Astros 2016: Reasons for hope six weeks in

The Houston Astros have driven a rocky road to get to a 17-25 record, six weeks into the season. They have made a team effort to hand away games in every manner possible, between poor starting pitching, blown leads by the bullpen, non-clutch offensive performances and a series of bonehead plays in the field and on the bases. But all is not lost, there are signs of improvement.

Reasons for hope……

  • Recent improvement – The Astros are 9-7 in their last 16 games. And the seven losses include three games where they had the lead late in the game, including two extra inning losses. They are very competitive right now even with tough teams like the Red Sox and White Sox.
  • LMJ is back – Lance McCullers was a key cog in last season’s success and is back in the rotation.
  • Evan Gattis is back….OK ignore Wednesday night’s 4 K fiasco and concentrate on his game winning dinger from his first night back and his two hits including a dinger on Thursday night against Chris Sale. Besides that, the Astros don’t have to have a bench spot taken up by a .043 backup catcher.
  • Youth will be served – No way of knowing how things will go, but Tony Kemp had a two hit, one walk, one big OF assist debut that was promising. Colin Moran was hitless besides a walk, but the kid needed to get his feet wet some time.
  • The Walking Dead are coming to life – In his last 21 games, Jason Castro is raking (for him) at .286/.452/ .988, Luis Valbuena is finally above the Mendoza line and Tyler White has pulled out of his death spiral slump.
  • Carlos Gomez is “hurt”. OK give the guy a break…..of his leg.
  • Jose Altuve may be the best hitter in the AL and a possible MVP candidate if….. the team can right the ship and get on the upside of .500.
  • Will Harris may be the best set-up man around where it is not obvious why he is so unhittable. His ERA (.46), WHIP (.661) and BB/9 IP (0.9) are all unearthly good. And he is doing it without a 99 mph fastball or a 12-6 curveball.
  • Dallas Keuchel will trend back to good, not because he must, but because they must have it to contend.
  • George Springer and Carlos Correa have been good and could go on a run of very good to excellent.

So, what do you see as signs of life with the Astros?

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155 responses to “Astros 2016: Reasons for hope six weeks in”

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  1. In total agreement with your assessment. They are starting to be fun to watch.
    Chris Sale may be best pitcher in baseball right now..especially if he is getting the off the plate strikes.

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  2. I agree too. They look like they’re having fun again. Sale was 8 and 0 and they held their own with him. McHugh looked like last years model.

    Boston could have been a series win too if not for some bad luck. If they handle the northerners this weekend good things are in store.

    They play better when Gomez is not in the dugout. I sure wish I knew why.

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  3. Sandy………yeah, by not having Gomez anywhere NEARLY these guys, they are playing better baseball, and FINALLY having a good time! I wonder about that myself. Maybe he just sucks all the air out of the room……

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  5. Reasons for optimism:

    1. Gomez not playing. Kemp is much harder to strike out. I love him batting ninth and becoming a one/two punch wth Altuve setting up the the middle of the order.

    2. McHugh looks like he has returned to his stability the Astros counted on. Plus Giles seems to be coming around.

    3. Gattis as our backup catcher is a huge upgrade.

    4. White coming around.ere

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  7. I too like what I see as of lately. If we could play .600 baseball from here out we still have a good shot at the playoffs.That would give us 86 – 89 wins.It’s a stretch but not impossible.

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  8. 1. Triple plays don’t beat us.
    2. We don’t play against Sale’s team 19 times.
    3. We’re done with the Red Sox.
    4. We have another outfielder in Kemp who can get to the ball before it hits the ground.
    5. Guys have to hit the ball over the right field fence into the second row, rather than the first row when they hit it to Springers side.
    6. None of Fields’s pitches are hurting the Astros.
    7. We are at home for the next three games against the Rangers, even if half the fans are wearing red and blue. And we don’t have to wear thermal underwear.
    8. We have at least one starter who throws 95 mph.
    9. One less bat flipper on our team to start riots.
    10. Colin Moran is an Astro.
    11. Gattis has that first game under his belt behind the plate.

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  9. This would be an easier post to respond to in 3 days. But yes, at 9 and 7 over the past 16 games, the Astros have at least righted the ship. But does that mean this club might be a ,500 team over 162 games? I hope not, because I’ll feel pretty stupid for picking them to win 97 games.

