Now that Spring Training is upon us, I thought it would be fitting to do a in depth-preview on every single MLB team. I am doing this in the same format that the MLB draft is done: worst goes first, best goes last. Unfortunately for the city of Houston, the Astros(and Texans) were the worst, and therefore, I will start of my series with the Houston Astros.2013
To the surprise of pretty much nobody, the 2013 Astros were horrendous. Their 51-111 record pretty much tells you all you need to know about the season, which is pretty much summed up perfectly by this play. http://houston.astros.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2013_05_17_houmlb_pitmlb_1&mode=recap&c_id=pit#gid=2013_05_17_houmlb_pitmlb_1&mode=video
Pitching
The Houston pitching staff posted the 3rd worst team ERA in all of baseball(4.72), but this year should be a improvement in that department. The 2014 Opening Day rotation is expected to consist of 23 year old Jarred Cosart who posted a 1.95 ERA in 10 starts last season(and called Justin Bieber a homosexual slur on twitter, look it up) 24 year old Brett Oberholtzer(2.75 ERA in 10 starts) and recently acquired Scott Feldman, who went 12-12 and posted a combined 3.86 ERA with the Orioles and Cubs last season. It gets pretty ugly after that, consisting of Brad Peacock(5-6, 5.18 ERA), Paul Clemens, who started only 5 games last year, but posted a 5.40 ERA pitching mostly out of the bullpen, and LHP Dallas Kuchal(6-10, 5.15 ERA). Another starter who will be fighting for a rotation spot in Spring Training will be Lucas Harrel, who had a putrid 2013, going 6-17 with a 5.86 ERA. Overall, this rotation is a work in progress. There is talent and upside, but little proof of success. Cosart and Oberholtzer will both continue to blossom this season, but I think Feldman will be a disappointment. He has always been just decent at best, and moving to the heavy hitting AL West will not help. I expect that at least one pitcher in the bottom half of the rotation will improve significantly from last year(probably Clemons, since he is a flame thrower with high upside). Overall, this rotation is not great, but I think it will give Astros fans hope for the future.
Grade: C-
Hitting
This will be easily the strongest asset for Houston this season, although they scored the 3rd fewest runs in the league in 2013. 23 Year Old Jose Altueve is one of the better 2nd baseman in all of baseball, and he will continue to blossom in 2014.
Altueve's Double Play partner will be 22 year old Jonathon Villar, who is quick, good with the glove and had 18 stolen bases in 57 games in 2013.
24 Year Old Matt Dominguez will be at 3rd base. Dominguez showed a lot of promise in his first full season in the majors last year, hitting 21 homers and driving in 77 runs. Domingiz is also solid defensively, as he was 2nd among AL 3rd baseman with 323 assists.
Catcher Jason Castro is one of the best hitters in the game for his position. At 26 years of age, Castro set several Astros records last season for the catching position, with most homeruns for a catcher(18), doubles(35), extra-base hits(54) slugging percentage(.485), multi-hit games (33) and OPS (.835). Castro also posted a batting average of .276.
Chris Carter is expected to start at 1st base. Carter can crush it(29 Homers, 83 RBI in 2013), but isn't as great as those stats may lead one to believe. He strikes out a stunning amount, and is putrid defensively. He also hit .223.
Houston's outfield is very young and talented, and I expect them to blossom greatly this season. Former Pirates prospect Robbie Grossman will start in left field. Grossman showed a lot of promise in the 2nd half of last season, hitting .322 with an OPS of .816 from July on last season. In Centerfield will be the newly acquired Dexter Fowler. I always thought that Fowler was an asset when he was with the Rockies. Solid leadoff man, very fast and good defensively, and has some power. The biggest problem with Fowler is his health. He has been snake-bitten with injuries throughout his career, and in order for him to be an asset for Houston, he will need to stay healthy. Right Field will be a battle between George Springer and LJ Hoes. If I'm Bo Porter, I give Springer the job. The 24 year hit 37 homeruns and stole 45 bases last season in the minors. I guess you can call this Springer before Hoes(hehehe). Brett Wallace will probably be my guess as to who will DH for Houston.
Overall, the Astros lineup isn't great, but like the pitching they show a lot of promise and I expect them to improve.
Grade: C-
Bullpen
The Astros did a good job of improving a once putrid bullpen by adding Chad Qualls from Miami, Matt Albers from Cleveland and Jesse Crain from Tampa Bay. Qualls provides great experience and will compete for the closers roll with Josh Fields, a Rule 5 draft pick who struck out 40 batters in 40 innings last season. Albers did a solid job with the Tribe last year, and Jesse Crain, by far Houstons best offseason acquisition, dominated bats last season, first with the White Sox, then with the Rays, posting an ERA of 0.74 and making the AL All-Star team. Flamethrower Wesley Wring also has potential Overall, I don't think this bullpen will be great or even very good, but it will be a big improvement from last year.
Grade: B-
Bench: Either Hoes or Springer will be solid options off of the bench. That's it. Other then that, they have nothing.
Grade: F
Manger: I love Bo Porter. He is perfect for this young team, and reminds me of a younger version of Clint Hurdle. In game managing is not great, but neither is Hurdle's. Perfect man to lead this team back to relevance.
Farm System
This should make any Astros fan drool. Mark Appel, Carlos Correa, George Springer, Jonathan Singleton, Lance McCullers. All of these kids have the potential to be stars in this great game. Houston has done so well in selecting talent that many ''experts'' are declaring this to be the best Minor League system in all of Baseball. "Experts'' are wrong a lot of the time, but I feel that they may have a case here.
Grade: A+
Conclusion
This will be another lame duck season in Houston, with the AL West getting even stronger over the offseason and the Astros still being not quite ready. I expect a pretty big improvement wins wise, but it still wont look very good. But Astros fans fear not. GM Jeff Luhnow is doing what the Cardinals have been doing for years, what the Pirates started doing recently, and what several other successful franchises have done in the past, which is build a winner through the farm system. The future is bright in Houston, although fans will have to sit through another rough season in 2014.
Prediction: 64-98, 5th in AL West.
Credit to The Indiana Sports page for giving me a lot of the information used for this article.
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