Colt 45s Blog

Having a good catcher is pretty important.  Whether you buy into whether a catcher can influence the game through how he works with pitchers or not, having a solid backstop is usually something you find on the elite teams.  Fortunately for the Astros, they have several young catchers who all have the potential to become big league starters.

The best of the bunch, at least according to Kevin Goldstein, is Max Sapp who won’t turn 19 until the end of February and who should get time at Low A this year.  Sapp’s upside looks pretty impressive and this is a guy worth watching in the minors in 2007.

Baseball Prospectus wrote up a very informative player profile on Morgan Ensberg today.  I expect Ensberg to bounce back in 2007 and it looks like BP does as well.  Good stuff and I particularly enjoyed the hit charts. 

The Astros finished up their arbitration eligible signings all at one time when the came to one year agreements with third baseman Morgan Ensberg, shortstop Adam Everett and outfielder Jason Lane.  Ensberg had a pretty tough and injury filled season in 2006 after a breakout campaign in 2005.  Everett is the best fielding shortstop in baseball right now and while he’s a career .249 hitter, that defense at short sure makes up for a lot of that.  Lane has a season similar to Ensberg.  Bad in 2006 but great in 2005 so the potential is there.

Ensberg signed for $4.25 million, Everett will make $2.8 million and Lane was locked up for $1.05 million.  In my opinions, those are some pretty good bargains.

MLB.com beat writer Alyson Footer recently answered her readers’ questions in a mailbag column.  The first question she addresses is about arbitration (and how a guy like Brad Lidge can get a raise).  She gives a brief yet informative explanation of how arbitration works as well as going into the issues a particular player can bring to the table.  She also talks about Roger Clemens and the chances that Richard Hidalgo has of making the team.  There’s a lot of good stuff here.

The Astros signed Brad Lidge to a one year, $5.35 million deal and in the process, avoided arbitration with the closer.  Lidge had a pretty poor season last year and now that he’ll be making closer money, the Astros should expect something more in line with 2005 season.  Regardless, you don’t see too many relievers these days with three straight seasons with more then 100 strikeouts (and he came three strikeouts short in 2003 of making that four straight).  Lidge is special but a long term deal was probably out of the question after the drop off in 2006.

The Astros also re-signed infielder Mike Lamb to a one year deal worth $2.7 million.  Lamb set career highs with 70 runs, a .307 batting average and a .361 on base percentage and he split most of his time between first and third base.  At those rates, Lamb is a nice guy to have around because he left handed bat that fields the ball right handed, making for a nice platoon split at third base.

This has been bugging me for quite some time.  On the one hand, it’s almost blasphemous to talk negatively about one of the greatest pitchers of all time, Roger Clemens.  On the other hand, with the Astros narrowing the division lead late in the season to a game and half behind the Cards, you have to wonder whether Clemens late comeback cost the Astros a playoff spot.

John Beamer at the Hardball Times tackled this task and it’s probably the most well thought analysis of the subject.  He concludes that there’s a less then significant chance that Clemens would have pushed the Astros into the playoffs had he pitched in April but it’s how he got there that’s particularly interesting.

Richard Hidalgo is coming home.  After being traded to the Mets and sitting out the 2006 season, Hidalgo will be invited to spring training with a chance to win a job in Houston where he put together his best seasons.  He hasn’t played for the Astros since he was traded to the Mets in 2004 and it seems like so long ago since he had that career year in which he hit 44 homeruns back in 2000.

Regardless, we’ll get to see what the 31 year old can do.  He couldn’t make the Orioles last year which isn’t encouraging.  Right now, Hidalgo is playing in the Venezuela winter league so he should be ready to go come February when spring training starts.

There’s no doubt that the Astros top pick in 2005, Brian Bogusevic, has been a disappointment.  In his first full season last year, he was knocked around to the tune of a 4.65 ERA between split squad and Low A.  And this is definitely a guy who’s not playing over his head because he was 22 at the time.  The good news is, Bryan Smith at the Hardball Times sees him as a potential 2007 breakout candidate and he talked about Bogusevic in a column on eight prospects to watch in 2007.  Good stuff.

The Astros solidified their bullpen today when they re-signed right handed set up man Dan Wheeler to a one year, $2.1 million deal.  Wheeler filled in for Brad Lidge on occasion and showed he could handle the closer role.  In the last two seasons, he’s pitched in at least 70 games and thrown at least 70 innings.  In 2006 he struck out 68 in 71 1/3 innings and opponents hit only .221 against him.  He was particularly deadly against right handed batters, who hit only .183 against him.  Wheeler was also good against preventing the long ball.  He gave up only five homeruns.

Major League Baseball began in Houston in 1962 and for three short years, the team wasn’t called the Astros.  The team was called the Colt 45’s and the inaugural team sported baseball talent like Roman Mejias and twenty game loser Turk Farrell.  After an eight place finish and two ninth place finishes, the Colt 45’s became the Houston Astros.  Unfortunately, it didn’t improve the teams fortune and the team didn’t put together a winning record until 1972.

This blog is about the Astros, but it’s also about the Colt 45’s.  I know, it was only three years but I’ll be covering the Astros for the Baseball Historians network of sites.  I’ll not only be looking at the present day Astros but I’ll also be looking at the team’s rich but short history.  2007 isn’t shaping up to be a banner year, but with players like Lance Berkman and Roy Oswalt, there’s little doubt that the team will at least be in the mix in a weak NL Central.

So hopefully you’ll stop by on occasion.  The first order of business is tribute to the greatest Astros of all, Jeff Bagwell.  I’ll be working on a year by year retrospective of him as well as following the remnants of the Hot Stove league.