June 6: The Astros have formally announced Alvarez’s six-year deal. They’ll hold a press conference this afternoon at 2:30pm CT.
June 3, 12:48pm: Alvarez’s contract breaks down in the form of a $5MM signing bonus followed by annual salaries of $7MM (2023), $10MM (2024), $15MM (2025) and $26MM (2026-28), Mark Berman of Houston’s FOX 26 reports (Twitter link). He’s already passed a physical.
12:19pm: The Astros have agreed to terms on a six-year, $115MM contract extension with Yordan Alvarez, reports ESPN’s Jeff Passan (Twitter link). The contract begins next season and will cover the 2023-28 seasons. Alvarez is represented by the MVP Sports Group.
Alvarez, 25 later this month, was on pace to reach free agency following the 2025 season and would have hit the open market at at just 28 years of age. Instead, his new contract will buy out all three of his arbitration seasons and give the Astros control over what would have been Alvarez’s first three free-agent seasons. Alvarez technically won’t reach three years of Major League service time until tomorrow, but since the contract begins next year, it can effectively be viewed as the second-largest deal ever signed by a player in the three-plus service bracket, trailing only Freddie Freeman’s eight-year, $135MM extension with the Braves back in 2014.
Acquired in a flat-out heist that sent reliever Josh Fields to the Dodgers, Alvarez burst onto the Major League scene in 2019 when he mashed at a .313/.412/.655 pace and crushed 27 home runs in just 369 plate appearances. Despite barely spending half the season in the Majors (87 games), Alvarez was the unanimous American League Rookie of the Year. While he missed nearly the entire 2020 season due to arthroscopic surgery that was performed on both knees, he was back in full force a year later, hitting .277/.346/.531 with 33 home runs in 598 trips to the plate.
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.
Alvarez achieves his dominance at the plate through a keen eye (10.8% walk rate), improving bat-to-ball skills (his 17.6% strikeout rate is down from his rookie year’s 25.5% mark) and, most importantly, through hitting the ever-loving snot out of the ball. Since 2019, Alvarez ranks third in the Majors in both average exit velocity (93.3 mph) and overall hard-hit rate (54.2%), as well as eighth in barrel rate (16.1%) per Statcast. He’s taken that pristine Statcast profile to new heights in 2022, as he’s currently leading the Majors in hard-hit rate, expected slugging percentage and expected wOBA.
While Alvarez is primarily a designated hitter and figures to spend even less time in the field as he ages, he’s still seeing a decent chunk of time in left field. He’s logged 155 innings there this year and 540 innings through 278 big league games. He doesn’t rate as a strong outfielder but also hasn’t necessarily drawn butcher-esque reviews for his defense to this point (-2 Defensive Runs Saved, 0.3 Ultimate Zone Rating, and a more bearish -5 Outs Above Average). No one is going to mistake Alvarez for a potential Gold Glove candidate, but as an occasional option to give the Astros’ regular outfielders a breather, he’s a passable enough option who can be relied upon to make the routine plays.
Alvarez is now signed longer than any other Astros player, surpassing Lance McCullers Jr., whose contract runs through the 2026 season. His extension gives the ’Stros a hefty $107MM on next year’s books before the offseason even begins and with several key arbitration cases (e.g. Kyle Tucker, Framber Valdez, Cristian Javier) to address. Houston has more than $100MM committed as far out as the 2024 season, although for a team that flirted with the luxury tax in 2021 and took its actual 2021 payroll upwards of $190MM last year, that’s not an dire outlay.
The Alvarez extension ensures that he, Tucker, Alex Bregman and Jose Altuve will continue to anchor the Houston lineup through at least the 2024 season (when the contracts of Alruve and Bregman are set to expire). Young shortstop Jeremy Pena has given every reason to believe so far that he can be counted among that core group of hitters, and the Astros are hopeful that prospects like Pedro Leon, Colin Barber and Korey Lee could eventually do the same.
That’s good for both the Astros and Alvarez.
…through hitting the ever-loving snot out of the ball.
I believe that is a technical term, much more accurate than WAR.
