I wouldn't count on fat boy Singleton. He cannot give up the ganja, then failed to stay in even decent physical shape during his suspension.
Only way Altuve is part of the plan is if he either learns to walk, or all our other second basemen in the system fall flat on their faces and Altuve is hitting 8th or 9th.
The CWS have a brutal schedule down the stretch. Beside their series against the Astros, they only have 4 games left against foes who are .500 or below. The Astros, on the other hand, have 19 more games against below .500 opponents (again not counting the three games vs the White Sox later this month).
They have an actual MLB roster. The Astros do not. The Astros will do what Rachel Phelps could only dream of... assemble a team to absolutely finish dead last.
I'm a lifelong fan, won't get into the ripping of our players and won't ever wish bad on our team, ever But we are really bad, really bad. We will get first pick next year, and honestly there is no reason to logically think we won't be in the running for first pick in 2015 also, our payroll will be under 20 mill and we certainly won't be adding any legit salary in offseason
CWS are the only team in the AL to score fewer runs than us. Here's hoping our revamped pitching staff continues to perform better. But yeah, it would be hard to imagine the Astros getting caught.
I can't see anything beyond our -177 run differential. Plenty of bad teams can put up runs (and make no mistake, the Astros aren't doing that)... but not many teams can sport that sort of differential.
Astros are 7 games ahead of the ChiSox and Miami for 1.1 We have won more games on the road than at home as of right now.
I don't know how I'd feel if we lose 100 again next year (assume we lose 100 this year). Just improve the bullpen and lets see the young guys play.
Agreed; even last year, which most agree was a solid year, his OPS+ was 100 - ie exactly league average. And his OB% has dropped significantly in 2013, to the point that his lack of power is that much more glaring. He's essentially Willie Taveras 2.0, minus the defense. At 23, he might be part of the nucelus... but Lord help us if, at his current level of production, he's among our 5 or 6 best hitters.
There's nothing wrong with having a perfectly league average 2B. Do I hope and pray that Delino can improve his defense and turn into our 2B of the future? Heck yea, but Altuve is by far from a bad player. .280/5/50 with 35 steals is better than most (extrapolating his numbers).
The Astros' second baseman of the future will likely be either Altuve, DeShields or Fontana (making the shift from SS). I'm optimistic that at least one of those three guys will emerge as an above-average MLB second baseman.
No, those numbers are not better than most and are not league average. He had a promising age-22 campaign last year and has regressed somewhat in his (already limited) power, average, walk rate, strikeout numbers, etc. He's a below average 2B at this point. Empty (and underwhelming by itself) batting average with speed, but nothing else brought the table. He's got room to improve but you'd like to see progress instead of regression on a year to year basis. Otherwise, he'll end up a utility guy down the road.
??? Utility guy? He's 5'5" - where are you planning on putting him besides 2B? One thing I guarantee about Jose Altuve is that he will never be a "utility guy".
I wasn't high on Altuve to begin with. See early in the year: http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=237138 My view of him has decreased since then. It has been a rough year from him. I figured he'd hit better than he has. Altuve really needs to be hitting .300 to be an average starter (or develop other skills). Hopefully it is just a sophomore slump kind of deal and he'll come back strong next year. The positive note from this season is that his defense has been better, but he'll always be limited by his size.
Utility guy was the wrong term. I meant he could be a decent bench piece with some utility, meaning depth at 2B and DH, a guy who could come in and get a pinch hit, and a good pinch runner.
