2017 Astros: The season ChipalattAwards

Part of savoring the Houston Astros World Championship is savoring the many awards coming to our local nine. Some folks get amped up over the MLB MVP, Cy Young or Manager of the Year Awards. But here at Chip’s corner of the world, what everyone is holding their breaths on is the announcement of the first annual 2017 ChipalattAwards. So without further adieu….

Best Everyday. Jose Altuve

Jose was the little engine that could…kick butt. Not only is he the best player on the Astros – he was the best player in baseball this season.  In the AL, he was 1st in BA (.346) and hits (204), 3rd in OBP (.410), OPS (.957), SBs (32) and tied for 2nd with George Springer in runs scored (112). To date the two greatest players 5’-6” and shorter are two Hall of Famers, Hack Wilson and Wee Willie Keeler, but Altuve may overshadow them both by the time he is done.

Runner-up. Carlos Correa

You don’t have to squint too hard to see that CC was one hand injury away from an awesome 115 R, 35 HR, 115 RBI season for the Astros. His .315 BA/.391 OBP/.941 OPS was impressive as is the fact that he is a shortstop who just turned 23.

Best Starting Pitcher. Brad Peacock

Yes, I know he made a few less starts than the runners-ups, but his renaissance was impactful to the team. As a starter he was 10-2 with a 3.22 ERA, a 1.218 WHIP and a 10.9 K/9 IP. He flipped over from a highly effective set-up man to a very dependable starter when the team could have gone off the injury cliff.

Sorry – I wish I could give this to Justin Verlander, but it was only five starts.

Runners-up. Tie: Dallas Keuchel and Charlie Morton

Tough to pick between Morton’s 14-7 record, 3.62 ERA and 1.193 WHIP in 25 starts and 146.2 IP and Keuchel’s 14-5 record, 3.79 ERA, 1.119 WHIP in 23 starts and 145.2 IP. The Astros needed a good year from DK after his poor/injury plagued year and they needed Morton to come in and be a solid pitcher with Collin McHugh out and they got both.

Best Relief Pitcher. Ken Giles

This is for regular season performance and it was a very good one by Giles. He was 34 of 38 in save opportunities with a 2.30 ERA and a 1.037 WHIP. He only gave up 4 HRs in 62.6 IPs and he put up a strong 11.9 K/9 IPs. He was one of the top 5 closers during the regular season…in the post season? Not so much.

Runner-up. Chris Devenski

He was up and down at times this season, but Devo had an 8-5 record with 4 saves, a 2.68 ERA and .942 WHIP in a stout 80.6 IPs. Like Giles he was shaky in the post season, but he was critical to the team getting there and perhaps these kids will grow from their first time in the national spotlight.

Most Improved Player. Marwin Gonzalez

To properly judge his improvement, please realize that MarGo’s 2016 stats (.254 BA/.293 OBP/.694 OPS/13 HR/51 RBIs) were only slightly better than Carlos Beltran‘s 2017 stats (.238/.283/.666/14 HR/51 RBIs).  Marwin had a magical year in 2017 with a .303/.377/.907 slash and a career high 23 HR and a club leading 90 RBIs. Helping to lead to this improvement, his K rate went down from 22.8 to 19.2% and his BB rate soared up from 4.3 to a 9.5% rate.

Runner-Up. Josh Reddick

Reddick had been a solid player for a number of years, but his performance reached another level in 2017. He set career bests with .314 BA/.363 OBP/.847 OPS 34 doubles and second best for runs scored (77) and RBIs (82)

Dr. Jekyll/Mr Hyde. Joe Musgrove

Joe began the season as a very poor starting pitcher – 4-8 record, 6.12 ERA, 1.513 WHIP and 1.84 HRs given up per 9 IPs. This led to him losing his rotation spot, but allowed him to shine in the bullpen. As a reliever he posted a 3-0 record with 2 saves, a 1.44 ERA, 0.862 WHIP and a 0.57 HRs/ 9 IPs. He looked like a whole new pitcher in his new role.