    The offense will continue to improve, right? I expect more out of both Springer and Correa, not that they are slouches now. I think they can both get up closer to a .900 OPS. With Gattis catching even a couple of times a week, we’ll get more production from the backstop position, especially if Castro does not tank following his present hot streak. Of course I’ve got to talk about Tyler White too. My plea is to put him at 6th or 7th in the lineup and leave him alone. He’s hit .105 batting cleanup and .149 batting fifth. That’s over 19 games. Let him continue to find his way through ML pitching without the burden of hitting in the heart of the order. Kemp is a heady ballplayer. And it’s so nice to see another quick guy on the bases. I sure hope he hits enough, because we can’t keep Marisnick around much longer. Since May 20, 2015, he’s hitting .188 with a .234 OBP (wish I could highlight that stat) and a .549 OPS. I don’t care how good he is at everything else. Sadly, I think our total lack of outfield depth means that Gomez will be back. And it’s pretty clear to all now that if nothing else, Gomez has at least been a distraction. This club has played happier baseball so far this week.

    But as Steven has pointed out multiple times recently, it’s all about the pitching. Keuchel has actually been worse in May than he was in April. He has not had such a stretch since 2013. All those innings….is that why he can’t reach 90 on the gun? On the flip side, McCullers, if really healthy, will certainly provide a boost. And McHugh has been better. I also like the fact that Feldman has taken to the pen without a complaint and has been mostly effective. He’s not walked a guy since he lost his starting job! I’m feeling better about the pen, but the rotation has to make things easier on them.

    I believe that a lot of what happens over the next few months will be impacted one way of the other by the leadership of both Luhnow and Hinch. I hope they both make better decisions. And yep, the biggest monkey in the room right now is still Gomez.

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  10. I like the signs of life from McHugh and Giles. Tony Kemp in the lineup is an improvement over that hurt outfielder even if he only repeats his first game performance once a week and plays like his second game in the others. The bar has not been set very high. Gattis looked adequate at catcher. That new baby may have woken up Castro and he realized he is in a contract year with a family to support. Fister is quietly earning his salary and exceeding a lot of expectations. A lot fewer bone-headed baseball blunders in the field and on the base paths. And all due respect to the Baseball Gods, please don’t jinx anybody as punishment for this post.

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  11. Sometimes encountering adversity early helps a team in the long run. The only question I have is whether they dug too deep a hole.

    TEX, BAL, @ANA, @ARZ to finish the month isn’t a cakewalk. 6-5 over the stretch will make me feel like we’re headed in the right direction, but to remove all worry I want at least 7-4.

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    • I think it is best for me not to burden the blog with my projections over that particular 11 games. I expect to be watching a lot of minor league games.

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    • The good news is that the 2 toughest series in that stretch are home series. I agree 7-4 is probably what is needed to prove we’re back in this race.

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    • I think the pitching matchups are very favorable for the Astros. LMJ against Lewis and Fiers against Ramos look real good for the Astros. Sunday has Keuchel against Hamels, but it is Keuchel at home so I’ll call that a push.

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      • I suspect LMJ will have something to prove to himself about Texas. Last year he was 0-2 with a 12.79 ERA against them. His worst – indeed most embarrassing – outing as a pro was against them. Meanwhile Colby Lewis has owned us. He was 4-0 against us last year and 9-1 against us lifetime. Even Altuve is only hitting .259 against him; Rasmus is at .236. Correa has hit him a little, and so has Valbuena, to a lesser extent. This will open the series with a serious test for the Astros.

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      • I guess I should’ve looked at the numbers before I made that dumb post above. I knew Lewis pitched well against us, but had no idea he was that dominating. Sheesh!

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  15. What is wrong with these guys! You can’t let these IDIOTS beat you 2-0!!
    Dang it fellas D O…..S O M E T H I N G!!

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      • Nine games under .500. Moran hit a flyball to the LF warning track and a line drive right to the left fielder. He is hitting the ball, but they haven’t fallen for him yet.
        You kinda know it’s not your year when your SS hits the ball 100 mph off the opposing pitcher’s head and the second baseman catches it on the fly in short center field and the pitcher doesn’t even leave the game. I wonder how many first pitch strikes the Astros watched today. and the announcer said that Lewis has done that every time out against Houston and they still don’t get it. I just couldn’t believe it when Correa came up with a runner on and took a first pitch 90mph fastball right through the heart of the plate on the first pitch. What ever happened to that phrase ” I was just looking for a pitch to drive”
        I am so pissed at a really lackluster effort tonight.
        Last 2 nights: 2 runs, 2 losses, 18 Ks, 0 BBs.

