Well....jeez, it was a response to radricky's comment that we should sign Correa...which in that case, besides trading him, there would be only one hypothetical role for Peña if we kept him and he was good enough to be on the mlb roster. Super Utility INF/4th OF. He's certainly not going to pitch or catch.
Wasn’t really referring to your sentiment, even though I did reply. I just see a lot of presumptions around Pena that he’s not only going to make it, but will be a for-sure staple of the core. It wouldn’t be surprising at all given that the Astros have a pretty good track record of knowing their own guys (most recently with the Meyers promotion), but I’ve conditioned myself to remain cautiously optimistic of any prospect’s future chances… especially when they look god-awful for their first 50 AB’s or so.
Becausethey didn't trade Biggio/Bagwell for prospects late in their careers is one reason the farm system was bare. That along with McClane stripping the farm system and not signing draft picks.
Mostly the latter. I get not having a great farm system after a prolonged period of contention from 97-05, but they were dead last 5 years after Bagwell's retirement, and remained dead last until Jeff Luhnow un****ed the farm. Still had Altuve, Springer, and Keuchel in the system in 2011, showing how much luck goes into a rebuild.
So by your logic we should have traded Correa for prospects this season when we're trying to win a title?
Trading away top players right before they hit free agency is what most teams do when they're awful and commit to a long rebuild. That is, unless you're a poverty franchise like the Rays or cursed with cheap ownership like the A's. Those teams love dumping soon to be FAs in a window of contention.
The Astros rebuild was almost done to perfection, with the team acing its top draft picks (Springer, Correa, Bregman, McCullers, Tucker), except for Mark Appel and Brady Aiken, but at least they sent Aiken back and got a replacement pick which wound up being Bregman. Most teams are lucky to have 1 out of 3 first round picks who turn into quality starters. We had 5 first round picks become star-caliber players. That is unlikely to be repeated. Striking gold with Gurriel and Alvarez was the icing on the cake that turned our team into arguably the best offense in baseball history over these past 5 years. Now we are starting to deal with the free agency decisions for these amazing draft picks... we obviously let Springer walk but signed Bregman and McCullers... If we let Correa walk, I would understand... given his injury history and our options coming up from AAA (Pena, Leon). You have to question whether Correa's future will be brighter than his past... and as we all know injuries are usually what derails superstars' abilities as they age. I do believe we should allocate our dollars to position players at premium positions, so I wouldn't be upset if we re-signed Correa either.
I think Springer was ultimately expendable because they believed Tucker could replace his production. You don't have that with Correa. You lose him, you still find yourself having to sign a SS. The window is currently open and will be for a few years. Secure that. I don't care if the contract bites us in the ass in 8 years. Win as much as you can right now.
He is not a good defender, he is a great defender and possibly the best defensive player in all of baseball this year. He does that while playing a premium position and he put up the traditional stats in an era where average is down. I have been critical of Correa’s maturity in the past and his level of commitment but if not for Ohtani, I would be arguing he deserved MVP this year. He is capable of better counting statistics, but defensively he is peak most likely. He isn’t quite Simmons or Smith defensively but he isn’t far behind. This year he played like a first ballot Hall of Famer. Remember he isn’t playing in the steroid era that Rodriguez did where Nomar hit like 375. Gurriel so the batting title at not that much over .300.
Yeah Simmons and Ozzie Smith are the two best I have ever seen with the glove. Ordonez before he came over from Cuba and joined the Mets was supposedly as good or better but that’s about it.
Adam Everett was very good for a few years, but the Astros arguably had a better defensive shortstop that couldn’t hit a 30 years earlier.
Correa has had a million chances to be a hero and fell short. His rookie year, he looked like a super duper star 5 tool player. 2015 he looked like a future mvp. Has he really even gotten much better since then?
Offensively he’s been incredibly consistent when healthy. Defensively he’s improved since 2015. He just had arguably his best overall season and will probably get some down ballot mvp votes.