Biggest Surprise. Brad Peacock

Straight out, if Collin McHugh had been able to start the season, Peacock would have been the odd man out and that might have included being DFA’d or traded.  But he started the season with the big club and helped them in every way imaginable from the ‘pen and the rotation. Coming into the season in portions of 5 seasons he had pitched in 60 games with 46 starts. He had a 11-17 record that matched his 4.58 ERA, 1.43 WHIP and 7.89 K/9IPs. But in 2017 with health, opportunity and a new slider thanks to Jordan Jankowski he was brilliant. His 13-2 record, 3.00 ERA, 1.189 WHIP and a huge 11 K/9IPs all sang out what a great asset he was for the Astros.

Heart of the Team. Tie: George Springer and Brian McCann

On many teams, Springer’s terrific year (.283/.367/.889 with 112 R/34 HR/85 RBIs) would have been the MVP for the team. But George could give a darn. He goes out there and plays his butt off in the field and at bat and then leads the cheerleading for all his best buds on the team (which is the whole team). He is infectious and now that I am used to him leading off, I am never going to complain about him being there.

It says a ton about McCann’s importance that he was put out there behind the plate throughout the playoffs. Sure, he is slower than your grandma on the bases, but it says here that he was the most important veteran leader brought in during the off-season.

Biggest Shot in the Arm. Justin Verlander

If you want to point at the moment the Astros believed they could go all the way, it was waking up September 1 with a brand new ace under the Labor Day tree…. Verlander did the absolute maximum you could ask of a pitcher down the stretch, winning all 5 of his starts with a 1.06 ERA, 0.647 WHIP and bringing a bulldog attitude to the team. His demeanor when being squeezed on the strike zone was impressive. His answer to a bad call was an even better pitch at 97 mph. He gave the fans a big shot in the arm too.

Runner-up. Alex Bregman

At one point in the season, Bregman was being mentioned as a trade chip and as someone who could neither hit or field well enough to hold 3B long term. He then shrugged and turned it on in the second half of the season. After the All-Star Break he was impressive with a .315/.367/.903 slash, 48 runs scored, 11 HRs, 44 RBIs and 9 SBs. Plus, by the time the post season came around he looked like the best fielder on the Astros’ infield.

Rookie of the Year. Yuli Gurriel

By MLB rules, a rookie can not have exceeded 130 at bats and 33 year old Yul Gurriel had exactly 130 ABs in 2016. He never had a shot at the AL ROY award with one Aaron Judge tearing up the world in NYC. But he was easiest the top rookie here in Houston as he brought stability to 1B with a .299BA/.332 OBP/.817 OPS, 43 doubles, 18 HRs and 75 RBIs.

Unexpected Stat Leader. J.D. Davis

And the team leader with 16.2 K/9 IP was…. 3B Davis who struck out 3 and gave up 0 runs in 1.2 IPs this season.

Mr. Maligned. Mike Fiers

No, I’m not asking anyone to bring Mike back for 2018, but I did want to point out that the righty who put up a bad 5.22 ERA in his 28 starts this season was not all bad. He led the team with those 28 starts and with 153.1 IPs during the season. More important, when the team needed him most, when they were struggling with injuries to all the other starting pitchers, his numbers in June and July were 5-3 with a 2.59 ERA in 10 starts. When everyone else returned he crashed, but by then it could be absorbed by the rest of the rotation.

Now it is your turn. Any awards for the season? Any disagreements with the awards above? Let it rip. 

