Ok- so he wasn’t even close to as valuable as Correa last year. He was t like 4 WAR to CC 5.5. CC was 40% better than average offensively and Peña was 1% better. Peña was 1/50 of cost so for a value perspective it was Peña and not close, but Carlos was clearly the better player and it wasn’t by a hair or anything- it was significant and obvious.
If it was up to Pena we wouldn’t be in then playoffs. If it was up to correa the Twins would have been. Someone getting carried to the playoffs and getting hot over two weeks is pretty much meaningless in a game like baseball in determining the best player. Unless you have Iggy as being a better player then Steph when he won the nba finals mvp
Interesting you say that when Correa's primary offensive strength/value is his playoff (2 weeks or so) numbers.
Yeah but he was absolutely huge in the postseason. I honestly don’t know if the Astros win without him. Whether it was a big homerun, two out, two strike counts extending games to get to Yordan so he could have his moments, homer in Seattle etc etc. I’m not saying Pena is better, but for me in the postseason he was nothing short of amazing.
And thus he deserved the MVP. The point is that being a WS MVP guarantees nothing in terms of future success based on some recent guys who won MVP who ended up not doing much more.
And if you were to bet on which will be better player Correa gers more votes before and after 2022. Correa gets more in 2023 My gut tells me in players rankings, Correa is in the 25-75 range and Pena is in the 150-250 range. The gaps starts to close and Pena likely passes him in 3-4 years.
That’s the hope… but tempering expectations on Pena based on his stellar post-season may be something that gets re-iterated throughout the start of this next season. Guys get injured. League starts figuring out more tendencies. Or some guys just “get it”. Whether he turns into a future all-star or a future Berlinger (who won an MVP before forgetting how to hit), there’s a lot of unknowns. Just hope he stays healthy and continues to work hard on improving, and he should be fine.
What I predicted was very accurate. Correa had a little better regular season overall but the end of the season was all Pena and the post season made the world champion Astros Pena's team. It's over. Carlos has moved on. He is on his third team since he left. The Astros have moved on they are happy to have a great young shortstop and now they have other fish to fry. Our off season priorities are about completed. LF/DH is covered. Alvarez and Uncle Mike will be fine. Center field is covered. Chaz is a better than average center fielder and should take another step forward this year and there are prospects ready to compete with him for that job too. Maldonado rested and ready to start off another season as the primary catcher. Lee has nothing left to do in the minors and I expect he will be at least splitting time with Maldy at the break and will probably be our primary catcher going into the playoffs. I would say the Astros will be opening the season with a six man rotation of mostly tried and true starters. Brown as a rookie is still an unknown but we did get to see him under pressure for a few weeks. McCullers is always one game away from an injury but there is no predicting when he will go down. There are AAA fill in's that we will have to sort out in the Spring but pitching does not look like an area of concern. We could probably find a place to put a LH reliever but the truth is we are just fine without one. I think the last two roster spots go to a reserve catcher and a reserve middle infielder to park in AAA. Lets talk about doing some housekeeping in the minors. We have a few guys who could be getting ML innings this season stuck in our high minors and too few high upside prospects in our system. These are the kind of trades our junior GM's should be able to handle while Crane gets back to getting a management staff in place.
That’s a lot of words that’s mostly nonsense and certainly doesn’t pertain to the idea that Peña is better than Correa. You have no idea if the Astros have a “great young shortstop”. He’s literally the definition of a average offensively. He’s played good defense. He came up big during the playoffs which was cool but none of that means he’s great or even good. I think he ends up being good and Correa ends up in the HOF.
Good thing Correa didn't go to the Giants... otherwise, what good is having the playoffs as your best strength and you can't even get back there
Hear where you’re coming from. I don’t think anyone is expecting him to replicate his .345/.367/.638 postseason line, with that 1.005 OPS. But let’s not act like Pena is David Freese 2.0. Pena made huge strides prior to the postseason from tweaking the leg kick and having better protection behind him when batting #2. Batting #2: .290/.315/.522 with an .837 OPS during the regular season. Not only is that still all-star production, but he also has a bit more upside left. Pena’s postseason wasn’t some magical fluke.
I think you are dead wrong about Pena but my point here is to say that I do not give a damn how Correa does from this point on. I follow the Astros. Correa is an unsigned free agent from Minnesota with the potential for a good future although not necessarily a long one. Where he lands this winter may be of some interest but it means nothing to the Astros. Pena will be in the conversation for the all star game for many years and for MVP for at least a few. It is a great time to be an Astros fan.
Of course it wasn’t a fluke. He had stretches where he got hot like this during the regular season as well. Adjustments will be key.
