MLB The Show: Steelerfan's Houston Astros Franchise

[steelerfan]

2015 Houston Astros Team Statistics (MLB Rank in Parenthesis)

Batting .255 (11)
Runs 690 (T4)
Doubles 258 (17)
Triples 35 (T6)
Home Runs 187 (4)
RBI 668 (6)
Stolen Bases 91 (10)
SB % .615 (28)
Walks 467 (22)
Strikeouts 1417 (28)
Slugging .414 (4)
On-Base %. 313 (17)
GIDP 150 (30)

Assists 1565 (1)
Put Outs 4390 (17)
Errors 95 (27)
Fielding %. 984 (25)

ERA 3.98 (26)
Complete Games 9 (26)
Shutouts 10 (T24)
Saves 55 (T3)
Blown Saves 25 (29)
HR Allowed 181 (29)
Walks Allowed 458 (9)
Strikeouts 1224 (21)

[steelerfan]

On Wednesday night in the nation's capital, Washington's Ryan Zimmerman hit a 2-run home run in the bottom of the 8th inning to lift the Nationals to a 3-2 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates in the National League Wildcard Game.

Stephen Strasburg went 7 innings for Washington and got the win. Strasburg allowed 2 runs on 3 hits with 11 Ks and just 1 walk.

PIT 2-5-0
WAS 3-10-0

The loss eliminates the Pirates from the playoffs and Washington has earned the right to face their division rivals, the Atlanta Braves, in the NL Divisional round.

The defending world champion Los Angeles Dodgers will face the Milwaukee Brewers in the other NL Division Series.

The Houston Astros will visit the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday night in the American League Wildcard Game. The Astros were 3-4 against the Rays this season but took 2 of 3 in Tampa.

[SmoothPancakes]

That was a rough game. I was watching while playing my series against the Cubs, and damn that was hard to watch. Those home runs early on given up by Peacock just killed.

[steelerfan]

That was a rough game. I was watching while playing my series against the Cubs, and damn that was hard to watch. Those home runs early on given up by Peacock just killed.

Yeah, it was. I was regretting not pitching Cosart in that game but he was like 90-95%. Once I resigned to the fact that I was going to lose, I was glad I would have Cosart for the Wildcard Game.

Back on July 12th, Cosart pitched a complete game in Tampa in the last game before the All-Star Break. He allowed only 3 hits in that game and was one out from a shutout when he gave up a solo home run in a 3-1 win. He beat Zack Greinke who came into that game 10-2.

Hopefully, Cosart can reproduce that outing in the Wildcard against Matt Moore. I'm about to play that game and am going to stream it.

In the tiebreaker, I was without Jose Altuve who got hurt in the pregame warmup and Carlos Correa who was nursing a stained back suffered in the season finale. Both are ready to go for the Wildcard Game.

[steelerfan]

A decade has passed since the Houston Astros were swept in the 2005 World Series by the Chicago White Sox and in the nine seasons following that bitter defeat Houston missed the playoffs. The Astros have spent the last several seasons tearing the farm system apart and rebuilding with youth and potential.

In 2014 that potential started to payoff as the Astros won 83 games. In 2015 Houston won 85 and qualified for the postseason. On Thursday night in Tampa, Houston's return to the playoffs ended at the hands of the Rays, 7-4.

Ace Jarred Cosart was far from sharp on the mound. He lasted just 3.1 innings and was hit hard, allowing 5 runs on 7 hits as Houston fell behind 5-1.

Chris Carter provided that first run with a solo home run in the 4th inning. George Springer hit a two-run homer in the 5th and by the middle of the 6th the Astros had clawed back to within 5-4.

They got no closer, however, and were forced to look on as Tampa celebrated moving on to the Division Series and a date with the defending American League Champion Toronto Blue Jays.

The Astros are still very young and have a lot of potential as well as a well-stocked farm system. The disappointment of a lost opportunity in 2015 should not cloud the bright future that this team has.

The Astros should be mainstays in the postseason going forward and 2015 will likely be viewed as a rite of passage. A year when the 51-111 club of 2013 turned the corner and learned how to win.

There is much work to be done in the Winter, the pitching needs an upgrade not only from within but through Free Agency, and there will be some tough contract decisions as well. However, Houston has the core of this team locked up and, with some shrewd work this offseason, will be poised to return to the playoffs in 2016 and beyond.

HOU 4-7-0
TB 7-10-0

[SmoothPancakes]

Damn... Make it all the way to the Wild Card and go down like that. Hopefully the Astros can build on the success and surpass this season next year.

I wasn't able to catch the stream. I've been out and on the go all day since 8am, so only just got home and got to crash on the couch and catch up on things.