Though I think this deal is good for both, I still choke on these numbers. I worked my ass off for 46 years & retired saving a teeny, tiny fraction of this. Oh well, beat goes on. Maybe I can sue Amber Heard for a few million for looking at me crossed eyed?
prob, you had a poor barrel rate. 🙂
@curly Maybe you should have found another field of work. We get paid based on the difficulty to replace us and the value we add. A MLB player is an entertainer and they are exceedingly rare (only 1200 on the 40 man rosters of all teams combined) and add huge value to their employers bottom line.
I’m interested, link doesn’t work
it’s a new metric called HELSOOB
OK, it a Bambino Bombastic type term…now I get it
Astros continue to be one of the top 4 ran clubs in the sport. Correa and Springer no-signs were excellent.
Springer as of today –
baseball-reference.com/players/s/springe01.shtml
Houston’s CF today –
baseball-reference.com/players/s/sirijo01.shtml
Not so sure that was “excellent”
No factor the production per $$$ spent. Also factor in that Toronto received close to zero production from Springer in 2021.
That’s good news
Good deal for both
Good chunk of change for him. Hope his bat doesn’t fade.
If you’ve ever seen him hit that wouldn’t be a concern.
Anyone can get the yips and fade off into obscurity rather quickly.
Yordan is not like Cody Bellinger
Correctamondo, only thing guaranteed in life is death & taxes, not batting average or hrs
Great deal. As an M’s fan I’m scared/sad (like always)
Seems like a lot for half a player.
If youre going to pay money for a DH, you may as well make it one of the best hitters in baseball
Ever see Yordan play left field or run the bases? He’s much more than just a dh
The problem is that we and other teams HAVE seen him play LF. He is a butcher.
Well that half player has the second best wRC+ since his debut in 2019, only surpassed by Mike Trout.
His 156 wRC+ is massively inflated, should be lower but they don’t knock enough points off for Minute Maid even though its a blatant hitters park.
Alvarez actually plays a lot of games in LF. His batting statistics while playing in the field are actually significantly better than when he is a DH.
Gee a lot of teams would like a bunch of these half player’s.
Trust me, no one wants “a bunch of half players”. One is fine. Especially if it’s Alvarez. But fielding a team of multiple DHs never works.
Just ask the Phillies
Well this aged like milk
Prob the same people who say pitchers aren’t valuable because they only pitch every 5th day
What a stupid comment made by someone who’s never seen the guy hit.
What a stupid reaction to an obvious joke.
Funny thing is, it wasn’t obvious. Jokes are supposed to be funny, which your apparent joke was not, so shouldn’t therefore be considered a joke.
You are correct. I have made the fatal error of overestimating the intelligence of my audience. I apologize and I will get back to knock knock jokes so as to be more on your level. Thank you for your continued support.
It’s only a joke because you got called out for it clown shoes
i legit lold
If I may quote the great George Thorogood:
“Everybody funny, now you funny too”.
Some sources called it historic? Can someone explain?
It is a historic deal for a dh
He plays left field a decent amount and runs the bases well for a giant man. Very underrated player
The guy clocks in at 6’5″ and 225 lbs. The weight might be low by a few pounds, but basically the guy is built like a fullback or tight end. If a catcher ever gets in his way, he will feel like he got hit by a truck. He runs well and has a good arm.
6’5”, 225 sounds pretty skinny to me
Disregard. Apparently it’s the longest contract ever issued by Astros.
We signed Altuve to 165 million. Not true at all
Ok so total $ amount is not the same as years given. Alvarez got 6 yrs. Altuve got 5 yrs.
5<6
I thought you wrote largest. My mistake
Again, Altuve’s was a bigger contract. Alvarez is longer. Meaning more years committed. Idk how that’s so hard to grasp. No Astros player has ever gotten a 6 yr contract.
Carlos Lee did.
Carlos Lee got 6 years – $100 MM
I think he’s referring to the longest deal by Jim Crane.
Longest would be singletons 10 year deal that didn’t work out for them
Singleton only got a 5/$10M deal.
Thanks. Not sure why I remembered 10 years. Oh well
I believe team options would have made it an additional 5?
Excellent move by Click! Tucker is next.
He sure is!
Hopefully. It would be a huge mistake to let tucker go he is sooo underrated
Thank you dodgers. Not only did we trade the terrible Josh Fields for him. We proceded to crush him in the World Series.
