I get it. The Alvarez hype is real, but CMON man. Throwing Tuve under the bus? moving springer out of his lead off role?? Reddick, thrown way under the bus. (for a guy who has sucked at the major league level no less!) Not gonna happen. Springer Breg Tuve Brantley Correa Alvarez Gurriel Chirinos Reddick Friendly reminder, Tyler White hit three homers in his first five big league games and won AL player of the week his first week. The kid has looked special, but pump the breaks on calling him the best hitter on this team!
Friendly reminder, Alvarez is not White. White, other than being an Astro and having a good first 5 days, has nothing in common with Alvarez.
I hope so. If Alvarez hits like it looks like he can, as a minimum 850-900 ops guy (at a minimum he’s going to walk and drop bombs that’s a guarantee) and Tuve is a better hitter for the rest of the year than that then that makes this lineup even greater. Altuve is 29 and has had a pretty significant knee injury now. I’m just saying it’s likely we’ve seen the high point of his career already.
To be clear I said I think he might be, meaning that’s what I’m projecting ends up happening (him being the best hitter on the team) not anointing him as such 5 games in (sorry if that was unclear/shittily explained) It’s a projection and a guess. But guys who control the strike zone that well with that kind of power don’t ever bust. At a minimum they are Adam Dunn types, who was a really useful player for a lot of years with all his walks and bombs YA easy power and swing that’s not slow and loopy lead me to believe he will be much better than that, but guys with those two attributes have a floor of Adam Dunn and a ceiling of “destroyer of worlds”
1. Springer 2. Bregman 3. Altuve 4. Brantley 5. Correa 6. Alvarez 7. Gurriel 8. Chirinos 9. Reddick Bench: Diaz, Marisnick, Stassi/Stubbs
Maybe next year but ideal to me: 1. Springer CF 2. Bregman 3B 3. Altuve 2B 4. Alvarez 1B 5. Correa SS 6. Brantley DH 7. Tucker LF 8. Reddick RF 9. Chirinos C Yuli (probably traded to free up$) Straw Jake Diaz
No backup C? My ideal 2020 lineup: CF Springer LF Brantley 3B Bregman 2B Altuve DH Alvarez SS Correa RF Tucker 1B Smoak C Chirinos Bench: Diaz, Marisnick, Castro GOAT
CF Springer 2B Altuve 3B Bregman DH Alvarez SS Correa LF Brantley 1B Gurriel RF Tucker C Chirinos 1B/OF Reddick CF/SS Straw UTIL Diaz C Anyone but Stassi Then trade JB Bakauskas, Corbin Martin and Derek Fisher for Marcus Stroman.
I like this one. Alvarez has the consistent power and contact to be the ideal cleanup hitter with Correa protecting. You can't pitch around Alvarez if Correa is next in the lineup
This was the point. Not really sure what them having anything else in common matters? For the record, It's fairly obvious that Alvarez is not white.
Then there was no reason to bring up White if you don't think there is much in common between them (i.e., What White does in a small sample has no bearing on projecting Alvarez. )
Besides showing that anyone can get off to a legendary type start. (even every-man White.) The fact that there is nothing spectacular about him versus any other guy is exactly my point.
I'm not trying to hate on Alvarez here. I don't think he's fake. I'm pointing out the minuscule sample size. I wan't him to continue killing it. I am simply tempering my use of superlatives and all that. He has to do it before he is crowned.
Look I get it. But he didn’t just get dropped into the league from out of nowhere. He’s got a track record in the minors that says he should be a really good hitter (age, production, advanced stats like barrels, exit velo launch angle etc. Then you have scouts that have a good feel for this. Now a little production in the majors. The point is that there are a ton of things pointing to the idea that this guy is going to be a quality hitter for a long time. I’m not worried in the least.
