed in March 2019 that bought out his three arbitration years and first two years of free agency.
It will be interesting to see what type of contract Bregman lands this offseason, either from the Astros or another club. He is still a good player, but his offensive production for most of the past five seasons isn’t at the level it was from 2016 to ’19.
Bregman hit .260/.315/.453 with 26 homers in 634 plate appearances this season. His OPS+ since the start of the 2020 campaign is 122, which is buoyed by a 134 mark in 2022. He still has elite plate coverage, ranking in the 94th percentile or better in strikeout rate, whiff rate and squared-up rate.
Considering that Bregman is represented by Scott Boras, it would seem unlikely he signs a deal with the Astros before at least exploring what the market has to offer. But another Boras client, Matt Chapman, signed a six-year, $151 million extension with the San Francisco Giants on Sept. 5 rather than wait to see what the offseason had to offer.
Bregman and Yusei Kikuchi are Houston’s top free agents based on their performance in 2024. Justin Verlander, Ryan Pressly and Jason Heyward will also hit the market, but they wouldn’t seem to be as high of a priority given their struggles.
There is a chance that Wednesday’s loss marked the end of a significant period in Astros’ history. Bregman and Altuve have been the stalwarts in the lineup since the team’s run of success began in 2017, resulting in seven straight ALCS appearances and two World Series titles.
