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What they need: Astros — a reality check

POSTED BY ON 7:37 pm, December 2, 2009 - POSTED IN Hot Offseason Action

RoyOswalt_2007_016I don’t want to sound overly-harsh, but the Astros suck. Nearly all the team’s best players are past their primes (see: Lee, Berkman, Oswalt). Their pitching is mediocre. Their farm system is barren and they’re seemingly out of money, which is a particular bummer because they’ve got vacancies at both third base and shortstop and no obvious internal candidates (Sorry Houston fans, but Geoff Blum is terrible).

How bad is this team? Last season the ‘Stros finished 17 games out of first and gave up 127 more runs than they scored.

How bleak is the future? Only one Astros player made Keith Law’s list of top 100 prospects for 2009. Here’s what Law had to say about that sole prospect, catcher Jason Castro, slated at number 96:

This is how close the Astros came to being shut out of the top 100 entirely. One year after what might be the worst slate in Rule 4 draft history, Houston’s system has bottomed out and only their top pick in this June’s draft was even a candidate for the global list…. There’s not much star potential here, but the contact and on-base skills are not common in a catcher and he’s likely to move quickly once he gets to full-season ball.

It would take nothing short of a miracle for Houston to make the playoffs in 2010, yet Astros management shows no indication that they’re prepared to enter rebuilding mode.

So what does Houston need? To get a grip on reality. To hire some stat guys (or somebody who has some grasp of market principles). To trade everybody with any value and start rebuilding the farm system. To do it yesterday.

-What They Need Index-

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7 comments so far

7 Responses to “What they need: Astros — a reality check”

  1. paul says:
    December 5, 2009 at 9:48 pm

    as a lifelong astros fan (found this from mlbtraderumors btw), i must say you couldnt be more spot on. all levels of management have done nothing short of an egregious job of building and running this team. good luck getting anything for oswalt, the only of the 3 who would be willing to waive his NTC (except for berkman to the rangers and the rangers only)

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  2. Steve says:
    December 5, 2009 at 10:36 pm

    There is no analysis here. You are not an expert if you start a post by saying “the Astros suck”. Really? That is all you have to say? I expected to read a few offseason moves that would help the Astros compete in 2010, or at least moves that would put the team on the right track for 2011. Unfotunately all I got was “trade everybody”… I will never waste my time visiting Ump Bump again.

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  3. True Astros Fan says:
    December 5, 2009 at 10:51 pm

    I don’t want to sound overly-harsh, but this blog sucks. Do some research next time please.

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  4. looper956 says:
    December 6, 2009 at 2:50 am

    I don’t want to sound overly-harsh, but the royals, pirates, mets, reds, browns, lions, and raiders suck far more than the stros…but guess what??
    n a draft that has well over 3,000 prospects to be taken and all those 16 or 17 year old kids that want to play who love this game out there…its old 2 or 3 years before a stronger farm…o and for all my master analysts ‘draft me an A. Pujols every year and I’ll believe your stuff’….so for me it just takes 1….1 good draft after another…1 desperate young kid who wants a chance to prove himself for a new team…and 1 complete goal for the whole organization…which I believe is build the basement before the roof…

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  5. mitch says:
    December 6, 2009 at 12:22 pm

    I don’t want to sound overly harsh but this blog SUCKS!! You are correct the Astros are need of some major repairs but then again so does this blog!! Yes I am a Stros fan and no I don’t need a reality check I watched nearly every game they played last year, but come on write something with some substance here will you please. Why not write about the Cubs sucking since they spent like 50 million more on their payroll then we did last year for a grand total of 9 more wins than us, or perhaps you could write about the other 7 teams in the league who were worse than us.

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  6. Jack Black says:
    December 6, 2009 at 1:53 pm

    im an Stros fan and to get something straight Jason Castro should be rated higher he was the starting catcher for the US team this summer and has been called up tru the minors faster than anybody i could remember but youre an idiot so i dont expect you to know that. I doubt you even have a collage education. If you did, you would know that. All they need is 2 starting pitchers, a 3rd baseman and a SS that can get you tru the season if that happens my prediction is for them to be competitive.

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  7. paul says:
    December 6, 2009 at 5:42 pm

    “collage education”

    Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand your argument is no longer valid.

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