Ok, I guess we can get this started now. Here's to the biggest turn around in league history!

Lineup I would like to see:

LF Robbie Grossman
CF Dexter Fowler
2B Jose Altuve
C Jason Castro
DH Chris Carter
3B Matt Dominguez
1B Marc Krauss
RF LJ Hoes
SS Jonathan Villar


SP: Scott Feldman
SP: Jarred Cosart
SP: Brett Oberholtzer
SP: Lucas Harrell
SP: Dallas Keuchel

Let's get this thing rolling! BTHO Yankees!! Opening Day is Tuesday, April 1st at 6:10 at the Juice Box.

Footnote: Summit, stay the hell away from the Juice Box this season! It's going to be a close race for the gold, and they're going to need every victory!

Last years rotation for perspective...




Bud Norris
Lucas Harrell
Philip Humber
Brad Peacock (pre-slider)
Erik Bedard

This thread.

I personally, would like to see this lineup.



CF, Fowler
LF, Grossman
C, Castro
DH, Carter
2B, Altuve
1B, Krauss/Guzman
RF, Hoes
3B, Dominguez
SS, Villar



I think Grossman is going to have a solid year.

We know one thing for sure, Lucas Harrell can't possibly have a worse year than last year.

Might as well get this drum beating.

Live update on whether Springer has been called up.
http://www.hasgeorgespringerbeencalledupyet.com/

Good link, Frok.

So other than Feldman and Fowler we are pretty much rolling out the same lineup from the end of last year.

Yikes!

Oh wait, Wallace is gone. That's addition by subtraction I guess.

No Wallace, no JD, add Guzman, completely new bullpen.. kind of the same ya..

Here's my predictions...

Altuve has a bounce back year. Remember, last year he was slashing .333/.371/.444 for an .816 OPS through 167 plate appearances before he was trucked by Jimmy Paredes. He'll finish somewhere in the .300/.330/.400 range.


Springer is called up in mid to late June and shows signs of beasting, but Ks at an alarming rate (while drawing a ton of walks and showing some massive power).

Grossman or Hoes becomes a solid major league regular providing over 2.0 WAR. (I predict Grossman is the guy that does this). They will split time in LF when Springer is called up.

Carter reduces his Ks, but still nearly leads the league.

Villar will be sent to AAA at some point.



Mid season lineup:

CF - Fowler
2B - Altuve
C - Castro
DH - Carter
RF - Springer
LF - Hoes/Grossman
1B - Krauss/Guzman/Singleton (it's a possibility)
3B - Dominguez
SS - Villar

Mid season lineup..

Grossman - LF
Correa - SS
Springer - CF
Castro - C
Singleton - 1B
Amador - DH
Santana - RF
Meyer - 3B
Fontana - 2B

After trading Carter, Fowler, Altuve, Villar, DOminguez, Hoes, Guzman, and Corporan to the Cardinals for Michael Wacha.

With Altuve thrown in, we'll get Kolton Wong back with Wacha.

[This message has been edited by irish pete ag06 (edited 3/25/2014 11:35a).]

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After trading Carter, Fowler, Altuve, Villar, DOminguez, Hoes, Guzman, and Corporan to the Cardinals for Michael Wacha.

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What's sad is that we could offer our entire starting lineup and half the bullpen for Wacha and St. Louis would still turn us down.

Awwwwww yeeeeeaaaahhhhhh

Let's do this!

Mid season prediction:

Japhat Amador's on the road, room-service bill puts the Astros into irreversible debt.

The club moves to Las Vegas. But, nobody can watch on tv still.



[This message has been edited by koolaid (edited 3/25/2014 11:18p).]

Let's do this!!

Since when did Houston get Scrote Felchman?

Maybe y'all can get him back to his 09 form. If not... Watch out

Juan

Gonna be another long one boys!! At least I've got you fellow degenerate die-hards to suffer through it with.

Lookin forward to it fellas!

Can't wait to watch us lose 90-95 games and be excited about it because of the improvement

quote:

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Gonna be another long one boys!! At least I've got you fellow degenerate die-hards to suffer through it with.

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Everyone that posts on this thread is apparently a glutton for punishment.

Hopefully it isn't too bad. I have a few bets out there that we won't lose 100 again! I figure even the new bullpen can help get us under 100.

quote:

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Everyone that posts on this thread is apparently a glutton for punishment.

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Eh, low expectations mean I enjoy the wins and laugh about the losses this year again. Especially the bad losses, though I'll probably still be upset about the close ones.

Altuve should never be Below the two spot or above the 5 spot

I'm hoping for a year of improvement (less than 100 losses) but still bad enough to finish with the worst record and get the #1 pick next year.

What's the record for 100 loss season in a row?

Edit - The answer is 4 The Washington Senators did it in '61-'64 and the Mets did it from '62-'65.

[This message has been edited by Ag_07 (edited 3/26/2014 1:02p).]

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I'm hoping for a year of improvement (less than 100 losses) but still bad enough to finish with the worst record and get the #1 pick next year.

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That's where I'm at too. Which other teams are projected to challenge us for worst record this year?

In order to stay in line with tradition of last year's thread...



Picture taken down for causing some malware warning. It was Lucas Harrell with a "prepare your anus" meme.

Harrell is still screwing up things for Astros fans even though he is now on the diamondbacks AAA team.

[This message has been edited by Irish Pete ag06 (edited 5/21/2014 10:42a).]

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Footnote: Summit, stay the hell away from the Juice Box this season! It's going to be a close race for the gold, and they're going to need every victory!

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Deal

quote:

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Altuve should never be Below the two spot or above the 5 spot

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I love Jose Altuve, and I am glad that he is an Astro. I just really hope last year was a down year for him due to Jimmy Paredes collision and his grandmother's death.

He was on a torrid pace before the Jimmy P collision. He finished the season with 1.3 WAR. Basically he was ranked 15 out of 17 qualified 2nd basemen.

This is a big year for him. He's rated highly due to his fan favorite status and his one all star appearance.

He's still only 23 (he will turn 24 this season), so I think he's going to be a stud. I think he'll challenge for a batting title at some point in his career.

Just playing a little devil's advocate.

I just hope Altuve and Castro are still on the roster by the end of the season. They are the veterans now.

I'm thinking 67-95 for the club this year which would be a dramatic improvement. Have to survive the month of April though. Lots of games vs. the big spending franchises and their all-star lineups.

Also need improvement vs. the AL West. Just 25-51 last season

quote:

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That's where I'm at too. Which other teams are projected to challenge us for worst record this year?

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Twins and White Sox are both going to be pretty bad, but they also get to play each other a whole lot. The Marlins will also be terrible again, and likely worse off than the Astros just because of the improvements in our bullpen and likely mid-season call ups and trades.

I would say the Astros finish somewhere between 90-99 losses, but that gets us the second or third pick next year.

We still need to pick a date to have our TexAgs meetup.

I think Miami does finish with a worse record