Okay, you want to put this season behind. Here we go with a lightning round series.
- It can be a moment, a player, a play, a series, a stat or most anything you choose. What is your lasting memory from the Astros’ 2013 season?
- The Astros will be the first team in history to draft #1 for three straight seasons. If you include the supplemental rounds, Houston has chosen seven players in the first round since 2010. Which of these player(s) will be stars in the majors? Take a look at the list and rank them 1-7 in order of most likely to succeed.
- If Stephen King or John Grisham were to write a best-selling novel about the season, what would they title it?
- There isn’t much you can do to salvage a 111-loss season. That said, was there a move or two that could have made things significantly different? (No, staying in the NL isn’t an option.)
- Houston lost a record 111 games, but did the organization actually improve overall? If you believe so, explain how. If you disagree, explain how they went backward over 2012.
- Other than selling the team or putting a winner on the field, what could Jim Crane do between now and the end of the year to start to regain your confidence?
- We’ve already discussed Bo Porter‘s tenuous situation heading into 2014. Houston plays 28 games next April. The Yankees (3), Rangers (3) and Athletics (7) are on the schedule. How many games must the Astros win to stop the “Fire Bo!” websites and petitions?
And, here’s the quickie lightning round:
- Predict the Astros’ payroll on opening day 2014.
- Player most likely traded by December 1?
- Who was the Astros’ MVP for 2013?
- Which player should win Pitcher of the Year award for Houston?
- Name the person most responsible for 111 losses: Drayton McLane, Jim Crane, Jeff Luhnow, Bo Porter or someone else?
- Which of these pitchers will be a big part of the Astros’ future: Jarred Cosart, Brett Oberholtzer, Michael Foltynewicz, Paul Clemens or Brad Peacock? Pick all that apply.
- Finish this sentence: The Astros can show a 20-game improvement in 2014 (71-91) if they . . .
- Name the one player you’ve just seen enough of. He has to go!
Quick word association. First word or phrase that comes into your mind:
- Astros.
- Texans.
- World Series champion.
- The 2013 season.
- Jim Crane’s pledge to spend more money in 2014.
- U.S. Congress.
- 2014.
And, finally, reverting somewhat to Dan’s recent entry, what one thing do you hope to see this winter from the Astros?
ALL THINGS ASTROS 
26 responses to “Forgetting Astros’ 2013 with a lightning round series”
1. Marwin’s single up the middle against Darvish.
2. Correa, Appel, Folty, Springer, McCullers, DDJ
3. King ” Field of Nightmares” Grisham “Guilty of Murder”
4. Keeping Jed Lowrie would have helped this year. Still like Stassi and Peacock.
5. Improved because of youth, prospects are closer and drafted Appel and Kemp and White.
6. Crane could keep his word on spending and get a TV deal done in time for the Rockets
7. 15-13
Payroll on opening day $30mil
Likely traded- Corporan
MVP-Castro
Pitcher of the year-Cosart
Cosart and Peacock
Can improve 20 games with a closer, a bullpen with an ERA under 4.0, and a team batting avg of .256 or more
I have seen enough of Wallace.
Astros-stupid
Texans-slow
World Series champs Boston
2013-worst
Congress-only thing that hasn’t sold out
2014-not looking good
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Don’t forget Ankiel’s HR against the Rangers in game 1. That was the high point of the season. It was all down hill from there.
I was with a group of Rangers fans (including my brother) behind the Astros dugout when he launched it. Glad I didn’t gloat, too much.
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Stephen King Book Titles: Crane’s Lot, The Dimming, League Shift, MMP: Dead Zone II, Firestarter II: Story of the 2013 Astros Bullpen, John Grisham Book Title: A Time to Dump, Pelican Brief II: Chip’s Version of 2013 in Astros Land, Bleachers 2013: The Empty Version, The Runaway Franchise, The Rainmaker 2013: Porter’s First Year. So sorry, my mind has not returned in days, and may never make it back.
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1. 1535 or -238 runs.
2. Stars? Maybe Correa
3. See Above
4. Take the $10M spent on FAs in 2012, and get 2 or 3 decent players – but not a “significant difference” but could shorten the re-build time by a year.
5. Little to no change compared to other MLB teams.
6. Secure a couple 28-32 year old mid-range FAs if possible. Unfortunately, when you gut the team (which I understand), one side issue could be no MLBer trusts you to keep them – so very hesitant to sign unless overpaid.
7. Agree with 1oldpro.
8. $26 Million if we are still paying Wandy, $21 M without him.
9. Just don’t think there is any real tradable value there. Might package 3-5 for a low A prospect.
10. Castro & Veras.
12. Crane or “the Plan”
13. All have a chance, and lets hope they do prove capable pitchers.
14. +20 if starters continue to improve, bullpen help is located, and a couple “hitters” are signed as FAs.
15. One? Can’t do it.
16. 2013 – Season Over
17. Crane – Money talks, and you know the rest.
18. 2014 – If we skip the Waiver wire, and bottom 50-100 FAs, good chance for a 20+ game improvement. Can’t do it with current roster + 1 or 2 minor leaguer advancing.
