Who are the top 10 Astros today?

Coming into 2018, it felt like the Astros MVP this season was likely going to be Carlos Correa or Jose Altuve. Correa has underperformed (against expectations) and has missed injury time during the season. Altuve, while still high in BA and hits is a bit down in clutch hits and power from 2017. The exercise today is to rate the Astros Top 10 so far this season.

#1 Alex Bregman. This is not just a homage to the young man after his Home Run Derby performance. He has become the most dangerous hitter in the lineup. He is leading the team in runs scored (67), doubles (31), home runs (20), RBIs (64), SLG (.539) and OPS (.928) and he walks (56) more times than he Ks (53).  Oh and he is also #1 in WAR (4.8). When he comes up to bat, the fans expect an excellent at bat from the young man, especially in the clutch.

#2 Justin Verlander. Get past the 9-5 record. He is first in the AL in innings pitched (137.2), WHIP (0.835) and K/Walk (7.17). He is 4th in ERA (2.29), but only 0.06 behind the leader. He should have about 14 or more wins to date with normal hitting support. He gives the Astros an excellent outing almost every time out.

#3 Jose Altuve.  He has played in all 99 games on the season, is headed for another 200+ hit season, is leading the team in BA (.332), OBP (.394), hits and stolen bases. The last couple of seasons he has set insane standards for himself that he is short of this time around, but he always seems to come up with a huge run sometime during the season.

#4 Gerrit Cole. On most teams, Cole would be the ace at 10-2 on the season. In the AL he is 6th in ERA (2.52), 4th in WHIP (0.986), 6th in IP (128.1) and 2nd in Ks (177). Like Verlander, he should have more wins, but he gives the Astros a solid chance every time he takes the mound.

#5 Yuli Gurriel. Some of his numbers are down a bit due to him missing 21 games on the season, but his great hitting in the clutch (.450 BA with RISP and .448 with RISP and 2 outs) has him in the top 5. He is hitting a robust .310 BA with a .340 OBP and his 52 RBIs in 78 games stand out.

#6 Charlie Morton.  Considering there are 15 teams in the AL, Morton at 11-2 could easily be a #1 with quite a few of them. In the AL he is tied for 4th in wins (11), 9th in ERA (2.96), T 11th in WHIP (1.148) and T 3rd in K/9 IP (11.7). His only drawback is averaging 5.9 innings per start, but all teams would kill for getting this production out of a #3 for only $7 million.

#7 Carlos Correa. To this point in the season, he is having a down year. How much of that is due to his bad back? Who knows? But through 73 games played he had only 2 errors, which is tremendous for a shortstop. He is 4th on the team in BA (.268), and 3rd in OBP (.352) and OPS (.832). Even though he has missed 26 games, he is 4th in runs scored (46), home runs (13) and RBIs (49). If he can trend more towards his norm, he will give the Astros a big bat in the middle of the lineup down the stretch.

#8 George Springer. Sure, he has been in a terrible slump for the 6 weeks leading into the ASG, but recently he was showing signs of shaking it off. George is 2nd on the team in runs scored (63), 2nd in home runs (15) and 5th in RBIs (46).  He needs to get that BA (.249) up in the .270-.280 range and his OPS (.749) over the .800 line.

#9 Collin McHugh. Collin has been the consummate pro in his shift to the bullpen. He is leading the Astro relievers in Wins (5), ERA (0.96), WHIP (0.707) and Inning pitched (46.2). He has given the team the superior performance and multi-inning outings that Brad Peacock and Chris Devenski gave them last season.

#10 Lance McCullers. He has not been as consistent as the three starters above him, but no one is going to complain about a 10-4 record and 3.77 ERA out of a 4th starter. He could climb this list with fewer stinkers and by pitching a bit deeper into games.

On the Cusp – If someone wanted to put DH Evan Gattis (19 home runs and 63 RBIs), RP Hector Rondon (1.57 ERA, 8 saves), or even Dallas Keuchel (7-8, 3.75 ERA, 122.1 IPs) towards the bottom of the top 10, there certainly could be an argument for that opinion.

Questions to you….

