I'll always have a soft spot for Carlos Correa. Following him daily in the minors as the number 1 overall pick in the 2012 draft, he was the hope when our Astros teams were losing 100 plus games. Watching him explode on the scene and help push the Astros to that first postseason in 2015, it felt like we were watching something special. I was at Minute Maid for game 4 of the 2015 ALDS. He goes 4 for 4 with 2 home runs (and a costly error), it felt like we had our Captain, where Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez had a love child. He was going to be the Chosen One. In 2016, even though it was a down year, it felt like Carlos had every clutch hit and game winning rbi for us. In 2017, he is a torn thumb ligament away from winning the MVP that year over Altuve. He is a key cog in helping to win every playoff series that year. Super clutch in game 1 and 2 against the Yankees. He had the super important, back to back home run in the 10th inning of game 1 against the Dodgers. The game 5, 7th inning home run was one of the most surreal, delirous moments in my life. I was at the game. That home run almost scraped the roof and felt like time stood still with how long the ball was in the air. And who the hell plans to a marriage proposal on the field after a possible game 7 win. It's hard enough to just plan a regular marriage proposal. You have to be one part crazy and one part courageous to even think about doing something like that. The dude is just built different. We have been so lucky to have watched this group for the last 6 years. It really hit me when I saw the stat that Springer, Altuve, Bregman, Gurriel, and Correa will have played the most playoffs games ever as teammates. I hope Springer and/or Correa can keep the band together.
Correa's 1 HR per 14 ABs in the postseason is hot but Springer has been even better: 230 ABs 17 HRs for about 1 HR every 13.5 ABs
So are we approaching the territory where both Correa and Springer are such LEGENDARY Astros (mainly because they're both some of the best postseason performers of all-time) that we all would be okay with spending the kind of money it would take to keep Springer, Correa, Altuve, Bregman together long term? I know it's not my money, but I'm 100% on board with paying up to keep that core 4 in Houston for the foreseeable future.
The only way I see it being possible is if you allow Greinke, Verlander and LMJ to walk after 2021 and let Brantley walk this offseason. That would be getting rid of a significant chunk of money and you'd still have a core pitching group of Valdez, Urquidy, Javier, Paredes combined with Tucker and Alvarez under control for a very long time. It's wishful thinking, I know, but I think it's just baaaaarely doable.
Springer is awesome! I followed him quite a bit in the Minor Leagues too. He is outperformed all expectations that I ever had for him. Also, to follow up on Correa's postseason play, I can think of at least 3 remarkable gun down plays at the plate or 3rd base. His arm is an absolute weapon in saving runs.
His defense continues to improve and is now overall as good as it gets out there. If the rumors that the Astros are very serious about doing all it takes to retain him, hopefully they'll continue to refine his strength training program to keep his back/joints/limbs sound. Granted this year is incomplete... but this was also around the time of year in previous seasons when he would have "issues".
If the nationals can figure out how to pay Strasburg, Scherzer, Corbin... hopefully the Astros can get creative with this core. Would be nice if they could somehow figure out a deferred plan for JV (if they need some flexibility for next year).
probably I remember back when Correa was a prospect I looked at his minor league stats and he had a noticeable increase in batting average with RISP . Granted , runners on base could influence the pitcher as well . I think he’s got the clutch gene tho
I'd prefer not calling him CC. That fat f*** Sabathia and Correa shouldn't be in the same thought process.
Kinda where I am. Even keeping Brantley might be possible depending on terms. Everything rides on our young pitching staff. If they continue to develop, we have a shot to keep the core together. Whitley balling out in spring ball would seal the next half decade of dominance.
If the Nationals were so creative in figuring things out they would have figured out how to pay Rendon. You can't pay everyone.
Agreed... They made the choice to go all-in with pitching, while letting Harper go (and then Rendon). The Astros should attempt to keep this lineup together if there’s a chance of it... its not easy to find face-of-franchise type guys, and the Astros happen to have 4 of them.
Not disagreeing with you but in my opinion they have enough of a core with offense over the next two years with Bregman, Altuve, Alvarez, Tucker and Yuli (Correa for one of those yrs). Correa will more than likely be gone. Would love to see them get Brantley on another two year deal and Springer as well. Quite a bit of $$ coming off the books after next yr with JV and Greinke but Altuve and Bregman will see increases. This core needs another reliable starter and for those of you who keep thinking it's going to be Whitley I just don't see it happening.
I also don't see them going out and signing a FA pitcher. They'll have to develop one. For every expected prospect that doesn't work out (Whitley), if they can develop 2 or so guys who weren't expected to be reliable (Valdez, Urquiddy, Javier), I'll take it. All accounts are that they're going to try their best to retain at least Correa. I don't see them just letting everybody go, even if the core they have can still field a competitive enough team... albeit Yordan still not a guarantee, Yuli won't be a long-term contributor, and remains to be seen what sort of bounce-back Altuve is capable of. Glad they didn't trade Correa when everybody was demanding/mandating it. This is a special enough core that they may just decide its better to compete year-in/year-out here than making a go of it on the Mets, Phillies, Cubs like franchises. Of course money will determine everything.
