Astros are Hopeless Now, Will Be Hopeless For Some Time
By Ty Duffy
McLane’s Astros teams were competitive. They qualified for the playoffs six times in nine years and went to the World Series in 2005. The problem was their road to success was unsustainable. They signed veteran stars to outrageous contracts, they overpaid to paper over cracks with role players and they summarily ignored the draft. The Killer Bees grew old, deflated and retired. The policies exhausted the soil.
Fangraphs ranks the Astros dead last in present talent, upcoming talent and baseball operations. They have one prospect in Fangraphs’ Top 100, pitcher Jordan Lyles and no veterans they can trade to obtain legit prospects. Though, don’t discount Koby Clemens. He associates with winners.
Optimistically, revenues should increase from a new television network and the Astros are shedding a ton of payroll. They drop to $46 million next year and $16.5 million in 2013. Pessimistically, this will only be incentive for the next ownership to overspend for stars and average role players.
[Photo via Getty]