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    • Yep, and, unfortunately, it is going to be this way for awhile. As I have stated before the Rangers have us beat in every area of operating a baseball franchise, from the very top to the very bottom they are simply the better organization and I hate it.

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    • I am not convinced they have better players. But they definitely have better on-field management, a better approach to hitting, and a better F.O.

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      • The players is a close call. If you take into account the Rangers have a stronger farm system than the Astros that might tip the advantage to Texas, but I would agree it’s close.

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  19. Welcome to AA, Nick Tanielu. In his first game for the Hooks, Nick hit a 2-run HR to tie the game at 3 in the 7th. The Hooks went on to win 4-3 in 10. New outfielder Alejandro Garcia got two hits, as did the new, improved Teoscar Hernandez. Another meh start from Kyle West was followed by excellent relief by Chris Cotton and Aaron West. Hooks have set a record with 11 wins in a row.

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    • Sandy, I will say this – right now Carlos Correa is the guy I want taking relay throws from the outfield. I don’t want MarGo doing it. Carlos has a cannon. Ultimately, however, he is going to need to settle in better at SS or move to either 3B or the outfield. Looking at 2017 and 2018 I would actually rather see him in LF, because we will have Bregman for SS and Moran/Davis/Tanielu for 3B.

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    • Most have felt the Astros would be better off, once Bregman makes it to Houston, to have him play SS and move Correa to 3B. Mr. Bill has an interesting thought since we have plenty of 3B depth, but limited OF depth. There are 2 problems here. First, you really can’t move Correa to 3B now and have MarGo as the everyday SS (you could give Correa some starts at 3B, but I like Correa over MarGo at SS) and they won’t send Correa down to the minor leagues to learn 3B, rightfully so. I would think it wouldn’t be too tough of a transition to just move him over there once Bregman is called up, but the Astros need to be very careful in how they handle this with their generational star. This will be interesting to follow in the next year or so.

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      • The 2 problems I was referring to was in reference to Correa moving to 3B, not Mr. Bill’s thought on him playing LF. I am intrigued by that idea, but have concerns that Correa will not want to make that switch.

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    • It is weird Sandy. I don’t doubt that that is what the stats say, but it sure does not match the eye test. Sometimes Correa looks a little awkward getting low while charging balls, but I don’t sit there and go “Boy there is another ball Correa should have gotten to.”
      Does anybody know how they figure out “range” in this strange new world of extreme infield shifts? Is Correa’s range numbers down because he does not get to as many balls as a normal SS, because he spends 70% of his time playing behind the pitcher?
      Like daveb says they are grooming Bregman at 3B, so they are not likely to move Correa right now. I have no idea if Bregman is a better SS than Correa. They are both better known for their sticks.

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      • I agree about Carlos playing behind the pitcher so much How, in this sabermetric world of baseball, can a player actually be graded efficiently in the majors with all of the shifting that is going on?

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    • I agree with the part about the “highlight reel” plays that would be unnecessary if range was better. I think it’s true that the very best shortstops make difficult lays look easy to the point that the four letter network doesn’t identify and show them.

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    • Article is not worth the e-ink it is printed on. Correa needs to reduce the errors, but range is not a problem. Most plays where a SS fields the ball at an extreme range are not converted into outs. Also, since Dan asked, most defensive metrics are flummoxed by shifts. Besides, Did Gregorius went from a top 5 to second worst in the league? I’m thinking it is a problem with the metrics.

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  21. Well, if Bregman is starting to work at playing some third with CC, that pretty much tells the story for now. No way Correa gets moved over to third any time soon. I’m just very happy to see Bregman hitting the ball so well. Valbuena is not going to turn into a different ballplayer. If he gets hot he’ll hit .225 instead of .198. He is what he is. And if Moran does not hit, we’ll need Bregman, and it might well be this year.

    Last night we had 5 lefties in the lineup against Lewis. They went 1 for 12 against him. The 4 righty bats went 3 for 12. We need to keep our best hitters in the lineup and quit focusing so much on the lefty-righty match ups, especially when the stats do not support it. And yes, I’m talking about leaving the guy with the .813 OPS against righties on the bench again.

