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Olney On Astros, Castro, Dodgers

ESPN.com's Buster Olney is not buying Boston's slow start, though no World Series winner has ever opened the season with four consecutive losses. Another 0-4 team, the Rays, entered the year with a fragile equation for success and may be more vulnerable than their struggling division rivals, Olney says. Here are more rumblings from around baseball:

• Rival scouts don’t see much MLB caliber hitting on the Astros other than Hunter Pence, Michael Bourn and Carlos Lee. The over/under for Astros wins in 2011 should be 60, according to one scout. Houston won 76 games last year and has a solid rotation, so I'll take the over on that one.
• A couple of years ago, Cubs GM Jim Hendry described Starlin Castro as someone who could remind us of Edgar Renteria. The 21-year-old shortstop already has 10 hits this season and could become one of the top shortstops in baseball.
• The Dodgers are paying some deferred money this year, but Olney points out that their payroll has dropped from $118MM to $92MM since 2008. Owner Frank McCourt is trying to come up with $200MM to maintain the rights to the franchise.

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