The Astros Decide that Baseball is not Their Thing. Correa’s Clock starts Running.

Gordon Liang

11/2/2021

Simply put, the Astros were not good at baseball over the past week. They got shut out in two of their World Series games and failed to score three in four of their games (the four that they lost). The Astros, who averaged 5.33 runs per game during the regular season, averaged a mere 3.33 runs per game in the World Series. The best offense in baseball wasn’t clicking and they paid for it.

More importantly, the clock is now ticking for free-agent Carlos Correa who is now an affiliate of himself. Correa told the media that he would not negotiate during the season and now he has five days before he’s free to sign with a team not named the Astros. Early in the season Correa said he wants to be an Astro for life but over the season Correa has eluded to many different routes. He told Mark Berman that he wouldn’t want to split the infield quartet up but at the same time told a different source that he’d like to be in pinstripes in the East Coast.

After Correa failed to agree on an extension during Spring Training, he decided to have a career season. Correa led all position players in bWAR this season while posting a 134 wRC+ and racking up 12 Outs Above Average (OAA). He’ll definitely be a coveted shortstop with 30 options this offseason. The Astros will obviously seek to re-sign him but Correa is seeking a long contract and the Astros aren’t known for picking up a lengthy commitment.

“I asked for a long contract but [the Astros front office] closed it right away,” Correa said before the regular season.

Correa isn’t the only big name free agent coming out of Houston. Newly-acquired Kendall Graveman is also set to hit free agency and unlike Correa, Graveman was able to sustain his success in the postseason allowing just two runs and taking likely the last at bat by a pitcher not named Shohei Ohtani. Graveman played in his first postseason this year and initially he didn’t look to be up for the big stage as he gave up a run in his first inning of work and got into a jam in his second. However, he seemed to turn it around as he’s only given up one run in ten innings since his first postseason outing. Making only $1.5 million this season while being one of baseball’s best relievers, Graveman is set for a big pay jump and the Astros are aware of that.

While the Astros have options to replace Correa, they do not have options for Graveman. The Astros bullpen suffered before Graveman. The night before Graveman was acquired by the Astros, he collected a win over them when the Mariners came back from a seven run deficit. The bullpen was an utter liability before Graveman came along and Click began his chain of deadline-acquisitions for relievers.

Relievers tend to cost less than position players so signing Graveman to a new contract will prove to be easier. Meanwhile Aledmys Diaz was one of baseball’s elite defenders this season and although he had negative-one OAA at shortstop, he collected eight from third base where Alex Bregman usually plays. Bregman was a shortstop in college and played significant time there during the 2019 season so he can shift there while Diaz plays at the hot corner in 2021.

A second option is Jeremy Pena who produced at a great rate in two different levels of the farm system this year. His numbers weren’t as good as Correa’s but just like in 2019, the Astros have proven that they can do away with their star shortstop and still produce fireworks. The Astros lost George Springer in last year’s free agency and still racked up the second most fWAR from the centerfield position. Losing Correa will hurt, but it won’t kill. The Astros had the best offense in baseball and despite losing that pop in the World Series, they’re still a threat in 2022. But with how weak the Astros pitching was, losing Graveman may prove to be more detrimental than losing Correa. The ball is now officially in James Click’s court.