'Houston is my home': Why Jose Altuve preferred $125 million Astros deal to testing the open market

Jose Altuve stood and slipped over the shoulders of a blue suit jacket the only major league jersey he has ever worn and, it appears, the only one he ever will.

The idea of Altuve donning another always seemed far-fetched. Neither he nor the Astros intended to let that happen. It remained at least a fleeting possibility, still, until Tuesday, when the sides struck a deal on the contract extension that should keep Altuve in Houston for the rest of his career.

“My wife and I have a lot of conversations about if we’re going to go somewhere else, if we’re going to stay here,” Altuve said Wednesday. “And I think the best-case scenario was always here.”

Altuve and the Astros realized it with the five-year, $125 million pact that will keep the second baseman and face of Houston’s franchise under contract through 2029. It will expire after what would be Altuve’s 19th major league season, all with the team he has helped guide from the depths of a rebuild, through a scandal and into a sustained period of success.

Once sent home from an Astros tryout at 16, Altuve is now synonymous with their golden era as an eight-time All-Star and keystone of two World Series championship teams. His time in Houston has forged a bond with the city. Altuve and his wife, Nina, bought their first house in Houston in 2013 and are raising two daughters here. That, too, informed a desire to stay.

“Houston is my home,” Altuve said. “I obviously have two homes. I grew up in Venezuela, my country. Every time I go there, I tell my wife, ‘Let’s go home.’ And then, when it’s time to come back, I tell her, ‘Let’s come back home.’ ”

Altuve spoke at a Wednesday news conference that made his extension official. The deal, which begins in 2025, will pay him $30 million per season from 2025-27 and $10 million in 2028 and ’29. It also includes a $15 million signing bonus.

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The annual value is, perhaps, lower than Altuve might have commanded on the open market. Altuve, 33, owns three batting titles and remains a dynamic offensive presence. Whether to test that was a decision for which agent Scott Boras said he prepared Altuve over the past two years.

Altuve is both “a remarkably humble man” and receptive to the information provided him, Boras said. Ultimately, Altuve did not waver from his stated desire to be with Houston. And the Astros last month expressed their readiness to negotiate a new deal.

“You want him to have what he wants most,” Boras said. “Economics certainly figure into that. But really for Jose, it was about keeping a lineage, keeping a legacy that was really, really important to him and Nina.

“I think everything Jose wanted was here. You can counsel them on the economics, and obviously, in a free market, it’s never going to be what it is in a unilateral market. But I think for Jose, that was really not the point about what he was doing.”

Length of the deal was a key factor. Altuve will turn 39 in its final season and has said he hopes to play until age 40. It will also offer him a chance to pursue 3,000 hits with the Astros; he can reach that milestone by averaging 159 hits per season through 2029. That Craig Biggio, another Astros icon who eclipsed 3,000 hits, is still with the organization and could offer counsel is a benefit, Boras said.

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Biggio attended Wednesday’s news conference, seated toward the back of the room along with several current Astros players. Yordan Alvarez and Jeremy Peña were among the teammates on hand to watch Altuve, a showing that underscored his stature in the organization and clubhouse.

“We’re a family, so it means a lot,” Altuve said. “I play the game for them; I play for the fans. So it means so much that they’re here supporting me on a day like this.”

Other officials joined in. Houston Mayor John Whitmore declared Wednesday as “Jose Altuve Day,” with the date — 2/7 — mirroring Altuve’s jersey number of 27. Astros owner Jim Crane, who was at a meeting of MLB owners in Orlando, Fla., lauded Altuve by video message as “the soul of the team.”

“Jose Altuve is the heartbeat of this organization,” Astros general manager Dana Brown said. “He’s a franchise player. He’s on pace to be in the Hall of Fame. He’s a fan favorite. Without a doubt, he’s the spark to our clubhouse, to our dugout. And he’s an Astro for life.”

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Altuve, originally signed by the Astros out of Venezuela for $15,000, made his major league debut with Houston in 2011, arriving from Double-A at midseason.

“When I got called up the first time, back in 2011, they told me it was just something temporary until they find another second baseman,” Altuve recalled wryly on Wednesday.

The stopgap became a star and a franchise centerpiece. Altuve’s career .307 batting average is currently the highest in Astros history. His 27 postseason home runs rank second all-time behind Manny Ramirez (29), a remarkable feat for the compact leadoff man.

“He’s beyond rare,” Boras said of his client. “He’s something that frankly, modernly, just doesn’t exist. And there’s more to come.”

Altuve signed a four-year extension with Houston in 2013, during a season in which the Astros lost 111 games, and a subsequent seven-year deal in 2018, in the wake of the team’s first World Series title. His third extension will keep him in the place he has never wanted to leave.

“I think the three of us — the team, my agency and I — were on the same page,” Altuve said. “We got this deal done, which is important for me and for my family. I’m really happy, like I said, I can move forward and go and win another championship.”