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  22. The problem with the Astros is not something that can be fixed by moving players in and out of the lineup or off and on the team.
    That is being tried and it doesn’t work. You have a bad team here. The chemistry sucks.
    Put White in and he hits like a RH Valbuena. Pop ups and Ks
    Correa is not right. This is not the same guy who came up last year. His head is not right at the plate this year.
    Gomez, Valbuena, Marisnick, Gattis Rasmus and Castro are not guys who are going to succeed consistently, because teams are going to bring in good pitchers to face them in critical situations and those pitchers are going to get them out.
    The whole chemistry of this team needs to be altered from the top to the bottom and it needs to be done this year in order to stop the bad chemistry from blowing up everything good that has been accomplished by acquiring young talent.
    The very core ideas that Luhnow has instilled everywhere in the minds of this organization has to be thrown out and someone better at organizational baseball “playing” has to be brought in to get this team on the right path.
    Every time this team manages to win a game because of the few guys who are clutch overcoming the ones who aren’t is just an excuse to put off getting rid of the real problem with the team: Luhnow.
    For five years we’ve been hearing the apologists barking about how it’s just around the corner, the treasure’s right there buried on Luhnow Island. While Luhnow keeps digging empty holes using his now old new way of playing baseball, other teams just win by playing better baseball and they are kicking Luhnow’s ass.

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    • Unfortunately, we can’t get rid of the true problem, Jim Crane, so we have to find other scapegoats. Luhnow has made some mistakes and I don’t like the complete reliance on analytics without any human factor being considered, but the re-birth of this organization hasn’t gone to the crapper after 43 games. There are still plenty of strong prospects and depth, especially in pitching. This season is probably not going to end like we had hoped, but it isn’t like we have no future. We have some dead weight that will be gone next year so let’s not panic and reshape the entire organization. That will truly set us back.

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      • Also, Crane is not going to get rid of Luhnow. It won’t happen unless the Astros go several years of mediocre baseball so we better accept Luhnow and deal with it because he will be our G.M. for many more years.

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      • The Astros have had 4+ years of awful to mediocre baseball under Luhnow.
        The Astros have had one month of good baseball so far under Luhnow. That was April of 2015. Every other month of baseball under him has ranged from bad to mediocre. Stop and think about that for a minute, Tim.
        I don’t like Crane, but if he wants to win, he will have to look at this team and then fire his really lousy GM, who runs every facet of the baseball side of this mediocre organization.

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      • The years prior to 2015 are irrelevant and you know that. The point was to rebuild the organization from the bottom up and that was done very successfully. During the early, lean years of the Luhnow regime the farm system experienced unbelievable success with 6 teams making the playoffs in the same year and 7 in another. We knew there would be growing pains with the Astros, but wanted to see the farm system be strong again. No one can deny the success in that area. Last year was, somewhat, of a mirage and because of the success some mistakes were made in trying to improve their chances in the playoffs. Even if this season ends with a losing record I’m not ready to abandon the plan as our top prospects still look very strong. Fans are, by nature, very impatient, but if management listened to fans then Bagwell and Biggio would have been traded at the 2000 trading deadline and we’re probably still without a pennant. Don’t push the panic button because the 2016 season got off to a slow start. It would be a colossal mistake.

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      • Those years are not irrelevent to those of us who have followed the Astros for 50 years, listened to Luhnow promise how the Astros would be rebuilt with youts and then have watched him misuse and then trade off his youts and go with a bunch of lousy older players who strike out more than any team in baseball.
        This is completely unacceptable.
        And please don’t tell me what I know while you accept mediocrity as the norm and, five years into a rebuild, I am supposed to give this pretend clown of a GM a few more years. How was the Rebuild supposed to end up with a bunch of older guys making millions on the team while we traded our prospects for more older guys and end up with a team that is out of it in May? That’s just stupid.
        How does anyone look at the salary distribution on this team and then look at the various production levels on this team and not see that it is totally screwed up, especially at 17-26?