19. Don’t want or expect them to dump “the Plan” – but every team mentioned as one we are going to mirror — they ALL sign FAs. Not Pujols or Hamilton types, but valuable players to improve the team. Some don’t work out, but some minor league stars don’t make it either. At least any MLB FA proved he could play.
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Lot’s of work Chip, but it’s quiet in the office today.
1. Our 15 game losing streak. Worst thing about it is we’re got to own it into next year.
2. Springer, Correa, Appel, Foltynewicz, McCullers, DeShields.
4. Really not a whole bunch could have been accomplished by 1 or 2 moves. I’d like to have seen what might have happened if Lowrie and Freiman had stuck around, but I’m optimistic about Stassi and Peacock. Carter is the guy I see no use for in for the long run.
5. Yes, the organization did improve in that we saw some new guys have success. I’m actually somewhat optimistic about a young rotation in 2014.
6. Get the TV deal fixed. Build the payroll into the 50 million range.
7. Bo is in a tough spot. If the 15 game losing streak gets extended, every day will make his situation worse.
Payroll, 45 million.
Trade by December 1? I don’t know if we have anyone to trade. I’d say Wallace, but we really don’t have anyone to put at first yet.
Castro MVP
Pitcher? Jose Veras
Crane is the owner. He could have avoided 111 losses by doing any number of things differently.
I think all the guys mentioned, except Clemens, will have a significant future.
The Astros can go 71 and 91 if they get a lefty bat for the outfield and fix the pen. A bonus would be to have Stassi win a job behind the plate. That would lead to a healthier Castro and maybe open the door for him to play at first.
There are several of those players on my to go list, but Wallace would be my favorite. Favorite Wallace stat? 1 BB, 29 K’s against righty pitching.
Astros….Last
Texans….underachievers
WS….Red Sox
2013…embarrassing
Crane’s pledge…about time
Congress…..give it a shot
2014….optimistic
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In between meetings – will have to answer this in shifts
Seven questions
1. Cosart’s first start up – looking like a real pitcher.
2. Correa, Springer, McCullers, Appel, Foltynewicz, DeShields (Based on never seeing any of them play – so take it with a kilogram of salt).
3. Stephen King’s “The Stinking” John Grisham’s “Runaway Train Wreck”
4. Don’t sign Pena, Ankiel, Cedeno, Humber, Blackely
5. Good year in the minor leagues (a few years ago the minor league teams were terrible) and the one place I saw more progress was with some of the young rotation pitchers towards the end of the year – Cosart, Peacock, Oberholtzer.
6. Lower ticket prices to match the performance and payroll levels (that may mean paying people to go) – get the darned TV deal done (I get CSN – but all of you should too).
7. Bo will be fine until the All Star break – but I would go with month to month leases rather than 12 month or 6 month ones.
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Lightning round question
– Predict the Astros’ payroll on opening day 2014 – $38 million
– Player most likely traded by December 1? – Brett Wallace
– Who was the Astros’ MVP for 2013? – dave b will choke me – but I think it needs to be Jason Castro. Being injured down the stretch he fell 11 PAs short of being “qualified” (502 PAs). But he would have been about 15th in OPS in the league and the team’s offense really floundered after he went down.
– Which player should win Pitcher of the Year award for Houston? – terrible decision to make – I call it as Cosart even though he only pitched in 10 games. I could support Veras – but who else is even close?
– Name the person most responsible for 111 losses: Drayton McLane, Jim Crane, Jeff Luhnow, Bo Porter or someone else? Tough chicken or the egg question. No doubt decisions by Luhnow/Crane assured that this was a terribly putrid season – McLane decisions made sure it would have been at best putrid.
– Which of these pitchers will be a big part of the Astros’ future: Jarred Cosart, Brett Oberholtzer, Michael Foltynewicz, Paul Clemens or Brad Peacock? Pick all that apply. Cosart, Oberholtzer and Peacock – Clemens has to do a lot more – Folty I have no opinion yet.
– Finish this sentence: The Astros can show a 20-game improvement in 2014 (71-91) if they . . . improve the bullpen and get two more reliable bats.
– Name the one player you’ve just seen enough of. He has to go! – Lucas Harrell
s
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Dan, see above for my MVP.
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Yeah daveb – I saw yours after I did mine. Kind of shows how flawed they are when you and I picking someone fairly one dimensional for MVP. But Altuve just was not that good this year and Carter is too much of a whiff machine.
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Dan, that’s why I’d like to see the club explore the option of Castro playing first. He is a liability defensively, but he’d also likely produce more offense out from behind the plate and give us more at bats. Who knows what Singleton is going to do?
