It's part of baseball, so I'm trying to figure out if our slumps were not out of the ordinary and we should not be concerned? I just can't tell how much of my bias is affecting my judgement.
Yah I don't know what causes it, but I knew it would show up in the playoffs and we'd be done. I followed nearly every game this year.
Same here, I felt the same way. I wonder if anyone could do a comparison of slumps to see if 2021 was substantially worse than 2019 or 17. I'm guessing it was.
Can Jose Ramirez play SS? If we lose Correa he may be an interesting addition, just not sure if he and Bregs makes sense on the left side. I would prefer to not totally rehaul the team…but if the price is right, he could be one helluva addition to our lineup, and would mitigate the need to improve at C/CF.
This team needs another power threat. I'm talking a 30-40 Homer type of dude. If we lose Correa I really hope we don't try to replace his production with a rookie.
Cool. Glad Yuli will be back. So it looks like we could see new faces at SS and potentially CF? For position players that is.
Yuli has lost power but hits for avg. I would love a high avg person to replace CC And a power hitting CF … the Astros really let a guy hitting under .200 kill them with HRs … it was like getting beat by Draymond hitting 3’s
Losing Correa makes me think we need more pop at the corner infield positions. Bregmans not the same guy anymore and yuli will be 38. Yuli only had 46 extra base hits this year. We need another power bat. I like having Yuli back but we need another thumper in the lineup.
Strom begin gone really concerns me. Will suck even worse if h decides he doesn't wan to retire and goes and works for the yankees or dodgers. That would BLOW
i think it was too. We won 95 games, which is great. However, I think our run differential says that we should’ve won 7-8 more than that. Its weird. Like I’ve said before, it’s easy to defend this offense by pointing to the numbers. Yet If you’ve watched closely all season, and choose to only look at the numbers, I think you’re being obtuse. Lots of games where the bats went cold and lots of runners stranded in close games too.
May sound a bit weird, but, Paul DeJong? Hit 19 HR in limited at bats with the Cardinals, which prorates to 31 if he got the same number of at bats as Carlos did. He also fills the hole at SS. Sure, his arm isn't the rocket that Correa's is, but he's a good fielder who moves well. Also, I'd like to think that his power would go up more with half his games in Houston, especially with him being the pull side fly ball hitter he is. I expect the Cardinals to move on from him after his benching, but the talent is there and he's a bounce back candidate after a change of scenery. His contract is also manageable. He's owed $15.3M/2 yrs with 2 option years, but, only counts $4.3M against the luxury tax during the guaranteed years due to the structure of his deal, per Spotrac. I can easily see him having a .250/35 HR season with a change of scenery, good lineup protection, and the Crawford Boxes. We can also trade Odorizzi to the Cardinals in this hypothetical. After Waino and Flaherty, they have HUGE question marks at the back end of their rotation, and Jake can be a stable #4/5 starter (something they could have used last year). Assuming Dusty stays, as expected, I can see Odo being traded since there seems to be bad blood.
Who's the favorite to sign Correa. I've been predicting NYY all year because Gleyber is a disaster and Yankees have always been willing to commit for good infielders.
My feelings are hard to sort out. I should feel pretty good. We got to the World Series! The offense had a banner year. The bullpen, ultimately, was better than many thought. We beat two very good teams to get there. Yuli won the batting title. But I don't feel very good at all. I suppose I am trying to hide from myself this feeling that this is the end of their peak. They will still be very good for another 3-4 years. But I feel them slipping off the mountain instead of climbing it. Strom is part of it. So is the talent lost to free agency. Bregman and Altuve regression soon? Already? Despite the above, there are good reasons to be optimistic. I am just having a hard time convincing myself that they matter. World Series hangover I suppose. Bright and shiny next week? Probably not . Probably not for a while if there is a work stoppage.
Just for fun predictions: Astros trade Jake Meyers, Bryan Abreu, Tyler Ivey and Forrest Whitley for Byron Buxton, Taylor Rogers, and Tyler Duffey(Bellaire HS/Rice Product) Astros trade Hunter Brown, Pedro Leon, Peter Solomon, and Yainer Diaz for Luis Castillo and Amir Garrett Astros trade Jake Odorizzi for a mid tier and a lower level prospect Sign SS Trevor Story to a 4 year 100 million dollar deal with the understanding that he possibly will take over in LF once Brantley’s contract expires after the 2022 season, paving the way for Jeremy Pena. Resulting Lineup: CF- Buxton LF- Brantley 2B- Altuve DH- Alvarez 3B- Bregman RF- Tucker SS- Story 1B- Yuli C- Maldy Starting pitchers: Castillo McCullers Framber Garcia Urquidy Bullpen: Javier Maton Garrett Stanek Taylor Rogers Duffey Pressly Bench Castro Diaz McCormick Siri -Having our draft picks back moving forward and a couple more splashes in the intl. FA market allow Click to make some bold moves. - Acquiring an ace caliber SP while solidifying the back end of the bullpen instead of getting into a bidding war to retain Graveman. -Addresses the lack of solid LH relief pitching by nabbing Rogers in the Buxton deal and also gets a LH flame thrower in Garrett with the hopes of him finally harnessing his control in the Castillo deal. I think Story would hit very well at MMP and as I mentioned above- he’d have an understanding about a potential move to the OF once Brantley leaves. There was some talk about potential suitors at this past deadline inquiring about Story making the move to the OF. Looking forward to Click being able to operate with plenty of resources at his disposal. I know none of these things are very “likely” and I could be way off on contracts/prospect value but man… that would be a team that instills fear in the rest of the MLB
Fantasy offseason QO both JV and Correa. Both decline, sign elsewhere, and we get two comp picks Non-tender Montero, tender all the others FA signings: Kevin Gausman - 4yr/$100M: This is tough for many, but he's arguably the top arm Kendall Graveman - 2yr/$15M + option Trades: Astros get SS DeJong + PTBNL; Cardinals get RHP Jake Odorizzi + PTBNL Astros get: RHP Chris Stratton Pirates get: RHP Josh James, RHP Enoli Paredes, RHP Pedro Baez Stratton is Maton 2.0 with his spin rate. He brings a little more heat than Phil, and has just as elite peripherals. His curve also has elite break. We let Yimi walk in this scenario, and Stratton basically takes over his role. Also snuck in a Pedro Baez salary dump too. 1. Altuve 2B 2. Brantley LF 3. Bregman 3B 4. Alvarez DH 5. Gurriel 1B 6. Tucker RF 7. DeJong SS 8. Meyers CF 9. Maldonado C Bench: Castro, Diaz, Siri, McCormick Rotation: LMJ, Gausman, Urquidy, Valdez, Garcia Pen: Pressly, Graveman, Stanek, Maton, Stratton, Taylor, Javier, Solomon No major prospects traded. This team should easily be in 1st place and on pace for triple digit wins at the deadline, while giving us flexibility to re-evaluate then. Really do NOT want to trade Hunter Brown, I think he will become exactly what Forrest Whitley was supposed to be, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him bump either Garcia or Framber out of the rotation (my super hot take that could be cold).
