A couple of franchise icons almost swapped places in a baseball trade that never was.
During an appearance on the “Diggin’ Deep” show with former big leaguers Eric Hosmer and Peter Moylan, ex-Royals general manager Dayton Moore revealed he had the opportunity to pull the trigger on a deal that would’ve altered the American League for years.
“We were in Houston in ’13 and I get a call from Jeff Luhnow — I was sitting at [a] Starbucks — and he said, ‘I got a deal for ya,'” Moore said. “I said, ‘OK,’ and he said, ‘I’ll trade you [Jose] Altuve for Eric Hosmer’ … I said, ‘Nope. Nope.’ I didn’t like trading major-league players.”
In 2013, both Houston and Kansas City were soon to turn their fortunes and go on one of the best runs in their respective franchise history.
That year, Altuve’s third year in the big leagues, the Astros were in the midst of a 111-loss campaign, their worst season ever.
The Astros would soon turn their franchise around, winning two World Series titles and making the American League Championship Series every year from 2017 to 2023.
Altuve has played his entire career with the Astros, collecting nearly 2,300 hits in what could be a Hall of Fame career.
Moore’s Royals didn’t turn out so bad either.
A year after denying the trade, Kansas City made the playoffs for the first time since 1985, losing in the World Series to the Giants.
In 2015, the Royals would get over the hump, winning the World Series for the first time since that 1985 run by beating the Mets in five games.
Hosmer served as the Royals’ starting first baseman during that stretch, making the All-Star team and winning four Gold Gloves over seven seasons in Kansas City.