Cue the Sign Stealing Scandal bs. But leaguewide illegal grip enhancements is ok
Astroisks.
Isn’t time you change your name. There is no mlb team named the tribe. Adjust to the times gramps
Not to mention the last Indians/Guardians World Series win in 1948 was aided by illegal sign stealing.
As a Dodger fan, you are welcome. Congrats to Yordan and Stros, we lost that one but win most of the time. Alvarez is a beast and as baseball fan, his at bats are a must watch!
Others cheating is wrong. Astros cheating is wrong. One is not an excuse for the other. Accept that they got caught.
BS? Only an Asterisks fan would would excuse such blatant cheating. Not to mention the lying and cover up after the fact.
Lying? The only reason baseball knows what happened was because they admitted it. No other team will admit it after all the crap they’ve caught.
Don’t try talking facts all they know is bang bang. Yet as soon as an astros player is a free agent they all hope that player ends up on their team. They’re just a bunch of sand in their box haters
To note there is rumored to have been an agreement to trade Yordan prior to signing because Houston did not have the INT money to get Yordan. Hence a nobody like Josh Fields was traded. Of course this is no more than a rumor I heard through a friend.
Seriously?
You are saying the Dodgers paid him $2mil and then paid a $2 mil fine for going over their int’l budget
Just so they can get Josh Fields?
That’s fair, I thought it was a tad odd of a rumor
The Dodgers were also out of int’l money.
If you check his stats, Josh Fields was actually pretty good on the Dodgers for the three years they had him.
Fields actually was very solid for them.
And Alvarez had not even played a pro game ( outside of Cuba) yet. There was plenty of risk he would never make it.
How many prospects, even 1st round picks, that still have several levels to pass and conquer never make it to the bigs?
Bang bang!
This is bad, should have extended him for 15 years. He actually is one of the faster players from home to first so he has some pretty good speed, he is just a big dude and does not have the flexibility of someone smaller.
Yes sir!!! Yordan in Houston for years to come, gimme that!
Alvarez is one of the players where you go beyond being in awe of how good he is and wonder why it’s so unfair he is THAT good.
Good deal for both sides. The big guy is worth the money.
YES!!!!!! Again, Tucker next!
Good deal for both. Astros get an elite bat for a potential discount and Alvarez with his extensive injury history gets security.
Even if he is “only” a DH the money is still fine if he is a 130+ wRC+ bat, JDM got a similar contract and was way older
Extensive injury history? He had both knees operated on during the shortened COVID season. Other than that he’s spent very little time on the IL. As a previous commenter pointed out, he actually hits alot better when he’s playing the field. He has said it himself that when he’s on the field, he feels more engaged in the game. Granted he’s not an elite outfielder by any means but he wasn’t brought up for his glove. Some of his last games in the MiLB it got to a point where he wouldn’t even take a bat to the plate because they were already calling for an intentional walk before he left the on deck circle. I think it happened like 4 times in one MiLB game. The dude is very humble and it is a great deal for both sides. As far as the length of his contract it is the longest contract since Him Crane bought the team and we were forced to move to the American League.
Hey Jed, you see how they just did that? Now do the same for Willson.
Wonder if he’ll try 1st base soon. Eventually replace Gurriel , free up dh and of for other additions. Stro’s do a great job of replenishing. from the farm and FA. Especially pitching staff. Terrific work by the front office , overall , last few years.
I’ve heard that experiment didn’t work. He’s a capable LF. Seems like that’s his future.
YIKES !!
A big dude who has already had each knee operated on.
Whose best position is DH.
And the Astros will pay him $25 MM per year when he is
29, 30, 31 Years of AGE ??
Should have structured those last 3 years at lower dollars
with performance incentives and games played incentives
and made at least some of them option years.
There’s a comment like this after any FA signing or extension. Do some ppl just not want teams giving money to players? There seems to be ppl that believe every contract is bad. I don’t get it. You have to pay to keep/receive talent.
Bad contracts are bad contracts. This isn’t one of them but it isn’t logical to want a bad contract and MOST big deals are bad contracts. Let some other team waste money on overpaid big names. People complain about these contracts because so many of them are just asinine.
