The Houston Astros have one of the game's best second basemen still making an impact on their roster over a decade since he made his MLB debut. Jose Altuve has been an incredible player, and he's spent his entire time with the Astros.
But over a decade ago, the Astros had considered trading away Altuve for a player from the Kansas City Royals. And on the Crush City Territory podcast with Chandler Rome and Tyler Stafford, former Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow revealed the story behind such trade rumors.
"We did have a conversation about it," Luhnow explained. "It didn't go very far. At the time, we weren't looking to trade Jose Altuve. We were looking to acquire Eric Hosmer. Kansas City was on the rise, and we tried everything. It was not an official trade offer; it was one of those. 'Hey, would you consider it?' And it was a very short conversation, so it didn't go anywhere."
While the Astros never made a formal offer, putting Altuve in the deal as a potential trade chip would've had massive ramifications for the Astros.
Houston would be without a franchise cornerstone, and while they might've still brought home a World Series, a lot could've changed had Altuve not been in Houston.
The Astros, without Altuve, are a hard concept to imagine. He's spent his entire 15-year MLB career in the city and has been one of the better players in baseball during his time in the Majors.
Both Altuve and Hosmer began their MLB careers in 2011, with both being 21 years old at the time. While they each started a little slow, Hosmer's career doesn't live up to what Altuve has done.
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Across Hosmer's 13-year MLB career, he accumulated a respectable 19.1 WAR. Altuve, meanwhile, is still playing and has 53.2 career WAR in his 15 years in the Major Leagues.
Luhnow's initial offer wasn't a real deal, but if the two sides started at Altuve for Hosmer, and worked around that to get a deal done, the Astros likely would've missed out on an incredible career from Altuve.
Hosmer wasn't bad, and he helped the Royals win the World Series in 2015, but in comparison to Altuve, it's hard to see this potential deal as anything other than a dodged bullet for the Astros.
It may never have been close, but the trade was at the very least discussed. Fortunately for Luhnow and Astros fans, this offer never went beyond an initial inquiry, as if it had been completed, it might've withheld the Astros from their incredible runs in the late 2010s and early 2020s.
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