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76 responses to “2017 Astros: The season ChipalattAwards”

  1. The Perfect ERA Award goes to Dayan Diaz. 13 innings pitched, 13 Earned Runs for a perfect 9.00 ERA. Diaz, now a member of the Angels organization, still has his rookie status at age 28. The Can’t See the Plate Award goes to Tyler Clippard, for his 31 walks, 2 hit batsmen and 11 wild pitches in 60.1 innings pitched. Get that guy a magnifying glass so he can see that WS ring.
    My Geritol Award goes to Carlos Beltran.
    The Pressure Cooker is Too Hot Award goes to Ken Giles.
    The Owner of The Dodgers Award Presented by Magic Johnson goes to Charlie Morton.
    The Midnight Flier to Fresno Award goes to James Hoyt.
    The Kate Upton Award goes to Justin Verlander.
    The Wedding Planner Award goes to Carlos Correa.
    The I’m a Pretty Good Third Baseman Award goes to Alex Bregman. He also wins the I Literally Love Chris Sale Award.
    The Put Your Clothes On and Find a New Bat Award goes to Josh Reddick.
    The I don’t Know Where It’s Going Award is going to Francisco Liriano.
    The Hit It Where I Ain’t Award goes to Colin Moran.
    The I Actually Get Paid For Doing This Award goes to Yuli Gurriel.
    The Earned It Award goes to Tony Sipp.
    The I’m Just One Altuve Tall, Too Award goes to Tony Kemp.
    The Please Don’t Make Me Catch Tyler Clippard Award goes to Juan Centeno.

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  3. The “How do You Like Me Now Award”goes to Jeff Luhnow.
    The “Any Ole Bar Stool Award” goes to Dave Robert.
    The “Rose Colored Glasses Award” goes to the Texas Rangers Organization.
    The “Blue Ain’t Your Color Award” goes to Yu Darvish.
    The “Shake It Off Award” goes to Ken Giles.
    The “Came Here to Forget Award” goes to Kenley Jansen.
    The “They Stopped Loving Him Today Award” goes to Joe Girardi.
    The “Blown Away Award” goes to the City of Houston.
    The “This is How We Roll Award” goes to the entire Houston Astros team and organization.

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  5. Speaking of the Texas Rangers I wonder how that front office and their fan base feels about, basically, delivering a World Series title to Houston by trading Darvish to the Dodgers instead of the Astros. I have to think that is really eating at them. 🙂

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  8. In honor of Burton Cummings and the 70’s band ‘the Guess Who’:

    The ‘These Eyes’ award goes to Yuli Gurriel.

    The ‘American Woman’ award goes to Justin Verlander.

    The ‘No Time Left for You’ award goes to Tyler Clippard.

    The ‘Share the Land’ award goes to George Springer, Josh Reddick, Jake Marisnick, and Marwin Gonzalez – who covered several acres more outfield ‘land’ than any other team’s outfielders all year.

    The ‘Come Undone’ award goes to Kenneth Giles.

    The ‘Laughing’ award goes to Jeff Luhnow and Jim Crane.

    The ‘No Sugar Tonight’ award goes to Scott Morton.

    The ‘Do You Miss Me Darlin’? award goes to Kike Hernandez.

    The ‘Stand Tall’ award goes to the City of Houston.

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  9. Personally, I think Mike Fiers deserves the red, Swingline stapler award.

    I only have one quibble. I realize people think I don’t like Bregman. That’s not true at all. However, despite the two plays throwing runners out at the plate in the postseason, it was obvious watching the games (to me) that Correa was the most important player in our defensive infield and far better than he was given credit.

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    • Maybe I was too effusive in my praise of Bregman relative to his fielding, but I thought he went from someone who was not very good at 3B to a rock solid guy who covers a ton of ground quickly.
      Correa was great, still think he’s better offensively than defensively. I think Correa could easily be a future MVP in the league – he has such tools and such power.

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    • I find it hard to hate on any of the guys that brought our city its first world series championship. But okay, okay – you guys have convinced me. Here goes: – Jose Altuve is way too short to play professional baseball; not to mention he has zero plate discipline.
      – DK can’t throw hard enough to break glass.
      – Justin Verlander is nice guy, but he is several years past his prime.
      – Yuli Gurriel can’t keep up the pace of a 162 game MLB season.
      – George Springer strikes out too much to help the team in the post-season.
      – Alex Bregman is a defensive liability at 3B.
      – Marwin Gonzalez is just a sub, and can’t handle the pressure when he’s inserted into the line-up as a regular;
      – Morton’s lifetime stats prove he just can’t get good left-handed hitters out.
      – Carlos Correa looks horrible in facial hair [hey, it’s hard to find much to complain about with CC, even in jest];
      – Brad Peacock has great breaking stuff but no real strikeout pitch;
      – McCann is washed up -just ask the Yankees who traded him;
      – Evan Gattis is a janitor, for Heaven sakes.

