The Houston Astros are definitely in rebuilding mode right now. Probably more than any team in recent memory. With back to back 106-loss seasons, general manager Jeff Luhnow has completely torn the team down and is starting from scratch, literally.
The Astros are on track to have the lowest payroll in baseball at $25 million, about $20 million less than the next lowest team in the A's. Their highest payed player this season is Wandy Rodriguez at $5 million, and oh by the way he plays for the Pittsburgh Pirates. So that makes their likely number one starter Bud Norris who went 7-13 last year, the rich man on the team at a whopping $3 million this year. Houston also holds onto a grand total of five players with more than two years of big league experience.
So after two back to back 100+ loss seasons and an even younger and more inexperienced team than last year, why would anyone associated with the franchise be optimistic? Well Jeff Luhnow likes the assembly of young players and looks forward to the season.
''For me youth is a good thing,'' he said. ''I'm optimistic. I think we're going to have a much better year than people think, and I don't think it has anything to do with payroll. I think it has to do with the coaching staff that we have and the young players that have a tremendous amount of upside."
The Astros hired Nationals 3rd base coach Bo Porter in the off-season as their manager, which has been considered a smart move by most. They've also invested a lot of money in(obviously not payroll) development coaches and international scouting to get an upperhand within their organization, according to Luhnow.
Positives: Not too many
Now looking at the positives for the Astros, although there may be few, one would be youth. All but three of their players are under the age of 30, which gives this young group time to develop together and possibly find a little bit of luck.
Another is their farm system. The Astros have traded away pretty much anyone above 29 years old and have replenished their crop of prospects to be ranked the 9th best according to Baseball Prospectus. Leading that group of prospects is number one overall pick in last years draft 19 year old shortstop Carlos Carrera.
One last positive is the potential for a breakout player this year. Chris Carter, the newly acquired first baseman for the A's, hit 16 homers in only 67 games last year, and along with Justin Maxwell and Carlos Pena, the three pose a decent power threat in the lineup. Jose Altuve, all 5"5 of him, hit .290 and stole 33 bases in an all-star campaign. And Lucas Harrell, their 27 year old starter, posted a solid 3.76 ERA and pitched almost 200 innings.
Negatives: Far too many
The Atros may be retooling for the next few years and gathering young talent, but the major downside to that is that their joining the loaded AL West this year. This is the division with two of the top six most expensive payrolls in the game being the Rangers and Angles, an incredibly well managed and cinderalla team in the A's, and a hungry Mariners team that has the prospects and owner-approval to start winning very soon. The Astros finished a terrible 55-107 last year in one of the three worst divisions in the game, and now their moving to quite possibly the best.
Also, their most experienced and successful player is Carlos Pena, who hasn't hit over the mendoza line the past two seasons and hasn't gotten any younger. There's hope he can hit 25 homeruns this year and play some solid defense, but that may be a stretch.
Their rotation is another thing that has much to be desired. Not one of the starters logged a winning record last year, and only Harrell had an era under 4.00. Jordan Lyles is an immature 21 year old who was rushed into the majors before he could develop, and their "big move" this offseason of bringing in Phil Humber doesn't help considering he pitched a no no last year and was still removed from the White Sox rotation.
It looks like another down year for the Astros and their fans. ''We will stress to our players (not to) get caught up in the end result, be more concerned about the process which is what we do every day to prepare ourselves and put us in position to win every ball game,'' as Bo Porter puts it. Unfortunately the Astros won't be finding themselves in a position to win too many games this year.
My final verdict; a regular season finished at 51-111 and at least two firings of their coaching staff. If any Astro fans read this, you have my sympathy.