  • Do you agree with the top 10?
  • Do you agree with the order of the top 10?
  • Anyone being left off you want to see up there?
  • Anyone that should be dropped?
  • Who will be #1 at the end of the season?
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109 responses to “Who are the top 10 Astros today?”

  1. HMMM I would go #1 Breg #2 JV#3Cole #4 Morton, without these guys we are in 3rd place in the west #5 tuve doing what he does but at 90% production, 6Yuli #7 Colin #8 Springer # 9CC #10 LMJ #11Rondon #12 Kemp

    The end of the Year I think Breg will still be #1,

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  2. #1 Bregman – everything Dan said

    #2 – 6 (5 tied) – Verlander/ Cole/ Morton/ Keuchel/ McCullers – 5 aces is so good its usually called cheating. How valuable is it to have #2-5 putting up #1 numbers? None have missed a start.

    #7 Gurriel – Hard to overlook his production with RISP

    #8 Altuve – Will move up when power shows up. Altuve’s down years are still career years for most.

    #9 McHugh – our BP is second best in MLB for 1 reason. Totally different pen without him and a lot more tired arms.

    #10 Stassi – returning to normal at the plate but without him stepping up to shoulder the catching load we would be in real trouble.

    Disclaimer: I reserve the right to change my opinion regularly and without justification or consent.

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  3. Why I’m rejoicing over the 2018 Astros.

    I think we sometimes get caught up in the ebb and flow of a 162 game season and forget just how talented and well constructed this team is. This is by far the most talented and deep team in baseball, and unlike any other it is perfectly built for playoff baseball.

    This team does not need to make a single trade to win the WS – no other team can say that. The pitching staff can throw 3 legit aces in any series. Supplementing the BP with the other two starters easily makes the Astros pen at least on par (likely better) than any other in baseball. With minimal effort or impact, our pitchers could never see the 3rd time through the order during the playoffs and still would not overtax our BP arms. When healthy, the offense matches up with any lineup in baseball. The numbers don’t lie.

    I really don’t care if we take 3 of 4 from the A’s, 2 of 3 from the M’s, etc.. I only care that we take 3 of 5, 4 of 7 and 4 of 7 in October.

    For this team, the regular season serves only five purposes:

    Put enough money in the owners pockets to keep the talent together
    Give people like us something to write about
    Set up playoff seeding
    Keep players sharp
    Give the youngsters some experience

    Manager’s main job is to get us to the playoffs healthy (both physically and mentally) and as fresh as possible. If he’s successful in doing that we will be favored to hoist our second trophy.

    And now….. I will resume my hand wringing, gut wrenching roller coaster of praising and cursing the team based on their daily results.

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  4. Yes, No, Maybe Stassi at the bottom at 10 B. No, and Bregman & Altuve tied. Correa out of the line up hurts Altuve the most. He is pressing. So, if CC returns and hits, they will not be pitching around Jose and he will let the game come back to him.

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  5. I almost included Stassi in the On the Cusp group. His numbers are kind of just there but without him we would be hurting bad – so I get it.

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    • It’s funny they called it the game winning HR in the MVP ceremony but with the NL scoring in the bottom of the 10th – Springer actually hit the game winner.
      Fun anyways!!

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  8. The All Star Game seemed like a continuation of the playoffs, especially the World Series.
    – AJ Hinch vs. Dave Roberts
    – Lots of HRs – 10 when the previous record was 6
    – Teams unable to hold leads
    – 13 of the 14 runs scored because of HRs
    – Morton pitched 2 innings and gave up a HR in each
    – Altuve had a single in 3 ABs
    – Bregman had the solo HR to lead off the 10th in 3 ABs
    – Judge had a leadoff HR to start the game – Springer replaced him and had 2 hits, including the HR in the 10th and scored 2 runs
    – Former Astro Mike Folynewicz looked good in one inning
    – Former Astros farm hand Josh Hader gave up the 3 run Segura HR (only one earned run) in 1/3 of an inning.
    – The Astros’ 2 HRs were against ….. a Dodger Ross Stripling
    – Shutdown closer Edwin Diaz of the M’s gave up a 2 run HR in the 9th to blow a save, but without that Bregman and Springer don’t get to do their back to back dingers
    – Maybe Springer will return from the ASG in fuego

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  9. What a great outcome for our guys. I usually sleep though exhibitions. I should have made an exception.

