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‘Heartbroken’: As Astros’ ALCS series ends and club nears crossroads, Jose Altuve speaks out

Vaseline October 3, 2024

HOUSTON – Minute Maid Park is a playground for playoff opponents, a place that now hosts more festivities for visitors than the vaunted team that calls it home. The Detroit Tigers launched the latest Wednesday afternoon at 4:28 p.m., after winning an opponent by this margin for the seventh straight game in October.

Few in the first base duo moved as it unfolded. Arms hung over the top rail and emotionless faces watched as a trade deadline salesman completed his two-day dethronement of an American League dynasty. Seven straight appearances in the American League Championship Series have conditioned this city and its clubhouse for extended postseason runs.

“When we get to the playoffs, you think about the long term,” second baseman Jose Altuve said. “Obviously we couldn’t beat the Tigers. It’s hard. We are heartbroken at this time.”

After this faceless bunch of Tigers turned his house into their own hootenanny, Altuve left the dugout and descended the stairs to the clubhouse. Along the way, he found Alex Bregman, the latest free agent cornerstone for a franchise that rarely keeps them. “I told him as soon as the game was over that he was coming back,” Altuve said after the 5-2 loss.

No two men in Houston Astros history have appeared in more postseason games. Bregman had never played a full Major League season that ended before the American League Championship Series. Wednesday gave him a glimpse of how the other half lives, those franchises that make a complex sport not so simple.

“I haven’t even really had a chance to process this,” Bregman said. “I was planning on being here tomorrow.”

Nothing in this franchise’s past suggests that will be the case, so Bregman stood in front of the clubhouse for a final speech. First-year manager Joe Espada went before him, praising this club for its resilience after a 12-24 start before promising they would return to the postseason next year. Bregman followed.

“He said he loved playing with us,” outfielder Chas McCormick said. “He loved how resilient we were. That was our leader, so I’m glad he could talk to us. He’s obviously been a big part of this team. He just told me how much he enjoyed playing with us and how much we fought this year. Said it was an honor.”

Parsing that past tense or Bregman’s three-word tweet on Wednesday night has become part of this team’s standard operating procedure. The plans are for the seasons to end here later, but when they do, attention will turn to the future of franchise icons. Carlos Correa and George Springer left. Justin Verlander has done it once and may do it again this winter.

“I don’t want to think about the last match with Breggy,” Altuve said. “As I said two weeks ago, I am confident he will be our third baseman next year. We must. We won’t be the same organization without him. In my opinion there is no chance that this will be the last game.”

Altuve has become Bregman’s biggest advocate, an unexpected spokesman for someone who has said virtually nothing about his impending decision for six months. Any public candor from Altuve is rare. The intransigence about everything within the organization is even greater.

“I don’t think I’m saying anything that’s not true,” Altuve said. “He deserves someone – it could be me or another player – to talk (about) him. He is our leader. Since the day he came here, the entire organization has changed for the better. He has made this team much better. I think there is hopefully a great opportunity for him to stay here and, not only that, to retire here.”

When asked if he would communicate that to owner Jim Crane, Altuve said “certainly.” Altuve owns the largest contract Crane has ever given to a player during his ownership tenure. If you exceed this, you must keep Bregman.

“We’ll see what happens,” Bregman said. “I’ll let Scott (Boras) and the team handle that. It is clearly a free choice and I have never experienced that before. I’ll let him and all the teams handle that.”

Was this Alex Bregman’s last game with the Astros? (Thomas Shea/Imagn Images)

When the clubhouse doors swung open after Bregman’s speech, only the slapping of backs and hands broke the silence. Duffle bags stood in front of the lockers as the players said their goodbyes. Donations from a Crown Royal handle brought some groups together for a final drink. Verlander signed one of his jerseys and gave it to Yordan Alvarez.

“What a tough season, the toughest season since I’ve been here,” Verlander said. “It’s impressive to be able to respond to all the problems and injuries. I would have liked to end it with a World Series championship, but that is obviously not possible.”

Yet it remains the standard Houston has created for itself. Anything less than a World Series is labeled a failure – injuries or in-season setbacks be damned. Even signing someone two years ago couldn’t save managing director James Click’s job.

Two seasons later, Crane had the highest payroll in franchise history, only to watch a manager he fired guide his gritty club past one that seemed threadbare. That will happen by starting with numbers 12-24 and wreaking havoc on an aging team that had to play with urgency over the final four months of the season.

“It was tough,” McCormick said. “I didn’t think what happened would happen. It seemed like they wanted it more.”

Few other franchises have such outrageous expectations. When they are not met, there is outrage that matches the assumptions themselves. The success has spoiled this city and the empty seats at these two afternoon games at Minute Maid Park have only accentuated this. The end result did not match the seven seasons that preceded it. Neither did anything else about the trip.

“It was a very challenging season and we reached the postseason. That is our goal every year. We win the division and then play deep in the playoffs,” Espada said. “It didn’t happen for us this year, but I want our guys to be proud of their resilience and how tough this season has been.”

Espada and his coaching staff extracted every ounce of value from a flawed squad, ravaged by injuries and ruined by questionable decisions that will continue to plague this club next season. Rafael Montero and José Abreu will make a combined $31 million next season if they don’t contribute, still under contracts that Crane completed two winters ago while cosplaying as a baseball manager.

Abreu’s anemia left Houston playing the entire season without an established first baseman. Two-thirds of the outfield failed to produce anything offensively. Kyle Tucker missed 79 games after suffering a broken tibia. Altuve hit a career-high 119 times, Bregman had a career-low .315 on-base percentage and Jeremy Peña’s ballyhood attitude adjustment yielded a .701 OPS. Last season it was .705.

If the lineup felt short of bat all season, scoring three runs in 18 innings against an assortment of Detroit pitchers, leaving the league minimum only amplified it.

“It’s playoff baseball. Everyone is good. There is a reason they are here and there is a reason they are fighting the way they are,” said utility man Mauricio Dubón. “It’s a pretty good baseball club. Just put your hat on and buy them next year.

“A lot of nonsense outside, a lot of nonsense inside, but it’s something that everyone stuck together. Sometimes that helped us through the games. September came and we were a few games behind and we still managed to get through it.

An outfield in desperate need of rejuvenation can’t turn to Drew Gilbert, the Top 100 prospect traded to the New York Mets last August in exchange for 28 starts, 158 1/3 innings and a 4.55 ERA from Verlander. There are also no ready-made first basemen in sight within Houston’s minor league system, but 21-year-old Ryan Clifford could have been a candidate to become one. He is with Gilbert in the Mets system.

Prioritizing pennants over prospects has helped Houston through this run. The team won’t reach last season’s ALCS without Verlander — or Abreu’s mini-renaissance in September. Without acquiring Yusei Kikuchi in July, it’s worth wondering if this team would have even made the playoffs this year.

That happened, but the sea of flames brings this club closer to a crossroads. Tucker and Framber Valdez will be free agents after next season. Altuve isn’t getting any younger and his defense at second base isn’t improving either. Alvarez suffered another knee injury. Josh Hader, the closer who has four years left on the richest free-agent contract in Crane’s ownership term, allowed a career-high 12 home runs and burned in the eighth inning of Wednesday’s game.

One decision will not confront the intersection. Houston has lost superstars and still maintains this magical decade of dominance. Altuve doesn’t seem to believe it is sustainable. Bregman masked so much of what was wrong with this club all season, be it with his excellent baseball mind or his winning mentality. He’s gone from swaggy to stoic, but is still someone this team can’t live without.

“He has given a lot to this organization, so now it is time for us – as a team, as an organization – to pay him back and let him stay here,” Altuve said.