Alvarez’ next contract will be paid by a team paying for past production.
It’s not after any signing or extension. The extension the White Sox gave Luis Robert seemed smart at the time and still looks fairly good. I thought Zach Wheeler got a little more than he was worth a few years ago, but I didn’t think it was a bad deal. Then there’s the Braves’ extensions for Acuna, Jr. and Albies.
As for this one in particular, I get that he’s one of the game’s best hitters, but it’s a lot of money for someone with limited defensive versatility (and poor defensive metrics when he’s out there) who already has an injury history. Whether he lives up to this deal, time will tell, but there’s definitely a fair amount of risk there.
This isn’t 2005. $25 MM for what he brings to the table is a steal and will likely be a steal in those seasons.
A steal is what the Astros did. As in steal a World Series
They stole nothing. They gained a slight advantage through cheating.
Really?
He has been one of the top 5 hitters in baseball since he came up, he is also surprisingly getting better. He keeps himself in excellent physical shape and has worked hard to be an adequate corner outfielder.
This was a good deal for both sides, but the Astros should be very happy.
It is amazing that he continues to get better.
His skill set should age well. He’ll likely still be a very good hitter at 30.
Why would Alvarez, one of the best hitters in baseball, sign an incentive-laden contract extension that includes multiple non-guaranteed years and is nothing but pure upside for the team?
Why try to speak logic with them. They obviously don’t watch much baseball if they can’t see that this was a steal for the astros.
“And the Astros will pay him $25 MM per year when he is
29, 30, 31 Years of AGE ??”
Those years are still peak years for a ballplayer, barring injury.
“I began my investigation into how baseball players age in order to address some potential problems with past studies. It turns out that after correcting for those flaws that the peak age of baseball players appears to be around 29, and possibly 30 for hitters in modern times. Of course, some players will peak earlier and others later, but this is a general benchmark.”
baseballprospectus.com/news/article/9933/how-do-ba…
Decent deal for Yordan…who is essentially a DH.
Except he plays left field most nights. Maybe watch a few games before commenting incorrect information
He’s actually played LF in a total of just 70 games in his career, including 19 games there this year (out of the 52 the Astros have played). That’s not “most nights.”
Hint: you might want to check your own facts before “commenting incorrect information.”
He’s learning a new position. To call him a DH only player would be a lie. 19 games in LF and 27 at DH. Let’s not act like he never plays the field. As he’s stated he prefers to play the field and not DH, there’s a good chance he has more games out there then DH this year. Try commenting without coming off salty next time
Also in lf today so now it’s
20 games in lf
27 at DH
Stop whining. You’re the one who was needlessly “salty” by complaining that another poster didn’t have his facts straight – and then you did the very thing you accused the other poster of by erroneously saying he played LF “ most nights.”
If you’re going to respond like a jerk, be prepared to get called out on it.
That trade that sent Yordan to Hou would keep me up at night if I were the dodgers. Just wow
Then Fields didn’t do too well against Houston that year in the World Series.
To think that Soto wants 3x the amount that Alvarez just signed for. Nicely done by the Astros.
Two completely different player profiles. Soto is an everyday player who fields his position well. He’s two years younger, has 800 more plate appearances and walked 290 more times. Slugging % is about the same. He’s also stolen 35 bases in about the same time frame. Soto got the call in 2018, Alvarez in 2019. Take out the year Alvarez was basically hurt in 2020 and Alvarez has a slight advantage. I’m a HUGE Astros fan and I’m not ashamed to wear it loud and proud but I can realize that Soto is a superior talent just due to the fact of how well he played the field. Soto is a threat on both sides of the ball where Alvarez is a more one sided player
Soto is an overall better player than Alvarez but I wouldn’t say he’s superior. The sample size is small but Alvarez has been better both offensively and defensively in 2022. Soto has a -6 OAA in RF this year, which is surprising as he was +5 last year.. Soto isn’t worth 4-5x as much as Alvarez if using statistical comparisons (of course, he’s worth whatever a team is willing to pay him).
@stros1fan It’s not ‘4-5x’ as much as Alvarez, though. Wrt their peak salaries, Soto’s per year will probably be no more than 1.5 times Alvarez’s. (say $40m v $29m.)