    Josh Hader has put himself in a real mess. Someone apparently chose to pull up his Twitter posts from when he was 17 and publish them on All Star Tuesday. Racist, homophobic, obscene. Bad stuff.

    I think back to when I was 17. I was easily guided by my environment and those around me, not necessarily friends. We all evolve. No excuses here for Hader, but I don’t know to what degree you condemn and then punish a young man for what he said at that age. It will be interesting to see how MLB handles this situation.

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    • I hate to say this but people may grow out of being as open about it but rarely change their beliefs. If he still believes that way I’m glad we traded him

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      • Have to agree with Billy. In my experience people rarely change their beliefs. They just don’t advertise it as much.
        And if that is his way of thinking it would wreck our club house.
        Best he is gone.

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    • Posted before I was finished.

      Again that doesn’t apply to everyone. I was a staunch Republican at 17. That came from my upbringing. Now at almost 40 I’m so far to the left that the Democratic Party is too centrist for me! That came from my adult life experiences. But when it comes to views on race, orientation, and such, I still feel the same way as I did back then which is why when I grew up and got out on my own my other views “changed” so to speak. They actually didn’t change I just started thinking for myself.

      I hope he doesn’t feel the same way as he did back then. I really do. But if he didn’t, then the hell with him.

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  10. I don’t have a problem with your Top 10 or the order they are in. I wish we had a late inning reliever to add to that list, but we don’t.
    We will need someone to be a reliable closer to accomplish the team’s goal of a repeat, and he should be at the top of that list or near it by the end of the season.

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  11. Top 10 Astro George Springer in this morning’s paper: “There’s a lot that goes into a season. I think people that don’t watch the games a lot or don’t understand the game just kind of get caught up in numbers, and it’s not what it’s about.”

    I rest my case. 🙂

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  12. Some more discussion on Hader and this is by no way defending him, but does address how people can change.
    Sometimes it is a matter of exposure and gaining life experiences. I’ve seen people who come out of small towns or rural areas where they just have not had exposure to other cultures. They may have only had exposure to people who are plain old racist and prejudice.
    Then they get through college or get hired by a big city company or get drafted and end up in the minor leagues and major leagues with “other” people. This exposure can put the lie to what they have been told in their younger days. They find out that “other” people are just people and they realize that what they were taught or ideas they held were crap.
    I hope that is true about Hader. I have no idea if it is or is not true – but I won’t pre-judge him without more information.

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    • Indeed Dan, a 17 year is typically just beginning to leave the family womb and those from his childhood he or she went to school with, for a much larger life full of new people and experiences. I suppose a 17 year old can already be carrying quite a bit of baggage, or, has been sheltered so much that a big new world becomes overwhelming. Like I said originally, it will be interesting to see how MLB addresses the situation.

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    • And the other side of this as Billy C points at – there are people who are purely hateful in their heart and never change and are not worthy of the space they take up in this world. I hope that is not Hader.

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  13. Don’t like to consider that option. I’m willing to give Hader the same shot MLB is. I think back to all the on the edge guys I knew in high school and most turned turned into really decent people, with world views and a compassionate approach to life. Of course one guy turned into a murderer, so there is always the chance of going over the edge.

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    • Looks like it wasn’t just in 2011 either from the screenshots I’ve seen. Plus, his current girlfriend had very similar ones from more recently before she took hers offline .

      Also begs the question of why he never deleted them….

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  14. Thought this was fascinating…
    https://www.mlb.com/astros/news/alex-bregman-wins-2018-all-star-game-mvp/c-286302194
    Bregman wins the Ted Williams All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Award presented by Chevrolet (maybe Chevrolet will give me a Camaro for mentioning them….and no the Award was not a version of Ted’s frozen head)
    and Bregman’s grandfather was the Washington Senator’s general counsel who negotiated Williams’ manager’s contract. Too crazy.

