Correa is still in his prime. You dont think and infield of Correa/Pena has great range on the left side and both will bat .275-.300? Parades will be a fine 1B defensively IMHO and that leaves Altuve as the only weak spot IMHO. The OF needs to add a bat But I'm high on the young OF of Smith/Cole/Dezenzo. Although I would like Dana to add another OBP with speed OF and use Dezenzo as a backup corner OF/1B with Parades moving back to 3B if Correa is injured. This doesn't even include Meyers. They really have to add 2 inning eating quality SP1-2 guys if they want to remain contenders. A new manager would be the biggest move besides getting Alvarez healthy and adding 2 SP's IMHO. They're a really good team with just a few tweaks IMHO.
Yes, we are, at least I am. What I am saying is that leadership has changed since the glory days. Brown is likely OK, but not sure heading up the whole operation is his thing. Several questionable acquisitions have been made in the last few years. Who hires the support staff, like the conditioning coaches, hitting coaches, pitching coaches, etc?
Who was the questionable acquisition made by Brown? Walker? Who else? He got Yusei, Paredes, Cam, Correa, Walter, Alexander,
Either Released or played terrible Brendan Rogers, Luis Contreras, Nick Hernandez, Craig Kimbrel, Taylor Scott, Hector Neris, Jordan Weems, Shawn Dubin, Cooper Hummel, Jon Singleton, Guillorme Forrest Whitley could become a regrettable trade, still throws hard that was needed in this bullpen. Dana Brown really made bad signings and bad trades. Positives Brandon Walter, Colton Gordon, Kaleb Ort, Jason Alexander, Ramon Urias, Zach Cole, AJ Blubaugh Unsure, they had big hits in moments Jesus Sanchez he has potential, Zack Short game winning hit, Taylor Trammell clutch home run vs Yankees
Jose Abreu (signed right before Brown) was a huge bust. Astros are still paying him. Tucker and Bregman would have made a difference this season, but I understand that the money issues are complicated. I thought they overpaid for Hader. He did exceptionally well, but durability was always an issue. The avalanche of minor leaguers didn't make a huge impact. All this is debatable, but the Astros are home watching the playoffs, and last year they pretty much did the same.
I do not think anyone but an old guy from Houston is going to claim that Correa is in his prime. Hell I am an old guy from Houston and even I do not buy that. We had a perfectly good left side of the infield before we signed Correa and now we have 2 guys that are best suited for third base and will wind up having to trade one of them to get the roster right again. There is no winning that trade no matter who stays and who goes.
They are not going to trade Correa or Paredes. Correa is still a good, not great hitter and a great defensive player. Walker and/or Myers are probably on their way out. Paredes will play either 1b or 2b. I believe they will bring in 2 starting pitchers. Not sure if they will be ToR guys, but I hope at least one is. They both need to be able to eat some innings. If I was going to trade anyone of our top players it would be Alvarez, but only for a haul much better than we got for Tucker (and I liked that trade).
Prime years at least in my limited athletic experience are 27-32. He's not 37-40 You get talent and figure out a way to make it work.
All the released or terrible guys were paid pretty much the minimum. Rogers was a good gamble but got hurt. You lost me at Forrest Whitley. The guy got cut by Tampa. If they can't fix him after being released by Miller and Murphy, there is no near term salvation for him. In terms of talent acquisition, Brown has been very good. It's not like he had a lot of money or really high draft picks to work with.
He is Taylor made to bat at our park, he is young, works on his game, and can play 3b if Correa goes down. He too has not stayed on the field as much as I would like, but is also a valid replacement at DH if Alvarez goes down yet again. If you are going to trade one of Pena, Alvarez, and Paredes, I would think Paredes would bring the least and Alvarez the most. For the record, I don’t think the Astros will trade any of them. If Paredes can play second at least as well as Altuve they might keep Walker, but I think he is likely unloaded for Paredes to play first.
probably true for the majority but with Correa’s brittle nature, I doubt he’s in his prime anymore. He’s only 30 and SS is already starting to be too much for his injury riddled body.
I would too if you could convince Correa to play second. We would have pretty incredible infield defense and could keep Walker if we want.
Doubt you could talk him into it, since his whole post-trade schpiel was "it's time to move. I'm a 3B now at this point of my career" But I'd much, much, much rather have him at 2B and Paredes at 3B than vice versa. Correa's the better fielder at both positions, but Paredes ain't bad at all at 3B
Correa is our 3rd baseman now, when he’s not on the IL. There is no discussion there. We now have a weird log jam. Imo, Paredes is not a viable solution at 2B. Crane reached for nostalgic glory with the Correa trade but now it’s awkward. I think you gotta unload Walker and put Paredes at 1B.
There lies the problem. Almost every team in the league can say this statement and we've been above and beyond them for years. Now, we've regressed to the middle of the pack and it's no longer a certainty that we'll continue to win games but a crapshoot.
