Astros’ postseason could be the last with this core of superstar players.
Astros as we know them stage final quest for title
MINNEAPOLIS — October is near, and the Astros are alive, which is nothing unusual for this franchise with a core of superstar players who always seems primed for the postseason.
George Springer supplied seismic home runs, and Justin Verlander offered sometimes superhuman performances en route to a 2017 World Series win. Michael Brantley delivered a game-saving double play prior to Jose Altuve’s walk-off home run to capture last season’s American League pennant inside Minute Maid Park.
Almost every moment since Altuve’s blast has been miserable, gradually narrowing a championship window that appeared wide open for 2020 and 2021. Now, after nine months of acrimony and an uneven 60-game season, the club might have one final chance with its core intact.
After Altuve’s home run, an assistant general manager cursed at a group of female reporters during the
postgame celebration — and the team lied about it. Houston fell seven outs shy of its second World Series title. The best general manager and manager in club history were fired for condoning an electronic sign-stealing scheme. A pandemic gripped the globe. When the sport returned, injuries and ineffectiveness derailed the Astros’ truncated season.
“The goal is getting in regardless of your record,” outfielder Josh Reddick said Sunday, before the team fell to 29-31. “I don’t think record matters now. We got in, and that’s what matters.”
Reddick, Springer and first baseman Yuli Gurriel are free agents at season’s end. All three have been constants in Houston’s four-year playoff run. Brantley — the team’s steadiest hitter across the last two seasons — also is in his final year of club control.
Verlander will undergo Tommy John surgery this offseason. Houston’s unquestioned ace won’t throw another pitch before his contract expires in 2021. The team harbored hope he could return for the postseason, perhaps as an emotional lift more than an on-field asset. When the pithcer’s comeback attempt failed, general manager James Click conceded the obvious ramifications.
“It’s impossible to say that, on some level, it does not shrink the window,” Click said. “No team can lose even the anticipation of having a Justin Verlander come back and look themselves in the mirror and say honestly that that doesn’t hurt your chances of winning a championship.”
Click came to Houston with plans to construct a more sustainable club. He was groomed in a Rays organization that epitomizes the strategy. TampaBay is the topseed in the American League playoff bracket while boasting the sport’s top farm system and third-lowest payroll.
Click inherited an Astros farm system gutted by graduation and window-widening trades from his predecessor. This winter, the rookie executive must rebuild an outfield, bolster a bullpen and search for an ace, all with $125,916,666 already committed to the 2021 payroll and a paucity of prospects.
How Click maneuvers the fascinating winter is anyone’s guess. Reports last December indicated that former general manager Jeff Luhnow discussed possible trades involving Correa, though Luhnow later denied it. Next season is the final one under Astros team control for Correa, along with starters Lance McCullers Jr. and Zack Greinke.
A crossroads is nearing, only compounded by this confounding season. Altuve enters the postseason as the ninth-worst qualified hitter in the sport. His .629 OPS leaves a void atop the Astros’ anemic batting order. Gurriel has just a .658 mark. Correa, the imposing shortstop who can usually slug a bushel of extra-base hits, has just 14 in 221 plate appearances. Altuve and Correa have combined for 10 home runs. Four members of the Twins batting order have at least 13 each.
Whether the small-sample-size slumps signal something of greater concern is unknown. Click and his lieutenants must confront that question this winter as he tries to compile another championship
team, perhaps without some of the core that made titles possible. Springer will be the best available position player on the open market. Brantley finished the season with a .300 batting average.
Gurriel has said on three occasions he wants to return to Houston — but will he be among Click’s foremost priorities?
Before any of those questions can be answered, this season must end. The core is intact for this series at Target Field, but something is clearly missing. The group that takes the field Tuesday will tote tons of playoff experience. After their regularseason struggles, it’s worth wondering whether it will even matter.
“Intensity I feel is going to be different when we start playing in the playoffs in a couple days,” Correa said. “I think we’re going to step up, going to play great baseball and be fine.”
Experience cannot be quanti
fied. Manager Dusty Baker and his players maintained optimism it will be a tangible advantage during the wild-card series. On Tuesday, Baker will work the 56th postseason game of his marvelous managerial career. He will write a lineup composed of nine players who’ve made 1,321 playoff plate appearances as Astros. The number could soon dwindle drastically. Moments with this luxury must be cherished.
“These guys have been through the war, so to speak, and I’m sure that’s been on their minds,” Baker said. “I’ve been a free agent, and it’s on your mind.
“This is an opportunity to not only shine for us and for the city of Houston but to shine for the world. These guys have been on this stage many, many times. I think this is going to help them to help us.”