Astros All-Time Team v.2012

Click Here to Read More

Today, we're taking a look at the All-Time Astros roster - last year's version can be seen here.

As part of our revamping of rosters, we had to add an infielder, an extra outfielder and two starting pitchers to last year's inaugural squad.

The Astros were a fun team for us to take on because their history is long enough that they have had some really good players but not too long, so we didn't have to dig into the archives of the Baseball Almanac and other historical pages... it was in our proverbial wheel house.





We quickly pegged one of our all-time favorites, Jimmy Wynn, as the fourth outfielder.  We debated the Toy Cannon's place on this roster last year but he fell just shy of Jose Cruz for the last spot.

The extra infielder was not as easy.  Names that were mentioned last year included Enos Cabell, Terry Puhl and Bob Watson.  We also considered Bill Doran, Ken Caminiti, Glenn Davis and Morgan Ensberg.  The top four from that list were Watson, Cabell, Davis and Ensberg, with Watson earning the spot.  During his 14 year tenure with the Astros, the Bull, a two-time All-Star played in 1,381 games, scored 640 runs, 241 doubles, 139 home runs, 782 RBI while triple slashing .297/.367/.444.  Very impressive numbers - ranking Watson among the top 10 on the All-Time franchise leaderboard in most offensive categories - making him worth of the selection.

Picking two additional starting pitchers for this team was no easy task.  It came down to a "pick two of" Nolan Ryan, Mike Scott, Larry Dierker and Joe Niekro.  Niekro is the all-time franchise wins leader, which would make him a shoe-in on most All-Time teams, but the win totals were close enough that it really came down to who we felt was best from that list and while Niekro was very good, we recognized that he was not really the best of that bunch in terms of talent.  Mike Scott was probably the first guy that made the cut - he's only one with hardware - and after that, we half-heartedly went with Nolan Ryan.  Despite the fact that Ryan chose a Rangers cap for his Cooperstown plaque, the first-ballot Hall of Famer spent more time in Houseton than anywhere else.  13 years after his enshrinement, it's curious to see how the pendulum has swung with regards to the perception of Ryan as one of the all-time greats (we'll have more on that later).  You can see for yourself below just how tough this was... 

Here's our squad - we'd love to hear what you think.

C - Craig Biggio

1B - Jeff Bagwell

2B - Joe Morgan

SS - Dickie Thon

3B - Doug Rader

IF - Bob Watson

OF - Lance Berkman

OF - Cesar Cedeno

OF - Jose Cruz

OF - Jimmy Wynn

SP - Roy Oswalt

SP - J.R. Richard

SP - Mike Scott

SP - Nolan Ryan

RP - Billy Wagner