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      • The Astros were going to be bad early on and you as well as most intelligent Astros fans knew that. He was given a payroll of less than $30M and you want to pretend that we should’ve been better. Sorry, but it doesn’t work that way. The organization is in much better shape than before he became the GM, but you’re frustrated by this rough start. You’re not the only one, but we can’t deny the success of building up the farm system and the bright future still ahead. Luhnow has made some mistakes, but he’s also made some great moves. Overall, considering where the organization was in 2011 I would deem his tenure a success. The situation was so dire in 2011 I doubt there were many GMs that could have turned this around so quickly. How long were the Pirates and Royals bad or mediocre before they became successful? I can assure you it took them much longer than it has taken the Astros to rebound and those organizations were never in as bad a situation as the Astros were in 2011. I can list numerous other organizations who have gone through longer droughts than the Astros did under Luhnow.

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      • The team outperformed my expectations last year – I was only hoping for .500.
        I would not mind some regression this year, if….
        1) They had not traded away so much prospect-wise and
        2) If they were playing and pitching much more of their young guys from the start this season
        But both of those things I blame on Luhnow

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      • Of course, this entire discussion is pointless because Luhnow is not getting fired now or in the next few years. It’s not happening.

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      • And that was my point, Dan, when I said he has made some mistakes. He was a victim of his own success and, as a result, made some bad trades. Of course, if we go back to the bottleneck situation Chip discussed over a year ago some of the prospects had to be jettisoned or they would probably been gone via the rule 5 draft.

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      • I love that: Luhnow was a victim of his own success. That success being one good month of baseball in April of last year. He’s a victim of his own success and, as a result of his success, made some bad trades.
        But there was also this bottleneck, created by his success of minor leagues being stacked by guys like Gattis, Rasmus, Gomez, Feldman, Fister, Fiers, Fields, Thatcher, Neshek, Gregerson, Gattis, Sipp and all the rest of the guys who came up in our system. Oh, wait, none of those guys came up in our system. But they stayed and our prospects didn’t!
        The bottleneck was created by Luhnow and his panic. He traded the promise for guys who he thought could play good baseball, but haven’t.

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      • Let’s not forget that Crane only has 4 plus voting shares out of 13 in the ownership group. Most of those minority owners with votes are Houstonians. Probably not likely, but if they collectively decided that Cranes leadership has not turned out to be what they expected, a coup could happen. Wouldn’t that be fun!

        1OP, I agree with most of your post. But I would really just like to see Tyler White penciled into the 6th or 7th slot for two weeks, regardless of the pitcher on the mound. That would be a real long shot, but I firmly believe that he’d still have an OPS of .800 plus at the end of those two weeks. And how many guys on the roster can we say that about?

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      • OP, you’ve gone off the rails. You’re angry and it’s clouding your judgement. His success in building up the farm system is undeniable, but you’ll pretend to try to do it.

        You, among most everyone here, applauded the Gregerson and Neshek signings. Gattis and Hoyt will probably be better than the players traded away. The far majority were fine with the Feldman and Fister signings and those players have done what was expected of them, which is decent. The bottleneck happened because Luhnow drafted or traded for so many good prospects that it was inevitable.

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      • So true OP.
        Tim, even when the baggage drops off next year I don’t trust Luhnow to develop the young players or make quality trades. He’s rebuilt the minor league system ( and done a good mod of it) but doesn’t appear to have the baseball knowledge to put a good team on the fired.

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    • Count me in the 1 OP camp. I think Luhnow has been more interested in proving how smart he is so somebody would write a book and make a movie about him. That has led to many years of bad baseball on the ML field. I want argue with anybody about his skill in building a highly ranked minor league farm system. But big deal. I do not think the man is capable of assembling a great major league roster to put on the field. And I am judging the major league roster strictly by wins and losses. In judging the team’s performance, individual stats don’t mean squat as far as I’m concerned.

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      • Big deal? Do you have any idea where this organization would be without building up the farm system? It’s a huge deal and the main reason most Astros fans are angry now. They bought into the pre-season hype, primarily because of the depth in the system, and now want to pretend the organization is in trouble when, in fact, they are still in a very strong position. I wonder where they’d be if Crane gave Luhnow a budget commiserate with the media market size of Houston.

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  24. Michael Feliz was showing the kind of stuff he is showing right now in Quad Cities two years ago. He has almost no experience in AA and AAA and is now pitching better than any pitcher on the Astros’s staff. And yet, he isn’t starting and has the role of a mopup guy in our bullpen. How has this happened?
    How is Vincent Velasquez a starting pitcher for a Phillies team with a winning record?
    How is LMJ’s start to this year anything but just weird?
    Why does Dallas Kuechel look like Dan Straily and Dan Straily look like Dallas Keuchel for another team?
    How is it that the minor league pitcher of the year has to pitch in relief in a tandem in AA, while Peacock, Rodgers, Wojo, Shirley and Hauschild are starters in AAA?
    Does everyone in the Astros organization adore their pitching coach except the pitchers?
    Why are the Astros so bad?

