Carlos Correa in the leadoff spot paid off. Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images.
Are the Astros giving us a preview of October?
The Astros finished the first inning of the regular season Thursday night. 18 games out of 162, one-ninth of the schedule. Viewing the season in single game form, they're behind 2-nothing going to the second. A deficit nowhere near insurmountable, but not inconsequential either. An 8-10 record is not a big deal. Still, for late April this is an important American League West homestand with four against the Angels followed with four against the thus far spunky Mariners. It's not remotely make or break. A winning homestand and the Astros are just fine. A 2-6 or 3-5 mess? Wouldn't be catastrophic though even this early in the season, falling five, six, seven games behind three teams within the division would be a bona fide concern.
The Astros enjoyed a much-needed breakout game Thursday night in routing the Angels 8-2. They sure didn't want their stretch of brutally bad baseball to drag into the weekend. It's been a team wide affliction. In losing nine out of 10 games the offense had been generally comatose, just once scoring more than four runs. Ironically it was in the lone win that the Astros plated the smallest number, a 1-0 victory at Seattle. Astro pitching had been straight lousy, just once during the ten game stretch allowing fewer than six runs.
Dusty Baker makes the occasional dubious tactical decision, but props to him for slotting Carlos Correa in the leadoff spot Thursday with Jose Altuve still out. First time in his big league career Correa led off. It's simple. You want your best batters up the most. It doesn't matter how fast Myles Straw is. Until/unless he demonstrates something resembling competence as a batter no way should Straw ever be higher than eighth in the lineup.
Mike Trout's greatness
The Angels in through the weekend means the beyond great Mike Trout is here. Among the greatest center fielders of all-time Willie Mays was no greater than Mike Trout. Mickey Mantle was no greater than Mike Trout. At their individual peaks Mantle has the edge for greatest offensive player. Willie was 34 at the end of his last absolutely awesome season, Mickey was 32 at the end of his last. Willie had a great season in his last as an everyday player when he was 40! Trout turns 30 in August. It will be fascinating to see how long Trout sustains baseball God level of play. He's under contract for eight more seasons after this one at more than 37 million dollars per. Alas in baseball, even the greatest everyday player can only do so much toward team success. Trout has been to the postseason once in his career (2014). The Royals swept out the Angels in three straight. Trout went one for 12.
By the way, Ty Cobb was more statistically dominant than any of them but most of his career occurred during the dead ball era. Comparisons can be made but they're a little more apple vs. orange-y.
Rocket science
The Rockets are closing in on nailing down a finish of the worst three records in the NBA and hence maximizing their chances of keeping their lottery pick at 52.1 percent. The Rockets have to finish worse than Orlando or Detroit. Even if the Magic or Pistons lose all remaining games (except the game someone has to win when the Magic and Pistons play), the Rockets would have to win four more to rise above the bottom three. Yeah right! The Rockets' remaining schedule: Clippers, at Denver, Timberwolves, Bucks, Warriors, Knicks, 76ers, at Milwaukee, at Utah, at Portland, at the Lakers, Clippers, at Atlanta.
Sterling Brown is fortunate to not be in worse shape as he recovers from getting attacked outside a Miami strip club early Monday morning. What could have been a life or death matter takes on the most importance, but the Rockets should be concerned, distressed, and ticked that Kevin Porter Jr. was among those out with Brown in the wee hours. On the Rockets' lousy roster, Porter is one of the few beacons of hope. During his freshman season at USC Porter was suspended for misconduct. His behavior with the Cleveland Cavaliers led to the Cavs basically giving away a first round pick in his second season to the Rockets. Porter is now basically suspended because he breached NBA/COVID protocols. It was an irresponsible and lousy job of "mentorship" by Brown and whatever other Rockets were on hand ahead of a game upcoming in Miami that night. Brown was on the trip while not even available to play because of a sore knee.
Buzzer Beaters:
1. Interesting timing by the Astros extending Martin Maldonado's contract through next season and giving him a 1.5 million dollar raise for it. Maldonado is batting .081. He's not here for his bat, but come on.
2. If the 49ers really traded their 2022 and 2023 first round picks plus a third rounder next year to swap up from pick 12 overall to third overall to take quarterback Mac Jones out of Alabama, they're nuts. Doesn't mean it can't work.
