9/9/14: Jonathan Villar makes a terrific diving stop and fires a strike to first for the out

9/10/14: Jose Altuve lines a ball through the left side for a single, becoming the second player in Astros history to collect 200 hits



Jose Altuve has 16 games left to try and break Craig Biggio's franchise record of 210 hits set back in 1998.
11 hits in 16 games seems reasonable but we'll see. A three or four-hit game would elevate his chances.

The Astros finished 2014 with a 70-92 record. Their best record in a long time. It's a big improvement over the past three seasons. Jose Altuve won the 2014 American League batting title and finished the year hitting .341 with a Major League best 225 total hits, 56 stolen bases (only 9 caught stealing) and 47 doubles.

I'm not sure what the Astros have planned for free agency this winter but hopefully they can sign a couple of good free agents. The Astros will also own the 2nd and 6th overall picks in the 2015 MLB Draft. Hopefully they can get it right and draft a couple of good players. Actually sign them as well.

Looking ahead to the 2015 season I'm a little more optimistic but we need our young players, especially George Springer, to stay healthy and keep improving. Jon Singleton at first base as well. Both of those guys have potential to be really good everyday players hitting third and cleanup. They both displayed good power (20 homers in 78 games for Springer and 13 homers in 95 games for Singleton) as rookies in less than 100 games played for each.

The two most important run-producing spots in a batting order are the #3 and #4 spots. Springer and Singleton have to improve their selective hitting. Their batting average and on-base percentage have to become a lot better. Draw more walks and striking out less. If they do that their OPS would be excellent because their slugging percentages are good. But they were two rookies playing half the season just about so they have a lot of time to put it all together.

Jose Altuve's 225 hits sets the Astros' single-season hit record, passing Craig Biggio. Watch all 225 of his hits here



The Astros finished the 2014 season ranking third best in the American League in total home runs hit (163) as a team. Only the Blue Jays and Orioles hit more home runs. But they ranked dead last in the American League (15th) in team batting average (.242). They were also third worst (13th) in on-base percentage (.309) as a team, only ahead of the Yankees and Mariners.

So clearly the offensive production can improve if the Astros, as a team, simply have guys who can get on base more often. With the exception of Jose Altuve, we don't have guys who constantly get on base at a great rate much less the league average rate. We need some moneyball strategy to make all of those home runs count.

As far as pitching goes, our starting rotation was solid but our bullpen struggled in 2014.
I believe we had the 6th best ERA among starters but dead last in bullpen ERA. Most blown saves.
We definitely need to sign one or two good relievers on the free agent market this winter.
When you start to compete in a lot of games you actually need a good closer and set-up man.

We may see 2012 first overall pick Carlos Correa make the Astros roster in 2015. He'll certainly be invited to Spring Training. He just turned 20 years old a month ago. There isn't any reason to rush him as Jonathan Villar is a capable young shortstop himself.

The problem is while Villar is an excellent defensive shortstop he doesn't offer much of anything with the bat. Carlos Correa is a good defensive and offensive player. He was playing well and excelling at the lower levels of the minor leagues in 2014 - hitting .326 with 6 home runs and 20 stolen bases in 62 games - before he had an injury setback. He flashed some serious leather at short as well. He's 6'4 and up to 210 pounds at only 20 years old. Some people have suggested he's a future third baseman. His body is built like a young Alex Rodriguez but without the performance-enhancing drugs.

The Astros will probably want to see how Carlos Correa performs at Double-A or Triple-A for a few months in 2015 before they call him up. Even if he lights the world on fire in Spring Training I don't think the talented young kid is going to make the opening day roster in April. Worst case scenario is he's ready by opening day 2016 but I think he'll be called up at some point next year.

I must admit the thought of Correa and Altuve manning that middle infield for the next decade plus excites the hell out of me but it's still a progression. This team has taught me how to be patient. You can't just become a winning team over night. It takes improvement year after year.

