1. Have a management meeting.
If I were someone in charge, I would think that the most important thing to do at this point would be to call the other people in charge and have a meeting that examines the realistic goals and the supposed course that we're intending to follow this season. I think what makes all the fans mad (myself included) is that everyone, for some inexplicable reason, is still expecting the Astros to win a fair amount of ball games. Quite simply, that is just not going to happen this year. Management has got to get everyone off of the Glory Days of 2005 kick because that was six years ago people. You know how many players are still on the roster from the World Series team? Hm....how about zero? Now I'm not saying you have to hold a presser to say, "We just want to officially say that the Houston Astros are going to suck this year, so don't come to the ballpark until we get the first pick in the draft next season". However, you can at least recognize that this is a rebuilding stage, and treat the roster and the free agent signings accordingly.
2. Make Wilton Lopez the closer.
Yes, yes I know that this seems fickle, but I can honestly proclaim that I never thought that Mark Melancon was quite ready for the closer's job. You can contend that it was just a mistake pitch to probably the second-best catcher in the game on Tuesday, but Melancon still blew the save when he already had gotten two outs and two strikes. Hitters have also been getting a lot of contact off of him lately, as I have explicitly detailed before. I have a pretty good guess that had Lopez not been injured at the time of Brandon Lyon's initial trip to the DL, he would have been given the ball in the 9th, high ERA be darned. He was the Astros' best reliever last year, and seems to have no problem getting outs this year, post-injury. My suggestion: Jeff Fulchino in the 7th, Melancon in the 8th, Lopez in the 9th. Once Lyon comes back, he takes Fulchino or Melancon's job. Either way, it's not like the bullpen is going to get any worse, so why not tinker with it?
3. Start bringing some guys up from the farm.
I wouldn't say that's it's necessary to promote top prospect Jordan Lyles just yet, but I think it's about time to open the floodgates and let some of the young guys who are ready get playing time. This is mostly aimed at the bullpen, with my suggestion being to at least bring up Wesley Wright and send down Fernando Abad. But why not some others? This team is not winning right now, and gauging which minor leaguers are ready for the majors is a good way to improve a club. Certainly avoid arbitration problems, but giving the fans a taste of what's to come might be the only way to sell tickets at this point.
4. Keep Ed Wade, but not as the GM.
I know this seems drastic, and I never try to be that guy who always calls for the coach's or GM's head when things go wrong, but I don't think it's any mystery as to why the Astros' farm system is terrible and the roster is overrun with aging veterans. Wade loves signing "leadership" guys, and to be more specific, he loves signing "leadership" guys that used to play in Philadelphia, as evidenced by his acquisition of Michael Bourn, Jason Michaels, Brett Myers, Pedro Feliz, etc. I think he's ridden the Bourn trade popularity wave long enough, and seeing as he really hasn't developed any young talent and continues to make questionable signings, it's probably time for him to be demoted under the new Crane regime. I'm all for keeping him in the organization, but maybe director of scouting or a different, less hands-on job is more appropriate for the aging baseball guy. A young team needs a young GM, and while the chances of bringing the Rays' Andrew Friedman here are not high, it's crucial to get somebody who knows today's game.
5. Stop hindering Brett Wallace's progression.
I am still baffled that Mills is replacing Wallace at first base with Carlos Lee when the Astros face a lefty. Sure, Wallace is a lefty too, but are they planning on sitting him against lefties for the rest of his career as an Astro? It would be one thing if Lee was actually a good first baseman, but he's an absolute joke on defense, and it doesn't really help the team when their best hitter, according to batting average, is sitting on the bench whenever a lefty pitches, which in case you didn't know, is quite regularly. Jason Michaels and/or Brian Bogusevic don't really need those starts in left field, and if management really plans on building around Hunter Pence and Wallace, they need to leave the young 1B in the game, no matter who's pitching.
6. Release or demote Bill Hall.
He's a joke, plain and simple. Hall has struck out about 3,000 times already this season, and his temper and defense isn't really setting the right example for the rest of the guys. He was, ahem, another one of those supposed "leadership" signings by Wade, a guy who could "bolster" the middle infield with his "power bat" and "excellent glove". In case you couldn't tell by all those quotation marks, he's done none of those things, and holding back Matt Downs, Jason Bourgeois, or Jeff Keppinger from being in the lineup every day is pure stupidity at this point. I understand not wanting to eat the $3 mill that the team owes him this year, but it's not like he hasn't been a utilityman before.
7. Flip the rotation so that Wandy Rodriguez is the #1 starter.
It seems like he has figured everything out already this season, and with Myers' heavy workload from last season appearing to weigh on him, Rodriguez should be the staff ace right now. It's not too big a deal that he's pitching in the 2 spot right now, but when the Astros start running in to the top hurlers on other teams, it would be nice to have their own best pitcher on the mound as well. With a 3.45 ERA, comparative to the rest of the starters (save Bud Norris), it's kinda hard to not think of him as the best pitcher right now.
8. Do something about the defense.
I don't care if it's defensive drills. I don't care if you have to buy the entire team some new gloves. Do some voodoo, have a team prayer about it. Make up a lucky dance. Anything you have to do, just do it. This defense is absolutely embarrassing, and while most of the blame has been attributed to the pitchers' inability to get outs, I still believe that the worst aspect of this team is it's defensive ineptitude.
9. Trade Carlos Lee.
Please, Astros brass, don't take the bait. If Lee keeps hitting and starts driving in a bunch of runs, a lot of the more novice fans are going to be calling for him to stay and finish out his contract. But please, please don't fall for it. Trade him. You'll only have to eat the $13 mill for one season, and then the terrible signing will be behind you. It's time to bring up J.B. Shuck or J.D. Martinez to man left field, and netting at least a few mediocre prospects from some AL team that needs a DH at the deadline is so, so worth it at this point. I plead, do not screw this one up Ed Wade.
10. Start passing out some of these, so at least we can have some...dignity.
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