Will 2015 be the Astros’ finest hour?

“This could be the worst disaster NASA’s ever faced.” ~~NASA Director.

“With all due respect, sir, I believe this is gonna be our finest hour.” ~~Gene Kranz, Apollo 13 Mission Flight Director.

• •• ••• •• •

That classic exchange from the movie Apollo 13 puts the Houston Astros’ season into perspective.

It’s crunch time for the Astros. Time for America to find out if the 2015 version can handle the pressure, stand up to the challenges and reach its finest hour. Yes, it would be disappointing if the Astros failed to make the playoffs, but it would not be the “worst disaster” for the organization, especially given that most of the so-called experts figured the team for fourth or even fifth in the division.

Yes, Houston is involved in perhaps its most critical series of the season and after losing Game 1, you could even suggest the collective backs are against the wall.

A.J. Hinch‘s rotation is aligned perfectly with some of the hottest and best starters in the American League this season. If Texas can beat Collin McHugh, Dallas Keuchel and Lance McCullers Jr., they may well deserve to win the division. The unfortunate part, however, could be that McHugh, Keuchel and McCullers all pitch well enough to win a game that the offense sputters in.

If Houston doesn’t make a success of the stretch run, the focus will turn back to Hinch’s boss, Jeff Luhnow. The assembly of an all-or-nothing offense last offseason and not really addressing/fixing that during the season will move back into focus. Adding hitters like Evan Gattis, Luis Valbuena, Colby Rasmus and even Carlos Gomez mid-season will likely cause the front office to adjust its thinking this winter.

How many prospects have the Astros given up to acquire Gomez and Hank Conger, not to mention Gattis? Would the Astros have been better to keep Dexter Fowler, who has a personal record number of plate appearances this season, rather than take on Dan Straily and Valbuena? And what of the decision to keep Chris Carter. A reasonable decision based on his second half, but certainly a huge gamble, one that Luhnow appears to have lost at this point.

At this point, the Astros have played the cards. But they aren’t the cards someone has dealt them, as they could have argued a few years ago when they were trying to clean up the mess of the 2000s. These are the cards they have dealt themselves and they will play them over the next few weeks.

Either way, despite the dramatically improved season, this winter will be another remodel. They’ll post another sign in the middle of October that will read: “Pardon our mess as we renovate. We know you will enjoy the new product much better. Thank you for your patience.”

The names will be changed to protect the innocent. But, rest assured, the names will be changed.

Couple of questions for you:

  • If the Astros were somehow to make it to the AL Championship Series and lose, where would this team rank with the great ones in your mind?
  • This question has been asked and answered many times over the season, but.
    • What or who is your greatest surprise on this team?
    • What or who is your greatest disappointment?
  • What are Luhnow’s best and worst moves since last season ended?
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192 responses to “Will 2015 be the Astros’ finest hour?”

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  1. This team does not make the great ones list for me. I think a lot of their success this year has been the result of overall weakness of AL west. But I think they have some great young pieces that has the potential to achieve greatness in the future if the right pieces are added. My biggest surprise has been Rasmus doing much better than I thought he would. No big disappointments – I did not have the bar set very high. Best move was probably signing Rasmus. Worst move in my mind is probably the Conger trade. I’d rather have the catcher we gave up for him or Corporon. But getting Gomez/Fiers instead of Cepedes like the Mets did looks iffy in hindsight, lol.

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  2. I love the Apollo 13 reference – that was one of the best lines in any movie ever.
    Q&A
    ■If the Astros were somehow to make it to the AL Championship Series and lose, where would this team rank with the great ones in your mind?
    – This is not one of the great teams up to now, but making the playoffs and going to the ALCS would make this team the greatest surprise ever to me. Never saw this coming (and yes the struggles of the rest of the West has helped).
    ■What or who is your greatest surprise on this team?
    My greatest surprise is how solid and mature a player that Carlos Correa is at a little less than 21 years old (His birthday is one week from today). I was first surprised that they actually brought him up after all the George Springer junk we went through and then when I saw him I was surprised that someone so young could be so developed.
    ■What or who is your greatest disappointment?
    Chris Carter – I thought he had turned the corner the second half of last season, but apparently he turned that corner and got lost somewhere out in the hinter lands.
    ■What are Luhnow’s best and worst moves since last season ended?
    The bullpen rebuild has been outstanding even with a few leaky moments lately. The team has gone from one of the worst if not the worst bullpen in the AL to a top 3 bullpen in one offseason. Excellent work.
    Worst move – I never understood the Conger trade, never understood what pitch framing was and could not understand handing over a pitcher and a backup catcher for a backup catcher.

