[bspn article] was Oswalt the greatest astros pitcher?

With the exception of strike outs, Nolan Ryan's Astros stats are very similar to the unheralded Don Wilson.

 

I wouldn't call Don Wilson unheralded. Not all-time great, but pretty damn good. I'd take him on this staff right now for sure.

 

Dierker.

All your all-time Astros leaders here: http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/HOU/leaders_pitch.shtml

 

Who the heck knows much about Don Wilson? There are a lot of people that think his number shouldn't have been retired. He rarely gets mentioned, despite throwing 2 no-hitters and being a good-great pitcher. Of course you'd take that kind of player on any team.

Losing Wilson & Richard were both terrible events that really hurt the franchise, though Wilson appeared to be on the way down by the time of death, while Richard seemed to actually be getting better at the time of his stroke.

While not nearly as tragic, having Carlos Hernandez & Wade Miller blow out their shoulders was the closest thing to those 2 in my time as a fan. Sure would have been nice to have those guys instead of Pete Munro starting 2 games in the NLCS. Should have been Clemens/Oswalt/Pettitte/Miller/Hernandez. Instead we got Clemens/Oswalt/Backe/Munro/Redding.

 

I started following the Astros in the 90s like the Rockets, and Oswalt is also my favorite Astro of all time. Actually my favorite baseball player of all time. I still remember him coming up as a rookie and going like 14-2 or whatever it was. Fun to watch.

 

I know that, but swoly said Dierker was at the top and then he said Richard was at the top.

 

I remember when he owned the Reds (23-1 prior to 2010).

 

Not to mention being taken out after 8 innings of no-hit ball by manager Preston Gomez in a meaningless game they were losing 2-1.

 

The Hernandez injury was particularly irritating because of the nature of it, an injury on the basepaths.

Future seemed so bright in 01 with the quartet of Oswalt/Miller/Redding/Hernandez, and only one of them made it past 04. Such a fickle sport.

 

Oh, mighty nice of you to read his posts.

 

Someone should.

 

The vast majority of casual Houston baseball fans will know Clemens, Scott, Dierker, Oswalt, and Richard, but if you mention Don Wilson, they will most likely think of Don "the Dragon" Wilson.

 

I recall most front office people "expecting" that Miller would eventually break down due to mechanics... it was a question of when, not if.

Regarding Hernandez, it does suck that it was a fluke injury... however the universe does tend to correct itself, and I'm resigned to say that he probably would have just injured his shoulder somehow pitching anyways.

 

I meant "tops" as in one of the leaders in that... not that he had the top spot. Sorry that seemed confusing. I chose incorrect words.

 

Yeah, Miller was a shoulder injury waiting to happen for anyone that watched his delivery; Hernandez was just bad dam luck (he could've been a star), and Redding was a mental midget.

Put Roy in that mix and I guess 1-out-of-4 is about the going rate for pitching prospects. Remember the Mets big 3/4 of can't miss prospects...Pulsipher, Paul Wilson, Isringhousen and???

 

I'd also include Lidge as a prospect "success" for that era.

I expect McCullers to have a very similar accession (will be brought up as a "starter", but will slip into the bullpen partly for need)

 

Yeah, I was just thinking about the starters.

I haven't seen McCullers enough to know much, but that is what people "in the know" seem to be saying.

 

Nolan Ryan might have won 200 games as an Astro if he had the offense that Oswalt was surrounded by

 

Doubtful. Not to mention, our offense was only great for the first few years of Oswalt's career.

 

And none of us really care about the W-L statistic.