      Okay, I feel better now. No way we won the World Championship. Hey, no way we beat out Seattle, L.A., or Texas for the AL West. What we saw on TV must just our real payback for the Cardinal hack job!

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  10. That minor league catcher with the A’s, Maxwell was found guilty today of pulling a gun on some delivery lady. Grand jury found him guilty, now he goes to trial and COULD get between 5 to 15 yrs in jail. He can kiss his career in baseball goodbye. Can’t cure stupid.

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  11. Justin Verlander’s new wife: For your eyes only.
    Carlos Correa’s proposal to his girlfriend: Hold my beer, and watch this!
    George Springer’S house after the flood: But you can’t ever leave!
    Bregman: How do you like me now!
    I still think Fisher is out guy to plug the hole in left…..don’t let this kid go Luhnow, or you will regret it, BIG time!

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    • That’s pretty remarkable to even have to consider. He is a pure power hitter, maybe not a guy better in the game at what J.D. does. But that is all he does well. He’s destined to become a younger version of Albert Pujols. Maybe Boros won’t get a big deal done this year and Martinez will be forced to sign a one year 30 million deal with someone. But will anyone pay that kind of money for the worlds best DH? I’d briefly consider him in left for our club, as it would make the line up perhaps the most frightening in history, but he’d be equally as frightening as a defender. No way our payroll justifies the guy. I suppose one of the quarter billion dollar payroll clubs will eventually sign him. He’ll become the wealthiest one tool 120 game player in the game.

      I wonder how much easier it might have been for us to win a World Series with Martinez on our roster? I suppose he would have been our DH and Beltran would not have happened.

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    • Not only would I like to have $200MM, I want whatever Boras is smoking because he is definitely in LaLa land. And if somebody gives that kind of money to sign JD they should get their picture in the dictionary under the word stupid. I think that the Astros and others have shown you don’t have to rob fort Knox to build a winner. An occasional blip on the radar screen (Beltran) bt those are the exceptions and there for a reason. Given that scenario, Altuve should get a lifetime contract at $50MM a year.

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  14. I’m not the biggest advance metrics person and I know that things like WAR (Wins above replacement) aren’t always super accurate – but according to Baseball-reference, JD was 41st in WAR in the majors last season and 138th in 2016.
    Buyer beware big time.

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  16. Okay, so Bregman says it was Alex Cora recognizing how pitchers tip, giving fundamentals advice, and being the difference in Astros winning the World Series. Now Cora belongs to Boston. Everything will be used against us by a very smart baseball guy. The glass girl is listening to anyone with a positive spin on this.

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    • Cora taught Bregman what to look for. Now Bregman and all the other guys know what to do. Cora will continue to learn new things and our new bench coach will add to the player’s knowledge with what he has picked up as a 3B coach for six years with two different teams.
      Verlander can help with our pitchers.
      All of our players have the experience of being in and winning a world Series.
      McCann still has lots to teach.
      I’m interested in seeing how James Hoyt has gathered info and whether he can go from a AAAA reliever into reliable major league reliever with what he learned.
      I’m interested in seeing how the Astros can improve at the DH position, where they rank 14th out of 15th in the AL
      I’m encouraged by the fact that the Astros now know how their bullpen stacks up in a playoff situation. But I’m more encouraged that we have a manager who can figure out how to win a World series without a bullpen.
      That’s part of my positive spin.
      The rest of it is that we have a SS and a 3B who are incredibly young and are improving. We have a 2B who is the best but always strives to improve.
      We have a RFer who was embarrassed in the playoffs and that gives him an area to work on.
      We have a 1B who is excellent, but has only one year at 1B and one year of facing major league pitching and has so much room to get better.
      We have an all-star CFer.

