Current $/war cost per million projections for most of Houston's roster: Alvarez .16 Tucker .17 Framber .21 Urquidy .43 Straw .5 Javier .86 McCullers 2.32 Correa 2.3 Bregman 3.28 Maldonado 3.89 Castro 4 Pressly 4.86 Brantley 5.93 Altuve 6.3 Gurriel 7.78 Greinke 8.05 Verlander ~~~~
ignore works SO well on this site. One click and every “but his Batting Average!1!!...” comments disappear instantly
It's better to have 8 bats in the .250 to .300 range. Enjoy watching Straw/Castro. Ask yourself this, what would Luhnow have done? I'm pretty sure since Luhnow let Castro go once he wouldn't have brought back Castro and his .200 BA. BTW, this doesn't mean I have the Realmuto fantasy.
Lunhow went out and got Maldanado and his 0.200 BA. Let him go, and then went and traded for him again.
Moving goalposts, I see. So Lunhow would, in fact, bring back a 0.200 BA backup catcher after letting him go. Just not in the exact circumstances of now. Why not add "in a pandemic on Jan 20th, 2021" to your criteria? Then you can ensure 100% Lunhow wouldn't do it.
So after he had his lineup in place is moving the goalposts? Do you really think Luhnow would have brought Castro back? If so I totally disagree. The reason he brought Maldy back is he had one of the best throwing arms in MLB and hit for power. Castro does none of these things. But hey, technically you're right and that's what matters. Do like the moves and how Click has spent money so far this off-season? I don't. A pitcher with declining velo an Castro is money that could have been spent to find another CF to go with Uncle Mike. I like that re-signing.
Most of the free agent catchers suck at hitting. Wilson Ramos is probably the best (outside of Realmuto) but Ramos can't defend at all. He is so bad now he really shouldn't even be behind the plate. He also had an awful 2020 with the bat. Chirinos is ancient now and was awful with the bat too. The one guy I probably would have preferred is Avila, but he was also terrible last season and Castro was a little better with the bat. Flowers would have been in the ballpark with Castro, but I prefer having the left handed bat with Castro to platoon with Maldonado. Castro has a career .749 OPS against RHP. That is how you utilize him.
I guess I haven't been in this forum enough to realize there were many people still emphasizing batting average in 2021. That's legitimately surprising to me.
You extend Correa in spring training after his arbitration hearing. You don't want the big AAV for the extension being on this year's luxury tax payroll.
The Astros can definitely afford Correa. It’s just a matter of whether they think his asking price represents a good allocation of resources. I think a $200M/10yr deal (2021-2030, ages 27-36) is fair if they are looking to make him “an Astro for life”. But if he has a full, healthy, 6 fWAR season he could be looking at 20% more than that next offseason. If Correa doesn’t sign an extension he is definitely taking a risk, considering how injury prone he has been. Any meaningful injury or prolonged slump could leave him 5th in the pecking order for next years free agent SS crop and looking at either a short term incentive laden deal or a lowball long term contract.
I would love for him to be an Astro for life. When the scandal came out, he took on the leadership role while others seem to hide and that's not a knock on them. It wasn't an easy thing to deal with but Correa absolutely was a leader. Correa, when healthy, is a monster. There's obviously a lot of risk factors on both sides. I like your figures a lot and I'm wondering if Correa would be willing to take deferred money to make it work.
I want Correa on the Astros for the rest of his career, then milling about the stadium in retirement and once and awhile joining the broadcast booth like Bagwell. He's an Astros legend and should be an Astros lifer.
