Houston Astros: Plugging in the Astros first base/DH Holes

Potential lineup

Sep 7, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; Houston Astros shortstop Carlos Correa (1) rounds the bases on a three run home run against the Oakland Athletics during the seventh inning at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

So what do the Astros do, both for the rest of 2015 and the 2016 season? We will look at seven options to fill those two spots: Carter, Gattis, Jon Singleton, A.J. Reed, Luis Valbuena, Tyler White and Matt Duffy.

First, I would offer that next year’s batting order is likely to look something like this:

2B Altuve (R)

RF Springer (R)

SS Correa (R)

1B/DH To Be Named

CF Gomez (R)

DH/1B To Be Named

LF Tucker (L)/Marisnick (R)

3B Lowrie (S)

C Castro (L)

Part of the problem with the Astros has been that their top four bats (Altuve, Springer, Correa, and Gomez) are all right-handed. This order has consistently allowed teams to match up hard-throwing right-handed relievers against the top of our lineup for full innings without paying the penalty of an opposite hand matchup. A left-handed hitter who can break up the top four – perhaps with Springer or Altuve moving down to cleanup, and Gomez fifth – would be useful.

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Next: Option 1: Chris Carter