Is it safe to say Jose Altuve will be the greatest Astro 2nd baseman of all time?

If Altuve wins MVP - regular or WS - he's already the greatest Astro.

Biggio isn't better than Bagwell -- and both their postseasons SUCK.

Lance played great regular season and playoffs, but his stats didn't league-lead and no awards.

Altuve - with an MVP - will have the greatest compilation of any Astro.

 

It's incredibly cool in a "who was the best Yankee outfielder, Mantle or DiMaggio?" or "who is the best Red Sox left fielder, Yaz or Ted Williams?" kind of way that we can have these type of discussions.

The Astros history is becoming a rich one.

 

If you want to take the sabermetrics angle, Altuve is certainly on his way.

Biggio had a 65.1 total WAR over 20 seasons with a peak WAR of 9.4 in 1997, but no other single season higher than his 6.5 WAR in 1998.

Altuve, in just seven seasons, already has a 29.6 total WAR, with seasons of 7.6 and 8.3 WAR in the last two years. Long story short, if Altuve were to retire after the WS, we'd have the classic "longevity vs. peak production" argument in perpetuity, but assuming he remains a quality contributor for at least a dozen seasons, it seems like a lock that his career with surpass Biggio's. And that's a tough thing to say as a kid who came of age as a baseball fan in the late-90s.

 

Any time Biggios peak is cited I have to chime in that 2 of his prime WAR seasons were cut short due to strike. Those likely would have been 6/7 WAR years. So were still talking about a guy with 4 years over 6, and 6 straight 5 WAR years, and a 10 year stretch over 50. Biggio's 97/98 combined are the same as what Altuve has done, and his 4 year is also higher.

Having said that, yes what Altuve is doing right now is superstardom. A few more years like the last 2 and it will be a no contest that his peak was better.

 

Craig's peak also features multiple playoff failures.

Altuve is already a 3x Batting Champion and has 4 consecutive 200-hit seasons (MLB record). All four led the majors too.

 

It depends if he is an Astro beyond the next 2 years. If Boras takes him to a big market and leaves us in the cold than Biggio will still be considered the guy.

 

How is big market determined?

I mentioned to a friend last night FOX must be pissed to not have a LA NY World Series and he (not being from Houston) said what are you talking about Houston is the 4th largest city in the US?!?

I guess it's all relative.

 

Houston is a top ten media market. It's not NYC, LA, Chicago, and it doesn't have the fanbase of the Red Sox, but in reality, it's market size is about the same as Boston. As of 2017, only NYC, LA, Chi, Bay Area, DFW, Philly, and DC are bigger. Really the only way you can do better than Houston is to go to one of the first three (and maybe the Bay Area). Other than that, you really can't get much better than a fast growing market like the Houston area.

 

Biggio is my favorite baseball player but Altuve has already surpassed him. If the Stros got swept and Altuve retired after this season he would be a hall of famer.

 

Everyone gets so defensive with Houston not being a big market. Look at the payrolls and the revenues of the clubs. We aren't big market. We aren't small market either.

The Yankees, Dodgers, Red Sox, Cubs, Giants, Angels, Mets, Phillies, Cardinals, and Nationals all had more revenue than the Astros.

Altuve hired Boras... we all know that means over pay or let him walk. If he walks, Astros fans will have another nasty taste in their mouth and will stick with Biggio as their guy even though Altuve has better stats. It's emotion... not logic.

 

If altuve doesn’t get his money from the stros this town will burn the stadium to the ground. Management bought the team in a stretch where it couldn’t pull 5000 attendance if it would save a life. If they want to have crowds, especially if this group wins a chip...they’ll pay or overpay altuve, Correa and more. I can’t imagine they would’ve done all that suffering and rebuilding just to let cornerstones walk over money.

 

I hope an Altuve extension is priority #1 this offseason then looking for the bullpen help and a LF/DH type to replace Beltran and Maybin

 

Jeff let Albert walk, and Pujohls is a much better player than altuve. He is probably the greatest first baseman in nl history. It is going to suck but altuve is going to get something in the 25 mil range. The Astros have 2 years after this year so they better make it count.

 

This... but there's also the fact that Houston was not tuning in during the regular season as much for the Astros.

Local ratings are usually what drive post-season numbers... ratings in Cleveland were higher than Houston, despite market size differences.

I expect Houston to have much higher ratings now that they've gotten this far.

 

Jeff was not the GM in St. Louis

The GM in St. Louis did sign Pujols to one big post-arbitration deal. They didn't sign him to a 2nd, which was a smart move.

Altuve likely won't be good at that stage either... but he deserves a big deal for his first big contract, given that he's massively underpaid on his current deal.

 

Incredible, but Altuve has already been to more All-Star games than Bagwell.



Biggio has a cool Ethan Hawke look these days.

 

Remember when Kaz Matsui said he was proud to be in line of great second basemen...?

 

Three second basemen who have played for the Astros are now in the Hall of Fame: Craig Biggio, Joe Morgan and Nellie Fox. Kaz Matsui has yet to be inducted

 

I think you could build a fairly decent case that he'd rank 3rd right now among all-time Astros already. #1 Bagwell; #2 Biggio; #3 Altuve; #4-6 some combination of Berkman, Oswalt, Ryan.

And I'll say something else........ if this team wins the World Series, Andersen-for-Bagwell has some stiff competition for greatest trade in Astros history.

 

Will be interesting to see how the next 2 years are handled. I know Boras likes to wait until free agency to let things happen, but Aluve is locked into a crazy below market value deal for the next 2 seasons, and the only team than can possibly allow him to make more is the Astros.

If the Astros offer to tear up the next 2 option years if they sign a 10/275 type deal (with an opt out after year 4 or 5) do they do it, or do they just wait until he hits free agency at 30 and let the market play out. At his last 2 years production he will be worth more than 30 million per year, but we could pay him much more than he would make in 2018 and 2019, and it save him the danger of playing 2 unsecured seasons.