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Jose Altuve is the greatest player in Astros history. Paying $30M/yr and forking out mainly for his late 20s and not his 30s while still making it likely he will retire an Astro is another stroke of Jeff Luhnow genius. The next step over the next year or two is nailing down Springer, then either or both of Correa/Bregman. Keuchel can walk to make it happen. There's depth in the rotation and some arms left on the farm.
Altuve should age gracefully. He'll lose a little speed, and as such have his average drop some, but it's not like he relies solely on infield hits and he'll still be a .300-something hitter with the hands to put the ball where they ain't. He's like Joe Morgan meets Ichiro, and both of those guys were productive for a long time.
Jose Altuve is the greatest player in Astros history. Paying $30M/yr and forking out mainly for his late 20s and not his 30s while still making it likely he will retire an Astro is another stroke of Jeff Luhnow genius. The next step over the next year or two is nailing down Springer, then either or both of Correa/Bregman. Keuchel can walk to make it happen. There's depth in the rotation and some arms left on the farm.
Altuve should age gracefully. He'll lose a little speed, and as such have his average drop some, but it's not like he relies solely on infield hits and he'll still be a .300-something hitter with the hands to put the ball where they ain't. He's like Joe Morgan meets Ichiro, and both of those guys were productive for a long time.
I’m not ready to say Altuve is GOAT. Biggio lasted 20 years.
I’m not ready to say Altuve is GOAT. Biggio lasted 20 years.
And had he retired around year 15, when he turned into a replacement-level hitter and below-average fielder, the Astros might not have slipped into the period of decline that they did, as a result of trading away the farm (and keeping other prospects like Chris Burke but failing to develop them by playing them out of position) and letting Biggio limp his way to 3,000 hits. I grew up watching the dude like anyone, but I'll take Altuve's last three seasons over Biggio's best three seasons, which I'd say were 1995 and 1997-98.
This is before we even get into October performance.
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Tony Sipp will make the Astros roster as the only lefty reliever. At least, they'll have some balance there, but I'd still like to eventually see another one.
In any event, the 'Stros are set for the year to begin. They're just going to go out and play, as well as have fun. That's how they'll approach the season.
Sipp was a gas can last year. Like Mike Gallo ca. 2006. I was actually expecting all summer to hear he was getting DFA'd. Hope he can at least get some LH hitters out.
Going forward, we're now picking low in the draft so this is where Luhnow defends his title as the best GM in baseball. He will have to find a couple diamonds in the rough to keep the talent coming. His challenge this year is to stop being the new Kansas City Royals. The Royals are back in the toilet now that the core of their champion team is gone, and they have not drafted well at the bottom of the order. KC will take it hard on the chin and probably pick Top 5 again in 2019.
People will knock teams for "tanking" and loading up on high picks, or they will knock them for "buying a championship" like the Yankees, but really there are only two ways to win a World Series. Teams that stay near the middle, with win totals consistently in or near the 75-85 range, never get ahead. The Mariners are a prime example. Not good enough to make the playoffs but too good to "tank."
What Luhnow has done, and it will help prevent us from following KC from the top back to the abyss, is created a product that players want to be a part of and remain part of. He's getting support from the new ownership has shown a willing to pay to keep it that way in a way Drayton didn't care to, being willing to compete with the Yankees and Red Sox. As much as I hated leaving the National League, and felt estranged not from the Astros but MLB as a whole for awhile because of the way it was done, being in the AL is what has changed the front office mentality from the discount-bin operation it's been for most of the franchise's history.
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Altuve Will Stick Around Longer
