Because of his elite defense, Jake Marisnick would be fine in center field if it comes to that. As long as they are healthy, the Astros’ top 7 hitters are good enough to have guys like Maldonado and Marisnick in the eight and nine spots.
Profar may go for a little more than we would like because the Padres are supposedly trying hard to resign him. I have seen a number of 9 million a year for him. That may be a little too steep for the Astros. As for Pederson the Cardinals and Brewers are very interested and there are some other teams that want him to essentially platoon. I don't know what his contract number would be, but because he can play centerfield I think it will likely be in the 8-10 million dollar range with the possibility for two seasons if he wants. He had a fairly high OPS the last few seasons before the COVID short season.
From what I saw last year Marisnick wasn't quite as good in center field as in the past but he would certainly be adequate. It likely comes down to money with a lot of guys like Marisnick.... there is a group of 5 or so guys that all are within 50-60 points of each other in OPS that are capable of doing the job....... there are some better bats out there, but the question is are they good enough to cover center full time.
I’d rather have the elite defender than a corner outfielder that can hit in center field, especially at Minute Maid Park. I also can’t see Marisnick getting much more than the one-year, $2 million deal Jon Lester got from the Nationals. Even if Marisnick’s defense has slipped a little, he should still be at least well above average in that area. He was a Kiermaier-level defender in center field for the Astros.
With Brantley signed, I'm far more concerned about the state of pitching than offense. If they are going to spend some more money, IMO that's where it kind of needs to be focused.
Between Urquidy, Framber, Javier, McCullers, and Greinke, the Stros actually have a really solid rotation. They return their best relief pitchers and get back one who sat out 2020. Meanwhile, the team just lost their best hitter and only CF (unless you count Straw and his .500 OPS). I'd say CF is a bigger hole than pitching at the moment.
Now that the Springer offer is gone, I’d throw everything at Hand Agree about Leon. Would take a 1yr deal on a cheap CF like Marisnick.
I don't have that much faith in quite a few of those guys. There's hope that can be a decent enough starting rotation, but even if there's one guy on offense who is a defensive specialist in CF, the offense is still MUCH more reliable than the pitching. Plus, I have more faith in Leon rising to the bigs this season than Whitley....
They just signed a 22 year old with Springer’s ceiling who can be up as early as next season. They need a 1yr deal on a defensive minded CF. One through six in the lineup is all-star type talent. And Yuli when not slumping is close. Adding Hand with the signings they’ve made and Smith & Pruitt returning could push them from a middle of the pack bullpen last season to a top five in baseball.
Hand's velocity has been decreasing for 3 years. Considering multiple teams are trying to land him, I would be shocked if the Astros win the bidding war. He also got crushed in the postseason in 2018 and in 2020. His postseason ERA is 15.43 with a 3.429 WHIP. He is worse in the postseason than Devenski and Biagini were last year in the regular season......
Leon's a 22 year old kid who is probably best-case is an option in 2022. You can't pencil him in the lineup yet. It would be great if he got there. The Stros were 7th out of 15 in offense last season in the AL. And then lost their best hitter. They were 7th out of 15 in pitching. And gained a couple of relief pitchers (Baez, Smith, Pruitt). I don't see how the offense could possibly be deemed more reliable.
Springer was our best hitter? That's only because Altuve and Bregman had down years and Yordon was hurt. Did you forget those guys? Most of the pitching only have done it one year and that's partially. We were 7 last year when our best hitters had very down years.
Yordan Alverez was a "22 year old kid" a few years ago too when he made the leap to the majors. I think you're probably right about him being more of an option in 22 than this season, but I don't think we can count it out. The offensive struggles last year had to do with Yuli, Correa and Altuve having the worst season of their careers and Bregman having the 2nd worst season of his career along with losing the best power hitter on the team after only 2 games. All of that happened, and we were still right at league average in OPS and runs scored. I think there's plenty of reason to think that those guys bounce back and the Astros more than make up for the loss of Springer in the aggregate.
Yordon did not leap from Cuba into the majors, he was in the minors for 3 years, how are they comparable?
I was comparing their ages, as to coming straight from the Cuban league, that's what Yuli did, though he was considerably older when he did it. Now sure, that first season, he wasn't quite ready, and his stats showed it, but I'm just saying it wouldn't be the craziest thing ever when you consider that he'd be an 8 or 9 hitter on a team already stacked with offense.