    I will say this – am I the only one who thinks that Hank Conger will be undergoing surgery on something after the season? I mean there is no way that this guy could have been throwing out between 20-25% of his runners before now with that droopy noodle of an arm. There has to be something wrong – must be. Right?

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    • glad you mentioned that about conger, dan. i have been wondering for awhile whether there isn’t something wrong with him physically. in LA he was a good catcher, here he seems to be having trouble with throwing and moving. he also seems to really really like Texas bar-b-q. he seems much heavier this year than in past ones.

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    • If a catcher gets betwn 20-25% of the runners it means he is in need of a new arm. Conger has a 3% CS so i guess he is going to surgery to replace something in his knees elbow and shoulder. He might be the only one arm catcher in the bigs cus a 3% means he hasnt throw the ball

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  3. 1. I just don’t have the knowledge or memory to rank teams back 20-50 years ago. The game is so different. But it will be a pleasant memory. 2. Surprise(s). The ability of the youngsters to include Altuve. These guys have not only played, but improved the team. 3. Disappointment. Just not a fan of all or nothing. So I would have to say that JL not addressing his problems at the trade deadline like Texas was willing to do. However, this may be the last shot for Texas for years to come. Beltre (36), Lewis (35), Hamiton (34), Napoli (33) and Fielder (sorry in being cruel) a fatter than I am (31) 4. Don’t know how accurate those trade rumors happen to be, but my vote would be some he did not make. 5. No issue with Val/Straily for Dexter. Fowler/JFSF in CF is a push to me. And he attempted to solve the 3B problem. 6. Conger for anyone would be his biggest mistake. And YES – he probably needs surgery. And I don’t know if he is trying to see a babe in a bikini but when he looks out toward the pitcher or CF, he squints a lot. If he has little to no depth perception, he may think he is hitting the bag on every toss.

    To think that we are going to walk over the other teams next year is just not wise. They are going to spend money. May not work, but they will not stand pat this winter. NOTE: As to age, Astros 25 & under. Correa, McCullers, V V, Feliz, Singleton, Stassi, Villar, Marisnick, Tucker, Altuve & Springer. Then cross your fingers and add Appell, Kemp, Moran, Tyler White & others. And finally, it is crunch time. We are in 1st place TODAY.

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  4. Ok that was a lot to absorb

    * Lunhole has made some good pick ups, Harris and McHugh were awesome.
    * I will never understand the Conger trade, I’m not sure we lost that much in the Gattis trade , even though Gattis is a very average DH.
    * Gomez I think was LUNNY Boy trying to show he was not standing pat. I like Gomez, Friers is OK, but man hated loosing Maverick.
    * Pitching I feel good about except I don’t like any off or lefties in the pen and Quails needs to retire, pitching just needs some tweeks, Feldman ???
    * The team has way over achieved for what they put out there every day on the field. It is still more fun stressing in a September pennant race, than getting excited about who they are send to the AFL (-:

    * next year if I Look at the position players . I keep JFSM, Tuve, springer, Gomez, Lowrie, Tucker DH against righties, Lowrie, Castro, Margo, Rasmus ???

    So that’s 10 so upgrade the other 2 or 3 spots

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  6. This team looks much like the 1997 team. A young team first tasting a winning season and possible playoff season.

    My biggest surprise, despite his recent struggles, has been Will Harris. He has an ERA below 2.00 and has been great for the majority of the season. My biggest disappointment is a toss up between Carter, Valbuena and Conger. If I had to pick one I would choose Conger. He has been abysmal on defense and throwing out runners and his offense has been below even his mediocre standards.

    Luhnow’s best move has been finding gems off the scrap heap. He got McHugh, Sipp and Harris for, essentially, nothing and all 3 have far exceeded what you would expect from players previously released by other organizations. Luhnow’s trades have not been good, for the most part, but the Conger trade was his worst. Carlos Perez, by himself, is much, much better than Conger, but we also included a BOR pitcher in the trade as well.

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  7. *What or who is your greatest surprise on this team?*

    It is a tie for me between Colby Rasmus and Will Harris. Didn’t see either of them making a significant positive impact, and both have.

    *What or who is your greatest disappointment?*

    My greatest disappointment is the FO not giving the following guys a chance, when we desperately needed help at positions to which they could easily adjust:
    1. Joe Sclafani
    2. Tony Kemp, and especially
    3. Tyler White.

    Coinciding with – if not causing – this was the FO’s stubborn addiction to keeping the light on for consistent all-or-nothing under-performers Chris Carter, Jonathan Villar, Hank Conger, Luis Valbuena, and all-too-often Evan Gattis.

