Altuve’s contract extension comes with full no-trade clause
would have expired after next season. “I discussed it with my family for a lot of time, and we decided to take this deal because we wanted to stay here. Houston is a beautiful city, and it’s home for us. We were 100 percent sure we wanted to stay here.”
The 27-year-old reigning American League MVP signed a five-year extension that will pay him just more than $30 million per season.
The $151 million deal is the largest in Astros history and keeps Altuve, winner of four straight Silver Slugger awards and three of the last four AL batting titles, under contract through the 2024 season, when he will be 34.
‘Our franchise player’
“This is our franchise player, he’s been with us since he signed, he’s been in the big leagues since 2011, and he keeps getting better and better every year,” Luhnow said. “And quite frankly, it’s something we’ve discussed every year for the past three years. It just all came together this year.”
The deal contains a complete no-trade clause, just the second such stipulation for an Astros player under Luhnow. The other was written into Carlos Beltran’s one-year deal last season, an essential move in the club’s journey toward its first World Series championship.
This one places it in pristine position for more.
“We worked on it for quite some time, and we kind of got to a point where Jose had done such a great job for us that we wanted him here long-term,” Crane said. “We stayed within our guidelines of not doing extremely long-term deals and deals that we can handle the risk on, and I think we paid him accordingly, kind of at the top of the rung in baseball.”
Reports leaked late last week that a deal was imminent. Shortstop Carlos Correa said he and Altuve began discussing the deal “two or three weeks” ago as talks began to simmer.
Boras said terms were agreed upon last Wednesday.
“He was pretty elated,” Boras said of the moment he delivered the news. “This was a goal of his — that he was able to stay in Houston. He got a value that he was proud of, and this contract represents a five-year, $30 million commitment, which only one other player in baseball has. It gave him respect and commitment, gave his family security. For a young man from a small town in Venezuela, it’s very important.”
Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera — Altuve’s fellow Venezuelan — is the only other position player to garner more than $30 million per year.
The $163.5 million pledged to Altuve across the next seven seasons — including the $12.5 million left on the original contract ($6 million this year and $6.5 million in 2019) — is $62.5 million more than Houston’s total payroll during the 2016 season.
“(Altuve is) someone that they feel very good about as representing their brand,” Boras said. “That is something that labels the franchise jewel. That’s what they wanted to do with his contract. They wanted him to be the example, set the example.”
Keuchel’s deal almost up
An example the club may be required to soon follow. Dallas Keuchel, another Boras client, can become a free agent after this season. As can Marwin Gonzalez. Correa becomes arbitrationeligible next season.
“I think it sends a clear message,” Crane said of Monday’s announcement.
Added Luhnow: “We want to keep all the guys we’re looking at here for their entire careers. Jim is committed to keeping the best team on the field for as long as possible to give us a chance to win multiple championships, and part of that is developing our own players, keeping our own players and bringing in all kinds of players, and we’ve done that. We’ll see what the future holds, but we certainly have a desire and intention to keep our core together as long as possible.”