Jeremy Peña's future suddenly in doubt after Astros rejected Jose Altuve's warning

This Houston Astros' front office and ownership have a history of not signing some of the franchise's best players to long-term deals. Houston handed Jose Altuve a five-year extension last season, but Kyle Tucker and Alex Bregman have new teams this year because of the Astros' reluctance to sign players over the long haul. Others like Carlos Correa and George Springer standout as examples as well.

After failing to heed a warning from Altuve himself during the offseason, it now looks as though Astros shortstop Jeremy Peña could follow the aforementioned players out the door following the 2027 season.

Altuve was clear back in April when he relayed to the Astros front office that the Peña deserved a contract extension. Altuve was surprised there'd been so little movement toward a deal before then, and in his words, Peña is "a guy you really want on your team for long term." Unfortunately, Houston may have missed their best chance after news broke on Monday that Peña just hired Scott Boras to be his agent going forward.

Jeremy Peña hiring Scott Boras does not bode well for Astros extension talks

The Astros have certainly dealt with Boras before. Altuve is represented by Boras and has signed multiple lucrative extensions with Houston. Lance McCullers Jr. is a Boras cleint as well, though he's probably not the best example of the benefits of handing out long-term extensions. The amount of time McCullers has missed due to injury makes his contract look rather terrible.

Boras is notorious for encouraging his clients to test free agency. Peña is still a couple years away from becoming a free agent, but one doesn't hire Boras unless they're looking for top dollar. That almost certainly won't come from an extension from owner Jim Crane and the Astros. In short, the odds of striking a deal on a contract extension with Peña just went down dramatically.

The Astros may have already approached Peña with a reasonable, but informal extension offer. While that's entirely possible, it's also possible that a long-term deal with Peña was doomed from the beginning. Now that Boras is firmly in the picture, whatever odds existed before Peña changed his representation need to be adjusted downward, and Astros fans need to prepare for another homegrown star to leave.

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