Astros have acquired catcher Hank Conger in a trade with the Los Angeles Angels

The Astros subtracted from pitching depth that was already thinning and added a big league catcher Wednesday, sending rookie righthander Nick Tropeano and minor league catcher Carlos Perez to the Los Angeles Angels for catcher Hank Conger.

Conger, a 26 year-old switch hitter with strong framing skills, will not be the starting catcher, general manager Jeff Luhnow said. That duty still belongs to Jason Castro, who had a down year offensively, but improved as a pitch receiver — Conger’s forte.

“Conger’s used to sharing time — he did with (Angels catcher Chris) Iannetta — and he will here,” Luhnow said. “It’s an area that we feel good about having the depth and it provides options throughout the offseason and into next year.

“Castro’s earned what he’s got. He’s a regular catcher at the big league level. But even with a regular catcher, there’s plenty of opportunities for back-ups to get a decent number of at-bats and really contribute.”



I don't know how to feel about this move. Hank Conger is nothing great but I dig his defense and throwing arm. He'll only start one out of every five games if Jason Castro is healthy. He'll probably be somebody's personal catcher. We had two reliable starting pitchers at the top of the rotation for 2014: Dallas Keuchel (12-9, 2,93 ERA), who just won a gold glove the other day, and Collin McHugh (11-9, 2.73 ERA).

Going into free agency I think we need to sign a veteran starting pitcher. Maybe overpay for one of the big names on the market. Also bullpen help would be huge. The Astros will never make the playoffs anytime soon if they don't improve their mediocre bullpen. The quickest way to success - turning around a bad baseball team into a winner - is quite simply good pitching. Put together a solid starting rotation and bullpen and you can't go wrong.

It's going to be important for the Astros to possibly draft two pitchers with the 2nd and 6th picks that they own in June's 2015 MLB Draft. They need to restock the farm system with quality arms. They're pretty stacked with promising position players at every level in their farm system. Catcher is the one weak area, position wise, that the Aatros have in the minor leagues.

It seems like we traded too many pitchers in recent times: Jarred Cosart and Bud Norris to name a few. I was very high on both of those guys. Plus these other young arms being dealt. Mark Appel greatly struggled last year with injuries. We also failed to sign Brady Aiken. It seems like our best pitching prospect at the moment is Mike Foltynewicz, who was called up late last season and struggled with an ERA over 5 during 16 games in relief.

angels have a knack for this, and ive yet to see it turn towards our favor in recent years.. meanwhile who we give up turns into a star or at the least earns himself a big league job..

ie. segura, corbin, amarista, s-rod, grichuk, callaspo, ervin santana, mike napoli... thats just off the top of my head.
we literally have nothing to show for any of those guys.. i could say trumbo too, but he was hurt this season, but then again skaggs is out til' 2016 and santiago has been extremely hit and miss.
watch conger go off and hit .250 with 18+ hrs this year. (if he gets decent backup time and shares DH time with carter, esp if carter starts out slow again).
even as a backup, .250 with 10+ hrs is huge..

This post was edited by FLCKennedy on Nov 6 2014 02:38am

I came across some new MLB uploads from past Astros moments. They make me feel old. I remember it all like yesterday.

10/7/01: Billy Wagner secures the final out to help the Astros clinch the NL Central



It's a shame the Astros didn't do much in that 2001 postseason despite having homefield advantage which doesn't mean as much in baseball I guess. Roy Oswalt injured his groin right before the playoffs started after an amazing rookie season (14-3, 2.73 ERA).

Dave Mlicki started one of the 2001 NLDS games against Atlanta replacing Oswalt and he pitched well but too much John Smoltz, Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux. The Astros were stacked with right-handed hitters, other than Lance Berkman who was a switch-hitter, and those guys just shut down the Astros several times in the playoffs.

4/7/04: Roger Clemens returns from retirement, striking out nine over seven shutout innings of one-hit ball in his Astros debut

6/11/03: Six Astros pitchers, including Roy Oswalt, Octavio Dotel and Billy Wagner, combine to no-hit the Yankees

Craig Biggio is finally in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Well deserved!