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      • Stassi may be an adequate defensive catcher, but he’s a Kratz clone at the plate. This team is better off with Gattis as the backup catcher. Eventually, when Reed is called up I’m hoping they move White to DH for most games and keep Gattis as the backup catcher until someone in the minor leagues is ready to replace Gattis as the backup. I’m not so sure everyone wants Castro gone after this season. The good news with Castro’s resurgence is that it may open the door to offer him a qualifying offer and reap a supplemental draft pick if he leaves via free agency.

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  25. The ( paid by the Astros ) announcers can gush over Gattis all they want but that doesn’t make him a good defender. His 230 batting average doesn’t make him a good DH/cleanup hitter either. Just another bad mark on management.

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  26. Tim –
    I give Luhnow the benefit of the doubt on the budget he is given. My biggest problem is that as the budget has expanded he has made worse and worse decisions. If he was given a big budget I am not sure that would be a better team in his hands.
    I know he would need to make some trades to free the eventual bottleneck in prospects, but here is the problem – looking back at this post from early last season… https://chipalatta.com/2015/05/19/astros-2015-how-are-those-top-10-prospects-performing/ …. the Astros traded (and the rankings may vary)
    #2 – Mark Appel
    #3 – Vince Velasquez
    #5 – Brett Phillips
    #6 – Domingo Santana
    #10 – Josh Hader
    (Not to mention some of the others like Nottingham, Mengden, etc.)
    And they have so little to show for it.

    Right now I would trust Luhnow to cut bait with the veterans and trade for prospects, but not trade more prospects for veterans.

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    • I would trust him to do that as well. His success in trades has been when trading vets for prospects. Gomez has been an unmitigated disaster, so far, but I’m not about to bail on the season on May 21st. What if Gomez returns to his career norms and has a monster 2nd half helping to lead us into the playoffs? What if VV has a return of his arm issues and Giles reverts back to the pitcher he was in Philly? Are we blaming Luhnow for Keuchel returning to 2013 Keuchel? If so, then he should get credit for not extending him a $200M contract that many on here wanted him to do after winning the Cy Young last year.

      Regardless of our opinions on Luhnow his tenure as a GM has been successful when looking at the situation he inherited in 2011. Yes, he’s a victim of his own success no matter how others want to spin it. Has he made mistakes? Of course, but what GM hasn’t? The fact remains this team and organization is in much better shape than it was 5 years ago. That’s undeniable.

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      • I think it still remains to be seen how successful he has been trading veterans for prospects. Exactly how many of those prospects have reached the major leagues? Devenski? Fields? I take a results oriented approach in judging his success. And the result I am looking for is a great Major League team. I am not using a task based approach such as,”does he draft well” or “does he build a good farm system.” Ability to develop players is an essential component to achieve desired results at the ML level. I see signs of deficiencies in this area. The pitching development is suspect with the tandem nonsense. And when position players are called up, the continuous flip flopping of the lineup gives them at best, half a chance. Consistent playing time is essential if they are expected to be successful and is more important than any perceived lefty righty matchup. Hopefully Mr. Crane has a computer that analyzes his GMs moves and calculates his WAR. Remember that a number of the current starting lineup are from the Ed Wade/Bobby Heck era.

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  28. I guess I’m going off the rails too. But Tim, just because I disagree with you, it does not mean my judgement is clouded. Don’t be so damn arrogant.

    What I see is a mediocre Major League Baseball club. We still have question marks behind the plate, at third, at first, (I think I can fix that one) with the DH role and we have a very thin outfield. We also have an aging rotation of predomnently finesse pitchers.

    And in our much heralded minor league system today, we don’t have a ready fix for any of those weaknesses on the big club. Indeed, we’ve traded away the few fixes we had at our disposal. Yes, Luhnow has had success in trading veterans for prospects. But where the heck are those prospects? How long do we have to wait?

    If there was a plan, it got screwed up in the giddiness of a club playing .500 ball last summer. Today, we are worse off than we were in 2015, both at the ML level and in our minor league organization.

