2015 Astros Minor League Thread

Of course a Major League team will overlook the best ways to make a profit

 

Correa being held back has nothing to do with increasing profits. He's going to be an Astro. Astros budget is much higher than his salary. Holding him back will only allow Astros to spend money on other players to help the Astros win more games. Astros may make more profits because they're winning more games, but that is a side effect to purpose of holding him back.... winning.

 

There may be *baseball* reasons for holding Correa back.

I'm just saying.

 

There is. Astros will likely win more games in the next 7 years if the Astros hold Correa back until after Super 2. Correa should have been an Astro when Bryant became a Cub.

Short term decision making is what lead to Lastros. It is not the Astros fault that the MLBPA gains for veteran players made it beneficial for teams in terms of wins to bring players up at arbitrary times even though a rookie may already be better than the veteran.

 

The Super 2 stuff gets mitigated if they can work out an extension (which HAS to happen if he is all that).... but waiting till the deadline provides a backup plan in case they can't work one out.

The optimistic outlook is that Correa's agent seems to be pretty pro pre-arbitration extensions based on what his other clients have gotten... unfortunately one client who has yet to agree to one is George Springer.

 

Was it short-term decision making that led to the disaster drafts of 2005-2009 (I guess 2008 did yield Castro and Lyles)? (Also, plenty of decisions were made with $$$ in mind... namely picking singable players early).

That robbed this team of a future just as much as the desperation signings of over the hill veterans when they were chasing it.

As much as I can tell, the new regime has simply done a much better job at building organizational depth... they will most definitely be trading a lot of filler for veterans at some point (some will work out, some won't), but you have to have depth to be able to do so.

 

Not "pure" baseball reasons... but super 2 can mean millions, which can impact a ball club any given year (so its "baseball" reasons by extension).

As I said above, need to work out an extension ASAP.

 

15-20 million overall if he is a good as we all expect him to be. It's a huge number for only 40-60 days of extra play.

I too expect an Altuve/Singleton deal worked out, but i imagine it will have to be a pretty massive figure, probably 40-50 million, more if they buy out a year of free agency.

 

A baseball reason is that Correa has not had an extended look at AAA/AAAA pitchers. I'm sure that Correa will need to make some adjustments before he masters AAA. How long that will take? Nobody knows.

Some people here (not naming names) think that Correa can go straight from AA to MLB and help the Astros with their playoff run. Inserting a 2-year-in the-future Correa into the Astros current lineup would help but that is not reality.

Correa inserted now into the Astros lineup would have the pressure of playing in the MLB for the first time, the pressure of quickly making hitting adjustments on a two level jump, AND the pressure of helping the Astros in their playoff run. What could go wrong?

 

YES! Not spending money on the future, whether it be in scouting department, analytics, picking players that cost more, or not signing guys over slot, is definitely being short-sided.

 

Winning games is a pure baseball reason...It just isn't a short term baseball reason.

 

Didn't Singleton hit a grand slam the night before as well?

 

I personally would keep Singleton in AAA for most of the season. He is a very gifted player and is capable of being a multiple time all star. However he needs consistency and routine after missing time with the suspension, addiction and weight issues in the past. He has lost a lot of weight and everyone that worked with Singleton in the big leagues last year said he really worked hard on his swing and with the hitting coach. However, he admitted he never worked hard in the past and last year was the first time it caught up to him. He is a moody guy that can have confidence issues. Let him settle in at AAA, have long term success there and then bring him up with the idea that he won't go down again. He is not the type of guy you yo-yo between AAA and the big league club. He really needs solid ground more than most people, at least now.

As far as working out a long term deal with Correa, that may really be hard to do. How much do the Astros think he is worth? Do you offer $100,000,000 long term deal? Do you go longer? What if he is good but not great, does that really hurt the teams long term success? If you are Correa, do you even want a long term deal? Do you take $125,000,000 now and know that it may mean you don't get $200,000,000 down the road?

I know agents say to never sign the long term deal, to test free agency.... but I have to say, if I were Correa at 20 years old, from a middle class family in Puerto Rico........ I would take anything north of $100,000,000 that I could... that is enough to take care of your entire family and never have to worry about finances again. It would allow him to concentrate only on baseball. Have the money invested wisely and not wonder about the "what if" game. To me playing BEYOND $100,000,000 and thinking "Wow I could have gotten $200,000,000!" is a lot better than getting hurt or not playing well and thinking "I let $100,000,000 get away."................ Ask Grossman how he feels......... then ask Singleton.

 

Appearance wise he looks to have slimmed down.

Maybe it just took some growing up.

The two run dinger he hit last night looked to have traveled 470+

 

My understanding is that he has lost weight and thus far has remained alcohol and drug free. He is liked by his teammates and coaches... which wasn't always the case. I think the ordeal with his father, coupled with the suspension and struggle last year with the Astros may have forced him to mature.

I will root for him, he could be a fixture for the Astros for the next decade.

 

He has some Ryan Howard in him.

Hopefully he can live up to his potential.

 

Two of those 3 elements are likely to still be an issue, regardless (if we assume the Astros have indeed scaled the hump and are headed toward being a consistently competitive franchise).

Good is good; if he fails at 20, he's going to fail at 22-23, too. There's certainly value in letting him see better pitching and going through the promotion adjustment, etc. But at this point, his promotion to the ML club should be managed as a foregone conclusion, and his interim steps should be of the shortest variety possible.

 

Your post just made me MORE excited for his impending call-up.

Would like to see nothing better than a slick-fielding power-hitting kid who simply loves to play baseball (and is very very good at it).

C'mon... you'd rather watch Villar (who doesn't really deserve to be a major leaguer right now) and Marwin?

C'mon...

And if Correa does fail, he can be sent down. There is no rule against that. Hell, Mike Trout got sent down. Lance Berkman got sent down. Jon Singleton got sent down (haha!).... but something tells me Correa is going to do what he has done at every level.