Astros 2016 Potential Trades Series: Shortstop

While not heavily mentioned by MLB.com as particularly active this trade season, it seems exceedingly likely in spite of a rocky start to 2016 that the Astros are once again deadline buyers this season, and not just to address holes at the major league level...but possibly also to address mounting logjams at the upper minor league levels.

Welcome to part six of an eight-segment, position by position run down of the situation with the club, and then we'll examine possible (and perhaps even likely) outcomes of these situations near the end of the series. Here’s the schedule, so you know when to expect each article:

Pitching: Published April 25^th, 2016
Catching: Published April 26^th, 2016
First Base: Published April 27^th, 2016
Second Base: Published April 28^th, 2016
Third Base: Published April 29^th, 2016
Shortstop: May 2^nd, 2016
Outfield: May 3^rd, 2016
Conclusions Drawn: May 4^th, 2016

Shortstop

Perhaps the only position on the entire team that is truly locked down with superhuman Man-God Carlos Correa in the fold, right?

Well, sort of.

The debate has raged, red-hot, since the end of the first day of the 2015 draft.  Will Correa remain at shortstop?  Or will he move to third base to accommodate another hot shot shortstop prospect, Alex Bregman, in Houston?  Who can really say, definitively?  Not this writer.  There's the school of thought that says "Carlos Correa was here first.  He's the rising face of the franchise, and one of the rising faces of the very sport.  He was the Rookie of the Year.  If he wants to play shortstop, he plays shortstop."

That kind of rationale is understandable - though one might argue the case of Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter in New York, and that Rodriguez was a significantly better defender at shortstop than Jeter was, as a negative example of letting non-baseball related (strictly speaking) factors affect such a decision.  It's also reasonable, to an extent, to be concerned about retaining Correa's services beyond his arbitration years, as he's expressed a desire - if not an expectation - to stay at shortstop.

The truth is, there is no publicly available data (of which this writer is aware) accurately comparing the two young future stars, Correa and Bregman, defensively to see which profiles better as a shortstop and which profiles better as a third baseman.  Or a second baseman or left fielder, in Bregatron's (possible) case.

As Chris Perry pointed out in a discussion in preparation for this piece, were Bregman to make a move to left field to ultimately make room for Colin Moran at third, it is conceivable that the Astros field the following lineup (or one similar) as soon as 2017:

That might be a lineup lacking in the "three true outcomes" punch we've come to expect recently in Houston, but it certainly does appear to be eight fairly difficult outs and a catcher.