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  8. – Making the ALCS will put it in top 5 category.
    – Surprise: Correa/McCullers getting promoted shocked me simply due to financials. Carter has been the biggest surprise though.
    – Disappointment: Injuries, Carter, Valbuena, Conger in that order. If KC doesn’t throw at our guys, Springer gets 6 more weeks of at bats…and he was lighting it up when he went down. You think we are even within spitting distance of losing the lead if his bat were in the lineup instead of JFSF this summer?
    – Best moves: Lowrie, Gregerson, Neshek, promotions in that order.
    – Worst moves: TBD. If we miss the playoffs it is the Gomez trade due to the cost. As for the other moves, I think Mengden has the chance to be biggest loss. Phillips and Hader are acceptable losses IMO…sell high. Bostick could be a big time starter for us if he stays healthy. NiTro is no different than Straily or Fausto. Perez would have been lost in Rule V. DeShields, well, I just wish we had received something in return. Folty and Ruiz? Well, Gattis and his negative WAR is probably helping us more than either of them are helping ATL anytime soon.

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  9. *If the Astros were somehow to make it to the AL Championship Series and lose, where would this team rank with the great ones in your mind?*

    The 2015 team has overachieved, but it will not rank with any of the great ones. It is my expectation that this year will be remembered primarily for five things:
    1. The rookie seasons of long-time Astro heroes Carlos Correa, Preston Tucker, Lance McCullers, Jr. and Vince Velasquez – all of whom went on to play major roles in the great ‘Starfleet Command/Space Odyssey’ dynasty of 2015-2020;
    2. the year the Astros turned the corner from laugh-ability to respectability;
    3. the year the Astros traded away future MLB stars Brett Phillips, Jake Nottingham, Daniel Mengden, and Josh Hader;
    4. the season the Astros suffered through the worst back-up catcher seen in the major leagues since Bob Uecker; and
    5. the year the Astros finally gave up on the Jonathan Villar and Chris Carter experiments.

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  10. Here’s a question or two.Looking ahead to next year (hope it’s not too early) I see the following obligations:
    Feldman – 8.0
    Lowrie – 7.5 (through 2017)
    Gregorson 6.25 (through 2017)
    Nesheck – 6.5
    Gomez – 9.0
    Singleton 2.0
    then we have Keuchel, Margo, Castro who will be due big raises. I figure Carter, Gattis, Valbuena, Conger and maybe a couple others will or should be gone. Others meriting consideration are Kazmir (10.0), Rasmus (8.0), Sipp (2.4), Perez (2.5), Qualls (3.0).
    Where do we go because no matter what happens this year, we need to be in a position to dominate the division for the next 5 years.

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  11. Another potentially appropo quote from Apollo 13:

    “Our mission was called a successful failure, in that we returned safely but never made it to the moon.” – Jim Lovell

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      • On second thought I think I get it. Putting Carter, Villar and Conger in tonight’s line-up might just be an absolutely brilliant ploy by A.J. Hinch. A.J. can’t want either Carter, Villar or Conger anywhere near his team next year. He must figure that they will screw up so badly in this critical game – with the spotlight of the fans and the media squarely on them – that the outcry will finally be so great there will simply be no way the FO can keep any of them around another year.

        Go Carter. Go Villar. Go Conger. But please . . . what thou doest, do quickly.

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  12. If the Astros made it to the Championship Series and lost, they would rank with all the other Astros’ teams who did the same thing.
    Who is the greatest surprise to me on this team? There are a ton of players on this team who I knew had it in them to succeed. But there is one on this team who has succeeded two years in a row at being more than anybody thought he would. He was good last year and was a second thought in everyone’s mind. He is even better this year, but gets overlooked because of Correa and Altuve and Springer. It’s Marwin Gonzalez.
    Tell me how Marwin has a 1.5 WAR and is a sub, and Gattis gets to play every day with a -0.6 WAR. With all the positions he has had to play and all the really good defenders we have, Gonzalez is the fifth best defensive contributor we have had this year. We are lucky to have him.
    Biggest disappointment. Valbuena. I knew Carter would be a lousy first baseman because he can’t hit and he isn’t a good fielder. And I knew Gattis would be a lousy DH because he’s a lousy hitter. But I thought Valbuena would contribute offensively and he hasn’t. So disappointing.
    Luhnow’s worst moves since the end of last season were:
    1. Believing in Carter
    2. Not scouting Conger better. Huge mistake!
    3. Trading for Gomez and Fiers. Team has a losing record since then and we lost Phillips and Hader.
    4. Using the tandem instead of developing relievers.

