A Midseason Review

This is the worst Houston Astros team of all time.

I admit that occasionally I tend to, shall we say, hyperbolize when talking about my lifelong local nine. I declared Craig Biggio the greatest player ever. I used to think that no one could hit the ball harder than Carlos Lee. I also believed that it was impossible to hit a ball at all when Billy Wagner was throwing it. But the above statement is not hyperbole, or even an opinion. No, sadly it is fact, as the Astros entered the 2011 All-Star break with a team-worst record of 30-62.

I think we can all admit that it's been a little difficult to watch the Astros this season. The tone was set from day 1, as the staff blew a 4-0 lead against powerhouse Philadelphia, eerily setting a precedent for what would happen many, many times in the games to follow. Astros jump out to sizable lead, Brett Myers serves up some home runs to cut said lead in half, Brandon Lyon blows the save. How many times have we seen that in 2011? The truth is, the woes in Houston lie mainly in the ineptitude of their pitching staff. The Astros' 4.68 team ERA is 29th in the majors, along with a 1.44 WHIP (28th) and .269 batting average against (28th), ranks that also hover near the bottom. No facet of the team has thrown well, as starters and relievers are both serving up runs at an astounding rate, despite 2011 being declared Year of the Pitcher 2.0. The team understandably cut loose pitching coach Brad Arnsberg, hiring former reliever Doug Brocail to take his place on an interim basis. Yet, inexplicably, they have left Brocail in as coach, a position that he has never held before, and one that he has even admitted to be a little uncomfortable holding.

Not that the bats have been helping out a great deal. The beginning of the season had me believing that this team had finally learned how to swing it, as they got into a lot of softball battles early. We just scored 7 runs! That never happens!...Whoa! Did Carlos Lee really just get a hit off Carlos Marmol? Armageddon! Alas, it was a mirage of what was to come. Houston still hits the ball reasonably well (.260 team average, 9th in MLB), but they don't score runs (19th overall), nor do they get on base much (23rd ranked OBP), or hit for power (21st ranked SLG%). Without Michael Bourn and Hunter Pence, two players that have been rumored to be playing elsewhere come July 31st, this team would easily rank dead last in just about everything.

What perhaps has disappointed me the most about 2011 is how the young Astros have failed to pan out thus far. Jason Castro was done before the season even began. Chris Johnson has been atrocious at the plate and worse in the field. Jordan Lyles is still winless. Brett Wallace was raking in the first half of the season, but he hasn't shown much power at all, and his batting average has nose-dived to a cool .285. I don't place all of the blame on Wallace's shoulders, however, as the accursed Brad Mills has sat him repeatedly throughout the year, particularly against lefty pitching, claiming that he wants to ease Wallace into the majors. I simply don't buy this. From all the comments I've seen on past posts, I would tend to think that the readers of Astros 290 and Baseball at the Juicebox would agree with me that Wallace must play as much as possible. If he is going to be a big cornerstone of this franchise for seasons to come, he must face as much big league pitching as possible, including the southpaws. He's a good hitter and a smart kid, and I believe the power numbers will come and the strikeouts will drop as he gets more PAs.

So what to do now? Many believe that the Astros will conduct a firesale that will rival the New York Mets' in intensity, but I don't really see that in the cards. I dearly hope that Ed Wade and Jim Crane will put their heads together and realize that the only way this team will improve will be by rebuilding through a renewed commitment to pitching and defense, but I'm skeptical as to whether that will really happen or not. The sale of the club is still being finalized by MLB the last time I checked, and with ownership in flux, it's hard to believe the Astros will sell all of their big name players to contenders, nor should they.

Who's the one to go? I would be quite pleased if the team were able to get rid of Lee and/or Brett Myers by the deadline, but no true contender is likely to want either of them, as Lee is just plain ineffective at this point and Myers is saddled with a bad season and a new, hefty contract. The sad truth is that either Wandy Rodriguez or Pence will be the targets on most teams' radars. I'll peg Rodriguez as the one more likely to go, as a team could always use a lefty in their rotation, especially one that possesses one of the most devastating pitches in baseball, as W-Rod does with his nasty curve. The move would leave Houston with virtually no starting pitching to speak of, but luckily Rodriguez would command a sizable load of prospects in return, guys that are sorely needed in a farm system depleted of much true young talent.

Where will the season go from here? Will the Astros finish last in the league? Will they have the first pick of the draft in 2012 (!!!)? It's tough to say, as this club is known for its second-half runs, but right now, it's safe to say that there is no joy in Houston.