Houston Astros: Yuli Gurriel states his desire to stay

When Yuli Gurriel becomes a free agent, he wants to stay with the Houston Astros.

The free agency period for 2021 will be an interesting one for Houston Astros first baseman Yuli Gurriel, especially based on the circumstances of this season. Gurriel could be one of the most sought after first baseman if he repeats a prorated offensive output similar to last season.

Gurriel openly stated his desire to return to the Astros to the Houston Chronicle’ s beat writer Chandler Rome and other reporters via Twitter.

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This month four years ago the slugger from Sancti Spiritus, Cuba signed with the Astros and I was lucky enough to be the first to report the signing as per MLB Trade Rumors. A main concern of the team when he signed was whether he could still perform at a high level in the Majors.

His bat has promptly answered that question in the last three years.

Although he’s had his highs and lows during his time with the team, he’s been a very productive bat during his tenure in Houston. Last season at the advanced age of 35 he had his most productive campaign. In 144 games he went yard 31 times, drove in 104 runs, and slashed .298/.343/.541/.884 in 612 at-bats.

During this off-season, he was eligible for arbitration but decided to sign an 8 million dollar one-year extension instead, which was a 300 K raise.

With all this being said the team has to also be interested in Gurriel in order for him to return and based on Houston ‘s GM James Glick’s frugal ways, that’s a big question. The ex-Tampa Bay executive doesn’t like to make the big splash signing, he makes his investments based on empirical data and sabermetrics.

Be as it may and whether the Houston Astros want to re-sign Yuli Gurriel or not, this coming off-season he will be one of the most sought after free agents and based on the circumstances could come at a bargain-basement price for whatever team he agrees to join.