Altuve might be on base for at least half of them...

I like the potential to have 3 guys hit 30 home runs.

Last year if you combine Springer, Carter, and Gattis then you had a home run < every 15 ABs.

A friend of mine who's a big Braves fan sent me a message as soon as the trade was announced yesterday. He's sorry to see him go and said Houston fans will enjoy watching him. He said his nickname is El Oso Blanco, which he got during his time playing in Venezuela.

mlbtraderumors:

The Astros still have some money to spend, tweets Jon Heyman of CBS Sports, and the team is currently looking at both the starting pitching market and at corner infielders. Astros fans with visions of elite starters in their minds should temper those thoughts, however, as Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets that the club is thinking more along the lines of back-end starters such as Ryan Vogelsong and Kyle Kendrick.

This is going to be another season where the stros either hit 4 homers in a game or no one gets a hit besides tuve

I was just thinking how many No-hitters we would break up with a bottom 9 solo homeruns we'll hit instead of grounder a through Yu's legs.

I think we could get away with Gattis in LF if we have Fowler in CF and Springer in RF. Plus there's the short porch in left. It's not ideal, but it could work.

Preferably, I'd like to see him DH. I think that will depend on Singleton's development. If Singleton takes a step forward this year, then Carter will probably man the DH spot. If Singleton performs the same as last year, I could see Carter more at 1B and Gattis DH, with Santana/Hoes/Marisnik in LF.

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I think we could get away with Gattis in LF if we have Fowler in CF and Springer in RF. Plus there's the short porch in left. It's not ideal, but it could work.

Preferably, I'd like to see him DH. I think that will depend on Singleton's development. If Singleton takes a step forward this year, then Carter will probably man the DH spot. If Singleton performs the same as last year, I could see Carter more at 1B and Gattis DH, with Santana/Hoes/Marisnik in LF.

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I think we will end up seeing Marisnik in left a lot, with either Gattis or Carter at first. Besides Fowler/Tuve/Springer, the lineup would be terribly slow with Gattis/Carter/Dominguez/Singleton/Castro. Good thing all we're gonna do is hit homers and strike out

Dominguez...forgot about him.

More news:

The Astros and Carlos Corporan have settled on a one-year, $975K deal to avoid arb, tweets Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. Corporan, who was recently linked to the Rangers as a trade target, had projected to earn $1MM. The 31-year-old batted .235/.302/.376 with six homers in 190 plate appearances for Houston last year.

He does not need to be on the roster next year. Adds absolutely nothing even before Gattis.

Agreed. Corporan is a waste of air at this point.

I read somewhere Lunhow said there might be more moves like this one... I would not be shocked if we moved one of the catchers, as well as Fowler before it's all said and done.

Is there any good reason why Luhnow made this move?

We signed him to a contract less than what he was projected to earn via arbitration, thus making him a more valuable trade commodity.

Exactly. I have no problem with the buyout. Hope we can unload him somewhere quick though

http://m.espn.go.com/general/blogs/blogpost?blogname=sweetspot&id=54595&src=desktop&rand=ref~%7B%22ref%22%3A%22http%3A%2F%2Fm.facebook.com%22%7D

That article pissed me off. There's no way to claim the Astros aren't a playoff contenders. They've drastically improved the bullpen. Starting rotation was very solid last year outside of Peacock. And they've upgraded the offense. We don't have any superstars, but we've got some very solid ball players. If Springer and or Singleton play like they did in the minors, this Astros team could be very good. This isn't the typical minor league lineup anymore.

To clarify, I'm not saying they are amazing. I'm saying that they are a huge unknown. You can't look at the lineup and say these guys won't win 60 games. While .500 could be the goal, there's no reason to think that this team doesn't have a shot at the playoffs. Especially since they've made huge upgrades at key positions. With so many unknowns, this could be a very exciting or a disappointing season. Just tired of everybody bagging on the Astros and I can't wait to start dominating so all the haters will stfu.

I actually think it was a great article, aside from him calling the Astros clearly not a playoff team. Other than that, everything was spot on

Fowler
Altuve
Springer
Carter
Gattis
Lowrie
Castro/Conger
Singleton
Dominguez

Im getting pretty excited for this. I actually think Matty D has a good year. He has to. He is playing for his future SOMEWHERE this year. I think Singleton has an average year with peaks and valleys, but good enough to be the everyday 1B.

