The Sad State of the Houston Astros

The Houston Astros are in last place in the NL Central and a whopping 9 games under .500 putting them 12 games back in the wild card race. The Colorado Rockies are in third place in the NL West and a staggering 13 games under .500, 14 back in the wild card but just 6 back in the division race. While it seems like the Rockies are in a worse place this year with a worse record and such high expectations, it’s the Astros that are feeling like the sky is falling.

After the 2007 season, the Astros cleaned house, firing much-despised general manager Tim Purpura and firing manager Phil Garner in the middle of the season. That is, 2005 World Series manager Phil Garner. Astros fans rejoiced, saying finally the owner is making a stand against mediocrity. Well, maybe not. To replace those two high-profile positions, the Astros turned to Cecil Cooper, a man that had never been the head manager in the big leagues, and Ed Wade, a man that had led the Philadelphia Phillies to exactly 0 playoff appearances during his tenure as GM in the city of brotherly love.

Regardless, Astros fans were excited. When Wade made several radical moves in the offseason, acquiring Michael Bourn (a speedy center fielder), Miguel Tejada (a veteran and former AL MVP), Jose Valverde (NL saves leader in 2007), Kaz Matsui (speedy 2B from the 2007 NL Champs), among others, people started to believe things were about to turn around. I’ll admit even I got excited about the prospects. Unfortunately, things haven’t exactly worked out.

Bourn has struggled to stay above the Mendoza line (.200 BA), Tejada started the season red-hot but has been ice cold since mid-May, Valverde is second in the Majors in blown saves, and Matsui has bounced back and forth from the DL. The Astros farm system is barren, but that was largely the case when Wade arrived. Brad Lidge is making Wade look even worse with his dominating season in Philly, as Lidge was traded for Bourn.

Worst of all may be Cooper although the jury is still out on him. Has he made many poor managerial decisions? Yes. Has he struggled to keep his composure with the media? Sure. Has he been managing one of the worst and most underachieving teams in the Majors? Absolutely. It’s because of that last one that Coop can hardly be blamed for having a poor season. Few managers not named “La Russa” or “Cox” or maybe, MAYBE “Torre” could have this group in the hunt for the playoffs.

Herein lays the greatest problem facing the Astros: their minor leagues are so bereft of talent that they have no real prospects that they can plug in the rest of this year to get them some experience. This also means they have no prospects to trade in the offseason to try and improve the club. They’re left with just two options: overspend to try to get better now, which is doable but very difficult and will be VERY expensive; or the Astros can try to blow the team up, trading their big contracts like Tejada and Carlos Lee for some minor league prospects.

The consensus here in Houston seems to be that they should go for the latter, but what I've heard is that owner Drayton McLain won’t stand for a rebuilding process, and that’s why Wade was forced into making the deals he has. It’s a terrible situation to be in, and it’s one that many, many teams have gone through over the years. The Baltimore Orioles are in a very similar situation, in fact, and it took that team years to realize it. Now they have some younger pieces and a much more manageable payroll and appear to be on the way back up. The Astros need to decide if they’re willing to take a long-term approach, or if they want to keep putting that band-aid on the gunshot wound.