3. The next three (okay four) best center fielders ever: Bronze-Oscar Charleston/Ken Griffey Jr. Silver-Tris Speaker Gold-Joe DiMaggio
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Cross your fingers that Isaac Paredes’s hamstring tweak Thursday night is only a tweak. The Astros’ mediocre lineup would absorb a hard blow if Paredes winds up heading to the Injured List. But don’t worry, is there any doubt the Astros’ medical staff has it handled? Paredes has been excellent, a better player than was 2024 Alex Bregman. If he is to miss some time with the sore hammy, that will hurt Paredes’s “on pace for” numbers, but his 15th home run of the season Thursday has him on pace for 35, his 42nd run batted in has him on pace for 98. Reminder that Paredes is making $6,625,000 this season versus Bregman’s 40 million. The Astros sure hope that Paredes doesn’t wind up joining Bregman on the IL.
Follow the money
Never blame a player for grabbing every last dollar he can. However, when taking more money to join a clearly lesser organization, one loses the ability to honestly say, “winning is the most important thing to me.” It’s no sin if winning isn’t absolute priority one. It’s a life choice and business decision. Hello Carlos Correa.
The Astros host the Minnesota Twins at Daikin Park this weekend. Correa is now in his fourth season with the Twins. If his level of play doesn’t pick up, it will be the worst season of his career. Correa is in the third year of the six-year 200 million dollar contract he signed with Minnesota after exercising his opt out clause following the first year of the three-year deal he initially inked with the Twins. In total he has seven years with and 235 million dollars coming from the Twins. When Correa first hit free agency the Astros final offer to keep him was a very reasonable five years and 160 million dollars. If Correa had re-upped with the Astros, he’d have become a free agent after next season. No way would he then have gotten 75 million over two years to match the total haul of 235 over seven he bagged.
Financially, Correa played it correctly. But is he having the same fun playing home games in Minneapolis where the Twins are averaging barely over 20,000 per game in announced attendance, versus the Astros who are announcing about 32,000 per? Correa has played in the postseason once in the three years, and the Astros eliminated him, while the Astros have been in every year. The Twins start the series here this weekend with a record only a game and a half behind the Astros, but while the Astros lead the weak American League West by four and a half games, the Twins about need a telescope to see the Detroit Tigers eight games in front of them in the AL Central. The AL West is the only of the six divisions in Major League Baseball that has just one team with a winning record.
Correa turns 31 years old September 22, the same day Jeremy Pena turns 28. Correa is making over 37 million dollars this season. The Astros are paying Pena four-point-four mil. Over 2026 and 2027 Correa will pull down nearly 65 mil. Over those same two seasons, the Astros will likely pay Pena a total of between 20 and 25 million. Last season Correa was a significantly better player than Pena, except that Carlos played only 86 games. This year Pena has made a quantum leap and is playing like a superstar, while Correa’s game has eroded. Fun factoids: Pena stole his 14th base of the season Wednesday. Correa’s last stolen base came in 2019. To be fair, speed was never a signature of Correa's game.
Double trouble
In 1948 the Boston Braves had a tandem of starting pitching aces in future Hall of Famer Warren Spahn and Johnny Sain. The rest of the rotation was a bit shaky. Boston sportswriter Gerald Hearn wrote “First we’ll use Spahn, then we’ll use Sain, then an off day followed by rain. Back will come Spahn, followed by Sain, and followed we hope by two days rain.” Hunter Brown and Framber Valdez are the Spahn and Sain of the 2025 Astros. Brown has been marvelous all season, Valdez has a 2.02 earned run average over his last seven starts. I leave Brown/Valdez poetry to you.
Spahn is among the handful of greatest left-handed pitchers in history. He debuted in 1942 and pitched in four games, before serving in World War II that took him out of the 1943, ‘44, and ‘45 seasons. Spahn logged his first big league win in 1946 when he was 25 years old. He’d win 362 more and will never be caught for the honor of most wins by a lefty in big league history. As a 42-year-old Spahn went 23-7 and threw 22 complete games. When men were men! It was the 13th time in Spahn’s career that he was a 20-game winner.
For Astro-centric conversation, join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!
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