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      • Thank you, OP, I’ll take it. I always prefer keeping expectations on the lower side and I can’t envision winning again next year. But I didn’t envision winning this year. Plus, I know the GM is not going to stay in bed all winter. I always did think there was that chance of a last-minute signing, so I was one of a limited number not totally shocked by the Verlander deal. Luhnow will move again.

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  18. Sure would like to know what’s up with this website all of a sudden.
    I have to log in every time I want to post even though I check the remember me box.
    Can’t like any thing anyone says. Frustrating

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    • Sandy, if it is a desk top or lap top, you may have clicked on the thingy that says “delete all my website data when I sign out.” My IPhone does the same thing with Chipalatta no matter what I do. I have to log in to even click a “like” button.

      So you see, I know the problems I have, and have no idea how to fix them. However, when my 5 year old grandson gets out of kindergarten today, I will be conferring with him.

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  19. I don’t think Carlos would take 10/300 right now the way things are going, but he would take 5/100. We’d have to sort out Altuve and Springer at the same time though, in order for it all to make sense.

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    • It has been a while, but I can remember back in the late ’60’s when Marvin Miller was accused of RUINING baseball, Every team was going to go broke when he had the minimum salary raised from $7,000 a year to a WHOPPING $10,000 a year. No owner could afford to pay that kind of money for an employee that worked only 6 months a year.

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  20. I’ve also decided that there really are no free agents that make good sense for the Astros to pursue, ironically at a time when a bunch of guys would probably like to play here. I’m going to lean on Fisher to take ownership of leftfield. With Jake and Marwin around, it really is not much of a risk. We might even see Tucker knocking by summertime.

    But I’d love to see Luhnow do some radical things in order to lock down the core guys that got us a World Series win. He should at least find out how much they want to play in Houston long term.

    I think we can fix the DH in house. Gattis remains my guy for that job and his salary remains realistic. And we’ve got enough redundant talent that we don’t have room for that should help us make the pen better. But still, there will be injuries. We’ve got to keep hungry guys ready at AAA.

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  21. I have a hunch that if he keeps his head on straight then CC will become the greatest all-round shortstop ever. Better than Jeter, Ripken, Rodriguez. And possibly the greatest all-round player ever. Better than Junior.

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  24. I know, right?
    We won. We’re playing with house money. Does winning the WS mean we aren’t allowed to have fun with Hot Stove Season? Are only 29 other teams allowed to have fun?
    Those 29 teams are all gunning for us now. We don’t just have to stand here and let them shoot at us. Let’s get the latest ammo upgrades and go to war again.
    It’s a baseball arms race. Let’s get some arms and go ahunting.

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  25. Am I the only one who is fine bringing back Liriano if we can get him on a Will Harris type contract? Now, I would still like to add another LH (not Sipp), but I am perfectly fine having Liriano as a LOOGY and then add someone like McGee or Minor, who can get both LHs and RHs out.

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    • I’m fine with it on paper, but my fear is Hinch throws him in the regular season against lots of rhb…which didnt work well in 2017.

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      • This is why another LH is essential along with Liriano. You reserve Liriano as simply a LOOGY and have another LH (again, not Sipp) that can go a full inning (Minor, McGee, Watson come to mind).

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    • Tim, I’m fine with it if Luhnow and Co. believe he is a guy that fills a need. But Luhnow might be looking for a lefty reliever who fills more of a need as a one-inning guy, rather than a one-out guy.
      Liriano is a guy that I thought could be left out there in January and signed to a minor league deal. He helped clear some of the logjam that is part of this particular post. That is, his trade was a two for one trade in which the Astros opened up two slots on the 40 man by trading two outfielders, Aoki and Teoscar, who were not in line to get a spot on the roster in 2018.
      Now that Liriano is a free agent, the Astros have room to protect Martin or Laureano or both from the Rule 5 draft, if they choose to do so.

