His power is looking good, he's starting to hit more homers, including against lefties. Up to 8 in Corpus after yesterday, 17 total this year. However, I don't think he reaches the majors until next September at the earliest. Still needs to lower his K% a little, may not see AAA until next year (not sure what his "schedule" is, though).
I peg Cole to get $170M/7yrs. I think the max Houston could afford would be ~$140M/5yrs, and that would probably require moving a few arbitration eligible players to clear salary, and it would definitely mean no money for Springer or Correa.
I would rather us try and re-sign Cole and ditch Correa since he can't stay healthy. I don't know how to feel about potentially losing Springer though.
Don't want to lose Springer (our de-facto captain), he's the heart and soul of this team, brings the whole clubhouse together, and ignites our offense. We've seen how the team suffers without him. Correa isn't resigning anyway (injuries are concerning too), and I prefer Cole. Pitching is (IMO) the most important piece to a contender, and durable, high K/low BB workhorses with "stuff" THAT good are VERY tough to find, and having two of them on top of the rotation is excellent.
What I've been preaching for a little while. Crane and company will spend if this team wins another World Series this year. Not like the Dodgers, Yankees, Red Sox, and Cubs but the payroll will be higher than it is this year.
To re-sign Cole, they would have to get to as close to the tax as possible. That means shedding Reddick and Yuli, likely letting McHugh, Harris, Rondon, Smith walk, etc. It's doable, but it would cost us a lot of depth.
Cole is going get paid. Period. His girl is always posting about Cali and you can totally tell Cole is going sign a team on the west coast. Wouldn't be suprised if the Padres give him a 7/210. Not worth it.
No way the Astros are spending over $200 mil for Cole to keep him and Correa has been injured every year he's been in the league. I like both of them but to keep them would mean overspending by a ton. Cole is worth every penny he gets for a team that has the money to spend. Correa will unfortunately never live up to his full potential and we can't be tied down to someone like him. We can easily move Bregs over to ss and find another 3bman if needed. Or even move Yuli to 3b and find another 1b (which I believe Alvarez could fit that bill).
I actually ran into her at the second Astros at Rockies game. Really nice and asked if i was from Houston. Got a pic and she was holding somebody’s baby. Too drunk to remember who’s kid it actually was. Anywho, said they liked Houston and then I asked the magic question .... y’all need to stay in Houston and with the Stros long term....please? She smiled and said that’s up to The Astros..... aka pay us!!!! Haha.