Cyanide

A simple article I decided to type up in my free time. I love debating sports and I love giving my thought on a team and their prospects. I follow ALL baseball teams and their moves. Baseball is my passion and I hope to do something in baseball these days. In this article, it will be about the Astros 2011 season and my thoughts on their team next year. Let's begin!

This is this years lineup:

[i]CF Michael Bourn
2B Jeff Keppinger
1B Lance Berkman
LF Carlos Lee
RF Hunter Pence
3B Pedro Feliz
SS Tommy Manzella
C Humberto Quintero
P _______________[/i]

That was the lineup most used by the Astros this year. Besides Bourn, Pence, and Manzella, the lineup if fairly old. Berkman, Lee, and Feliz are veterans. The lineup is pretty strong; projected to do much better than they did they year. Though they struggled, our pitching staff should have done good as well:

[i]RHP Roy Oswalt
LHP Wandy Rodriguez
RHP Brett Myers
RHP Bud Norris
RHP Felipe Paulino[/i]

Oswalt and Rodriguez are fairly old, leaning more towards the veteran side than the younger side. Myers is in his late 20's, projected to be an ace along with Oswalt and Rodriguez. Norris and Paulino are prospects. Paulino didn't get much talk, but Norris got a lot for a prospect. He was projected to be a .500 pitcher or better, with around a 3.50 ERA. Not bad for a prospect I say. As for Paulino, he wasn't expected much.

The Astros biggest problem this year was their bullpen. It was never really good since the 2005 World Series season. This season was probably the worst bullpen yet:

[i]LR Wesley Wright
LR Brian Moehler
MR Chris Sampson
MR Alberto Arias
MR Jeff Fulchino
MR Tim Byrdak
SU Brandon Lyon
CP Matt Lindstrom[/i]

Though it doesn't look that bad, we had no consistent relievers. Our projected aces in the bullpen were Wright, Fulchino, and Lindstrom. All 3 struggled this year.

Now, this team is more on the old side. The Astros brought in GM Ed Wade, former GM of the Phillies, to fix our farm system since we were running low on prospects. Ed Wade built the Phillies organization. They have gone to the World Series the last 2 years thanks to Ed Wade. We are hoping he will do the same for us, the Astros.

Just recently, the Astros traded our best player, in my opinion, RHP Roy Oswalt. He has been the face of the Astros for 9 years, and is finally gone after requesting a trade. We picked up a solid pitching prospect in J.A. Happ. He has a MLB career line of 14-5 with a 3.11 ERA. He won Rookie of the Year last year for the NL. We also picked up an Outfield and a Short stop prospect. Just minutes after acquiring these prospects, we traded the Outfield prospect to the Blue Jays for their best prospect, 1B/3B/OF Brett Wallace. Wallace, who is ranked #27th of all MLB prospects, is hitting .301, 18 homers with 61 RBIs in Triple-A. He is a future star and the Astros got him for a good price. Wallace will one day replace Berkman at the First basemen spot. The Astros are currently exploring a trade for Berkman before the trade deadline Saturday.

After trading Oswalt, Feliz in his last year of his contract, and Berkman possibly traded/retiring, here is the Astros projected starters next year:

[i]C Jason Castro
1B Brett Wallace
2B Jeff Keppinger
3B Chris Johnson
SS Tommy Manzella
LF Carlos Lee
CF Michael Bourn
RF Hunter Pence[/i]

With bench players of:

[i]C Humberto Quintero/J.R. Towles
1B/3B Geoff Blum
INF Angel Sanchez
INF Anderson Hernandez
OF Jason Michaels
OF Jason Bourgeois[/i]

Not the strongest bench, but can be very effective.

As for the starting players, that is very appealing to me. Young, Athletic, Durable athletes that can all hit/field. This lineup is the future of the Astros' organization. I am very confident in this lineup if we can stay healthy and injury free. As for the pitching, here is the project staff:

[i]RHP Brett Myers
LHP Wandy Rodriguez
RHP J.A. Happ
RHP Bud Norris
RHP Felipe Paulino[/i]

This could possibly change due to Free Agency coming up this Offseason. Altough this looks about the same as this years, I believe the staff with be strong as Norris and Paulino will have experience. As for the bullpen, here is the projected staff:

[i]LR Wesley Wright
LR Chris Sampson
MR Gustavo Chacin
MR Fernando Abad
MR Alberto Arias
MR Wilton Lopez
MR Alberto Arias
SU Brandon Lyon
CP Jeff Fulchino[/i]

If the Astros choose to not resign Lindstrom, this is the projected staff with Fulchino becoming the new closer. Like I said before, this is the projected bullpen before the Offseason this winter. Even though this bullpen doesn't look much different as the current bullpen, the younger relievers will get experience and I believe it will be stronger than this years.

[b]MY EXPECTATIONS:[/b]
I expect the Astros to be a VERY competitive team next year, compared to this years team. I believe they will have a season like they did in 2005; maybe little less, maybe little more. I expect them to make a run for the playoffs. If they don't do it this year, I guarantee they will the year after next. They are young, athletic, durable, and strong, both hitting wise, fielding wise, and pitching wise. I believe they will raise a lot of eyebrows, kinda like this years Padres.

[b]MY PROJECTED RECORD:[/b]
I say they will go 87-75, possibly better. You may think I am crazy, but this is my expectations.

In conclusion, I believe the Astros will be a stronger, younger team next year. I believe they will make a run for the playoffs for years to come with this new team. I believe they will raise many eyebrows next year. Hopefully the Astros will get rid of Lance Berkman and get some prospects for him. As much as I would like them to trade Carlos Lee as well, I don't think we could get much for him at all. Plus, we need a leader.

Please comment about what you think of the article. I LOVE debating sports, so any arrangement would be a blast.

Thank you for your time readers, it is well appreciated.

Trevor "[i]cyaNide[/i]" Reed