Done Deal : Red Sox signed a talented player from Houston Astros over $21,958,535m, as 4 years contract…..
Jose Altuve, Houston Astros agree to $125 million contract extension
Altuve entered the 2024 season in the final year of a seven-year contract extension that he signed on March 19, 2018, according to the Houston Astros.
Jose Altuve, the Houston Astros’ star second baseman, will be an Astro for life, general manager Dana Brown announced Tuesday.
The Astros and Altuve agreed to a five-year contract extension, the team announced Tuesday evening. The contract will cover the 2025 to 2029 seasons. Altuve will be 39 years old by the end of his contract extension.
“I have obviously two homes,” he said Wednesday at a news conference, a day after the deal was announced. “I grew up in Venezuela, my country. Every time I go there, I tell my wife ‘Let’s go home.’ And then when it’s time to come back, I tell her ‘Let’s come back home.'”
An eight-time All-Star, two-time World Series champion and the 2017 AL MVP, Altuve had started to discuss free agency last year with wife Nina.
“I come back every day, after a night game, and I see my daughters sleeping,” Altuve said. “I can wake up the next day and take them to school, so that was where the conversation where everything started, and we decided to stay here in Houston. We will never move from here.”
Houston Mayor John Whitmire declared Wednesday Jose Altuve Day, with the date, 2/7, matching Altuve’s jersey number. More than a dozen of Altuve’s teammates and coaches attended the news conference along with Hall of Fame second baseman Craig Biggio.
“Jose Altuve is the heartbeat of this organization,” Astros general manager Dana Brown said. “He’s a franchise player. He’s on pace to be in the Hall of Fame. He’s a fan favorite, and without a doubt, he’s the spark to our Clubhouse, to our dugout, and he’s an Astro for life.”
Altuve entered the 2024 season in the final year of a seven-year contract extension that he signed on March 19, 2018, according to the Houston Astros.
MLB reported the contract deal is worth $125 million, including $30 million each season from 2025 until 2027.
Altuve hit .311 with 15 homers, 51 RBIs and 14 stolen bases in the 90 games played last year. He didn’t make his season debut until May last year after he sustained a broke his left thumb when hit by a pitch from Daniel Bard while playing for Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic.
The shortest man in the major leagues is getting a contract extension that belies his size.
The Houston Astros announced Tuesday they have given second baseman and leadoff man José Altuve a five-year, $125 million guarantee that extends through 2029.
The deal, which includes a $15 million signing bonus, begins after the current season and gives Altuve annual salaries of $30 million a year from 2025-27 and $10 million each in 2028 and 2029.
He’ll earn a $26 million for 2024 under a previous contract that would have expired after this season.
It’s the third extension for Altuve, who has spent his entire career with the Astros.
Altuve, who turns 34 in May, has led the American League in hits four times, batting three times, and stolen bases twice.
The Venezuelan infielder, generously listed at 5’6″ tall, has scored 100 runs in four different seasons and has a single-season high of 31 home runs.
The eight-time All-Star has won six Silver Sluggers and two World Series rings. But his figures declined last year after he missed the first two months of the season when his thumb was broken during the World Baseball Classic.
He also missed time later with an oblique strain but still hit .335 over the second half to help the Astros reach the American League Championship Series for the seventh straight season.
The little right-handed hitter broke into the majors in 2011, then became a regular the following year. He is considered “the Face of the Franchise” by Houston fans but reviled by rivals for his alleged participation in the team’s electronic sign-stealing scheme during the 2017 World Series.
That scandal cost the jobs of manager A.J. Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow.
Dana Brown, hired as Houston’s general manager early last year, was determined to keep Altuve with the Astros. Shortly after his hiring, he said the second baseman should be in Houston “for life.” Altuve said days later that he hoped to retire as an Astro.
The new deal extends through his age-39 season. If he fulfills the contract, Altuve will have spent 19 seasons in Astros livery.
A .307 career hitter with 209 homers and 273 stolen bases, Altuve has proven even more potent in the post-season. He’s hit 27 home runs – four of them during the World Series – in 103 post-season games.