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  15. I’ve been the naysayer all along regarding Bregman here. I thought he’d be a fine major leaguer, but he’s exceeded my expectations and been a star for the last year of games. A lot of you have him as a lock for Cooperstown. I hope he gets there – the list of accomplishments is growing by the day. Obviously he’ll have to stay healthy and play at a high level for a long time to do it, but his athleticism and versatility give him a really good shot to be one of the best players and biggest fan favorites in the game for a long time.

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  16. Look guys, I’m a little worried about Correa. We have not heard a peep out of the organization about him, other than he did a little baseball stuff last week.
    No word of him going to Corpus to play a rehab game or two….*N O T H I N G*.
    Dan, I posted what a friend of mine said about him last week, but have heard nothing more. My friend said Correa had “surgery” on his back, and that it might be season ending. I don’t know who to ask, do you guys????
    It’s concerning that we’ve not heard a word about him. Don’t you think?!!!

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    • He’s not coming back up…..they will include him in a trade soon. He’s thrown his last pitch for the Astros.

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  20. I found the following article rather astounding – at least the statement from Commissioner Manfred on Mike Trout.
    https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2018/07/angels-ownership-responds-to-manfreds-comments-about-mike-trout.html
    This sounds like – “Don’t blame me for there not being a face of baseball like there is a Tom Brady in football or Lebron James in basketball. Mike Trout is not making himself available to be marketed – so it is his fault that baseball is no longer the national past time…..”

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      • The plus side is at least Manfred (so far) is not zeroing in on the Astros like Bud did.
        But if he thought he was not getting enough cooperation and personal time from Trout before, I’m betting that things will worsen after this shot across the bow.

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      • Going to change Manfred’s first name to Ron. This is because we can begin to use his nickname, “Mo” so when he asks why we call him Mo, we can say that’s your name isn’t it? MO-RON.

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    • Kind of surprised, but consider that hitters take spots 1, 3, 5, and 7. If you told me before the season started that Correa would be our fourth, most valuable hitter at this point I would have said, “OK, Altuve, Springer, and someone else must have had a torrid first half.” Seeing that it’s Bregman, Altuve, Gurriel in front of Correa is where I’m surprised.

      I started to post a few weeks before the AS break, but think I stopped, that Correa is hopefully looking at the AL SS picture and using it as inspiration right now. Ignoring the fact Machado is now in the NL, look at these guys:

      Segura – .323 .354 .458 2nd in AL in hits
      Machado – .315 .387 .575 off to LA
      Simmons – .313 .371 .443 already won Gold Glove
      Lindor – .291 .367 .562 25 HR, 61 RBI, 13 SB
      Bogaerts – .284 .353 .535 16 HR, 64 RBI
      Didi G – .263 .326 .474 17 HR, 52 RBI
      Correa – .268 .352 .480 13 HR, 49 RBI, 2 errors

      The silver lining to all of this is that Houston has not needed Correa to have an amazing year. Assuming he gets healthy and comes back strong the boost could be like the team making a big trade acquisition without giving anyone up. Also, I want Correa to wear orange and blue for a long time. The wealth of SS who play both ways will make the chances Houston has to lock him up long term better. Sorry to hijack.

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    • Correa will be there, height on the list, his injury is bad timing for this blog question. But I did wonder aloud last week if maybe Carlos could be a bit of a mommas boy. At the same time, there is absolutely no value in bringing him back too soon. It’s not September.

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    • I believe that CC leads the AL in strike out percentage. That’s not good. Something is a fowl because he’s a much better player than what we have been seeing. I loved seeing Spring hit a HR in the AS game. I also noted that he didn’t come out of his shoes to do it. Maybe Bregman is having a positive influence on him. Rarely do I see Bregman swinging like he’s trying to hit the ball to Allen’s Landing.

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      • Correa is striking out at a 24% clip (77/315). Joey Gallo is striking out at a 36% clip (132/365). Regardless, Correa was at 18%, 21%, and 19% in his first three years. It’s not a huge jump this year, but enough to be alarmed. My non-scientific take is that they’re getting him to chase a few too many sliders in the dirt with two strikes. Altuve suffers from this frequently as well and I’ve always believed it’s a matter of pressing – feeling like they have to get the hit. I suspect we see that strikeout rate regress back to his normal, expected level in the second half.