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    • Dave,

      Arrogance is my middle name, sorry.

      They don’t have an aging pitching staff. They have 2 guys whose contract expires at the end of the year and their both in their early 30s. We have Feliz, Devenski, Musgrove, Martes, Abreu, Paulino, Guaduan among many others. There are some holes, but none that can’t be fixed unless everyone here is wrong and we shouldn’t play the young guys. When things don’t go as planned right away everyone wants to push the panic button and assume the sky’s falling and we are headed back to 2011 again. That’s not the situation. They have a strong core and depth in the farm system. It takes time to develop those young players and they won’t come to the show dominating right away. There’s a learning curve for every player. The curve is smaller for some, but they all have them.

      Are you still drinking with your brother? Knock one down for me, please. I’m heading to the store tonight to fill up the fridge, but until then I envy you.

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      • Then maybe you can explain why the Cubs turned things around and produced an elite team in less time, while we’re still struggling after five plus years.

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      • That’s easy. They had a better farm system than the Astros in 2011, an ownership willing to spend on quality free agents and put a great manager on the bench.

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    • I have watched a lot of really bad Houston teams. They all looked like they belonged on the field more than these guys. These guys – with the exception of Altuve – look totally over-matched at bat no matter who pitches against them.

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      • I have reached the conclusion that maybe they are over coached. Given too much information and are in the batter’s box thinking about what pitch they are most likely to see instead of reacting to the pitch they actually get. Brings back memories of Morgan Ensberg’s last days – he was so overthinking he changed his stance within a single AB at times.

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  36. It’s not really informative to say the Astros have had only one good month since last year (although they certainly have not had any good months this year). In fact they had only one losing month last year. They had an extremely consistent 1-2 starter situation, including a Cy Young winner, and a much-improved bullpen from the years before. They made a big move in mid-season to bring up the future Rookie of the Year. They were this close to going to the World Series. They made preseason moves that many on this blog applauded: dumping Carter and Kazmir, bringing up Tyler White, Many on this blog argued that the Astros were in MUCH better shape starting this season than last. This does not strike me as an abysmal front office.

    The Astros had very good on-field chemistry last year in my judgment, but that seems natural with a young team exceeding expectations. This year, not so much, but it’s not bad chemistry. Is that the fault of the front office? Maybe there’s an argument they miss Conger, but who here is going to blame the FO for Conger being gone?

    It just strikes me the FO is getting too much of the blame. The players aren’t executing and that’s the bottom line. Bone head plays in the field and on the bases? Players. Maybe a few bad third base coach decisions, but mostly players. Keuchel going from Cy Young to Cy Slapnicka? Not the FO. Springer, Correa: having decent seasons but are they living up to expectations? Did the FO ruin Ken Giles? You can argue whether guys like Gomez and Giles should be here based on the trades we made for them (still too early to really say IMHO) but their performances so far below their body of work is all on them.

    I’m not a total fan of all the recent FO moves, and I certainly have problems with some of the day to day decisions on the field. But I think the FO has put together a team that should be performing and we need look no further than the players.

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  37. Well, I am off the bandwagon now. Of course, it is in the ditch, overturned with a busted axle and missing wheels. Sooooo very disappointed in this current season….

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  38. Don’t even know what to add here. We’re a bad team, I’m sad for Houston fans, Crane is a chump, and Tim you seem to be an intelligent guy , who for what ever reason have hitched your wagon to Uncle Jeff’s Train. It is hard sometimes to believe in something or someone so bad you can’t let go. JL had the perfect storm and opportunities when he took over, he should have stayed the course of his plan.

    He bought into what a bright guy he is and his ego has turned this into a mess, with a lot of bad trades, and Tim your right here we are stuck with his crap

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  39. These last 2 games have been demoralizing. I think most of us could swallow losing 2-1 to Sale, but to come home and struggle against the team that has owned us the last year and 2 months of baseball is extremely frustrating. I truly believe it is a mental issue when playing the Rangers. It reminds me of 2004-2005 when the Astros played the Phillies. We went 12-0 against them in those 2 seasons and we found ways to win while the Phillies found ways to lose. Eventually, the tide turned and it will in this matchup, but it may not be until next year or 2018.

