Yeah I was thinking lack of a vocal leader. With him under contract for a few years, you have someone that'll speak up when necessary.
The Astros had an opportunity to add a player that they viewed as an impact player at a financial cost they were happy to oblige. Crane was largely responsible for Correa coming back. He personally learned of the Twins financial issues, he worked out the outline of the deal. The Astros viewed Correa as an impact player - and as far as I know, still do. He had an OPS over 900 a year ago, had an OPS over 800 with the Astros last year and was on pace for a 4 WAR season. They view him as a large part of the 2026 team. He can play any infield spot well.
I think people are really underselling what Correa can do, they talk like he's a 39 year old who is just OK. He's been strangely inconsistent as a hitter, but the possibility for an absolute impact bat is there. I've said multiple time all offseason, the starting pitching scares the hell out of me, but this offense has an extremely high ceiling with the potential to have plus to extremely good bats at all 9 spots. People get too caught up in year to year results as if last season is for sure what they'll be next season. I wish we were in the spot we used to be where we could pencil in greatness with a higher floor, but this where we're at now. We have to hope for more hits than misses.
Do not ignore the slope. His bat is fading, his power is declining, and his usefulness to the team is almost certain to follow. Hope I am wrong but this has been on my mind since his signing. To be the leader of a team you have to be at he front. Leading from behind is like pushing a rope - silly and ineffective.
Agreed. Even when he was at his most gimpy self… he was still hitting playoff HR’s with regularity. The Springers, Bregman’s, Correas, Altuve’s ability to dial it up (or not be a deer in headlights) in the post season can’t be underestimated. And yes, I know that it’s likely everybody reaches their career numbers with enough AB’s…. But its still such a crapshoot given that you have to be ON during the tiniest 2-3 week stretch that in the regular season would be a blink of an eye (but in the playoffs, gets magnified by a trillion). Plus, fans do respond to a ‘face’. No doubt there were commercial/financial reasons for bringing him back in that went beyond the baseball field. He’s going to be either a future GM or be the future lead analyst on a national stage. The valedictorian in him was very evident when he was brought into the studio during the 2022 Astros championship run. He’s wasn’t just saying vanilla stuff either… throwing out all the advanced metric acronyms that give people erections in here. Knowing exactly how and why certain players get paid and why certain players are effective (or ineffective) in key moments. Yordan/Altuve would never yell at Framber mid-game and tell him to get his head out of his ass. (Ironically, Framber’s decline last year coincided exactly when Correa came back… I do think he’s afraid of Carlos and couldn’t shake that… even more reason to not have to worry about the future headache till his head gets even more therapy).
Your are way off on this Correa hatred. He's an extremely talented hitter and very good fielder at 3B. He is only 31 and is at 45.7 bWAR for his career already. He was an All Star in 2024. He may end up as our second Hall of Famer wearing an Astros cap out of this Altuve era. I don't like him at SS because I think his range has declined, but his arm is outstanding and his 117 OPS+ with the Astros last season isn't far from his career numbers. I don't think he will be out best hitter but he lengthens our lineup. If we return to the playoffs, he's a clutch hitter who shines when the lights are brightest.
Yep yep yep. If Correa is your team’s 5th best hitter, your have an all-time great lineup. If he’s the 4th best hitter, that team is a legit contender (at least on offense). Yordan, Altuve, and Paredes are all better hitters than Correa, and if Pena replicates his 2025 then he’s better than Correa too. Correa is a bargain at $21M/yr and a key player who projects as a star and has upside to put up an MVP level season.
As an Astros fan, I am extremely happy that Correa is on the team. I see no downside. If anyone disagrees with me, then they must be a Yankees fan who does not understand what forum they are in
I am tempted to up my Clutchfans membership again just to post an AI picture of Aaron Judge as a deer in headlights.
(found the archived clip I referred to earlier... he certainly runs circles around A-Rod's "analysis", lol)
I think the Astros severely underbid on both Paredes and Diaz and will lose if it goes to hearing. Especially looking at agreements yesterday. Paredes made $6.625M last year. $9.3M is lowest estimate I found and they offer $8.7M? Diaz has averaged 2.3 fWAR / 3.0 bWAR per season and he projects for 2.5-2.8 at age 27 in 2026. Lowest estimate I have found is $3.5M. Teams are paying $11M per WAR in FA and they only offer $3M? I think Astros lose both.
One of the reasons I really hope Correa finishes his career strong is that I think the game is better if he’s one of their stars. He is smart and charismatic. He could be an A Rod or David Ortiz level personality after he’s done playing, and it would be great if he had closer to the amount of player cred those guys have.
