I don't know what he did this off season, but since he returned from his suspension and stopped drinking, my understanding is that he has been extremely cooperative with the Astros staff and is always early and leaves late. I don't know if that is still the case.
Didn't realize Springer's numbers were this good post injury. Extremely encouraging. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">George Springer after he came back: .304/.373/.464. Gonna have a huge year in 2016. Book it.</p>— Matt Snyder (@MattSnyderCBS) <a href="https://twitter.com/MattSnyderCBS/status/702011427918249984">February 23, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Saying the right things...now its time to see if he actually alters his approach <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Jon Singleton on2016:"It's huge honestly.I don't think I've had a year where I've had this kind of opportunity.It's going to be a great one"</p>— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkBermanFox26/status/702141473500827648">February 23, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Jon Singleton (<a href="https://twitter.com/iLLJAY_SiNG">@iLLJAY_SiNG</a>) knows he must stop trying to crush every pitch thrown to him. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Astros?src=hash">#Astros</a> <a href="https://t.co/yPaRqMQrlC">pic.twitter.com/yPaRqMQrlC</a></p>— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkBermanFox26/status/702144314726600704">February 23, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Last year was a major breakthrough in my long term opinion of Springer. I never doubted that he was gonna be a solid player given his combo of speed/pop/plate discipline. But I feared his propensity to strikeout was gonna keep his average down around .250. Last year he showed major strides in the K rate, and now I think he can easily hit .275-.280, and that may be conservative. He had the 15th best outside the zone swing rate, meaning he forces pitchers into the strike zone. He also has the 2nd worst miss rate on strikes (behind a now ex Astro), but he swings and misses at strikes, and gives the pitchers nothing. And with his speed, any ball in play is dangerous. I think Springer can be special, a .280/.375/.500 line is extremely achievable to me. And I don't think a .300/.400/.500 line is out of the question, although I doubt he can maintain a .300 average. If he can shake these freak injuries, I think he's a superstar about to break out.
Springer's K-rate last season (24.2%) is in line with Trout's last 2 seasons (26.1% & 23.2%). I could definitely see him being on Andrew McCutchen's level.
Just saw on ESPN that Astros have 10-1 odds to win world series. Those are second best odds behind Cubs who have 4-1 odds. It's crazy to see how far this team has gone in only a couple years.
I'm a Cubs fan and 4-1 is way too high, but it was also dictated by the market. I think they started out at 10-1 and as usual have been a popular bet in Vegas so fell to 4-1. I think the Astros are rightly placed at 10-1 also. At the end of the day, it's all for betting purposes anyway.
I'm not disagreeing. It would be epic to beat them in the world series and remind cubs and their fans that they'll always come up short.
I love these Alternative Jerseys. Rockets need to seriously hire whoever is making these branding / logo / marketing decisions over there.
We had the Royals beat, In fact it should have been a sweep. Inexperience in the field and in the dugout did the team in and I'm expecting both to be much better this year.
I got the Cubs going all the way and winning everything, but man it would be something if the Astros could win it all.
Their roster is flat out stacked, and they took from one of their biggest competitors. Of course, Arrieta could get injured and Lackey could suddenly fall off.
His deal is now on hold, and I guess the 1st round pick will instead go to the Cubs for Dexter Fowler.
Well I expect Arrieta to regress. There's not way he's gonna match what he did last season. I'd be shocked if he did. Lackey I also expect to be a lot less than what he was last season. Maybe a mid 3 era pitcher. I'll take it, but I just don't expect him to have that kind of season again with his age. It's stacked on paper, but I really think the Cubs are missing a closer and a true #3 or #4 which until they trade for will probably limit them come playoff time against a team like the Cardinals (fully healthy that is) or Mets who just have a really good rotation and probably a solid offense. Baseballs so hard to predict though, and it's a long season. There's bound to be a lot of surprises, good and bad.