That lineup is much better than they've had. Singleton better show something because he was terrible last year. They are going to strike out A LOT.

I can agree to that...but the whole "there's no way the Astros can make the playoff" crap ruined it for me. And like mazag said, there's a lot of excitement on this team.

In 2014, the Astros, once again, led the majors with 26 blown saves. If they convert half of that, they are a .500 team. They've upgraded the bullpen (hopefully to stop these blown leads). They've upgraded the lineup. Despite ESPN trying to say Atlanta trade raped the Astros, Gattis fills a need.

Lineup (not in any kind of order):
CF - Fowler, hit .276 last year
2nd - Altuve, lead the majors in hits
SS - Lowrie, career .261 hitter
RF - Springer, LOTS of potential
LF - Gattis, slugger
1B/DH - Carter, slugger
C - Castro - need him to get back to his all star form
3rd - Dominguez - UGH.
1B/DH - Singleton, potential

I read somewhere where 1B and LF hitters for the Astros produced the lowest BA of any position in the MLB. Both have been upgraded, potentially. Defense will take a hit, but oh well.

If Keuchel and McHugh can keep up what they did last year, and the lineup produces like they should, the Astros have a chance to be in the running at the end of the year. That's far from "not a chance to make the playoffs" crap from ESPN. This is not a rebuilding year like we've seen in the past 4 seasons. I think they are legitimately starting to turn the corner.

But, let the talking heads talk. Maybe it'll give the boys motivation to play hard to prove them wrong.

And another good reason for Gattis...no more Grossman starting! Boom!

I just can't understand how you can't say that this team at least has playoff potential. I bet this team will have to most homers in baseball. When you add that with altuve, what I expect to be a much more consistent Marisnick, a solid starting rotation, and a (hopefully) much improved bullpen, they have a pretty good shot at the post season

It not only takes an improvement in our record, but making the playoffs also includes having to jump a lot of teams.

It's a mighty big jump to go from 70-92 and 28 GB from the division and 18 GB from the Wild Card to being a playoff team. Other teams improve as well.

I think we break the .500 mark this year and have a chance at the playoffs (long shot), but to refrain from calling this team a playoff contender is legit and OK with me.

Remember...It's a process.

We were dead last in blown saves(26). With the moves we made in the pen alone I could see a 10 game improvement. Last year that would move up to 1 game under .500 and leap frog the White Sox, Red Sox, & Rays and 8 games out of the wildcard. Add in Springer & Fowler for the fuller year, Gatts's bat, and maybe 1 more move I don't see an above .500 record being a long shot at all.

I don't disagree really. This is an actual MLB team with MLB players.

I just assume that those teams will improve by a couple wins as well. The process doesn't usually go from sub-500 team to playoff team. I see it going from sub-500, to winning team, to playoff team, to winning pennants. I just don't see this team going from losing team to playoff spot.

Not saying it can't or won't happen, but chances are they won't.

I'm sure those teams will improve, but if they do and we do then someone has to get worse and fall down. I don't expect playoffs. I do expect top be playing meaningful games after the all star break and into Aug.

I know it's their job, but trying to put a winner and loser on trades that involve prospects is ridiculous. There are no sure things in baseball. Look at a guy like Singleton. The more he struggles, the more the Hunter Pence trade favors the Phillies.

And we're obviously not done dealing. Signing our catchers to contracts sure seems like we're getting ready to deal one or two of them.

More pre-arb settlements:

Jason Castro will receive $4MM from the Astros for the 2015 season, tweets MLB.com's Brian McTaggart. He'd been projected at $3.9MM. Meanwhile, southpaw Tony Sipp settled on a $2.4MM deal with Houston, per the Chronicle's Even Drellich (on Twitter). That figure is significantly higher than his $1.5MM projection.

Mike Perchick of WAPT in New Jersey has a wave of arbitration agreements, starting with the Astros and Hank Conger settling on a $1.075MM, which is just $25K behind Swartz's projection (Twitter link).

Good to hear about Sipp. He's a valuable asset.

Sipp was great last year, get yourself paid!