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Astros accomplished their mission when it comes to Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman

Eric Cole
Eric Cole

Climbing Tal's Hill

Houston Astros v Seattle Mariners / Alika Jenner/GettyImages

Heading into this past offseason, the Houston Astros found themselves in a very tricky situation and it had nothing to do with their farm system or payroll (well, kind of). Despite there being so many signs that reuniting with Alex Bregman was going to be a massive challenge, the organization still wanted to keep Jose Altuve happy.

Altuve was not shy in expressing his desire for the Astros to bring back Bregman. He openly lobbied owner Jim Crane to make a deal happen and was quick to offer a position change in order to accommodate. Failing to re-sign Bregman risked alienating a face of the Astros franchise.

However, it appears as though those fears were overblown. When asked about Bregman's departure at spring training, Altuve indicated that he was just happy for Bregman getting the contract he wanted, and felt like Houston did at least try to keep him.

Astros avoided overpaying Alex Bregman and still somehow kept Jose Altuve happy

It became abundantly clear that Dana Brown and the Astros were already stretching beyond their comfort zone during the negotiations with Bregman. The six year offer(s) Houston had on the table would have pushed their payroll to the limit and likely made extending other players like Framber Valdez, Yainer Diaz, or anyone else a bit problematic.

If the Astros offered too much, Bregman could have returned and potentially jeopardized Houston's long-term future. If they offered too little and don't seem really involved, Altuve may have balked and been far less amenable to switching positions for the team's benefit.

For now, it seems like the Astros found the right balance. When asked about Bregman, Altuve said, "He signed a great deal, man. $40 million (average annual value), not a lot of players can get that and he got it. We’re happy for him, but we have to move on and focus on the players we have here. We offered him a good deal, but with free agents, you never know. You don’t know. At the end, he signed a great deal."

The part saying that the Astros offered him a good deal and Bregman just took a better one is important. For the moment, Altuve seems pleased with the effort the organization put forth and the Astros ended up being able to execute the offseason game plan they seemed to prefer all along.

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Eric Cole

Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.