Pretty solid move by the Astros with Colbys impending exit from Houston, Career .286 hitter with a very low strikeout rate- 9.6% in 2016. He will surely get a decent amount of plate appearances in 2017. Only downside is he has no power production. May be best suited as a platoon outfielder off the bench.
Would be willing to bet that the Astros are trying to find solid contact, OBP hitters like this to be potential lead off guys. It makes so much sense to do so and move Springer down to 5 or 6, along with hopefully adding a big bat (1B/DH type). Aoki fits this profile nicely as a LF option against RHPs. .350 OPS with an extremely low K% is just what they need at the top.
It is "meh", but that doesn't mean it's a bad move. The Cubs getting Coghlan (or even Fowler to a degree) were "meh" moves, but I doubt their sporting rings without them. If Aoki is the biggest OF acquisition Houston makes this offseason it'll be shitty, but if Aoki is the Astros' 8th or 9th best hitter, it'll likely be a good move. He's virtually guaranteed to be a roughly league average hitter and play average LF defense with ability to play CF in a pinch. CF Springer 3B Bregman 2B Altuve SS Correa RF TBD 1B Gurriel C Gattis DH TBD LF Aoki Bench: Marwin, TBD C, Marisnick
Is he "best friends" with Otani? I'd like to think that having Beasley was the reason we signed Durant last offseason.
He instantly becomes the second best hitter on the team. It's solid. Even if it's underappreciated. He's comes to the plate as a professional. I'm tired as are many of having guys who can't even hit .240. In my opinion this instantly improves the lineup whether they give him the lead or tail end of the lineup. I don't really care where Springer hits as long as it's not 2nd.
Pretty solid pickup IMO. He certainly doesn't move the meter in a significant way, but it's not hard to see how he could help this team. As is, Springer was literally the only OF in the organization who is proven to be a competent MLB hitter. And his salary is far from prohibitive.
I agree with the sentiments expressed so far. To a degree, it's a very "meh" move... I mean, he's a 35 year old on his 5th team since 2012. But he's a left handed bat that never strikes out and he gets on base at a pretty good clip. Good contact hitter and will definitely add balance to the lineup. For $6.5 million (which is what he's supposed to get in arbitration), that's pretty good value.
It makes zero sense to move Springer that far down in the lineup, where he'll get significantly less AB's over the course of a season.
I think he fits a lot better around 5, where he would get more opportunities to drive runners in. And, as this lineup gets stronger and stronger, the Astros are going to have really good hitters hitting 5th or 6th regardless.
Springer draws more walks than anyone else on the team; he's almost a prototypical lead-off hitter. I hope that's one thing the Astros do this offseaon: break down and reconstruct their batting order. For instance... while Altuve makes a lot of sense near the top of the order because you want to maximize his plate appearances, he strikes out significantly less than Correa and Springer (and, SSS: Bregman) and might do some real damage hitting 4th or 5th. Same for Gurriel, who set a full season pace of just 56 Ks. I might go: Springer Bregman Gurriel Altuve Correa
Maybe it is his ideal spot - but not because he's an MVP and your best hitter bats 3rd. There are two things about Altuve that sets him apart, at least relative to his teammates: he puts *a lot* of balls in play; he rarely strikes out - why wouldn't we want that guy in position to drive in runs? Again, maybe he should be hitting 3rd. I just don't want him there because that's the way line-ups have always been constructed. I want the astros to really examine this and see if there's better, more progressive way of setting the batting order.
I think going forward I'd like to see something like this: Aoki? (or someone else) Bregman Altuve Correa Gurriel Springer Gattis? Catcher/idk? Marisnick? I think Bregman is a once in a blue moon batting talent and I would have no problem with him hitting clean-up, even if that means Correa gets moved down to #5. But then I'm not sure about Gurriel being moved to #2. We still have a hole at 1-b and i'm not sure how the hell that line-up would work fielding wise. But we have 4 awesome batters in Gurriel, Altuve, Bregman, and Correa as well as two solid power hitters in Springer and Gattis.
