3 Things To Improve All 30 Teams — The Houston Astros
The 2021 Houston Astros finished the season with a record of 95–67, winning the AL West. Facing the White Sox in the Divisional round of the playoffs, they took the series 3 games to 1. They moved on to face the Red Sox in the Championship round and took that series 4 games to 2. Despite their easy run through the AL teams, they would fall victim to the Atlanta Braves who took the series 4 games to 2. Making it to the World Series in 3 of the last 5 seasons, only victorious in 1, there is some room for improvement. Let’s take a look at 3 things we can fix from the 2021 Astros to help them potentially bring home a 2nd title in 6 years.
1. Utilize A 6 Man Rotation
The Houston Astros finished the year with a team ERA of 3.76 with a good balance of solid starting pitching and solid relief pitching. This was also done with Zack Greinke still a part of the team and Justin Verlander still recovering from surgery. This year, Zack Greinke will be suiting up back where it all began for him in Kansas City, and Justin Verlander will be back to pitch in his age 39 season.
With a roster containing 2 starting pitchers in their 30’s (Verlander and Jake Odorizzi), and an injury prone Lance McCullers Jr, it would be highly beneficial to the Astros to use a 6 man rotation. Giving all of them an extra day of rest would give them more time to recover after their outings and could potentially keep them all on the field for the whole season. Of course, when off days come, they can skip the 6th man in the rotation and use him as a swing man, but definitely over long stretches between off days it would be beneficial.
Their 6 man rotation could consist of Verlander, McCullers Jr, Luis Garcia, Framber Valdez, Jose Urquidy, and Odorizzi. Verlander didn’t pitch in 2021, but the other 5 guys combined for an ERA of 3.47 and 658 strikeouts over 664 innings pitched. Adding Verlander to the mix could potentially lower that ERA closer to 3.25 and increase the strikeouts by 33%. Should they use this strategy and all of the guys stay healthy for the whole season, expect another 5 wins.
2. Re-Sign Carlos Correa
For some reason, Carlos Correa is still a free agent. The biggest name remaining on the free agency market, he will command a salary in the 12 year $360 million range. The Astros should be the team to lock him up for the remainder of his career.
Drafted 1st overall by the Astros in the 2012 draft, he quickly made his way to the Majors and debuted on June 8th, 2015. Over his 7 year career, he holds a slash of .277/.356/.481 with 133 homeruns and an OPS+ of 127 over 2,824 at bats. Correa is a guy that can easily slot into the middle of any lineup.
The one downfall of Carlos Correa is something we’ve harped on other guys for in this series and will continue to harp on guys for throughout this series and that is his durability. Having a potential to play in a total of 974 games, he has only played in 752 over his career. That’s a games played rate of 77.2% or 125 games a season. He has only played 150+ games in a season once and that was back in 2016.
The 2015 AL RotY winner, 2 time All Star, and 1 time Gold Glove winner will still command a hefty price. But, once again, the Astros should keep him a part of their core. Should they do so, and he stay healthy for 150+ games, their win total should stay the same since he was there last year.
3. Sign Kenley Jansen
This will probably be a bullet point for most contenders until he finally gets signed, but it’s just as important for the Astros as it is for anyone else. Kenley Jansen finished the 2021 season with an ERA of 2.22 and an ERA+ of 185 over 69 innings and appearances. He’s still got it after all these years.
The Astros lost Brooks Raley to the Rays, but gained Hector Neris in free agency. Their current main bull pen arms would be Ryan Pressley, Neris, Cristian Javier, Ryne Stanek, and Blake Taylor. Definitely a formidable bull pen, but adding Jansen in place of any of the last 3 would make the back end of the bull pen that much better. Should the Astros bring Jansen in, expect him to add an extra 2 wins to their total.
Even with making the World Series last year, there’s always room for improvement. Should the Astros utilize a 6 man rotation, bring Carlos Correa back, and sign Jansen, expect them to finish with a record of 102–60 which would give them the best record in the American League.
This has been the 11th entry in our series in which we take a look at all 30 teams individually and find 3 things that we can improve upon so that there 2022 will be better than their 2021. Previous entries include the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Atlanta Braves, the Baltimore Orioles, the Boston Red Sox, the Chicago White Sox, the Chicago Cubs, the Cincinnati Reds, the Cleveland Guardians, the Colorado Rockies, and the Detroit Tigers. Drop a follow to be notified when the next entry comes out! Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments, and follow me on Twitter @TroyBrock1993 for other updates. Next up will be the Kansas City Royals!