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  28. Fellow Bloggers, I am riding astrocolt45’s thought here. Please lend me a couple of minutes.
    The Astros are the World Series Champions. But how do they go from “Champions” to “Elite MLB Franchise”? Isn’t that the goal?
    The Astros’ TV deal is set. The only way to get to “elite Franchise status is to make their money the old fashioned way: Attendance.
    Here is the attendance hill they need to climb: http://www.espn.com/mlb/attendance
    The Astros are 15th in home average attendance. They are 26th in road average attendance and they are 17th in overall average attendance.
    How do you change that? How do you become one of the top attendance teams in baseball and rake in that money that you are losing every time your 42,000 capacity stadium draws 29,000 people and sells half of the merchandise they could be selling?
    The answer:
    1. Win the world series. check
    2, Bring in Justin Verlander and Kate Upton. Check
    3. Have the reigning AL MVP at 2B. maybe check
    4. Have two of the hottest currently marketable players in baseball playing CF and SS. check
    5. Have the “woo” guy playing LF. check
    6. Have the former Cy Young winning pitcher with the best beard in baseball as your #2 guy. check
    7. Have one of the top 3 NL MVP players as your right fielder. You have the minor league players to make that happen.
    8. After you have Stanton, you have the best team in baseball with the biggest stars. Then you go after Otani with all that ammunition. You offer him a chance to pitch every fifth day and DH when he isn’t pitching.
    When the Astros do that, every home game is sold out, their attendance on the road jumps 10,000 fans per game, they can’t issue enough media passes and they become the darlings of MLB. The attendance pays for Giancarlo’s salary plus provides money to maybe tie up a couple of our own stars long term.

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    • While this is very intriguing I have to ask the same question you asked me about offering Altuve a 4/$90M extension…Do you think our payroll can sustain adding Stanton and Otani? What about upgrades to the bullpen? Also, do you think trading for Stanton will hurt our payroll flexibility in signing Altuve to an extension? Stanton is a monster and he would look great hitting half of his games with the short porch in LF at MMP, but I just don’t know if our budget will allow adding him and extending Altuve. Also, it is my guess that if we added Stanton the Astros may look to trade Reddick to help offset Stanton’s salary for the next 3 years. These are just thoughts to consider.

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      • I’d rather see about locking in Springer, Altuve and Correa for the next half decade plus. Stanton is one guy, with great numbers. But I think we can make the best offense in the league better without a Stantonesque type deal and keep our core intact while doing it.

        We really need to address pitching issues. Other than the DH role, we can win again without addressing the offense. Yes, Stanton would sell tickets, but who do we end up losing as a result? I think the Fish would want Springer. Reddick would not be enough. And maybe Gio has had his career year at 27. I don’t George has had his yet.

        I know, we don’t want to be complacent, but at this point in time, I have enough faith in the GM to improve our club significantly without a Stanton blockbuster.

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      • Dave, I wasn’t referring to including Reddick in any proposed Stanton trade. The Marlins would have no interest in him, or probably Springer. They would want cost-controlled, high end prospects like Tucker or Alvarez. I was saying that if we got Stanton the Astros would then probably look to flip Reddick to a team looking for a veteran OFer as a means to help offset Stanton’s salary for the next 3 years.

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      • That’s a fair thought Tim. They likely would not want Springer for the very reason you note. But Stanton might require the biggest minor league haul yet, and it would be mostly high end guys. So then Reddick goes too as you note and then we probably win it all again in 2018, assuming our pitching gets better.

        But then we probably have a hard time keeping the core together for financial reasons, and we’ve already traded 4 or 5 talented 500K guys that would have been bargains for several years, and then we might have to fill in a couple of holes with lesser players and maybe we’re not as good by 2020.

        I just want to stay better longer. I’ve come full circle on Luhnow. I think we’re in very good shape for several years. I’d be shocked if he made a deal for Stanton.

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    • I note that Stanton hasn’t batted at Minute Maid since 2014. In that year, he was 3-12, with 0 HRs and only 1 EBH, a double. He struck out in 7 of his 12 at bats.

