Astros Should Show Some Improvement in 2014

At the end of the 2012 season, I put together a rather bold projection for the next three years as the Astros struggled for respectability.  I projected an improvement in 2013 to 60 wins, which did not happen followed by 70 wins in 2014.  With only 51 wins in 2013, winning 70 in 2014 appears to be a real stretch.  However, some improvements have been made which should get the win total into the 60’s.

The Astros were deficient in virtually every category in 2013.  The biggest deficiency was in relief pitching which was responsible for numerous losses last year.  This should be the biggest area of improvement with the addition of Jesse Crain, Chad Qualls, Matt Albers and Anthony Bass and some expected improvement from Josh Fields and Kevin Chapman.  The starting pitching is a concern with two members of the rotation, Jarred Cosart and Brett Oberholtzer, having less than a year of major league experience and another, Lucas Harrell, coming off a very poor season.

The first item of business will be to put an end to the 15 game losing streak that the Astros carry into the 2014 season.  This won’t be easy since the Astros begin the season with a 3-game series against the Yankees.  Another important item of business is to resolve the television controversy with Comcast which currently prohibits a large segment of the Astros dwindling fan base from watching the games.  However, a resolution of this problem does not appear to be forthcoming.

The Astros have had five successive losing seasons, the longest in the Major Leagues, a distinction they share with their 1962 expansion partners, the New York Mets.  It appears that the two franchises are back where they started over 50 years ago although the Mets are closer to returning to respectability than are the Astros.

In each of the last two years, the Astros have used 50 players over the course of the season.  There should more stability this year but hopefully, if George Springer starts strong at Oklahoma City, he should be in Houston before mid-season.  However, most of the top prospects won’t start arriving until 2015 or 2016.

I will go out on the limb to predict that the changes made since last year should result in 66 wins.  This won’t be enough to get them out of last place in the strong American League West Division but it could allow them to finish with more wins than the Minnesota Twins and the Miami Marlins.