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By Ben Nicholson-Smith | at
Email a copy of 'Offseason Outlook: Houston Astros' to a friend
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BWillie
A very fair and thorough evaluation. One other Astro sure to get a long look in the infield is Matt Dominguez, who has shown some pop and a steady glove at 3rd base. Definitely outfield help is needed, and who doesn’t need pitching (not named Clemens)?
johnsmith4
In 2012, Astros had an excellent draft. The core of this team is in the farm system waiting to be developed. As a result, I wouldn’t rush one player onto the 40-man roster. Anyone on the 40-man under the age of 25 with options should be assigned to the minors to preserve their major league service time.
Houston should simply continue the practice of filling out the roster with out of option players placed on waivers. Some of them will become successful reclamation projects who can be turned into trade candidates.
LazerTown
Agreed. There is no need to rush someone to the majors on this team. For Harper and the Nats it made sense because they are now a competing team, but Astros won’t be.
Mike Rooney
And Altuve is a very nice player, hopefully they can build around him
mlbscout6
This is going to be a fun offseason for the Astros. Even as a fan of another team, I will be following the astros rebuild very closely. It’s going to be interesting to see what diamonds in the rough Lunhow can find among the non tenders and overlooked minor leaguers. I also think this offseason is an opportunity for them to bring in 1 or 2 veterans who are trying to establish value on 1-year contracts, while also providing leadership for the younger guys on the team. They could look to leverage the opportunity to close if they are not convinced Lopez is there guy. It seems every year there are more pitchers who want to close then there are closing opportunities. Can’t wait to see what they do.
LazerTown
I think it might be good for the veterans even if they know they will be traded. They get an opportunity to rebuild some of their value, AND they also know that they will be traded to a contender in July. This is better than them signing with a team that will just keep these veterans.
wade3061
I feel bad for the Astros franchise. NL Central to the AL West. How did a guy who can’t make an obvious decision (such as keeping the Astros in the NL and moving the Brewers to the AL) ever get to be commissioner? Maybe in two years someone who think with his brain can reverse that bad decision and also make one in regards to the A’s stadium.
LazerTown
Brewers were coming off of a 96 win season when this was passed. It is easier to move a team that is so terribly bad then it is the division champion. Neither city is really a western city, although I guess Houston I would consider to be more part of the “west” than Wisconsin.
Novak
Not to mention, Milwaukee was an NL town (Braves) before the Astros joined the NL.
johnsilver
A “NL West” town as was the Atlanta Braves after the move.No reason to not stick either (Houston, Atlanta) in the western division.. Just eliminate the circus atmosphere of playoffs some (most) low-mid market teams want and many of which shouldn’t even exist, then eliminate both central divisions, go back to East/West with just 4 PO teams..
Then the league needs an Iron Fisted commissioner, like Bowie Kuhn who realizes what is best for the game and doesn’t allow people of the likes of Frank McCourt, Tom Hicks and the Wilpon’s anywhere close to owning a franchise either.
Mike Rooney
That guy was supposed to be out of there years ago. Maybe they think that no one else will coddled the owners like an owner/commissioner. Remember when the commissioner was allowed to act ‘in the best interest of baseball’. The car dealer’s whole mindset was to get his team in the NL the whole time. I don’t know why the Astros were so intent on joining the AL, and the main reason that Milwaukee moved was he promised Colangelo that Arizona would be an NL team.
Flharfh
The AL West is the division that needed another team, not the central, so moving the Brewers back would mean that a current AL central team would need to move to the West (Royals? no really good fit), or the Brewers would be in the AL west, which makes no sense historically or geographically. Furthermore, Astros were being sold, so Selig could put the league change in as a condition of the sale. What’s he going to do to the Brewers, ask nicely?
The Astros in the AL west at least makes some sense. It creates a new interstate rivalry and Houston is actually kind of in the West.
Kevin Swords
I understand why they were the team to move but I will never buy the “Natural Rivalry” argument. I would think that it would be in baseball’s best interest to have the two Texas teams split (one in each league). That way it would create fan interest throughout the state, even when both teams are performing well (otherwise it makes you pick one or the other). Hasn’t that been the idea when splitting up teams that share the same city? All the other states are pretty evenly split as well.
BWillie
On my map, Houston is about 3/8 of an inch further west than Milwaukee. Good reason to move them.
Flharfh
Do MLB teams travel by ruler now?
Straight line travel distances:
Mil-Sea 1689 mi. Mil-LA 1743
Mil-Dallas 856 Mil – Oak 1832
Hou – Sea 1891 Hou – LA 1372
Hou – Dallas 241 Hou – Oak 1636
All of the Brewers trips would be longer except a slightly shorter trip to Seattle, and the Astros get a puddle jumper trip down to DFW to soften the blow of longer West Coast road trips. This also indirectly helps the rest of the division, as they can go to Tex and Hou in one road trip and cut down on miles traveled.
