Archive for Houston Astros

Sitting just 4.5 games out of first place in the NL West (6.5 out of the wild card), it was just a matter of time before the Arizona Diamondbacks did something to fill that gaping hole they’ve had a third base all season. They came into the year with high hopes that Ryan Roberts would be able to duplicate his breakout 2011 numbers. When he failed, they turned to the underwhelming Cody Ransom. When that didn’t work, they tried bringing up Josh Bell. Another bust. They ultimately went back to Roberts, but for just a short time as he was soon demoted and traded and the D-Backs went with minor leaguer Ryan Wheeler while they regrouped and plotted their next move. That moved showed up on Sunday when Arizona announced they had traded minor leaguers Bobby Borchering and Marc Krauss to the Astros for third baseman Chris Johnson. While the move gives the Diamondbacks and improved situation at the hot corner, it may not be so great for fantasy owners. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s been somewhat of a bittersweet spring for the Kansas City Royals.  On one hand, Eric Hosmer and Alex Gordon are off to great starts and look like they’re going to build on last year’s success while Lorenzo Cain has emerged as a strong force both with the glove and the bat.  On the other, you’ve got Salvador Perez down with knee surgery for 12 to 14 weeks and Joakim Soria likely headed for Tommy John surgery…again.  The first hand?  Music to fantasy owners ears.  The second?  Not so much.   The closer situation will be handled in-house so hopefully you handcuffed your Soria pick to the pair of Jonathan Broxton and Greg Holland.  The catching situation, though, forced the Royals to go outside.

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A year ago, there was talk of Astros’ rookie backstop Jason Castro being a quality late round sleeper in fantasy leagues.  But then he tore his ACL and, with surgery needed, Castro missed the entire 2011 season.  He made it back to play in the Arizona Fall League and was returning to “potential sleepers” lists until he injured himself again during the final game and required foot surgery in mid-December.  He was expected to miss atleast three months.  But on Sunday, Brian McTaggert, an Astos beat writer for MLB.com, reported that Castro has already declared himself good to go and is ready to ease his way back in.  An early return?  Is that enough to put him back on your watch list?  Is he worth a late round/$1 pick on draft day?

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For at least the last decade, the Houston Astros have been a veritable wasteland for offensively productive catchers.  From years of service courtesy of the light-hitting Brad Ausmus to unsuccessful rookies like J.R. Towles and Jason Castro to a failed experiment with an aging Ivan Rodriguez to the punchless veteran Humberto Quintero, there hasn’t been an Astros backstop worth looking at in fantasy since the days before Craig Biggio was moved to second base.  However, with the recent signing of Chris Snyder, that could all change here in 2012.

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Over the last week or so we’ve done plenty of articles discussing the impending move of the Houston Astros to the American League and how it will impact those in the fantasy baseball community.  But no matter how many times we attempt to look on the bright side and find the silver lining in it all, there’s one common thing that seems to come through in every piece.  It’s like that early montage in the movie Major League where the Indians’ fan base is looking at their 40 man roster in disbelief — from some guy asking who Mitchell Friedman is to the groundskeepers’ claims that “these guys are sh*tty”.  There’s almost no love for the 2012 Astros and very little hope for the club moving forward.  However, just like the old fantasy adage (is there such a thing?) that states that even closers on bad teams can be good and helpful, the same can be said about everyday players from Houston.  Just because the team is in relative shambles, doesn’t mean that you can’t find some helpful players at a bargain cost.

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For the first three seasons of his career, Wandy Rodriguez was nothing more than your average, run-of-the-mill starting pitcher.  He had an ERA that ranged from 4.58 to 5.64, a HR/FB rate perpetually above 10%, his walk rate was too high and his strikeout rate was too low.  There was very little worthwhile contribution from him to the fantasy baseball community.  But then Wandy turned a corner in his fourth full season and from there, began to blossom into a pitcher of value.  Sure, he had his explosive moments on the hill, but overall, he settled in nicely as one of the Astros more consistent and reliable starters.  His ERA stayed below 4.00, the home runs came down, and he started posting a K/9 that was steadily just above 8.00 each season.  However, last season there was regression across the board save for the ERA and suddenly the numbers were starting to look horribly similar to his early years, including a horrific 13.0% HR/FB rate.  Now, with the Astros moving to the American League West soon, the question is whether or not Wandy can right the ship or have we seen the best that he has to offer?

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Houston Astros’ starting pitcher Jordan Lyles was optioned back to the minors on Sunday after posting an ERA over 5.00 in fifteen big league starts. Lyles, the Astros’ top prospect coming into the season, is a mere 20-years old and could have a nice major league future. He wasn’t a factor in standard leagues, but odds are he is owned in dynasty or large keeper leagues. With those leagues in mind, here are a few various notes about the young right-hander:

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