[steelerfan]

Playoff Scores

Division Series

October 9, 2015

WAS 3-6-0
ATL 4-10-0

MIL 2-9-0
LAD 8-11-0


October 10, 2015

TB 5-14-0
TOR 3-7-0

OAK 3-6-2
CLE 2-6-0

WAS 6-10-1
ATL 4-9-0

MIL 2-6-0 F/13
LAD 1-6-1

October 11, 2015

TB 3-8-0
TOR 1-8-0

OAK 1-5-0
CLE 7-13-1

October 12, 2015

ATL 6-7-0
WAS 1-1-1

LAD 6-8-0
MIL 0-5-0

October 13, 2015

CLE 3-12-0
OAK 5-14-0

TOR 3-8-0
TB 2-7-1

ATL 2-7-0
WAS 1-4-1
Braves win series, 3-1.

LAD 2-8-0
MIL 9-8-0

October 14, 2015

TOR 1-7-0
TB 2-7-1
Rays win series, 3-1.

CLE 5-9-0
OAK 7-12-0
Athletics win series, 3-1.

October 15, 2015

MIL 5-12-1 F/12
LAD 4-11-2
Brewers win series, 3-1.


League Championship Series

October 17, 2015

MIL 1-7-0
ATL 5-12-0

October 18, 2015

MIL 2-9-0
ATL 6-9-0

TB 0-4-0
OAK 1-5-0

October 19, 2015

TB 5-11-1 F/12
OAK 6-12-1

October 20, 2015

ATL 4-11-1
MIL 1-5-0

October 21, 2015

OAK 4-11-1 F/11
TB 3-9-0

ATL 7-10-0 F/10
MIL 6-11-2
Braves win series, 4-0.

October 22, 2015

OAK 1-5-0
TB 6-12-0

October 23, 2015

OAK 2-7-1
TB 11-12-0

October 25, 2015

TB 9-11-0
OAK 5-12-0

October 26, 2015

TB 10-8-0
OAK 5-9-0
Rays overcome 3-0 series deficit to win series, 4-3.


2015 World Series

October 29, 2015

ATL 6-11-0
TB 4-12-0

October 30, 2015

ATL 7-12-0
TB 5-8-0

November 1, 2015

TB 1-5-0
ATL 3-8-0

November 2, 2015

TB 3-8-0
ATL 2-2-1

November 3, 2015

TB 2-8-0
ATL 1-9-0

November 5, 2015

ATL 3-9-2
TB 7-9-1

November 16, 2015

ATL 3-9-0
TB 1-7-1
Braves avoid becoming second consecutive team to blow a 3-0 series lead against the Rays and win the World Series, 4-3.

[steelerfan]

2015 Award Winners

World Series MVP: Gordon Beckham (ATL) .417, 3 HR, 5 RBI

AL MVP: Chris Davis (BAL) .283, 44 HR, 106 RBI

NL MVP: Freddie Freeman (ATL) .341, 38 HR, 118 RBI

AL Cy Young*: Zack Greinke (TB) 17-5, 2.87, 231 K

NL Cy Young*: Lance Lynn (STL) 13-4, 3.28, 215 K

AL Batting Title: Mike Trout (ANA) ,303, 26 HR, 84 RBI

NL Batting Title: Freddie Freeman (ATL) .341, 38 HR, 118 RBI

Mariano Rivera AL Reliever of the Year: Casey Janssen (TOR) 1-1, 1.62, 52 SV, 50 K

Trevor Hoffman NL Reliever of the Year: Craig Kimbrel (ATL) 1-3, 2.21, 59 SV, 84 K

AL Rookie of the Year: Stephen Piscotty (KC) .268, 16 HR, 57 RBI

NL Rookie of the Year: Javier Baez (CHC) .260, 31 HR, 97 RBI

AL Hank Aaron Award: Edwin Encarnacion (TOR) .300, 33 HR, 94 RBI

NL Hank Aaron Award: Freddie Freeman (ATL) .341, 38 HR, 118 RBI

Postseason MVP: Wil Myers (TB) .373, 7 HR, 18 RBI




* The Cy Young winners are jacked up. The game, after studying stats, has too much emphasis on losses and Ks. The winners should have been:

AL: James Shields (KC) 20-7, 2.36, 193 K

NL: Kyle Lohse (MIL) 21-8, 2.07, 127 K

[steelerfan]

It looks like Jeff Luhnow is safe (no surprise). If that projected budget is close to accurate, I'm going to have some money to spend this offseason. I'll be targeting starting pitching and possibly a 3B. I'm also going to have to decide what to do about Dexter Fowler. He's been great when healthy and the team went to shit when he was hurt in 2015. The problem is that he has played in just 86 of 326 games in 2 seasons.



