Look for Astros to stay loaded
Houston has a lot of key players signed for several more years
It’s not just one World Series title HOUSTON that has Houston excited. With Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, George Springer and more locked in for years to come, the Astros are ready to be a force for a long time.
Houston’s plan to endure a difficult rebuild has put the American League team in a great position. No player in Houston’s starting lineup for Game 7 of the World Series on Wednesday night will be a free agent earlier than 2019.
Alex Bregman and Yuli Gurriel are under team control until 2023. Correa, an all- star shortstop, can’t hit free agency until 2022. Springer, the World Series MVP, is under control through 2021, and promising young pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. is under team control until 2022. Altuve has team- friendly club options for the next two seasons that will keep him with the Astros through 2019 at least.
While everyone else is chasing high- priced free agents, Houston should be set— especially after acquiring ace Justin Verlander on Aug. 31 from the Detroit Tigers. Verlander is owed $ 56 million over the next two seasons combined before possibly becoming a free agent.
All of that was made possible by patience from Astros owner Jim Crane and general manager Jeff Luhnow. The Astros were the laughingstock of baseball after trading away their veterans to shed payroll, losing 100 games every year from 2011- 13 — including a franchise- worst 51- 111 record in 2013.
With the losing came a bevy of high draft picks, and Houston hit big on a fewof them. In Luhnow’s first draft, in 2012, Houston took Correa with the first overall pick and nabbed McCullers at 41st overall. Then in 2015, they grabbed Bregman with the second overall pick.
They weren’t without their misses— most notably Mark Appel, who they famously drafted first overall in 2013. The right- hander never played for the Astros andwas eventually traded. Kris Bryant, whom Houston passed on to take Appel, won National League MVP and helped the Cubs win the World Series last season.
Only four players on the Astros’ World Series championship team were around for any of the 100- loss seasons, and Altuve was the only one with Houston for all three.
“It’s a crazy journey, man,” said Altuve, one of baseball’s best hitters. “Iwas the only one in 2011, ’ 12 and ’ 13, those 100 losses, three years in a row. It’s not easy. But I ... believed in the process. I believed in what Jeff Luhnow and Jim Crane used to ( say) tome: ‘ Hey, we’re going to be good. We’re going to be good.’ ”
Altuve said their encouragement and seeing the pieces slowly come together helped get him through the difficult times.
“( I was like) ‘ OK, let me keep working hard. Let me get better every year and try to be part of the winning team,’ ” he said. “I always believed that we’re going to become good. Then I saw Springer get drafted, Correa and Bregman, and I was like: ‘ OK, here we go.’ ”
The heart of this team, Altuve followed up a brilliant regular season inwhich he led the majors with a .346 average by hitting seven homers and driving in 14 runs during the playoffs.
His work this year made him a front- runner to become the first Astros player to be named a league MVP since Hall of Famer Jeff Bagwell won the National League award in 1994.