All-Time Astros Team
Houston spent their first three years as the Colt 45s. They came in under expansion along with the New York Mets in 1962. Although they have made the postseason 9 times, they have yet to take a World Series crown. In their only trip to the Fall Classic, the Astros were swept by the White Sox. Here's our list of all-time Astros including some suprises.
C - Craig Biggio
1B - Jeff Bagwell
2B - Joe Morgan
SS - Dickie Thon
3B - Doug Rader
OF - Lance Berkman
OF - Jose Cruz
OF - Cesar Cedeno
SP - J.R. Richard
SP - Roy Oswalt
CL - Billy Wagner
A couple of curve balls to this list starting with Biggio at catcher. He played over 400 games at the position which is good enough for us. Pitching has been fairly strong for this team and we left a HOF pitcher (Nolan Ryan) and a Cy Young winner (Mike Scott) off the list. Oswalt is a multiple 20 game winner and 2nd all time in team wins. His .636 winning percentage is also quite impressive. Although Ryan is a HOF pitcher, his best years were with the California Angels and Texas Rangers. He did win two ERA titles with Houston. Our selection of J.R. Richard is one of the few in which we factored in potential. Richard took a while to develop, but once he did, he was a force to be reckoned with. A tremendously feared pitcher during the early 80s, Richard put together 4 straight seasons of at least 18 wins. He also topped 300 strikeouts twice during that span, and seemed poised to continue dominating the league. A stroke derailed his career or he may have had a staggering career.
C - Craig Biggio
1B - Jeff Bagwell
2B - Joe Morgan
SS - Dickie Thon
3B - Doug Rader
OF - Lance Berkman
OF - Jose Cruz
OF - Cesar Cedeno
SP - J.R. Richard
SP - Roy Oswalt
CL - Billy Wagner
A couple of curve balls to this list starting with Biggio at catcher. He played over 400 games at the position which is good enough for us. Pitching has been fairly strong for this team and we left a HOF pitcher (Nolan Ryan) and a Cy Young winner (Mike Scott) off the list. Oswalt is a multiple 20 game winner and 2nd all time in team wins. His .636 winning percentage is also quite impressive. Although Ryan is a HOF pitcher, his best years were with the California Angels and Texas Rangers. He did win two ERA titles with Houston. Our selection of J.R. Richard is one of the few in which we factored in potential. Richard took a while to develop, but once he did, he was a force to be reckoned with. A tremendously feared pitcher during the early 80s, Richard put together 4 straight seasons of at least 18 wins. He also topped 300 strikeouts twice during that span, and seemed poised to continue dominating the league. A stroke derailed his career or he may have had a staggering career.
In my opinion, this was the toughest list for us to agree on so far.
ReplyDeleteFirst, to me, it felt dirty moving the greatest player in franchise history out of his most prominent positiion to accomodate the team but given the fact that the player is Biggio, it is kind of fitting... his entire career was about accomodating the team. There aren't many players like Biggio in the history of the game (he's certainly one of my all-time favorites). Could have went with Biggio at 2B and Ashby at C (dropping Morgan) but the team is better with Biggio at C so it stands.
Second, Jose Cruz or Jimmy Wynn... Cruz over the Toy Cannon wouldn't be the popular vote but I think we got it right.
Third, picking the right pitchers out of this group was tough... Dierker, Scott, Ryan, Richard, Niekro. How do you distinguish between them? I could argue for any of those names. I think that Richard and Oswalt were the right picks.
I can't spell accommodate...
ReplyDeleteWe left off some very good players, Enos Cabell, Terry Puhl, Bob Watson, Jimmy Wynn(one of my all-time favs) and Rusty Staub. Pitching wise they have always been strong and we left off the stars OCP mentioned above Plus Don Wilson, Joe Sambito and Mike Hampton.
ReplyDelete