I'm about to plod through the offseason. I'll give updates as I go along.

[steelerfan]

The Astros were hit with a pair of retirements following the 2015 season. Relief pitcher Chad Qualls, 37, retired after 10 seasons in the Majors. Qualls (67, B) finished his career with a 51-42 record, 55 saves, 542 strikeouts and a 3.91 ERA. The veteran spent 2015 as the closer in AAA Fresno and was not part of the MLB roster until mid September when the Grizzlies were eliminated from the playoffs.

In a big blow to the organization, outfielder Domingo Santana, 23, also announced his retirement after suffering a torn ACL in 2015. Santana (71, B) spent just 152 days on the big club's roster in his brief career. He hit .306 with 7 HR and 24 RBI in 98 career at-bats.

Other notable retirements:

David Ortiz (BOS)
David DeJesus (TB)
Jose Molina (TB)
Mark Buehrle (TOR)
RA Dickey (TOR)
Joe Nathan (DET)
Jeremy Guthrie (KC)
Byron Buxton (MIN) - Age 22, 86 OVR, A POT, hit .220 with 4 homers and 15 RBI in 168 AB. Torn ACL.
Willie Bloomquist (SEA)
Fernando Rodney (SEA)
Adrian Beltre (TEX)
Dan Uggla (ATL)
Bartolo Colon (NYM)
Marlon Byrd (PHI)
Cliff Lee (PHI)
Chase Utley (PHI)
Brayan Pena (CIN)
Skip Schumaker (CIN)
Kyle Lohse (MIL)
Randy Choate (STL)
Bronson Arroyo (ARI)
Alexei Ramirez (ARI)
Cody Ross (ARI)
Brad Ziegler (ARI)
Jonathan Papelbon (COL)
Juan Uribe (LAD)
Joaquin Benoit (RP)
Jeremy Affeldt (SF)
Santiago Casilla (SF)
Tim Hudson (SF)
Marco Scutaro (SF)
AJ Burnett (FA)
Greg Dobbs (FA)
Mark Ellis (FA)
Chone Figgins (FA)
Rafael Furcal (FA)
Ron Guidry (FA)
Aaron Harang (FA)
Reed Johnson (FA)
Nick Punto (FA)
Wandy Rodriguez (FA)
Johan Santana (FA)
Ryan Vogelsong (FA)

[steelerfan]

The Astros have announced that they have parted ways with Manager Bo Porter. Houston has bought out the final year of Porter's contact and the search for a new manager will begin immediately.

Bo Porter
Pitching Clutch -2
K/9 -2
Drag Bunting -3
Stealing -2

[steelerfan]

The Astros have also terminated the contact of Third Base Coach Bryan Paquette.

Edit: The Astros have denied the validity of this report and have stated that Paquette will return in 2016.

[steelerfan]

11/8/15

Houston has re-signed RP Josh Fields. 1 year, 510K.

Houston has re-signed OF Dexter Fowler. 2 years, 21.00M.

Houston has re-signed OF LJ Hoes. 2 years, 1.02M.

Houston has re-signed OF Domonic Brown. 2 years, 12.80M.

Houston has re-signed SP Jeff Locke. 3 years, 5.90M.

Houston has signed the following players to minor league contacts: RP Aaron West, C Rene Garcia, 3B Jonathan Meyer, SS Joe Sclafani.

[steelerfan]

11/9/15

Houston has re-signed RP JP Howell. 2 years, 4.90 M.

[steelerfan]

11/10/15

The Astros have hired 1st Base Coach Rickie Edmondson to a 2-year contact.

[steelerfan]

11/11/15

Houston has re-signed RP Bruce Rondon. 3 years, 1.50M.

[steelerfan]

11/12/15

Houston has re-signed SP Lucas Harrell. 1 year, 750K.

[steelerfan]

11/13/15

Houston has re-signed SP Rudy Owens. 2 years, 850K.

[steelerfan]

11/20/15

Houston signed FA SP Ian Kennedy, 31, to a 2-year contact worth 12.00M. Kennedy (83, B) has a career record of 71-67 with an ERA of 3.94. Last season Kennedy was 12-13 with a 3.47 ERA.

[steelerfan]

11/22/15

The Houston Astros have traded SP Alex White (77, C) and LF Leo Heras (61, C) to the Minnesota Twins for SP Phil Hughes (80, B).

Hughes, 29, has a career record of 73-82 with an ERA of 4.53. Last season he was 8-18 with a 3.83 ERA.

White, 27, has a career mark of 20-28 with an ERA of 4.46. In 2015 he was 8-9 with a 4.49 ERA.

Heras, 26, is a career minor leaguer.