Astros shortstop Carlos Correa is just the megastar-to-be for Major League Baseball, Yahoo! Sports’ Jeff Passan writes — Correa is not quite as brash as Bryce Harper can sometimes be, but more outwardly confident than Mike Trout, and might just have that kind of exceptional talent. Last season, when he was a 20-year-old rookie, he quickly won over teammates with his play and with his confidence. “It was kind of like us saying; ‘Here you go, dude. You own this place,'” says outfielder George Springer. Here’s more from the American League.
- Yankees slugger Carlos Beltran hopes to continue playing beyond the expiration of his contract following the 2016 season, ESPN’s Wallace Matthews writes. “My goal is to play 20 years,” Beltran says. “I would love to play 20 years in the big leagues. So that means two more years if possible.” Beltran’s first season in the big leagues was 1998, so playing through 2017 would mean he appeared in 20 straight big-league seasons. Beltran has become more and more of a defensive liability as he’s aged, but his hitting bounced back nicely in 2015, when he batted .276/.337/.471 with 19 home runs. His best path forward after 2016 might be as a DH, although, as Matthews notes, Alex Rodriguez appears set to man that position with the Yankees through 2017.
- Alex Gordon confirms that the White Sox had strong interest in him this offseason, Dan Hayes of CSN Chicago writes. His first choice, though, was always to head back to the Royals. “After every conversation I had with (agent Casey Close) it was always, ‘Have the Royals said anything?‘” says Gordon. “This is where I grew up. Its where I wanted to be. Coming from the bad times to really cherish the good times, why not stay here?” Both Gordon and Yoenis Cespedes were reportedly possibilities for the White Sox, although both ended up returning to their former teams, with Gordon taking a $72MM guarantee to stay in Kansas City.
Obviously, a lot depends on Beltran’s 2016 season, but if he can swing it like he did last year, he should have no problem finding a DH spot on some team.
If Beltran can still hit, he can probably get some sort of a job. It won’t likely be for big money.
Correa plays half a season and is now treated as a mega star, which is something I do not understand. People are quick to call him a superstar in the making but who’s to say he doesn’t go through a sophomore slump of some sort? I mean, does anyone remember what happened to Geovany Soto?
Yeah he only played in half a season but he put up unreal numbers in that time. This kid is only 20 or 21 and is probably the best SS in the league. Look at all the hype Kris Bryant gets. Do you think he’s not a superstar in the making too? How about Bryce Harper a few years ago, did you not think he would be good? When a player is that good he is obviously going to get talked about.
Um, no. I’ll give you that he was arguably the best offensive SS in the league. But he was 3rd best by WAR, dead LAST in defense at a very important defensive position. Even if we throw out the full season guys from other teams, Correa and Lindor played an identical number of games. Lindor’s bWAR is a half-win higher, and fWAR 1.3 wins higher than Correa. Correa is highly skilled yes, but Lindor was flat out robbed of the ROY award.
Lindor wasn’t robbed. They played an identical numbers of games, but Correa had a better slugging percentage, a better OPS percentage, more home runs, and more RBIs. So how was Lindor robbed?
Exactly. Even though I’m going to hate him batting .600 against Angels pitching this year, Correa is going to be amazing.
Funny how things work out sometimes. The Royals made a strong offer for Beltran in 2014 (3 yrs. 42.5 Mil. Vs. 3 yrs. 45 Mil he took from the Bombers). Oh well the Royals have done okay without him.
Beltran went to New York because he always wanted to be a Yankee, he said that early in his career so even if the Yankees offered less I imagine he still would’ve ended up there
That’s almost as bad as always wanting to be a Philly.
Yeah why be part of a team with a future ?
Why are you always so angry and aggressive. If you don’t like Passan’s articles then don’t read them.
Good luck with that rotation.
Hey I’m sure you as a Royals fan know you don’t need a very good rotation to win a championship
Fewest innings pitched by starters last year in the American League, yet finished with the best record in the league and won the WS.
Here’s another useless statistic. Out of the top ten IP pitchers in the AL last season only two played in the playoffs, and one of them (Price) threw most of his innings for a team that watched the playoffs at home like the Yankees. Oops sorry the Yankees did get to sniff the playoffs didn’t they?