When a surprisingly hot 2015 Astros team called up Correa in May, it was the official start of the Astros run. He was the rookie of the year, the 20 year old phenom who ahd a two homer game in the playoffs. He also had an error late in Game 4 when the game was tied that led to the Royals big comeback. I think few remember how close teh 2015 Royals were to losing to Houston.
Correa was great in his remaining Astros years, but also hurt a lot. Sometimes due to freak injuries. Sometimes due to wear and tear, which wore and tore him more than it does others. He was still really good in 2016 and 2017 (6.7 WAR in 109 games), and had a 7.3 WAR season in 2021, when the Astros made their third World Series in five years. But Correa, like all the Astros on that team, ended it meekly losing badly to Atlanta. Then came free agency, which took forever, but the Astros quickly took themselves out of the running.
It's hard to remember that it's already been three full seasons since Correa played for teh Astros. It shouldn't be hard to remember this fact, in a way. Especially since in 2022, his first year in Minnesota, the Astros won the World Series, with his replacement at SS winning the ALCS and WS MVPs. But in the years since, the Astros dynasty has started fading - even if the team kept winning. They made it to Game 7 of the 2023 ALCS, and probably would have won that year's World Series, but lost to Texas. Last year, they rallied to win the division, only to fall super meekly to Detroit. Then this offseason they traded Kyle Tucker, because clearly they were not going to pay him, and let Alex Bregman walk. Of course, 110 games into the season, they are leading the AL West, and just two games behidn Milwaukee for the best record in baseball, but the dynasty was over in a sense.
Why is the dynasty over? Because Jose Altuve is the only player remaining who was on the 2017 Astros team; technically Lance McCullers also, but he's hurt again. If you go to the 2019 team that lost to the Nationals, you add just Yordan Alvarez and Framber Valdez (granted, thsoe two are rather important). Even compared to 2022, only four players remain that started Game 6 against the Phillies (Altuve, Yordan, Pena, and Chas McCormick). Few pitchers remain too.
I'd come to terms with the fact that the dynasty Astros are over. That this is still a good team, but one clinging to life after years of emptying the farm system to get major leaguers. In a way, trading for Carlos Correa doesn't change any of this. He's 31, and having the worst year of his career. Granted, when he was healthy, he had one of his best just last year, but that is a rough sign. It wreaks of "getting the band together" to make people happy more than it makes sense. But maybe, just maybe, there is some hidden glory in this.
Carlos Correa represented a lot. As I started, his being drafted represented the Astros tear-down in full. As did his callup. His, well, in your face way of playing represented the Astros at their peak, from their 2017 Glory, to theri 2017, well, cheating. He was the leader of that team. And the Astros let him walk. Maybe it was all for the best that they did, but his leaving also cemented another thing: the Astros were not going to give anyone term.
There's a line is Astros circles that's quite cynical, but basically goes like this: we didn'y pay Springer to pay for Correa, who we didn't pay to pay for Bregman, who we didn't pay to pay for Tucker, who we didn't pay to pay for Yordan (which at least in this case, we did pay for Yordan). All those things are true, but all explainable in the sense that Jim Crane seems to be perfectly happy spending money, but draws the line at giving more than 5-6 years. That was a tenet of infamous GM Jeff Luhnow, and the one thing Crane has kept on believing as he washed hands of that regime.
It's not fair to say the Astros don't spend. They've been one of the higher payroll teams for years now. They just spend based on their tenets. But what the Correa trade shows is there is some heart and sentiment here after all. Correa fills a need in the sense Isaac Parades, who was having a good year, is seemingly out for the season with a bad hamstring tear. Correa will mvoe the 3B, something many thought was always inevitable for him anyway. Maybe coming back to Houston rejuvenates him. Maybe it doesn't, but given they traded effectively nothing away and the Twins are picking up 1/3rd of his salary, it doesn't matter. The joy of having Carlos back is enough.
Out of all the Astros from the core team to walk, Correa stung the most. I loved him as a player. I got his jersey. I was in awe of the prodigious talent and the way he carried himself. Yes, he's never turned into the MVP type player that many projected after he had one of the better age 20 seasons ever, but he's still been very good. He was the guy who was supposed to retire an Astro, much like his old double-play mate Altuve, who very mcuh looks like he will retire as one. Well, suddenly it seems Correa might as well. The reunion may not bear fruit. This team is still quite flawed. It still sucks that they traded Tucker and let Bregman walk, But the Astros are still in first place, and got Carlos Correa back home, and life just seems a bit better as a baseball fan.
