Agree. While Correa is recovering (I'm convinced he's not 100% yet), let Bregman and Marwin split the SS role. Maybe use Correa as a defensive sub late in games, but probably not, since this injury is no joke.
Yet the A's lost to 104 lost team, a night ago. We are 17-5 since Altuve returned and still 3 games on the lost column on A's Everything is fine, this is just not like last years when the rest of the division sucked.
And the Astros end the season with 3 in Toronto and 4 in Baltimore. The A’s will pretty much need to have a lead going into the last week of the season to win the division.
Who starts in his place? Marisnick? Davis? Do you see deficiencies at defense too? This is probably why he's still in the lineup... but Hinch has dropped him a spot a week for the last 3 weeks.
If the Astros had Ryan Presley, Roberto Osuna in the beginning of the season the Astros might have a larger lead in the Division. Oakland Brake Treinan is the A's MVP, Matt Chapman, Jed Lowrie are having a great season. Mariners Edwin Diaz is their MVP James Paxton, Mitch Hanigar are having a great year, Dee Gordon makes their lineup very dynamic.
Actually... March/April - Great May - Terrible June - Very Good July - DL August - Terrible September - Terrible
I think an outfield of Kemp, Marisnick and Springer with Bregman and Marwin on the left side of the infield is our best team. With our offense sputtering I think Kemp needs to play everyday. Aside from Bregman, he has been by far our most consistent offensive performer since he came up way back in May. Correa while probably our best defensive SS, he isn't a weapon, he's merely adequate. Which is usually more than good enough given his offense at the position. Correa is just not hitting with any authority, at all. It's been over a month now, and its shown no improvement. It's not like he's hitting into many tough outs either. The Correa we have seen since he came back is a terrible hitter. Reddick has also been equally inept, without an injury excuse. At this point Marisnicks glove probably makes him our 3rd best outfielder.
If you consider Marisnick and Correa to basically be a wash at the plate right now... which while frustrating, still isn't for sure... its about who gives you more value defensively. While I don't enjoy watching this Marisnick pinch-running for a DH trend that Hinch has him on, I do want him in the OF in the late innings. I also want Kemp batting for Reddick, which requires Springer to move to RF. Also, I feel Correa's arm at SS is a weapon. Made several plays on the road trip that nobody else (including Bregman) would make. It sucks that his offense hasn't come around.... but I wouldn't ignore or mitigate his defense at a still very important position on the field.
Correa is .469 OPS post all star break. Marisnicks OPS post all star break is around .750-.800. Marisnick right now is a much better hitter than Correa. He’s clearly a more valuable defender than Carlos. The defense by the best gold Glover in the league won’t be enough to offset a 469 OPS. Marisnick was sent down to AAA when he had an OPS that was 100-125 points higher than what Correas given us the past 2 months. Analytically right now Correas best role is a late inning defensive replacement. It’s not in the day to day lineup and damn sure isn’t in the 5 hole ahead of someone like Tyler White.
Going forward reddicks biggest issue is his salary. He’s earning 12 mm next year or so to provide very average production and probably below average when you look at the poor production in the clutch. Too many good young players the Astros need to pay up to keep to keep reddicks bloated contract on the books. Had we not won the World Series last year he’d be the number one culprit due to his putrid postseason OPS
Correa is having an outstanding defensive year at a premium defensive position. He's not coming out of the lineup. The only argument to be made about it is to maybe move him down another spot or 2 in the order. His ceiling is light years beyond Jake Marisnick. He might not have the ability to get healthy this season so that he can hit like he has already proven he can. But his spot on the field is not something that's up for debate. I wish we had a bigger lead so that he could get the rest he needed but that's just not the way this is shaking out.
Of course correa has a higher ceiling but with this stacked roster we need a higher floor right now, not a higher ceiling. Pitching is gonna be there. Bregs and white can probably be enough offensively with contributions from Altuve and yuli and kemp. We in my opinion jusr need a higher floor from guys who are really hurting the team right now, namely reddick and correa and McCann/Maldonado. Marisnick clearly has the higher floor right now as Correas stretch the last 2 mo is worse than jakes worst in April and may. Marisnicks intangibles are also arguably a Team best. He energizes the team. His range is a lot more impressive than correa. Better baserunner as well. At the end of the day it will be damn hard trying to win a WS with a 5 hitter giving you .469 ops. Dodgers found that out last year with Bellinger.
I didn't mind Correa's return when it happened because we mostly assumed he'd regain some form. But, he should've sat again after three weeks of struggling. Now, it's been 5+ weeks of struggling and it's too late to sit him again in hopes of a return this season due to the playoffs being too close to regain his timing beforehand.
That’s the sort of move when you’re finding it hard to win games. I’ll take this teams chances with a Marisnick-like hitting Correa in the lineup.
C'mon man. Comparing Marisinick's range to Correa's is where you're entire argument falls to pieces. 2 entirely different positions. You're talking as if they're interchangeable and the team would lose nothing by removing Correa from the field. At the end of the day, this team wins with Correa more often than ti would win with Marisnick. I don't really know why this has to be explained. And now you want to remove McCann and Maldanado? What's your solution there? Stassi? McCann and Maldanado (and Correa and Reddick) are more than just their bats.
You keep trotting Correa our there if you believe that at least some of his struggles are timing related. The reality is that the Astros are not likely to win a WS without Correa at 75% or better.
it's still not too late to for carlitos to go see the witch doctor from Waco. Remember, Tmac went down because of a knee that he played through in the Jazz series in 2008. Witch doctor fixes back.
I have no idea why you continue to trot out these arbitrary projections. This team has a good enough lineup, and as good a pitching staff, as any of the other playoff contenders. Anything can happen in October. And the Astros have been playing winning baseball for a good while, regardless of Correa.
Sample lineup: Springer CF Altuve 2B Bregman SS White 1B Gurriel 3B Gonzalez LF Maldonado/McCann C Reddick RF Kemp DH Went with Bregman at SS so Gonzalez can stay in the OF, meaning we don't have to start Jake. White plays in the field so that we can pinch run for him without losing Jake's defense, or the DH. Correa becomes a late-inning D-sub, moving Alex and Yuli to their normal positions. Kemp is DH, because as much as I love the guy, I don't like his defense in CF and RF. Of course, this is just a sample lineup, Bregman can be moved back to 3rd, Marwin can see some time at SS. I'd still give Kemp some time in LF. When he does that, Marwin moves to 1B, and White DH's. Yes, that does mean we'll likely see Hinch PR Jake for White as a DH, but if we just call up a few more reinforcements from AAA, then it should be safe to move Jake on the field and sacrifice the DH. If there's any time you can get away with that, it's September. I did that as an example of what a starting lineup w/o Correa could look like, and that it can be done without starting Davis or Marisnick.
