re: Are the Astros rebuilding the right way? I believe so, but this writer doesn't..

Anthony Boyer, a writer from TCB covers it all and should end debate. He is 100% accurate here.

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George Springer spent most of 2013 with legitimate issues concerning his hit tool. He put in long, extra hours to address the problem, but ultimately the question between calling him up in, say, August or to keep him in the minors to pursue a 40/40 season, as well as to continue to work on his issues, is a no-brainer to me. You’re talking about promoting him onto a team that had no chance at competing with or without George Springer, when you had outfield options who could use further evaluation in anticipation of a potential Rule 5-driven 40-man roster crunch (which turned out to be nothing.)

I don’t consider his May stats indicative of anything to do with promotion issues. Who’s to say that he’s not doing this well because he stayed in the minors longer to work on his issues, or because he had a full offseason to continue working on them? Plus, the addition of Dexter Fowler this offseason meant a position switch for Springer, who’d never played right field before.

Singleton, on the other hand, had a myriad of off-field issues, culminating in a 50-game suspension for marijuana and an admission of an alcohol problem. 2013 was essentially a lost year for him, and keeping him in the more closed-off environment of Triple-A, where he can be more closely monitored, doesn’t strike me as a bad move. He’s exceptionally young for the level, and two months of success does not erase the question marks off or on the field.

I say this a lot, but you cannot judge prospect promotion by simply looking at statistical benchmarks. There’s always more to the story. I talk to a lot of contacts inside and outside of the organization, watch as much as I can either in person or on MiLB.tv, and pay very close attention to the statistics – and I still don’t have the full story. I think a lot of people love to shout for promotions, but there are real and legitimate reasons not to make them.

That’s great, but those two results aren’t occurring. On a day in, day out basis, the Astros field a lineup where the majority of the players would not start for other teams.

This is a strange thing to say about a team that is 12-13 in the month of May and in the middle of clobbering Kansas City to make it to .500 for the month. In fact, I find the idea that Luhnow is "tanking" to be a wrong-headed one. The Astros weren’t going to sign any number of free agents to make them a competitive team in 2013 (Luhnow’s first full offseason being the 2012/13 offseason), so I don’t know what people think he ought to have done. He traded for Dexter Fowler and signed Scott Feldman who, while not an ace, was a legitimate upgrade from anyone on the projected rotation. The 2013 bullpen was a dumpster fire, so he went out and signed Jesse Crain, Matt Albers, Jerome Williams, and Chad Qualls to address it.

The rotation, by the way, has been a strength this season, despite the only FA acquisition being Feldman. Between in-house options Jarred Cosart and Dallas Keuchel and waiver claim Collin McHugh, the 1-4 spots have been outstanding. The #5 spot, rotating largely between Brad Peacock and Brett Oberholtzer, is still a work in progress, true. But overall, the rotation is much-improved.

The glaring hole at first base and the question marks in left field notwithstanding, the 2014 Houston Astros are a marked improvement over the 2013 Houston Astros, and they’re still young and getting better. While I won’t dispute that signing someone in the offseason would have been nice, they were reportedly among the three final teams in the blind bidding for Jose Abreu, but Jerry Reinsdorf wasn’t going to miss out on him.

Additionally, though Houston is the fourth-largest media market in the U.S., there is currently a real issue with the Comcast deal, and those funds are not exactly rolling in, as CSN Houston is currently in bankruptcy proceedings.

It’s a young team that’s steadily improving, and which is winning as often as it loses this month. As much as I love Drellich, and I think his piece was amazing and well-written and well-sourced and well-researched, but while I acknowledge that maybe there are perception issues around baseball, I really question the criticisms.

Staff Writer - Minor League/Draft
The Crawfish Boxes
LINK
by Anthony Boyer

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Did Luhnow really have a choice other than a "scorched earth" policy? The cupboards were bare. Plus, he didn't have a Zito/hudson/Mulder trio. That's the part nobody fricking talks about in money ball. Beane is a great GM, but it's not like he isn't without fault or didn't get lucky.

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That part always bothered me about that movie.

My only beef with the rebuild is it started 3 years too late. The last few of the drayton years were a complete waste chasing one last championship glory before he kicked the bucket


They are doing it right way. Burnt it to the ground, started over. Build for the long term. We'll see if crane will pay the money. I can't imagine him not, but like I said, we'll cross that bridge when we get there...

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I dont think they are doing it wrong. I just dont think their prospects are as good as people think

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Still hanging on to that huh? Have they cracked the top 20 systems yet in your opinion?

As for the tandem starters, I could be wrong but aren't they on a regular schedule? I don't think they just throw on random days like the quote in the original post makes it sound, and they don't use it for the entire season.

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None of the pitchers have really impressed me considering their billing.

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Who do you have a problem with that hasn't impressed you?

Folty?
Buchanan?
Tropeano?
Wojo?
Shirley?
Smith?
Velasquez?
Hader?
Westwood?

The Astros have a plethora of arms in the system and none of them are "impressive?" Those are a list of guys that I expect to be MLB pitchers and have been pretty successful so far in their minor league careers. For the most part, that'll translate to making it to the show. If half of those guys end up being above average pitchers, I'll be happy.

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They should be bringing the kids up and seeing ho can perform at an MLB level

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They've been doing that. It just wasn't the names that the uninformed wanted to see.

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They've been doing that. It just wasn't the names that the uninformed wanted to see.

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WILL SOMEONE PLEASE GIVE JAKE BUCHANAN A SHOT!!?

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That's a decent ratio and then you go out and find a FA or two.

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it would be if they gave them a shot... I believe 4 of of those 9 listed end up on a MLB club either with Astros or another club

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I believe 4 of of those 9 listed end up on a MLB club either with Astros or another club

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Folty?
Buchanan?
Tropeano?
Wojo?
Shirley?
Smith?
Velasquez?
Hader?
Westwood?

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At this point, those are the guys I have highest hopes for and I believe will be better than "some" people around here give them credit for...