Houston Astros

The Astros finished last season with an 82-80 record that amazingly was good enough for second in the Central and almost snuck them into the post-season.

Pete J Says : The Astros were a very average team last year and the only reason they hung around in the playoff run so long was because there was a lot of mediocrity in the NL last year.

Of course its always a little unfair to blame one person for a team finishing with less wins than they should but Brad Lidge certainly made a good case for it. His ERA went up by 2.99 runs last year and 2.99 alone is about what you'd expect from an elite closer on a bad year and Lidge certainly was that before last year.The rest of the pen was pretty good with Wheeler, Qualls and Trever Miller all putting up good numbers before handing it over to Lidge to blow it and the support staff could be even better this year if Rick White and Scaott Sauerbeck make the team this Spring.

Elsewhere the rotation will once again be anchored by the under-appreciated Roy Oswalt and All Spurious team member Jason Jennings looking to build on what was a great year last season (he won't be that good this year I'm sure).

They struggled to score runs last season and while Carlos Lee will certainly beef up the heart of the order, if Morgan Ensberg can't get back on track this will still be a very average line-up with a lot of so-so hitters batting behind Berkman.

Of course it also doesn't help that they traded away their only genuine base stealing threat which should further clog up the bases and while Biggio can still find ways to get on base on his march for 3,000 hits, he's not the sparkplug he used to be.This is still a very average team with a great starter in Oswalt who will stop them going on any serious losing streaks. This team's only chance is that Lidge regains his form and the Wild Card is another battle between mediocre teams and sadly I don't see that being the case...there's not even a likely candidate to make the jump from the minors now they've dealt Hirsch.


Conor C Says : Well that about sums it up. It's been a tough fall from the (almost) top after their WS appearance in 2005.

It's hard to talk positively at all about the Astros this season. They've lost two out of arguably the best 1,2 3 starting pitcher punches in the league (Pettitte and Clemens) and its very unlikely that Clemens will come back to Houston this year since surely this will be his last year and he'll want to have a shot at a pennant. The Jason Jennings trade was an absolute disaster for this team. Jennings is a decent pitcher and will probably do alright in Minute Maid, but let's face it, he's not a superstar and there were other pitchers available that maybe would have commanded bigger salaries, but wouldn't have meant giving up their only speedster and their best pitching prospect.

Lidge and Ensberg just seem to have lost the spark, but who knows what the new season will bring. Either way, this team will be fighting it out in the cellar of the Central.


Pete J Says : Well that was simple, even if I'm not as grim about their chances as you seem to be. They should be a .500 team unless Berkman or Oswalt gets injured but its amazing how one deal can really cause more holes than it fills and while Jason Jennings will help their rotation, Jason Hirsch could have done a similar job and Taveras would still be in town to at least give the team some speed.

Of course now Jason Jennings will win the Cy and Hirsch will be the next Scott Elarton.