George Springer is one of the best center fielders in baseball. He likely will at some point during his six-year, $150-million contract with the Blue Jays have to move over to right field. But in the short term, his new team has one of the five best center-field situations in MLB.
Inversely, the Astros’ aversion to the risk of long-term free-agent contracts was always going to leave them worse off in center field this season. The better question is to what extent? And in what ways can they try to make up for some of the value lost from Springer’s departure at other positions?
As the Astros’ 2021 roster takes shape, the answers have begun to emerge. Myles Straw, unproven and lacking offensively, appears to be in line to succeed Springer as Houston’s starting center fielder. And to offset Straw’s light bat, the team is counting on more production from the rest of its lineup.
The latter isn’t an unreasonable goal. Yordan…