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    • I know better than to do this, but I am going to “interpret” what IOP was saying. It is hard to believe that a future Hall of Famer would be the 7th best player on your team. And his batting production was way down long before the injury.

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      • I was looking at Carlos Correa on Fangraphs.com. His strikeout rate is way up for the year over year. His Batting Average with balls in play is way down. He was not having a good year at the plate (for him), before he got hurt. What we don’t know is did he have the back injury all year.

        There is a story there of Altuve taking a pitch off his foot and he numbers immediately went down. So just because these guys are in the lineup does not mean they are not injured.

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  22. I think Kemp should be added to this list. He is not a natural OF but he can man the position with his speed. He won’t cut runner’s down with his arm but he can get the ball to the cutoff man. He can hit for an high avg with little power & turns the lineup over consistently. Any other tm he would leadoff probably. With more PT he could only improve though that prob won’t happen. I would hate to c him traded but it’s hard to c where he plays here on a regular basis.

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  23. oldpro – I was a bit shocked that Carlos was down at 7 even with me making the list, but underperforming combined with missing significant time (again) – it is hard to really rate him higher.

    old school – The tough question – if you add Kemp, who do you drop?

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  26. hmm well i tried lol. as you can see i AM mr. computer. what i was trying to post was a picture of a guy wearing an astros jersey with the name “rangerstitles” and the jersey number 0.

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  27. dan i think your list can be debated, but is good enough for me. what strikes me is that the team is good enough to have such a list and there be another 5-6 that arguably could make the list.

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  28. Brad Hand to the Indians makes them better. I did not think an extended Brad Hand was a fit for the Astros, because a rental fits them better with all the arms they have in their upper minors waiting to get here in 2019 and beyond.
    I’m glad the Orioles are deciding to rebuild, because I would like to see them come back and help even out the AL East in a few years.

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    • I may be alone in this but do we have anybody in the minors that can step up and fill that key spot in our bullpen? I hate to be giving up prospects unless it’s some of those AAAA types who are block by others on the big team. I like what I saw with Cionel Perez the other day but don’t know if he’s the answer just yet. And here’s a suggestion. Let’s see if Tony Sipp can handle the high leverage situation of closing. I sure like how he’s reinvented himself this year.

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      • I can see Sipp coming behind JV, Cole, Morton because of the huge difference in velocity. I just don’t think his “finesse” pitching makes for a good closer. His pitch count would go way up in the 9th inning, because the lefties will not be swinging at that way outside slider. But I trust him more than “ole what’s his name.”

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      • I sure don’t trust Sipp having any real positive impact in the post season. Okay, maybe he’s refound something, but he’s going to have to do a whole lot more convincing for me to be happy seeing him on the mound in October.

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  29. Let’s not crown Tony Sipp healed just yet! He’s been fairly successful in a small sample size, but I don’t want him in with a 1-or 2 run lead!! The guy makes me almost as nervous as Giles did!!

    *All the secrecy about Correa and Tyler White is unnecessary. It’s starting to really concern me.*

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  30. I would have liked to have had Hand. But if Luhnow really wanted him, it probably would have meant giving up at least Tucker or Whitley. I think something will happen soon though.

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  32. Brad Hand will still be under team control going into 2020. Britton is a free agent next yezr, so giving up top prospects will be off the table…I *hope*. The bad taste in Luhnow’s mouth from last year’s almost trade for Britton, may still be lingering. Baltimore’s, owner is a 100% jerk.
    How about keeping Perez in our pen?? I know he’s a starter, but his stuff is electric!!

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    • I know better than to argue with Becky, so here goes nothing. I agree that we need to see more of Sipp before we name him “healed.” I say the same about Perez. He looked good for a while the other night, and then he did not. So I would like for him to get some more MLB games. (Talking about July 11th with 43 pitches in 1 2/3 innings. )

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      • The umpire ripped Perez off in that outing. Every pitch he threw that was in the lower part of the strike zone was called a ball. Perez was robbed and looked miffed on the mound several times, as he wondered why major league umps were that awful.