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Word association
Astros – Future
Texans – Present
World Series champion – A’s
The 2013 season – Lost
Jim Crane’s pledge to spend more money in 2014 – Easy
U.S. Congress – Embarrassing – but so is the president
2014 – Fading fast (yeah I know its two words)
And, finally, reverting somewhat to Dan’s recent entry, what one thing do you hope to see this winter from the Astros? Promotions of deserving minor leaguers
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Just read a piece on the Sox. A scout had noted that they didn’t swing at the first pitch of an bat until their 17th trip to the plate. Wouldn’t that be something.
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News flash – Dave Clark gone (OFs and base running). Dennis Martinez gone (bullpen). Doug Brocail moved to roving system instructor.
Is Dave Duncan interested in coming out if retirement?
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Did you read Clark’s response when asked last week if he wanted to return? Glad he’s gone.
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He already knew… He’s survived too many changes to last any longer.
And if he was in charge of baserunning, well…
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word association:
Astros: perennial losers
Texans: apples
World Series champion: Dodgers
The 2013 season: a special gift from Crane to beloved fans
Jim Crane’s pledge: lip service
U.S. Congress: more oranges
2014: more losing disguised as “hope for the future”
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For Astros MVP, how about Bud Norris? He managed to win 6 of 21 starts, but more importantly brought back an outfielder and high draft pick in 2014 in return.
I want to blame Porter for the 111 losses, but it seemed like the players just didn’t care those last few weeks. I’ll leave it up to others whose fault the lack of motivation falls upon.
The Astros can show a twenty game improvement in 2014 by convincing Bud Selig that the Skeeters should be their opponent in twenty games. Short of that, they’ll have to cut down on errors, strike out less and get on base more, and find a few more pitchers who can get their ERA under 5.00
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1. The failure to improve, to take or make steps to reduce continuing failure throughout the entire season. 1 strikeout/inning in April; the same in September. Never did anyone learn to take or make walks. Threw to the wrong base or inaccurately in April, the same in September. And then to cap it all off, the GM keeps the skipper responsible for coaching improvement!
2. Correa, Appel, Folty, Springer.
3. “To Late To Learn”
4. Fired John Malee (hitting coach!) in May and replaced him with a good HS coach.
5. Absolutely did improve by continuing to stock and nurture the minors. All6 teams made playoffs! Why we can’t have that at the major league level is beyond me.
6. Fire Bo Porter – like a broken record he says…:) Then get the TV deal fixed in time for the Rockets’ season.
7. Whatever it takes unless he “goes 2 school this offseason.”
8. $23 MM
9. Likely traded, none.
10. MVP, Oberholtzer (pitcher), Castro (player).
11. What is “big?” Otherwise, they all showed flashes of the capability to contribute.
12. The Astros can show a 20-game improvement in 2014 (71-91) if they: (1) focus on making the bullpen a position of confidence, (2) bring Tony D up to the “big club,” (3) teach major league baseball throughout the entire season.
13. Wallace and Clark.
14. Astros = frustrating
15. Texans = poorly coached
16. WS Champ = As
17. The 2013 season = MLB.com
18. Crane’s pledge = floor polish
19. Congress (and Obama) = replaced
20. 2014 = alive!
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I’m sorry, but a couple more deals like today, and I will hang myself. Understand dumping Laird, Humber, Clark, Pagnozzi, yep, adding Singleton, but Raul Valdes???
Negative WAR, 7.46 ERA, WHIP 1.429 and he is soon to be 36 years old. The ONLY reason is because he is cheap. I thought Carlos Pena made no sense. If this is part of “the Plan” – Luhnow needs to turn the paper over — he is reading it upside down.
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Valdez has very attractive peripherals. ERA, especially in 35 innings, is a bad way to judge a pitcher. In ’12 he was 2.90/0.74 in 31 innings. Chapman is the only other lefty reliever. If something better comes along, release him.
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I watched about 7 innings of Astros’ baseball this season, but that isn’t going to stop me from expressing my very strong and harsh opinions.
I couldn’t care less about the record. I’d been more disappointing if they’d lost 98 games. What disappointed me is that they showed no improvement, and perhaps regression, in stuff they should have mastered in Little League – throwing to the proper base, base running (not the aggressive sort), etc. These are things that even talentless ball players can do well. That has to fall to the coaching staff , and not just at the major league level.
I’m not sure the organisation is fully up to speed on the player development side of things. You don’t see player coming to the ML over performing their talent as with teams like the Cardinals and A’s.
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I agree to a point Flash. But not so smart guys that happen to be ball players will be not so smart ballplayers too.
Coaching will improve a guy to a certain extent, but it’s hard to teach a guy how to avoid mental errors. And our present roster has a few guys that are pretty good in the mental error department.
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Yeah, but it makes you wonder how they ever got this far being so bad.
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Well, they wouldn’t have jobs in most organizations…..
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Crane and co. bought the Corpus Christi Hooks Monday…….and they are working with a company that has 200 acres north of The Woodlands, Texas.
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I know Bo Weaver/pert will cringe at this, but this might be a pretty significant organization in 5 or 10 years. When we need some help from the farm, we’ll get it pretty quickly.
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