Three teams now worse than the Houston Astros
Sep 21, 2014; Houston, TX, USA; Members of the Houston Astros including center fielder
Jake Marisnick(6) celebrate after defeating the Seattle Mariners 8-3 at Minute Maid Park. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
Not long ago, the Houston Astros were the biggest joke in baseball. Their incredibly low payroll, used mostly to pay inexperienced players the league minimum, put them in no position to win.
In 2014, the Astros won 70 games. This was 19 more than their franchise-low 51 wins one year earlier in 2013. The 70 wins was also good enough to avoid finishing last in the American League West as the Texas Rangers ended the season with only 67 wins.
The Astros may still need a pair of binoculars to get a look at the playoffs, but there is some hope. Their young, yet talented offense needs nothing more than some more at-bats to help the team climb the standings. Their bullpen is also much improved with veteran additions like Luke Gregerson and Pat Neshek. Certainly the success of a baseball team is not measured solely by the strength of its relief pitchers, however, when lacking in other departments like the Astros are it can help a lot.
As they close in on .500 baseball and the rest of the rosters take their shape, there are three teams looking worse than the Astros in 2015.
September 28, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Colorado Rockies center fielder
Drew Stubbs(13) throws his helmet after striking out in the sixth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
Colorado Rockies
The second worst record in all of baseball last season, the Colorado Rockies have plenty of factors to blame for the abysmal season they had. Injuries to Michael Cuddyer, Carlos Gonzalez, and Troy Tulowitzki all drastically limited this offense from making up for the usual shortcomings of the starting rotation.
After losing Cuddyer to free agency and not making any improvements in the offseason, it’s hard to believe the Rockies will be able to win more games than the Astros. Even with a healthy everyday lineup they don’t have the pitching to keep them in games.
There’s very little the Rockies need to do in terms of position players. Just about anyone could get plugged into this lineup and have a successful season. The starting rotation is where the problem with this team lies. Difficult to get an actual grasp on how talented or untalented anyone who pitches for the Rockies is thanks to the affects Coors Field has on their ERA, the important thing to pay attention is the simplest: wins. Only Jorge De La Rosa reached double-digits wins in 2014. He was also the only pitcher with 30 or more starts. This was due to a combination of injuries and general instability that we can always expect from the Rockies.
Wins may be a more important statistic for the Rockies’ starting pitchers than any other team. Blaming Coors Field doesn’t work because when you lose the game it just means the other pitchers are allowing less runs. You don’t need to outrun the bear, just the slowest person in the group. You don’t need to pitch a shutout, just allow fewer runs than the other team.
The only bright spot the Rockies have in their starting rotation is youngster Jordan Lyles. Coincidentally, Lyles came to the Rockies from the Astros in the trade that sent Dexter Fowler to Houston.
Philadelphia Phillies
The 2008 World Series is further in the past each day. Finally, with the Jimmy Rollins trade to the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Philadelphia Phillies appear ready to rebuild. The 2015 Phillies project to include far too many unproductive veterans, rookies not considered top prospects, and former top prospects still performing like rookies out of their element.
A steady decline since they last made the playoffs in 2011, the Phillies have finished with 73 wins in back-to-back seasons. The 2014 season was a bit sourer as it became even more obvious that this team was no longer a very good one and not just having a bad hair day.
Trade rumors involving the one remaining star, Cole Hamels, have made this the most exciting thing to pay attention to in regards to the Phillies. Fans can eagerly wait to discover which minor league players the team can add to the 40-man roster in exchange for one of the last remaining stars from the championship team.
Competing against the rest of the National League East as often as they will is not good for the Phillies’ record either. Marked improvement from the other four in the division makes for a tougher schedule and a season which should result in their second straight at the bottom.
Meanwhile, former Phillies’ prospect Jon Singleton may be the everyday first baseman for the Astros in 2015. Far from making the Phillies regret the trade that sent Singleton to Houston, this could be one more reason people in Philadelphia can resent seeing their hometown team finish with fewer wins than the Astros.
Texas Rangers
Even with a healthy Yu Darvish in the starting rotation and Prince Fielder in the middle of the order, things are not looking good for the Texas Rangers in 2015. The overall lineup lacks power and patience. Meanwhile, the pitching staff has one ace followed by fourth and fifth starters with only a season or two of quality production.
Predicting the Rangers to finish with a worse record than the Astros in 2015 is nothing daring. Based on how they did in 2014 and what they have done to get better this offseason, there’s very little reason to believe things will be better.
The most notable player the Rangers have brought in has been pitcher Ross Detwiler. This comes after losing outfielder Alex Rios through free agency. Acquiring a pitcher at Detwiler’s level doesn’t seem to be anything more than plugging in a veteran pitcher to fill an immediate need. Detwiler will be 29-years-old in 2015 and has only one season with 20 or more starts on his resume. He is the definition of a fifth starter.
Health was the biggest concern for the Rangers in 2014. Based on the age of many of the starting position players, injuries may linger. Fielder’s season-ending surgery was a major one and there’s no telling how long it will take him to get back to playing at his best. Third baseman Adrian Beltre will also be 36-years-old. At this age we can expect him to finally slow down. Hitting only 19 home runs in 2014 may have been the first sign of this.
Finally, the 2015 season will be Jeff Banister’s first as a big league manager and his introduction to the Rangers’ organization. Other managers with fewer games under their belt have found success in their inaugural season. However in those cases, a good team was already in place. Unfortunately the Rangers are not good even if the amount of money the players are getting paid says otherwise.