Where the Astros tend to excel is in not getting stuck too often with the expensive, bitter rind of players’ careers. Alvarez through age 31. Altuve through 34. The limit on how long they wanted to commit to Correa. It all made sense, even if they paid a few million dollars a year extra to the first two as a kind of premium so as not to have to commit to too many post-peak years.
They were not going to pay Gerrit Cole $36m/year through his age 37 season. Good for them.
@Justanotherstrosfan Soto is VERY slow for a young man, and especially for an OFer. A 26.3 fps is already in the lowest 32%. For a 23yo, that’s concerning. He’s also slightly subpar in the field. We do count these things, you know.
To call him ‘a threat on both sides of the ball’ is concerning, as well.
4x
Thank y’all for the most objective, least stupid set of comments I’ve seen on an Astros post – especially for the recognition of just how well-run our baseball operation is. As a LONG tme baseball fan, and familiar with baseball history, I am awe-struck by the continued brilliance of owner/front office
That’s a steal for the ‘Stros..
This was really a no-brainer. Really a good fit for both sides. Yordan is a special talent a very deserving.
I’m happy! The Astros have plenty of payroll flexibility. I hope the extensions keep coming.
On the Astros radio broadcast last night they were mentioning how the 2015 Royals World Series team was not a contender again because all their players came up together and then became free agents together.
The Astros have done a great job of avoiding this
Season that players become free agents
2019: Cole
2020: Springer
2021: Correa
2022: Gurriel, Brantley, Verlander, Diaz, Odorrizi, Montero, Castro
2023: Stanek, Maton, Maldonado
2024: Altuve, Bregman, Neris
2025: Pressly,
2026: McCullers, Valdez, Tucker, Javier, Urquidy
2027: L.Garcia, Abreu, McCormick
2928: Alvarez, Pena, Meyers.
The Astros are in very good position to keep contending for several more years.
That’s why radio broadcasts are for entertainment, rarely for information. Not that there isn’t some general truth to this, the Astros ARE being very smart, but that’s not why KC didn’t repeat. Their players mostly had small success windows. Besides, they did pretty well for themselves. Most WS winners don’t repeat. Announcers and their nonsense filler, can’t have dead air or something.
They’ve made it to at least the Alcs for the last 5 years. How many teams in either league has done that ? Go ahead I’ll wait
Stone Cold: Who are you arguing with here?
Smart signing by the Astros. The arb figures look good for them, and they’re getting a 4 WAR DH for $78m for his age 29-31 seasons, if I’m reading BB-Ref correctly. Locking in a DH-caliber, minus 10 LFer is limiting, but 155 OPS+ hitters don’t come around very often. Even if you’re buying their post-peak seasons, it’s only through age 31.
If there’s risk here it’s probably on Alvarez’s side, if someone can be said to be assuming risk after locking in a $115 million guarantee—if he keeps hitting like this through the end of his arb seasons, he’d probably be in line for a JD Martinez-like contract, with an extra year thanks to reaching FA at 29 whereas JDM turned 30 the year he was signed by the Red Sox.
Still, giving up a something like 6/$135 for age 29-34 after 3 significant arb awards in favor of locking in today a 6/$115m deal through age 31 is hardly the worst gamble. I’d be happy with it.
Is AJ Preller taking notes? This is how you GM. Buying another 3 years of the player and ensuring he is motivated for his next contract. IE he keeps working hard.
Tatis is a great player, but giving him a lifetime contract will prove to be a giant mistake.
Yikes. Another six years of facing Alvarez.
GREAT MOVE by the Astros!!! So glad that he’ll be in the lineup for years to come. I hope they get Kyle signed to an extension soon.
I’m uncomfortable every time this guy is up against the Yanks. Pure hitter, monster of a man…..this is a good deal.
If Angel Hernandez is an umpire, I can’t take MLB seriously
Bro how is Alvarez only 225lbs!? If he’s 6’5” he’s gotta be at least 250-260. He’s built more like Frank Thomas than Kevin Durant.
He had one foot on the scale.
Am I the only one that thinks he looks significantly older than 25…..