Jose Altuve vows to make voice heard in Astros’ Alex Bregman negotiations

The Houston Astros' 2024 season came to an unfortunate end on Wednesday as the normally stellar Astros bullpen faltered in Game 2 and allowed the Tigers to take the series. While the sting of that loss was more than enough to be depressing all by itself, it also could very well be the last time we see Alex Bregman in an Astros uniform.

Bregman's impending free agency has colored the Astros' entire season, and updates on a possible reunion have been few and far between. The Houston front office and Scott Boras have chatted, but there has been little in the way of public progress or even negotiations beyond the baseline expectation that the Astros will at least make an offer.

For many, it's been inevitable that Bregman will hit free agency and be playing somewhere else in 2025 and beyond.

However, don't tell Jose Altuve that. Altuve has been vocal recently about wanting Bregman back, citing his importance to the locker room and how much he has done for the Astros during his career. After Houston was eliminated, Altuve doubled down on his lobbying for Bregman, saying that the Astros need to get a deal done. In fact, he planned to personally appeal to the front office and owner Jim Crane to make it happen.

Altuve's lobbying for Bregman-Astros reunion needs to be taken with a grain of salt

Of course, all this went down before Bregman's "Thank you, Houston" tweet.

Whenever a "face of the franchise" player like Altuve, who has a massive amount of credibility and influence in the organization, speaks out, everyone should take notice. It is a certainty the Astros were paying close attention. Altuve publicly lobbying for Bregman's return to Houston puts a lot of pressure on the front office, but he is also probably right that losing Bregman would be a massive loss to the team overall. It is admirable that Altuve is putting himself out there and willing to go to bat for him.

However, we can't forget who pulls some of the strings behind the scenes here. Both Altuve and Bregman share the same agent in Boras, and while Altuve's extension got done pretty painlessly, Boras has shown no indication that he is willing to command anything less than top dollar for Bregman's services thus far. That Altuve is being THIS vocal about Bregman's free agency does feel a bit like Boras is trying to keep the Astros involved as long as humanly possible.

All of that said, the chances of Bregman staying with the Astros are actually higher than they have been. Bregman said he hopes to come back (although he was steadfast in leaving things to Boras and the Astros in terms of negotiations), the Astros have expressed interest in bringing him back, and one of most important players in franchise history appears to be working hard to make it happen. None of that is a guarantee that a deal gets done especially with the Astros' payroll situation, but there is cause for optimism here.

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