Madman: The Mil. Braves history as an NL team doesn’t count? Says who, you? And if past franchise history doesn’t count, why are you putting the Brewers in the AL West from two years as the Seattle Pilots? Ridiculous. As to your regional rivalry point, The Brewers swapped one Chicago rivalry for another, still have an interleague rivalry with the twins, and never really had much of a rivalry with the Tigers. I’ll take the STL – MIL rivalry any day.
It makes some sense to move the Brewers back to the AL central, but that’s not the division that’s short a team.
MadmanTX 2
No, it makes no sense. First, Milwaukee used to be the Seattle Pilots and WERE in the AL West. It’d make more sense to put them back in the AL, where they were until realignment in 1997. The Astros have been a NL team since 1962. You can’t count the Braves–they took their history with them to Atlanta. Second, what’s bigger than a state rivalry? A regional rivalry: Miwaukee, Detroit, Chicago, Minnesota! Third, Texas would be without NL baseball. Who wants to drive to St Louis or Colorado to catch NL games from Texas.?
Chaim Breslow's Purse
Why not just move Rockies to AL West and Astros to NL West? That makes more sense to me. Rockies even had a DH in Giambi.
jesse heiman
The Rockies really should have moved to AL West and Astros to nl west because Arizona and Texas have more rivalry than Arizona and California teams
LazerTown
This is going to be a terribly bad team next year. Less time playing the Cubs and Pirates, and more vs A’s, angels, and rangers.
Gregory Hicks
Good point. I think the 1899 Cleveland Spiders (20-134, .130 W%) might have a challenger.
Chuck Norris 2
How about trading for some high ceiling players like Tyler Moore and Bryan Lahair and signing a good DH?
They can get those players for not a lot. The lineup could look something like this:
2B Altuve
SS Jed Lowrie
1B Singleton
DH (F/A)
Lf. Tyler Moore
RF Lahair
CF. Maxwell
3B. Dominguez
C Jason Castro
rikersbeard
but why trade away young value when the rebuild is so far away from complete.
crashcameron
possibly the worst defensive outfield in baseball
snake
The AL West licks its collective chops when they see this.
sourbob
I am a Cub fan and I like Bryan LaHair well enough. But he’s hardly a high ceiling guy. The way he played this year? Probably pretty close to as good as he is going to get.
BustaPozee
Wow bryan lahair is a high ceiling player? Wow…..
NOT KIDDING
At least they’ve got Kevin Goldstein!
JacobyWanKenobi
Must be nice not having any contract obligations. If the front office is smart with their contracts they do give out, things can go well. They have the novelty of being the team to swap leagues as well. Tabula Rasa baby!
Speaking of contract obligations:
LAD 2013-2017
$193.764
$133.664
$89.964
$88.714
$89.964
Yuck.
Dave Regan
Why “yuck”? Sure it’s a lot of money, but is it going to prevent the Dodgers from filling holes?
Since_77
Jed Lowrie would be a nice pick up for the Yanks. A switch hitting back up middle infielder with pop. He could also DH.
Chaim Breslow's Purse
Don’t forget that he’s injury-prone.
stroh
Of the position players on the current roster, my prediction is that only 3 – Brett Wallace, Matt Dominguez and Jason Castro will be with the Astros by 2014. Jose Altuve will be traded – he’s a singles hitter, does not walk much, and has limited range. Delino Deshields, Jr. is their second baseman of the future — stole over 100 bases in the minors this year.
I think 2013 will be a year of continued flux, but 2014 lineup may look like this:
CF – George Springer (1st round pick who will play in AA in 2013, and top 100 prospect per MLB.com) — hit .300/25HR/90 RBIs and 30 steals in minors this year.
RF – Domingo Santana (obtained in trade from Phillies, will also play in AA in 2013) — .300/25HR/100 RBIs in minors, has a bit more raw power than Springer, not as speedy.
LF – possibly Robbie Grossman (obtained in trade from Pirates, who will play in AAA in 2013) or a free agent
1B – Jonathan Singleton (obtained from Phillies, top 100 prospect per MLB.com) — hit .285, 20 HR, 85 RBIs in minors and will play in AAA in 2013
2B – Delino DeShields, Jr. (1st round pick, top 100 prospect per MLB.com, hit .280, 12 HRs, 60 RBIs, and stole 131 bases in the minors this year !!)
3B – Matt Dominguez (former Marlins 1st round pick obtained in trade, top 100 prospect per MLB.com, has hit .290 with 5 HRs in 100 ABs in the majors this year and played stellar defense)
SS – Jonathan Villar (obtained from Phillies, power hitting shortstop with great range, strikes out a bit too much, will play in AAA this year). Carlos Correa, this year’s 1st round draft pick, may be a 2015 callup.
C – Jason Castro (former 1st round pick, hitting .260 with 6 HR and 30 RBIs in 250 ABs this year in majors)
DH – Brett Wallace (former Cardinals 1st round pick, hitting .255 with 9 HRs and 25 RBIs in about 230 ABs in majors this year).
BustaPozee
Deshields “only” stole 101
stroh
Yes, you are correct….somehow I added up the totals between A and AA incorrectly….not 131 steals, “only” 101. Maybe the 131 includes his A ball total from last year. But this year was a breakout year.