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  33. I started reading Astro Ball this week. This is really a pretty good read. It’s certainly not all analytics. In fact, I’ve read more about Judge Roy and Sid and Luhnow and where they came from than anything else at this point. The big key to building this team was to combine analytics with finding guys from stable backgrounds, guys that have an uncommon desire to be the best in what ever they do. They want really top notch people.

    So it brings to mind other things. Did the Astros know that Hader had a history when they traded him? This guy in Cincinnati, Iglesias, has said he wants to stay there. Maybe that comment would help the Astros determine that he’s not the kind of guy for our organization. Maybe that’s why Giles was zipped out of town so quickly.

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    • I think after Gomez (ironically who we traded away the hateful moron to get) they’ve learned their lesson on keeping jerks and/or nutjobs around too long. Giles will never play in the majors for the Astros again, and I think we’re going to be more selective in the future.

      The funny part is, we got Hateful in a trade for Bud Norris, and he’s not the most pleasant creature either!

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      • Oh another bizarre fact, the other guy we got for Norris, L.J. Hoes, is currently out of baseball after getting popped for a second time for a “drug of abuse” 🙄

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    • All in all I think that this is a unique bunch of guys playing for us with super chemistry. It doesn’t take a lot to become a member of the “team”, but I likewise don’t think that it doesn’t take a whole lot to alienate ones self from them either.I personally believe that this “chemistry” can get get us additional wins as evidenced by last year because we could have easily folded in game 5. Remember when Verlander came back into the dugout to shout encouragement to the guys. I sure do and this is one reason why we all love our Astros. I don’t think anybody wants to let the team down so they all continue to perform as a cohesive unit. That’s why some of the previous mentioned players did not, do not , or can not play for us. Kudos to management and players for keeping the guys together.

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  34. Been thinking about a few things.

    1) I do not see a reliever out there that I would trade a top young prospect for. I’m not a big Britton fan and I’m not overly impressed with what he has done since he’s been back. I would unload a Fisher/ Davis/ White type guy and maybe a low level prospect for him, but not much more. Same for Familia. After those 2 not so much. I liked the Indians deal for Hand and Cimber. Cheaper than what I thought it would be, though Mejia is a total beast at a premium position so the price was definitely not cheap. I think Cimber was the real return in the trade. Long- term controllable with great stuff. Sometimes I just can’t figure out the Padres.

    2) Why I didn’t rank CC higher in my top 10. I love CC and think he can be a hall of famer. It seems however that he is getting caught and passed by other young talent. When I look at CC I can’t help but think he is exactly the same player he was the day he was first called up (part of that is a reflection of just how great he was from the first day he stepped on the field). I don’t see where he has really gotten any better since 2015. In fact it is easy to argue that 2015 was his best offensive year. He has nice hands and a great arm but has limited range. Limited range always increases fielding % due to fewer balls gloved at the extremes. He is generally not considered among the top shortstops in defense. His real value is with the bat.

    3) Like Becky, I am now getting more worried about Correa’s health. What was supposed to be a 10 day stint on the DL has stretched out past the all star break and he is only now resuming “limited” baseball activities. This does not seem like a minor strain.

    I hope I did not offend anyone with my assessment of CC. I think that he is the best SS in the game when his bat is going and above average when its not. I love the guy and think he set such a high bar as a rookie that there was far less room to go up. Where I may diverge from others is that I think he is more suited for 3B than SS. His arm, glove and range play better at 3B (did anyone else watch him at the hot corner during the WBC?). Likewise Bregman’s glove, arm and range play better at SS. But that’s just me and my opinion.

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    • So as it has been previously mentioned, do we swap out Correa with Bregman? It is an interesting question. Would it put less a strain on Correa’s back (which we still don’t know what’s going on)?

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      • Interesting was comments from Blummer the other day that Correa has learned to offset his height by leaning more to lower his glove hand on ground balls. Could this be putting more stress on his back? I don’t know.

        CC has a Caminiti+ arm that would play awesome at 3B. I was beyond impressed with his play there during WBC – he was the best 3B in the series. I think he would be a perennial all- star at 3B. I also think Bregman is the prototypical SS and fringe at 3B. I still don’t change during the season.

