Best Case Scenario.....

Out of all the things you mentioned, believe it or not the only thing I feel is unlikely to happen is Altuve duplicating the season he had last year (simply because he was seemingly on fire for the entire season which is always tough as a hitter... not because it was an "aberration").

I like the bullpen... I think McHugh has a chance to be "better", and Kuechel will be fine (also, neither expected to fall off a cliff, which would be the real problem if they were to "regress").

The lineup will be feast or famine.... but will be considered one of the "best" when its feast-time. And with impending arrivals of possibly more "consistent" hitters like Correa and Moran, I feel they'll eventually get to the right balance.

My biggest expectations are that there finally won't be any more "experimentation"... the Houston fans should be seeing the best possible team they can physically field every night. There's still a ways to go to rebuilding the brand/interest of baseball here, but a little success now will go a long ways towards 2016 and beyond where higher expectations should be warranted.

 

I don't think any of those things are even remotely unrealistic, I would even say likely in most cases.

I think you are underselling the pen. The Sipp/Neshek/Qualls/Gregorson combo should be spectacular, and Josh Fields showed flashes of dominance last season. I fully expect this to be a top 10 bullpen.

I don't expect Altuve to repeat last year, but I still expect him to be great. As for Springer, health and repeating last year seems to be on the low end of my expectations. Likewise, there's no reason to not expect Carter and Gattis to not combine for those numbers if healthy.

I've always said the .735 OPS Castro had in 2012 was a realistic showing. His 2013 was a fluke, and caused him to change his approach. If he gets back to being a more patient contact hitter he can get back to that 2012 level.

To me Singleton and Rasmus are the wild cards. Rasmus has 2 great seasons in his career, if he can have another one he could be spectacular. And we all know about Singleton. If both of those guys can have could years this could be a top 5 offense, if not I expect us to be a middle of the road offense.

 

And since this is a best case scenario thread, when you look at our projected lineup over the last 2 years. I showed their best season (first number), and their average OPS over the last 2 seasons.

Altuve .830 (2014)__.756
Lowrie .791 (2013)__.738
Springer .804 (2014)_.804
Carter .799 (2014)___.785
Gattis .810 (2014)___.791
Rasmus .840 (2013)__.792
Valbuena .776 (2014)_.758
Castro .835 (2013)___.741
Singleton ?????

I think every single guy is more than capable of producing that combined number on the right. And I also think everybody (excpet Castro) capable of repeating the more optimistic number on the left. This has the potential to be a spectacular lineup 1-9.

 

Unless Springer and Lowrie both have really has a good years OBP wise (which is possible) I don't see us having a high enough team OBP without Rasmus and/or Singleton doing well. Our power could give us a solid lineup, but not elite.

 

yup, some great possibilities in here. I'm hopeful McHugh can avoid the injury bug--it felt like (and I'm not looking back to confirm) he often had hand/finger/nail issues resulting from his grip over the last 2 years. Those things seem like they won't go away if it's just part of his style. Hopefully he can pitch more innings

 

Not to be negative, but I don't think ALL of these things can happen. Especially when you consider the Rangers should be much improved simply due to getting injured players back. Angels and Mariners should also be very tough.

We need to be comparing our team vs. the competition to determine how many wins we might get, not just comparing us vs. ourselves in isolation.

 

Vegas has the O/U projected win total of 73.5, with only the Twins being lower in the AL.

 

Probably more than 20 teams could make the case that if everything goes right, things look bright.

But if the real question is whether if most things go right, do we have a chance at the playoffs, then another question must be answered. How do the favored teams fare?

Division wise, the Angels would certainly have to cool off some and Oakland & Seattle would have to do no better than hold par from last year for us to even have a longshot chance.

We were 19 games back from the wildcard last year. 28 behind the division winner. That is a lot of ground to make up. Still, I could see us within 6-8 games of the wildcard come September if all goes well.

 

man im excited for baseball season to start up...nothing like it.

the astros will surprise a lot of MLB fans...looks like we're finally turning the corner

 

The best case scenario is winning the World Series.

 

Dynasty. 6 in a row.

 

Spring is around the corner, I can hear the grass growing, hope and optimism are in the air. The smells and sounds of the ballpark will bring excitement. I welcome this thread and look forward to the new season. Play ball!!

 

One dude that I think will play another big role: Brett O. I think he can give us a sub 4 ERA from the fourth spot of the rotation.

 

Agreed. Looks like we may have to go to FA for that one... or trade. I just cannot see this team spending barrels of money on an Ace. Not because of being cheap, but because of how bad those contracts end up. The Yankees and CC Sabathia could be a best case scenario and his contract was great for the first 4 years and awful for the next 4 (or at least the previous 2).