When will the year be that the astros FINALLY get to the playoffs

A softball question but I'll take it:

I expect a massive influx of talent to start arriving in Houston late next season. Give them 1 year to settle and develop in the bigs and I see them putting a legitimate team on the field in 2015.

The problem is trying to compete in the AL. In the AL West, Texas is the best team in the entire league AND has the number 1 minor league system. There's pretty much no timeline on when I expect Houston to be better than Texas.

Then in the wild card race, even with two spots, you're still looking at needing wins in the mid-90's to get a spot. The AL East is simply too damn deep.

To give you some sort of guess: I'd say 2015-2018 will be our window.

 

Change of division, and how hard it is to make it to the playoffs makes it very hard to say. I'm hoping we are over .500 in 2014, and playing meaningful games in September by 2015.

 

As MadMax pointed out when he helped me get over the AL move, our meaningful games next year will be in September when we help the Angels win the division by beating the rangers in September.

 

I do think there's going to be a new uniform/new league novelty that's going to move a lot more tickets next season. We'll see.

as for playoffs...i really have no idea.

 

2017/18. If we dont get it done by then, it means who we got now on the farm are busts.

 

Eh Lowrie and Castro are more than just good on any ML team

 

2020 lol

 

2016 i predict...

2015 we'll be competetive

2014 we'll hover around .500

2013 we will suck similiar to this season...

 

2014

the team is improving and will continue to do so. Have the pessimists even watched more than a series here and there or do they just look at the box score?
There have been a lot of heart breaking losses which comes with the team being this young.

It's ridiculous to think that you can't have a 28 year old lowerie on the roster. You can't field an entire team with your prospects... that might take 100 years. That's why you have free agency. When the astros' f.o decides to spend, i trust the front office to spend it wisely and the astros to take the great leap forward.

Take this current astros team and subtract Happ, Fernando rodriguez, lyon and carpenter add a right fielder with some pop, take away extra innings and you're at or above .500.

 

to me it will be up to crane… If he JUST tries to use the farm hands and hope they all pan out then we will be the pirates and it will be 2017.. If he allows Lunhow to bring up the right guys mixed with Free agents that are MLB ready then it could be sooner..

us struggling right now should have been expected.. we are the youngest team in baseball.. they will go on another win streak before the season is over and everyone will be back on the "we can be good next year" train..

look at the rangers model… some of those guys are the farm system, and most came from trades and free agency.. gotta do a mix of both for success.. Hamilton, Cruz, Beltre, Napoli, Darvish, Cliff Lee, etc.. all came from trades and free agency.. and they used the farm to get them.. but not all of those guys they had in the farm have panned out to be the level of star they traded for..

i think Lunhow will make smart moves.. but i do think crane will need to spend a little money in free agency if he wants us to be relevant

 

I can't wait until the time both Texas and the Astros are good. Those games are going to be epic. But, 2015 is when I expect the Astros to be competitive.

 

I do think both Crane and Luhnow understand that.

 

i'm sure they do, but most people have stated that crane won't go into the free agent market and just use the farm system..

i don't see how adding a young bat and pitcher next season will cripple the team's growth.. i'm hoping they do this.

 

Agreed. The key is picking the who and the when. The only veteran on the club right now that I like is Snyder. He's a perfect role player: veteran leadership, solid game-calling, reasonable defense.

It's going to be tough to find veteran players who will want to step into that role. Vets who can deal without multi-year contract security and are happy to mentor and occasionally fill in.

If Bud is still around, I'm comfortable with him being the one veteran leading a back-end of young pitchers. As for hitting, you really gotta pick your spots to avoid blocking players. Last year Barmes was a perfect veteran stop-gap. I see a few spots where you could put a veteran stop-gap next season: 3B, CF, RF.

But that would require getting rid of : Chris Johnson, Jordan Schafer, and Bogey.

 

1980.

/thread.

 

Crane has never said that he won't spend money on free agency...just that you shouldn't expect it in the near term because they don't have a base to work with yet.

 

you just blew my mind msn

 

Just got through watching "Major League" so I am inspired:

2012 - "I've never heard of half of these guys and the ones I do know are way past their prime."

2013 - "They're ****ty."

2014 - "In case you haven't noticed, and judging by the attendance you haven't, the Astros have managed to win a few here and there, and are threatening to climb out of the cellar."

2015 - "These guys are'nt so ****in' bad."

2016 - "People still DON'T recognize us but...[snaps his fingers]...we're contenders now."



2016 it is.