I feel ya. It can also be discouraging to see other teams once at the bottom of the league start to pull their way out when we're still so far away.
why the hell should anybody feel anything but negativity towards the astros future? you have to be kidding me.
What are the positives? The team is bad and not many guys in the minors appear to be anything special. This franchise desperately needs Correa to be a superstar.
If Jim Crane wanted to murder baseball in the city of Houston, then I can't really think of much else he would be doing differently than what he's doing right now. I mean seriously, this franchise cannot be run WORSE than it is currently. History is on our side too. NO FRANCHISE IN THE MODERN ERA has ever been this bad for this long. Baseball is supposed to be a game of tradition, so it really says something when you're doing something that's never been done before in baseball history.
From 07-10 the "franchise" was worse. The big league team was winning more games, but in reality they were just on the mediocrity treadmill, adding lousy FA's to remain competitive but not contending. They fluked (we allowed more runs than we scored) their way to an 86 win season in 2008 which was really the worst thing that could have happened because it cost 2 more years of the treadmill. Crane/Luhnow took over at the end of 2011 and they nuked the major league club. There weren't any player that were gonna help long term so they got rid of all the vets. Prospects take 2-3 years to make an impact, and Luhnows first draft was 2012. Maybe you guys will be right, maybe we still suck in 2017 and have the lowest payroll in baseball, then I will agree with you. But a full rebuild was always gonna take 4-5 years to happen, so I'm not gonna judge them halfway through their 3rd season.
Hey guys, don't want to upset anyone in here...but I started a "state of the franchise" thread a while back, and another specific thread about Luhnow and the front office How about let's take this discussion over to those threads, that way this Minor League thread can be used for updates from things that happen in the minor leagues? Then those that come here for that kind of stuff can find it without sorting through all of this.
Not many guys appear to be anything special? Huh? Four or five years ago you couldn't point to more than a dozen guys in the system that had a shot of being major league players. They probably have 30 or 40 guys down there right now who could be major league players. You don't need nine mike trouts and five Felix Hernandezes. With fowler healthy they are pretty average as a team already. They are not near as far away as they may have been two years ago.
Was just looking into this. 20 K's in the 11 games he has been back at OKC, but he does have 7 walks. His .541 OPS is dreadful, but it is hard to say much without actually seeing him play. The swings and misses in the majors were dreadful. I can live with him striking out for stretches if they aren't just a result of horrible pitch location. That being said, I hope it is something even a full year of seasoning can do. Worst case scenario, he is a valuable trade piece. But man... I was wrong on wanting this guy up so bad. As to the argument above: should we really judge the fruit of Luhnow's labor when has just had a few drafts and not much of a chance to bring up his talent? Yeesh.
I'm sorry, I didn't realize there were some guys in a coma in the late 00s when we sucked and we had the worst farm system in the league. Nice posts texans1095.
30 or 40 guys? Are we looking at the same farm system? How many guys down there are having a season that makes you excited about their future with the big league team?
There are definitely that many that have the chance to be major leaguers. All-star potential is likely limited to: Carlos Correa Lance McCullers Michael Feliz Vincent Velasquez Josh Hader Mike Foltynewicz Domingo Santana Rio Ruiz Teoscar Hernandez Of course anybody can surprise you, and there are guys several years away with high ceilings. Outside of Appel, Vasquez & Stassi, I'm not overly disappointed with any of our prospects so far.
Harold Arauz has really impressed in his US debut in the GCL. He threw 5.2 shutout innings and allowed a hit, walked 2, and struck out 5 earlier today against the Braves.
Guys that have improved their stock or new guys that are doing well... Preston Tucker, Tony Kemp, Conrad Gregor, Nick Tropeano, Teoscar Hernandez, Rio Ruiz, Brett Phillips, Derek Fisher, AJ Reed, JD Davis, Jason Martin, Thomas Shirley, Luis Cruz, David Rollins, Vincent Velasquez, Josh Hader, Kyle Smith, Michael Feliz. If you look down through the minors, the Astros are overflowing with C+ or above prospects. Most of any team in the league. They are just lacking the top 50 type talent that the Twins and Cubs have that set them apart from the Astros.
Losing out on Aiken was terrible, but with the 2nd pick next year we could get maybe the pitcher from Duke. Even drafting him a year later he would probably have a faster timetable to the majors than Aiken. Aiken is great, but all is not lost. If we are able to take the money saved in the draft pool and sign the CF out of Cuba that is highly coveted Lunhow might get some of his mojo back. Saying we missed on Bryant is kinda just sour grapes. The year before we payed way above slot to sign Rio Ruiz to play 3rd, the position Bryant plays. So going with Appel made plenty of sense. Not all is lost, and with possibly the 1st and 2nd pick of the draft next year we will be right back on track. Lunhow has made mistakes, but we still have the 3rd best farm system that will get a huge boost next year. Step back from the ledge Astros fans.
A lot of us wanted Bryant when he was available. When you are drafting a guy for his bat you don't worry about what position he plays, plus Ruiz isn't at a level as a prospect where he will be blocking anybody. I thought taking Appel was a mistake then, although I didn't think it was a terrible decision at the time, Appel seemed safe. It's almost impossible to justify the decision now but neither guys has done anything in the show so you still have to reserve judgement. I do agree with the second part of your post. There is an army of people who haven't paid attention to the Astros in years bemoaning the sad state of the franchise, when in fact we are still in the best shape we have been in since 2006. We have a top 5 farm, the big league club has been playing .500 ball over the last 2.5 months, and we figure to add two high level prospects next year. Time will tell whether Crane is willing to spend when the time comes.
Appel will be fine. All you people giving up on the kid will have crow served to you in exactly 52 weeks. This time next year Appel will make his first major league start. Calling it now.