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  40. Is there such a thing as a must-win in May? If so, playing at home with Keuchel on the mound and a 3 game offensive melt-down on-going would seem to meet the definition.

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  42. Maybe it’s self preservation kicking in, but I don’t find this sick organization to be demoralizing for me. I love this sport that I’ve been a part of since before I can remember, in a family that included six brothers and a father who in middle age still played slow pitch on a very competitive team regionally. I’d sit in the dugout for those games well before even reaching little league learning about what team meant. And we all played at some level of ball for many years, well beyond school age. I’m just damn angry that this group of experts has screwed up so badly the Houston Astro Baseball Club, in the fourth biggest city of our nation.

    But there are far more pressing day to day issues in life today. More and more as we get older! So I’m not going to get consumed by this mess. What I enjoy most today is in following individual careers, from the lower minors, sometimes, but infrequently, on up into the major leagues. And yes indeed, that includes those kids that have left our organization for some reason or another. The longer shots are the guys I get juiced about. And I guess that offends me the most. This group does not know how to get the most out of too many of these kids..

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  43. Dan,

    I want to thank you for keeping this blog going. It hasn’t gone unnoticed that the articles recently have all been authored by yourself. I’m sure there is a reason for this and I’m sure we all appreciate you carrying the torch until others can help out.

    This blog gives us an outlet to vent, argue and debate all that is the Astros. Thank you very much for keeping it going. It is still my favorite Astros blog and that won’t change.

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    • Well Tim – just like it was my honor to get asked to contribute to the blog by Chip, way back on chron.com (Spit!!!), it is my honor to keep it going when life has slowed down my compadres. We have all had our times when work or other things have thrown us a curve, but I do this because I love it and because I really enjoy the many comments and threads that come from the knowledgeable people who visit here.

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  44. A memorabilia store named “Field of Dreams” in Frisco, Tex, was going to have Odor come and sign anything regarding the “punch” for a increased fee! How uncouth! At least it has been called off for now.

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    • I know that Brian T has been sidelined a bit while he has been writing a novel and has had a number of family “things” going on also. Chip has contributed some, but I know he is very busy too and he is still the one who actually posts the articles on the blog no matter who writes then.
      I am sure they will be back soon, but I will fill in as needed.

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      • Maybe you guys can have a guest blogger one a week, or month!
        I nominate Old Pro and Mr. Bill !!

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      • I would also like to say that my posts help start the conversation but that your many comments, arguments and conversations among yourselves keep it going and bring spice to this blog.
        I was asked to do some fan posts with some friends on the Texans based Battle red blog and my biggest frustration is trying to build up the number of comments beyond a handful.
        You are the best.

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  47. While being down about my team I spent the last day or so trying to find a little solace but it wasn’t there. Then I headed to the Astros pipeline and got a revelation. How quickly things can change for a baseball team! It started like this:
    1. One year ago Alex Bregman was battling for a SEC title. Today, well, just check his stats out in AA.
    2. Two years ago today AJ Reed was on his way to the POY award in college baseball. Look what he has done since then.
    3. Two years ago Frances Martes was in the GCL for the Marlins. Look where he is now.
    4.One year ago Kyle Tucker was having his Senior prom, HS graduation and trying to decide where he would go to college or the pros. Have you looked at his stats as a 19 year old in A ball at Quad Cities? Yes!
    5.Ditto with Daz Cameron.
    6. One year ago Colin Moran was on the DL in CC. He’s in “The Show” today.
    7.Less than 2 years ago David Paulino was coming off Tommy John surgery and had spent the previous season on the DL and the two years before that in rookie ball for one of the worst minor leagues in baseball, the Tiger’s system. Now he is mowing them down in AA Corpus Christi at the age of 22.
    8. 13 months ago, everyone had forgotten about Joe Musgrove. After TJ surgery he had done well at Tri City in 2014. Who was paying attention then? Look at him now.
    9. Two years ago Derek Fisher was trying to get back on the field following an injury at UVA. Today he is starting to catch up to pitching at AA and has been one of AA CC’s best hitters the last month, hitting .322 in May. A finger injury slowed him down this week but he returned with two hits again last night..
    10.Two years ago Michael Feliz was pitching in Quad Cities. Currently, he and Will Harris are the the hottest pitchers on the Astros staff.

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  48. Welp….it looks like the guys won’t lose 2-0 today. How demoralizing is this home stand so far. JEEZE……….

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