How much do we think he would have made in his arbitration years sans the extension (assuming no major injuries)?
Roughly 2023 7M 2024 8M 2025 10M 2026 25M 2027 30M 2028 30M Signing Bonus 5M ~19M AAV But as usual, the Devil is in the Details. I'm certain there are achievable incentives beyond that. VERY similar timing to Bregman and Altuve in the year before their first Arbitration Hearing. They already stated Tucker was approached earlier at the same point. Negotiations broke off. Hopefully they can be re-initiated.
With a rookie of the year under his belt and being on pace for 40 plus bombs and a 171 OPS+ this season.... Possibly 50-55 million if he had 3 big years and stayed healthy
Hard to say but Juan Soto is making $17M in his first arb year and they are very comparable offensively. Yordan would get dinged for being a DH only but arbitration might also boost for inflation. I would have put him at like $12M in year 1, $16M in year 2, and $22M in year 3, but that could be off. This deal just has very very little downside considering they are getting 3 free agent years. They are getting a discount on both the arb years AND the free agent years. Very lopsided in the Astros favor imho.
That is such a great news. The Astros need guys who are committed to the Astros, and are willing to bet on the Astros way. with Springer, Correas, Keutchel, Cole all chasing the money to leave the Astros, it’s refreshing to see guys choose a quality organization over the maximum dollars they could squeeze. And yes I am aware Cole went to the Yankees, Correa to Minnesota, Springer to Toronto, and Keutchel to the Braves; so no chump organization, but they now show their loyalty is to money, and will likely be playing in bad teams near the end of those contracts. Verlander, Bregman, Altuve, Gurriel, Brantley, and now Alvarez sign deals with the Astros and acknowledged winning matters for a fair deal.
It’s a potential money saver for the Astros, and $115 million guarantee for Yordan. Sounds like a win-win for everyone
There was a good bit of talk about his questionable power *before* he got to AA, and it wasn't unwarranted. Then he destroyed the TL at age 21 (2nd season stateside) the 1st half of the season, held his own in AAA the 2nd half, and has never stopped hitting.
I am not sure....... but watching Yordan hit, looking at some of the advanced stats; and considering all the time he has missed playing injured or being out - I think he has a real chance to take even another step forward as a hitter very soon. He looks like he is reading pitches better than before and has a better command of the strike zone. He also works very very hard. People see he is a large man and think that he just hits the cage. He works really hard on his fielding, his body and game.
YASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now go out there and carry the offense tonight or we’ll all be pissed at you, Yordan.
The Astros had a "deal" long before the deadline concerning Alvarez.... he then complains they dealt a middle reliever.... and that reliever is Fields? Then he says he is looking forward to...... THE TEXANS? Just GROSS!
So Yordon will be 30 when he becomes a free agent? Same age as Aaron Judge. By the way I hope Judge continues to have an MVP regular season and forces the Yankees to do a dumb 10 year deal that hurts their future payroll flexibility.
Since making his big league debut, Alvarez has quite simply been one of the best hitters on the planet. He’s a career .287/.370/.576 hitter, and the resulting 156 wRC+ (indicating he’s 56% better than the league-average hitter) sits just ahead of Juan Soto and trails only Mike Trout (177) among all qualified MLB hitters in that span. AAV of $19.2M does very little to restrict Houston financially down the road. McCullers ($17M AAV) and Alvarez are the only 2 contracts on the books after 2024. Extend Altuve to make him a stro for life and there would still be room for a revolving door of Verlander-esque aging aces looking to win late in their career.
All of these people had different reasons for signing the deals they did - but in each case, they did it because they felt it was in their best interests. None of him did because "winning matters" or to bet on "the Astros way". They did it because it was in their own best interests. In Yordan's case, he gets a lifetime of security and gets the biggest DH contract in MLB history, while still not having even hit arbitration yet. For the Astros, they get cost certainty and an elite hitter at one position for many years. It's a win-win. But Bregman, Altuve, Verlander all had their own personal reasons for taking the contracts they got - and it wasn't to help the Astros out. Cole, Correa, etc all didn't find a win-win with the Astros and found better situations elsewhere. Nothing wrong with that.
