I grew up with Cruz, Cedeno and Puhl, Reynolds rap, etc. In that era of baseball, team rosters were more consistent and you could for, a childhood emotional attachment to the team. Today, that's harder with free agency and Internet access to things beyond your own team. This crew of Correa, Springer, Altuve, Keuchel... They have the chance to be that for our kids. Twirl your bat like Tuve, mash like Correa, dive like Springer, fake beard it up like Keuchel. Maybe more coming up through the system. Great combination of talent, characters, performance, youth. Maybe it means more to me because my kids are into baseball and old enough to really care and root for the team. We are going to the game today. I'm thinking it's going to be a big building block to their fandom and their following of these young exciting players.
Have fun, and enjoy the game with your kids! I love our young core, and the way they seem to play the game for each other. Go Astros!
Yea that's great. I came up during that era also. Used to hold my bat like Cruuuuuz. Loved the way the PA guy said Rafael LandeSTOYYY! How do you spell relief? S-A-M-B-I-T-O. Good times!
I grew up in the Biggio and Bagwell era. It was all about playing hard like Biggio and dropping the butt to swing like Bagwell.
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Became a die hard because of the Killer Bs, but its awesome to see a new young core endear itself to the city. Hopefully this is only just the beginning.
Nice! I wish I still had my "young guns" poster! I think it was Gerald young, Eric Yelding and the like!
No kidding! That's exactly what one of my Dallas Rangers friends said...then I had to explain that the core of the Astros are all here for another 5 years or so at least, and that the club hasn't even tried to make and spend money yet. The reply was "uhh, hmmm", and then he went back to the bar with what looked like a bunch of real shade trailing behind him. It may have just been the lighting though.
Altuve is locked into a nice cheap long term deal. Keuchel will get paid this offseason. Correa is a rookie and under club control for years, but as a future HOFer will be locked up early, like JJ Watt. Springer is also under club control for years, and we will need to pay to keep him. The window to win is now, while many of them remain cheap, and we can add a legit middle of order bat.
So whould you take out of Altive, Correa, Springer, and Keuchel versis Biggio, Bagwell, Berkman, and Oswalt? Keep in might how incredible Correa should end being.
We never really had that core, Bagwell and Biggio were clearly on the back end when Puma and Oswalt hit the scene. If we are talking all in thier primes I would say the killer B group is better. Plus it's hard to judge because we've seen the best of that first group, and we're still going largely on potential with Springer and Correa. But if I were to do a fantasy draft 1.Correa 2.Bagwell 3.Berkman 4.Keuchel 5.Oswalt 6.Biggio 7.Springer (has the potential to put it together and be the best of them all) 8.Altuve But this current core is locked in and primed. Plus there is a very real chance that guys like AJ Reed, Mark Appel, or Michael Feliz could become yet another beast added to this core for the next 5 years.
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The one that has me worried down the line is Correa though since he could be inline to become the highest paid player in baseball. Then you really have to factor in if it's smart to have the highest paid player in baseball on a team that will likely be middle of the road in payroll.
Biggio/Bagwell in baseball, Hakeem in basketball. We were so lucky as kids to have those guys on our teams. I definitely think we could have something that special, though there is little chance we will see Correa/Altuve/Springer/Keuchel together for over a decade.
