Thursday, March 22, 2012

2012 MLB Preview #20: Houston Astros

Greetings... The worst team in all of the land...

Lineup

C - Jason Castro/Chris Snyder
1B - Carlos Lee
2B - Jose Altuve
SS - Jed Lowrie
3B - Jimmy Paredes/Brett Wallace
LF - JD Martinez/Jack Cust
CF - Jordan Schafer
RF - Brian Bogusevic

Worst lineup in the entire major leagues I think. The only guy I would consider to be above-average is Carlos Lee, and at his age, he's coming off an 18-homer, sub-.800 OPS season that shows he's on the downside, and he's a terrible defensive player. I actually like Altuve and Lowrie up the middle a bit, as Altuve has a proven pedigree of hitting for average, with good defense, and nice speed, while Lowrie has high upside if he can ever stay on the field, but that's the list. The outfield is an unmitigated disaster. Let's move on.

Starting Rotation

1 - Wandy Rodriguez
2 - Bud Norris
3 - JA Happ
4 - Jordan Lyles
5 - Kyle Weiland

Wandy is an above-average Major League pitcher. Sub-3.50 ERA with about 8 Ks per 9 in a "down" season last year, and he's the best player on the roster. Bud Norris is a guy with huge strikeout potential (9 Ks per 9) but bad control, and he can't be counted on for better than a 4.00 ERA. Happ had a fluky good year in Philly pre-trade, but was a disaster in 2011 (5.35 ERA, 83 walks in 156 innings). Lyles is the one bright spot outside of Wandy because he's a young guy who projects to be a #2-3 starter in the Majors for a long time, but he's still a rookie that posted a 5+ ERA in 2011. Better than the lineup, but not much better.

Bullpen

Brett Myers is the closer for Houston. I have no idea why they'd make him the closer because a) he's their 2nd best starter, b) he'd be great trade bait as a starter, and c) teams that lose 100 games don't need veteran closers, but hey, he'll be pretty good here. The rest? Brandon Lyon, Wilton Lopez, Juan Abreu.... Average at best, and that's being kind.

Prediction

59-103, 6th in NL Central

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