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  14. This team doesn’t rank with any of the great ones. They played way above expectations and capitalized on a struggling ALWest.

    My greatest surprise. 1 Actually seeing how good Correa is. Even after all I’d read I was still surprised when I saw him in action. 2 How well the team played at the start of the season.
    Disappointment. Carter. Although, I wasn’t surprised.

    Luhnow’s best and worst move was hiring Hinch. I know a lot of you won’t agree but his lineups are horrible. His handling of the players is probably the best I’ve ever seen.

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    • You forgot to include the INSANE trade for Conger, and Gomez. To me those two trades should have gotten Luhnow fired, but it won’t.I agree with you on the hiring of Hinch, what a breath of fresh air he has been! The lopsided trades are the ones that have such a bad taste in everyone’s mouth.
      I’ll be praying right along with you tonight Sandy!!

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  15. Lowrie, MarGo, Castro and Gomez are not available tonight. It will take a miracle and some of Becky’s divine intervention to get a victory this evening.

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  16. We need to prepare ourselves for not seeing Lowrie, Castro, Gonzalez, and Gomez for the remaining of this series. Tonight’s lineup just made me want to cry. You have your Co Ace on the mound, and you provide him with the WORST offense, and the WORST defense on your team. To me it’s waving the white flag, and giving the Rangers an easy win. Just thought I’d pass this along, the area Academy store’s are giving away ” Crush City” yard signs free. One per family, but I talked the guy into giving me two, because these little snits that live here in Kingwood steal stuff out of your yard just because. Thought I’d pass this along in case you still believe in them after Thursday nights game.

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  18. ESPN will carry tonight’s game, just in case you’re tired of the Rangers commentators. ….which I am. Forgot to give Collin Moran a round of applause yesterday, he has been promoted to Fresno AAA!! Good for you young man, may you continue your success in the Pacific league next year!!

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  19. Since Becky brought it up, why do we place so much emphasis on pitch framing? It is basically trying to convince the umpire that what he observed didn’t happen, that the pitch was really over here. When I was little they called stuff like that cheating. I guess it just has to much of a political implication for me.

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  21. We have so many guys out with injuries, yet refuse to give Stassi or Duffy one start in this series. The Rangers are starting a Rule V pickup and leading him off. I am beyond frustrated.

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  23. I’m no officially convinced that Lunhole will do whatever it takes including tanking the playoffs so his dumbass trades and loyalty will not be exposed. Really Carter ,Villerror, Conger and Gattis

    Free Biggio we need a real baseball GM

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  36. When is Castro coming back…..these little sh÷ts are running all over Conger. Why did we get stuck with this idiot. We need this game sooo.bad….PLEASE baseball Gods let.us win this game!! PLEASE!!!!

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  38. I am no longer upset with Conger. He is doing the best he can. Somebody decides to bench Stassi who in 4 games has thrown out twice as many runners as Conger in 66. That my friends is NOT ON Conger.

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  45. They are who they are…..I can’t even be sad, I’m just sooo damned angry I can’t even see right. This is a deeply flawed team, we just can’t hang with the big boys this year. Maybe next year, or the year after that….but this team is toast. The Rangers just have a better team. It’s the sad truth.

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    • We’ll never know will we. Dallas Keuchel probably just wants to take the next plane back to Houston…..I know I would. Watching the other team celebrate a walk off in front of you makes for a pretty sad clubhouse. I’m so angry.😠😠

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  49. I am convinced Conger must be left handed and somebody forgot to tell him. Stassi should be catching. DH Conger if you want his bat in lineup. And can’t AJ tell Will’s arm is about to fall off? I understand that he has been reliable but he has been used a lot in a long season. And why have injury prone VV warm up two different innings and not use him? And Why call up Duffy if you are going to play Villar at 3B?

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  50. I don’t blame the players. I’m surprised that we made it this far, but the FO get’s the blame for not improving this team when they had the chance. Ignoring the dilemma at 3rd and 1st has put an albatross around our neck that we can’t get rid of. If we come back and win the division or a wild card spot kudos to the players. The BP is obviously tired and we just can’t get that situational hit anymore.
    Instead of dealing with the corner spots we trade away two top prospects for a center fielder who I’m just not that impressed with. I’ll tip my hat to Conger tonight for giving a great effort but still a bad deal. Another night of men left hanging out to dry. 4 for 11 with RISP. If we drop the next two I feel we won’t recover. If we’re only down a 1/2 game we have a chance.

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