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    • No offense taken at all on CC, vewill. Several thoughts on that topic:
      1. I thought he tried too hard to be “the man” when he first came up: always being in on mound meetings, that sort of thing. It’s good to want to be a leader, but on the baseball field it’s something that has to be earned.
      2. His talk of being the MVP before this season. Again, appreciate the confidence, but if your mouth is gonna pave the way, you better be able to follow the trail with action.
      3. Range at SS is not a huge issue IMHO. If he misses a play or two a week that Ozzie Smith would have gotten to, well, that’s the difference between maybe an out or a single to left. Better, I think, to make the routine plays consistently. And we’ve seen him make some OUTSTANDING plays going to his right and getting the out thanks to his howitzer arm. He said he wanted to improve on D and I think he has done that this season.
      4. The back issue bothers me too. I wonder how it affects his hitting.

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    • I wouldn’t get too down on Correa. His offense will bounce back. Also, if he hadn’t missed a third of the season with the thumb injury last year it’s questionable whether Altuve could have had enough MVP votes to beat Trout…and it’s possible Correa would have beat them both out. The one concern I have is fans in Houston getting spoiled by greatness the way NY and BOS fans have over the years from their stars. We don’t want to give everyone the Jeter/Biggio free pass for poor performance, but also don’t want them to feel like they have to be perfect. The mental aspect of baseball is killer and has ruined many careers.

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  35. Please everyone, forgive me for my long posts. I am immobile while recovering from surgery on a fully ruptured achilles tendon. I have read the bible, consumed netflix and youtube and finished the internet (all of it). There’s not much left to consume my time so I sit around all day with Astros on the brain. 🙂

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    • In the words of Tommy Shaw and a nod to Mr. Bill (wherever he may be):

      Is it any wonder I’ve got too much time on my hands?
      Ticking away with my sanity
      I’ve got too much time on my hands
      It’s hard to believe such a calamity
      I’ve got too much time on my hands
      And it’s ticking away – ticking away from me

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    • No offense on the length of your posts – interesting stuff ve
      And you get better – that is a really tough injury.

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    • i like your comments vewill1, keep em coming! a suggestion for your downtime, if you have access to HBO on demand, their entire catalog is in there. some favorites series of mine are deadwood, rome, game of thrones and there are plenty more. even if you have previously seen these they are so detailed and full its fun to watch again. that would keep you busy for about 150 hours or so. good luck and take care.

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  36. Jake Kaplan just reported that he’d be very surprised if J.D. Davis is not brought up tomorrow. That’s fine, but why diidn’t they just bring him up instead of White a couple of weeks ago?

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  37. Well, as of this morning, both guys are on the AAA active roster. Davis has not played since Tuesday night. White has not played since being reassigned on Sunday. Nephew might be on double secret probation.

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    • We will know if at the next game, he drives a float out onto the field. And the float looks like a cake, and has “Eat me” written on it. (If you are confused, it is a reference to Animal House movie)

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  38. From headline story on Bregman today: According to Alex’s father, “Whether he’ll admit it or not — he probably will — he believes he can be the greatest baseball player that ever lived.”

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  39. Just to put a little more color around my CC comments. I think he is a very good defender with a canon for an arm. His ++ arm allows him to play a little deeper in the hole and still make the out at first, thus overcoming some range issues. It’s just that I believe he could be one of the best defensive 3B in the game. I also believe that him at 3 and Bregs at SS make the team better defensively. However, I will reiterate that I would not make the switch during the season.

    I think his bat will come around. I just look at his stats and see lack of real improvement between 2015 and 2018; but it remains to me more a matter of “when” than “if” we see him really break out. At current production he is still very very good and will benefit the lineup greatly when he returns.

    I am more worried about his health than production. He has missed significant time every season. Does this mean he is injury prone? I don’t know if its that or just bad luck. Back injuries scare me, especially when they occur to a power hitter. Nothing negative in the core is ever good and these injuries seem to plague players for a career once they get them. Let’s keep hoping that his injury is muscular and not skeletal and is minor.

    CC is one of the top players in the game and there is nothing wrong with him continuing to be just that. I see the MVP potential and wonder when it will come to fruition. We still have a few years to figure it out before we decide to rock up with the $250M it will probably take to lock him down long- term.

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