I think Abad is a darkhorse to be REALLY good. He showed some nice stuff last year as a situational lefty and tore up winter ball. He could be the diamond in the rough the organization has been looking for. Lyles is so young that it just makes sense to let him get one full year of AAA under his belt and then make him a late season call up to setup 2012.
I think your pitching projections may be pretty close to accurate. The only thing I might suggest is that Myers will probably come back to the pack a little this season and I doubt that Jordan Lyles pitches as much as you have him pitching. If you believe the news coming out of the Astros front office lately, they love Fernando Abad and he likely has an edge on the #5 starter spot. I'm thinking they save Lyles until September UNLESS the Astros somehow are in contention and they need another arm or Abad and whoever else they want in that spot falls flat on their faces.
Astros new marketing slogan Spoiler "We Are Your Houston Astros" http://houston.astros.mlb.com/news/...nt_id=16622172&vkey=pr_hou&fext=.jsp&c_id=hou Wow! Just wow! "Who are the ad wizards who came up with that one?"
Honestly, I wish this was the slogan EVERY season. You don't need "feel the charge"...or "root for the good guys." You appeal to the fan base and create connection.
Yeah, normally their marketing sucks big huge donkey balls. That said, I liked "Houston's Brand of Baseball" a lot in 2000 (until they sucked, then the slogan kinda lost its lustre!!) and I really like "Young Guns of the West" back in '92 or '93. Of course, that wouldn't work now as "Young Guns of the Central" just doesn't have the same ring to it. For some reason.
Alyson Footer posted some pictures during the construction phase as well. Stadium looks really nice, didn't even need to many upgrades. Can't wait to see these bad boys on opening day.
If only they could get rid of the stupid "chick fill-a fowl pole". That has to be the WORST advertisement in all of sports stadiums.
http://www.springtrainingonline.com/features/reporting-dates.htm Report on the 15th, first workout on the 16th. Position Players on the 19th, and full workouts start on the 20th.