      Stanton also didn’t bat at MMP in 2013. In 2012, he went 2-12 in our park, with 1 HR, and 4 Ks.

      The moral of this story – batting at MMP does not mean a bevy of home runs, even for Giancarlo Stanton. But he probably would sell a few more tickets than Derek Fisher. He would probably also cost Whitley or KTuck.

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      • I don’t see any way the Astros trade Whitley with the potential loss of Keuchel coming after 2018 and Verlander after 2019.

        I would approach the Marlins to see if they would want to trade Yelich. I would rather get him as he is signed to a much more team-friendly contract and I would include Tucker for him. Yelich today is probably the ceiling for Tucker and Yelich has room to get better.

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  29. I will try to answer all your questions. Tim, if the Astros sell out MMP the majority of the time they can afford Stanton and Altuve. Remember how you said just the added games of the playoffs would provide more money for next year? I’m talking about going way over 3,000,000 every year in attendance.
    As far as Stanton costing one of our two top prospects, the answer is no. Jeter has to radically drop his payroll to $80 million. He would rather deal Stanton and keep his other two outfielders who are affordable in his budget. I have read a dozen articles on a Stanton trade and Jeter knows he can’t get rid of that contract and get a Top 10 prospect in return. Stanton just went through waivers where nobody claimed him on August 15th, 2017. That’s just picking up Stanton’s contract with no compensation. So, no, we won’t have to give up Whitley or Tucker. I’d give the Marlins the choice of Fisher or Reed or Moran or White or Kemp. They would take Fisher.
    I really don’t think that MMP is going to be Stanton’s Waterloo. He is a lot better hitter now than he was four or five years ago.
    So part of my idea is that with all that the Astros would have, plus getting Stanton, the Astros could guarantee that Otani would be on the best team in baseball for the next two years, before he becomes a free agent and gets his big money on the open market. The Astros would get two of his young and inexpensive years and then get a draft pick when he becomes a free agent. In the meantime, they would be the odds on favorite to win the World Series in 2018 and 2019 and their attendance and fanbase would grow by leaps and bounds.

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    • 1OP, I briefly considered a retreat from my most recent post based on the scenario you describe. However, when you noted that a regularly sold out Minute Maid Park would allow us to pay for Stanton and Altuve, you did lose me. Do we resign ourselves to losing Springer and Correa? That thought makes me queasy. I think the league is frightened. When you add an emerging Bregman to the mix, we’ve got an incredible group. I want to see how long Luhnow can keep the core together, because none have peaked. Every guy will be better, including Altuve. We don’t need Stanton.

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      • dave, I only mentioned Altuve because he is the next guy who needs a deal.
        If the team keeps winning, the stadium stays full.
        If you get Altuve signed, and then Verlander leaves because his contract is up and so is McCann’s, freeing up their $35 million and then Springer comes up. If you get Springer signed, then Gurriel and Reddick’s contracts both expire a year later and then you try to get Correa a deal.
        By that time guys like Whitley and Tucker and Bukauskas and maybe Alvarez are ready and you get them at rookie rates and you keep winning.
        Maybe their are two or three more young prospects who develop and the team can stay together and keep winning.
        We know we’re not going to keep them all the way attendance is right now, so why not do something radical to change all that.

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  30. By the way, I forgot to mention this. If your Rotation is Verlander, Keuchel, McCullers, Otani and McHugh, it will not be necessary to shop for any help in the bullpen because that means you have added two terrific pitchers to your bullpen in Peacock and Morton.
    That gives you Giles, Peacock, Morton, Musgrove, Devenski, Harris and Feliz in your bullpen and you have Paulino, Martes, Rodgers, Armenteros, and Deetz and everybody else available in AAA. I’d take that bullpen right now!

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      • Yep, no LHs. Just RHs who get LHs out.
        I’d rather go with Hoyt over Feliz, too, because I’d love Feliz starting in Fresno to further develop him. Don’t know how my BFF Luhnow feels about him, though. I’ll ask him the next time he calls me.

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