SAN DIEGO — Saying farewell is the Houston Astros’ rite of September, something akin to an American League West championship or the champagne-soaked clubhouse that celebrates it. Both have become birthrights for a ballclub amid a golden era. So is bidding adieu to the players authoring it.
Goodbyes in baseball are gradual. The list of lasts can stretch through September, be it a road trip, regular-season game or run at glory.
Houston will start its final regular-season homestand on Thursday evening.
Whether it will be Alex Bregman’s final in an Astros uniform is a mystery, the type this clubhouse is conditioned to confront. Defections that should derail dominance don’t bother the Astros. The credit goes to a culture cultivated by many but now carried out by Bregman and Jose Altuve. A team without either of them feels impossible to envision for both fans and the face of Houston’s franchise.
“I don’t see any chances of him leaving,” Altuve said this week. “That might be just me. I really think that, at the end of the season, our front office people, GM and ownership (are) going to get a deal done for him. I don’t think — I’m sure — that we are not only a better team with him, but we are a better organization with him. We really need to make it happen.”
Altuve’s words carry a cachet few others in this franchise are capable of producing. He and Bregman are both represented by Scott Boras, but Altuve still rarely speaks in such absolutes.
When he does, it should garner serious attention across an organization that may soon reach a crossroads. Bregman’s nine seasons in Houston have “made this entire organization better than where we actually were before him,” Altuve said.
“Words can’t really describe what he means to this clubhouse,” center fielder Jake Meyers said. “As far as (what) one guy can do for a team, he does it across the board for position players, pitchers, everyone. On the field, it shows, but off the field, the day to day stuff he does for the club to help the team win in any way is just remarkable.”
Altuve remains a realist. No player has been in this organization longer or is more familiar with its procedures. Altuve acknowledged “it’s not like I’m confident” the Astros will retain Bregman. None of the organization’s actions across the past eight years should prompt any belief.
“Maybe it’s just that I don’t want to see it happen, so I don’t think about it,” Altuve said.
“I don’t have control, but if I could, I would just pay Breggy whatever he wants. His professionalism, his desire to win and his desire to get better at the stage he is — he’s a superstar — that’s really hard to find. You don’t find a lot of guys trying to get better like he does every single year, every single day. We really need to reward guys like him.”
To say the Astros haven’t done so is disingenuous. Altuve has signed two five-year extensions worth a total of $276 million. Yordan Alvarez received a six-year, $115 million contract before reaching salary arbitration. Bregman got a six-year, $100 million contract of his own prior to the 2019 season.
Since signing it, only eight major-league players have been worth more wins above replacement than Bregman, according to FanGraphs. Only one of them — José Ramírez — is a third baseman. Bregman’s power has dipped and he’s had some abysmal starts to seasons, but his on-base proficiency, plate discipline and premier defense remain intact.
“He’s got this remarkable, almost 40 WAR career,” Boras said of Bregman, who has accrued 39.3 fWAR and 39.1 bWAR. “In many ways, he’s on a Hall of Fame pace. If you get into the 75-80 WAR category, you’re there.”
Boras just negotiated a six-year, $151 million contract extension for Matt Chapman, a third baseman one year older than Bregman but with almost identical WAR numbers. Bregman is a more accomplished offensive player with a playoff pedigree that Chapman can’t match.
Chapman’s contract should serve as a floor for negotiations with Bregman, who said this week he has not received any formal contract offer from the Astros. All season, general manager Dana Brown insisted the club would present one to Bregman. Brown did speak with Boras during Houston’s series in Anaheim last weekend.
During Jim Crane’s ownership tenure, the Astros have never given a contract worth more than the $151 million extension Altuve signed in 2018. Crane hasn’t ever given a contract longer than six years, either.
Whether he is willing to alter his philosophies may dictate how serious Houston’s pursuit of Bregman becomes. The team offered shortstop Carlos Correa a five-year, $160 million contract prior to his free agency. Correa eschewed it in favor of finding what he described as a “big, long” deal — the exact kind Crane has long avoided.
Not making a more serious run at Correa prompted legitimate doubt whether the Astros would ever retain a player who sought such massive deals. He morphed into the clubhouse’s most vocal defender and unquestioned leader following Houston’s sign-stealing scandal. On multiple occasions, Correa expressed his desire to be “an Astro for life.”
Bregman has avoided making any of those declarations, but his reluctance to do so isn’t an indication he is ready to leave Houston either. Dollars and years will dictate his final destination — much like it did with Correa.
“I’ve learned a lot about the game of baseball and been fortunate enough to play for an organization that values winning and has been in the playoffs every single year competing,” Bregman said. “That’s something I want to do for my whole career is win. That’s what I value the most coming up is winning.”
That obsession is obvious to anyone who has met Bregman. Spreading it to teammates has been a season-long objective. In a clubhouse searching for leadership, Bregman has blossomed into its bedrock.
He encouraged Hunter Brown to throw the sinker that turned around his season, started playing “Wild Thing” prior to Framber Valdez’s starts at Minute Maid Park and, according to Altuve, took the Astros’ avalanche of call-ups “under his wing and teaches them how the big leagues is.”
“I just kind of wanted to be there for them, the same way the guys were there for me,” Bregman said.
“It’s hard to put a value to what he means to all of us,” rookie pitcher Spencer Arrighetti said. “He’s been right there waiting to help break it down and understand how this team has been able to win the way we have. He’s a fantastic teammate.”
For how much longer is anyone’s guess. Bregman is adamant his focus remains on finishing the regular season and securing a fourth consecutive division title. Doing so will guarantee him at least two more games at Minute Maid Park in a Wild Card series. The realization that Thursday starts his final homestand still hasn’t registered.
“It’s in the back of your mind, obviously, but I haven’t really been thinking about it,” Bregman said. “I’ve been thinking more so about the playoff push and just trying to be there for my guys every day. But, now that you said it, it could be.”
(Top photo of Bregman: Tim Warner / Getty Images)
