2007 Record: 73-89

Fourth in the NL Central – 12 games back

Sipping the Minute Maid Orange Juice

OF Reggie Abercrombie (claimed off waivers from Florida Marlins)

OF Jose Cruz Jr. (minor league contract to spring training)

RP Doug Brocail (free agent signed from San Diego Padres)

INF Geoff Blum (free agent signed from San Diego Padres)

RP Oscar Villarreal (trade from Atlanta Braves)

OF Michael Bourn (trade from Philadelphia Phillies)

OF Darin Erstad (free agent signed from Chicago White Sox)

RP Chad Paronto (free agent signed from Atlanta Braves)

RP Jose Valverde (trade from Arizona Diamondbacks)

SS Miguel Tejada (trade from Baltimore Orioles)

2B Kazuo Matsui (free agent signed from Colorado Rockies)

Following Craig Biggio out the Door

C Eric Munson (claimed off waivers by Milwaukee Brewers)

OF Josh Anderson (traded to Atlanta Braves)

RP Brad Lidge (traded to Philadelphia Phillies)

SS Eric Bruntlett (traded to Philadelphia Phillies)

RP Chad Qualls (traded to Arizona Diamondbacks)

INF Chris Burke (traded to Arizona Diamondbacks)

OF Luke Scott (traded to Baltimore Orioles)

SP Matt Albers (traded to Baltimore Orioles)

RP Dennis Sarfate (traded to Baltimore Orioles)

SS Adam Everett (signed as free agent with Minnesota Twins)

The Skinny: There was a lot of player movement, as can be witnessed above. The team added shortstop Miguel Tejada, who will be an immediate upgrade over Adam Everett, at the plate. It will be hard for Tejada to be any worse, even with all of this steroid talk hanging over him.

The team paid a great price, however, to improve its lot in 2008. It came at the sacrifice of this club having to rebuild, should they fail to win in the near future. The Astros traded a bunch of young arms to compete, and they also gave some un-wise contract to player who did not deserve them. A perfect example of this would be Kazuo Matsui. They better hope the team can compete in ’08 and ’09, but it will not. An all-out rebuilding effort would have been a wiser course of action.

Strengths: Lance Berkman, Carlos Lee, and Tejada give the Astros a potent middle of the order, perhaps even the best in the division. They struggled to score runs last season -- Houston finished 13^th in the National League in runs scored, behind even the Pittsburgh Pirates -- but Berkman does better in even-numbered years, and as mentioned above, Tejada should improve upon Everett’s woeful bat.

Once again, the Astros have one of the best pitchers in the NL atop their rotation in the form of Roy Oswalt. Oswalt, a right hander, throws a deadly curveball in the low 70s and a fastball that reaches the mid-to-upper 90s. However…

Weaknesses: …the Astros do not have much dept at either position. After their middle of the lineups comes an assortment of players most fans would be hard pressed to name. Hunter Pence has a chance to continue his impressive 2007, but Ty Wigginton, Michael Bourn, and Kazuo Matsui are no one’s idea of starting players on a championship-caliber ballcub.

And after Oswalt, the picture is quite ugly. Woody Williams, fresh off his 5.27 ERA over 188 IP, is slated to be the number two starter. Can Brandon Backe come back effectively from Tommy John surgery? Is Wandy Rodriguez ready to take the ball every fifth day and pitch effectively? Who is the number five starter? Too many questions abound for this to end well.

Potential Lineup

CF Michael Bourn

2B Kazuo Matsui

LF Carlos Lee

1B Lance Berkman

SS Miguel Tejada

3B Ty Wigginton

RF Hunter Pence

C Brad Ausmus

Potential Rotation

Roy Oswalt

Woody Williams

Brandon Backe

Wandy Rodriguez

Felipe Paulino

Potential Bullpen

Set Oscar Villarreal

Set Doug Brocail

Closer Jose Valverde

Keys to success: To be honest, success must be defined as avoiding 90 losses. And to achieve that end, the Astros must get consistent pitching from their starting rotation. The offense should be productive enough to rank toward the middle of the pack in the NL in terms of runs scored, but the pitching has a chance to be downright atrocious. Astros fans better hope Oswalt can give them 220 innings of Cy Young-caliber pitching, while Backe and Williams can pitch like, at least, number four starters.

Prediction: Pitching is what wins games, and sadly for Astros fans, the team has traded away too much depth and did not acquire enough top-level arms in return. A good estimate for this team would be 72-75 wins, but that may be too optimistic. Dewey Robinson, the team’s pitching coach, just has too much work cut out for him.

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