Add new comment

Houston is currently riding a 6 game winning streak, including a 4 game sweep of the Angels.
At this point, their offense has a 90 OPS+
They continue to lead the AL in team whiffing.
The pitching staff has an ERA+ of 83. (they have a SERIOUS gopher infenstation).
But, in general, what I expected to happen has happened. Their flexibility allows them to juggle things, and they are getting gradual improvements here and there.
CA: Castro/Corporan have been one of the best catcher tandems in baseball - (from the hitting side)
1B: Wallace/Pena quickly became Laird/Pena, which morphed into Carter/Pena - (and Pena is plugging away with a .742 OPS)
2B: Altuve - .720 OPS
SS: Cedeno/Gonzalez tandem continues to limp along at .677/.612
3B: Dominquez limps along at .664 ... (which is better than Ackley or Montero managed)
LF: Carter/Martinez has been serviceable in left (.749) and (.754)
CF: Maxwell (.679) turned into Grossman (.553) which turned into Barnes (.736)
RF: Ankiel/Barnes took a beating when Ankiel went down - and Paredes (.587) has been awful in hi 78 PAs ... but
Brett Wallace got sent down after fanning 17 times in his first 24 PAs. Not saying he's solved everything, but in 40 games in AAA, he's running a .308/.386/.545 (.931) slashline.
Basically, exactly the juggling act I predicted.
Humber (0-8; 9.59) and Peacock (1-3; 8.77) are both out of the lineup. Hard not to do better than that - (unless, of course, you were to promote somebody like Bonderman ... but, I digress).
==========
Certainly Houston will continue taking its lumps and winning streaks will be few and far between. But, worst of all time? They are unlikely to be the worst team THIS SEASON. The Marlins are easily a giant leap worse. (The current Marlin team OPS+ is 71). To demonstrate how truly dreadful Miami is this season?
Olivo (.614) has played 27 games ... (but he's not good enough to be the primary catcher)
Greg Dobbs (.558) is the starting 1B -- because Casey Kotchman got hurt.
The current OPS+ numbers for the primary starter at every position other than RF are:
CA: 57
1B: 61
2B: 85
SS: 47
3B: 58
LF: 59
CF: 86
If you want a serious candidate for worst team of all time, Miami is a better (worser?) bet. At 16-42 they are already 5 games back of Houston.