Is somebody actually double-downing on this? After 162+ games.... including playoff games... Springer has made his impact in the leadoff spot well felt.
@jim1961 - Of course your opinion and desire is your right. But....for this team, for this season, would you rather have had Springer, Bregman/Reddick, Altuve and Correa (for the most part in that order) be part of a offensively historic season or would you have preferred they change it up and have who knows what happen?
Perhaps. Just like the speedy get on base stealing guy to lead off and power guys at the 3 or 4 to bat them in. So to me, an Altuve Springer switch looks better. You disagree. Great!
No; I don't disagree. You're just fundamentally wrong. Altuve has outslugged Springer in each of the past two seasons (.539 to .487). And they both slugged .459 in '15. So that begs the question: are your being purposefully or ignorantly obtuse?.... Stop being stubborn. You could not be more wrong here. On all counts: wrong.
You are sticking your fingers in the your ears and shouting NANANANAICAN'THEARYOU!NANANANA. If you'd stop acting like a stubborn child, there's actual a lot of really smart, insightful responses throughout this thread - all of which have, more or less, been vindicated. If you'd rather clutch to a bygone era of baseball and pretend what we're witnessing is some passing fad... OK. But the Astros have built what is the best offense in baseball - and the fourth-best offense since 1901 - in large part on the back of George Springer redefining the lead-off position. The league is not going to run from it; they are going to embrace it. Additionally, you're so dug in here, you're failing to recognize the many elements of Springer's game that do still align with your preference: he gets on base a lot and is very fast. But because he also has power, steals are unnecessary (+ he's not very good at it). He's hit 58 doubles these past two seasons. Hitting doubles are an easier way to get to second base than a walk/hit + steal. Whatever; take your ball and go home - probably for the best; it's likely getting harder and harder for you to follow along with your head so far up up your ass.
So to answer my question...this season in which the Astros offense was historically good you would rather them have switched the deserving MVP candidate out of the number three hole with the player who led all lead off men in the American League in On Base Percentage simply because Altuve would steal more bases? What an odd stance to have.
Also because Springer apparently has more power, despite, you know, Altuve having a better slugging % three years running...
Per Hinch: “He's a good leadoff hitter. He's a dangerous leadoff hitter," Hinch continued. "Our offense when it's worked its best has had him at the top. I appreciate the run production conversation or questions or what could be or might be if he was in the middle of the order, but he gets the most at-bats of anybody on our team for a reason. It's because of how dangerous he is and how dynamic he is." “I think OPS has sort of replaced OBP when it comes to how we evaluate hitters," Hinch said. "When you start looking at the guys that get the most at-bats and give you the most opportunity to score runs, they're dangerous hitters. They're not simply these table setters of the past.” “I can appreciate the old-school thought of a fast guy who gets on base and creates havoc. That's very valuable as well. But when you're laying out your lineup and you want your best hitters to get the most at-bats, sometimes it doesn't look aesthetically the way that you're used to the game looking but it's the way the game is." “When you look at the stereotypical things, you're going to look at Jose and you're going to think he's going to walk, he's going to bunt, he's going to run, he's going to do all of these small-ball things," Hinch said. "I think when you break him down as a player, what he does is get hits, and you want hits with guys on base."
OK, lets take a look at our regular season OPS leaders. (expand the above to see what I bolded) Altuve .957 Correa .941 Marwin .907 Springer .889 If you took Hinch's comments literally, you might conclude these are your best hitters (OPS rank). And continue on from there. Reddick .847 Bregman .827 Yuli .817 Now, if you want to satisfy Hinch's statement about having guys on base when Altuve comes to bat, you could still move him to the 3 spot, and it would look like this. Correa .941 Marwin .907 Altuve .957 Springer .889 Reddick .847 Bregman .827 Yuli .817 In any case, if you take what Hinch said, and the criteria behind his decision making, you dont end up with Springer in the #1 spot. (the above lineup looks really good to these eyes)
I suppose its natural to take one statement of an opponents, isolate it, and then shoot it down and call it a win. Stealing bases is one of many parts of my thinking, not the whole. BTW, had Altuve, Marwin, or Correa led off, they would have led all lead off men in the American League in On Base Percentage also.
Jim1961, having Springer at the top of the lineup also provides some pop behind the bottom third of the lineup.
Both Altuve and Correa have pop as well. In fact, one could argue that we have 7 guys on the team with pop. FYI, 5 guys on the team had more doubles than Springer and Beltran had just as many as Springer. http://www.espn.com/mlb/team/stats/batting/_/name/hou/seasontype/2/cat/doubles
So, you know for a fact that they would have performed the exact same way? You don't. That's the point of the whole argument. We know for a fact how they performed with their lineup. It was historic. And you want to change it.
Glad you said that, because you can say the same thing about next year. The guys wont perform the same next year as well, so? Their performance, taken under quantitizing into stats, changes every week. You seem just so worried that if we change the batting order, that things will be worse. But mostly only pertaining to the leadoff spot. Nearly every spot has been tinkered with except the 1, and maybe 3 and 4. I suppose at the crux of this matter is how much stock you put into the issue to begin with. I am one of those that feels (mostly) that a good player will perform well in any spot in the order. I will concede that sometimes there are short term consequences until the player adjusts to his new spot, but those are not always bad ones. Sometimes players go beast mode when moved somewhere new. It seems to me that you feel its worked so well, why change it? But to me, that implies it must be fragile. You wouldn't be afraid to tinker if you thought of it as resilient, would you? I believe more in the players themselves than the system in which they are part of.
Obviously you're stuck in your opinion and your opinion only. As others have pointed out why mess with something that has worked extremely well. Altuve batting 3rd and Correa in the cleanup spot might not have the chance to drive in runs with the guys from the bottom third of the lineup on base.
