Houston Astros Shadow System Update

The Houston Astros were just purchased by Jim Crane. After a lot of controversy, he was approved by the other owners. The deal came with a condition. He has to move his Astros to the A.L. West.

Most of the reason for MLB wanting to move the Astros to the A.L. is that the Houston market is quite large. It will bring more eyeballs to the teams in the A.L. West and it potentially can grow the popularity of A.L. West teams. All the more reason to put a winning team on the field.

As you guys probably know, I have been doing a shadow draft for the Astros the last two years and some have questioned the amount I would spend on the draft. I know this may seem unrealistic but the plan is to build a team from the bottom up instead of spending large sums on free agents. The Astros had $7 million dollars in operating income in 2010 and $14 million in 2011. If I spent $27 million on the in 2010 and $26 million this year to sign all the talent, the team would have had losses of $9 million and $7 million. That means I owe my owner $37 million dollars, or about 7.5 Wins Above Replacement. The only other teams that operated at a loss were the Red Sox, Mets and Tigers, who lost $29 million dollars. They have lost $54 million dollars over the last 3 seasons. I plan on spending a ton on the draft again this season but in the long run, it will pay off. While I have no proof at the major league level, the farm system is really shaping up at the lower levels.

The major league team is horrible but that isn't different than the real team. It is looking like the team is on pace for a top 5 pick again in 2013 as well as the 1st pick in 2012. This will continue to add depth to the farm system. I've spent a little time looking at how all this talent would fit together, and it is a little tight in the low minors to get everyone playing time but I'm sure it would work it's way out.

In the majors, Carlos Lee, Brett Myers and Wandy Rodriguez could be moved for more talent and free up salary. Jose Altuve, J.D. Martinez, Jordan Lyles, Bud Norris, Brett Wallace and a couple others could be worth keeping around for when the team starts turning around.

In 3A, Brett Oberholtzer, Ross Seaton and Juan Abreu could be helpful. There could be some bullpen help there as well.

In AA is where the talent really starts kicking up. A rotation of Sonny Gray, Jarred Cosart, Chris Hernandez, Josh Osich and Kyle Winkler starts it off. Michael Palazzone and Josh Zeid could help out of the pen. Jonathan Singleton at 1B, Jio Mier at SS, and Jay Austin and T.J. Steele in the outfield. A few of these guys could start helping as soon as this season.

In High A, Curt Casali behind the dish, Florida standout Preston Tucker at 1B, Nick Castellanos at 3B, Jonathan Villar at short and Stanford star Austin Wilson and Domingo Santana in the outfield makes a pretty impressive lineup. A.J. Cole, LSU ace Kevin Gausman, Tanner Bushue,Georgia Tech righty DeAndre Smelter and Stanford lefty Brett Mooneyham would be the rotation. Michael Ojala, Dean Kiekhefer and Brad Dydalewicz out of the pen would help close out games.

Low A has quite a few talented players. As do the short season leagues. A lot of them are still in college but a few are playing pro ball. Next year this will mean more but the talent is really piling up in the lower levels. Here is where we sit. 

	AA		High A
	Corpus Christi		Lancaster
C	Federico Hernandez	C	Curtis Casali
1B	Jonathan Singleton	1B	Preston Tucker
2B	Jason Smith	2B	Tyler Rahmatulla
3B	Jonathan Meyer	3B	Nick Castellanos
SS	Jiovanni Mier	SS	Jonathan Villar
LF	T.J. Steele	LF	Joseph Loftus
CF	Jay Austin	CF	Domingo Santana
RF	Jon Gaston	RF	Austin Wilson
1	Sonny Gray	1	A.J. Cole
2	Jarred Cosart	2	Kevin Gausman
3	Chris Hernandez	3	Tanner Bushue
4	Joshua Osich	4	DeAndre Smelter
5	Kyle Winkler	5	Brett Mooneyham

 

 

	Low A		Short Season
	Lexington		Tri-City
C	Matt Rice	C	Matthew Roberts
1B	Brian Ragira	1B	Zac Elgie
2B	Martin Peguero	2B	Luca Martone
3B	Garin Cecchini	3B	Chan Moon
SS	Jacoby Jones	SS	Lonnie Kauppila
LF	Eric Arce	LF	Trey Griffin
CF	Joshua Sale	CF	Dale Carey
RF	Kris Bryant	RF	Krey Bratsen
1	Stetson Allie	1	Jose Perdomo
2	Drew Cisco	2	Euris Quezada
3	Ethan Stewart	3	Garrett Bullock
4	Michael Feliz	4	Joan Belliard
5	Evan Rutckyj	5	Danilo Del Rio

 

 

	Rookie		Rookie
	Greenville		GCL
C	Andrew Murray	C	Brandon Sedell
1B	Jared Lakind	1B	Roderick Shoulders
2B	Joshua Tobias	2B	Chase Williamson
3B	Matthew Dean	3B	Austin Slater
SS	Phillip Evans	SS	Jean Carlos Batista
LF	Jake Cave	LF	Kelvin Vizcaino
CF	Derek Fisher	CF	Danry Vasquez
RF	Vicmal De La Cruz	RF	Dominic Jose
1	Daniel Norris	1	Amir Garrett
2	Carson Baranik	2	Jose Montero
3	Dillon Maples	3	Spenser Linney
4	Nick Burdi	4	Blake Burrell
5	Phillip Pfeifer	5	Ricardo Jacquez

 Other Players:

Bench		Bench
Julio Martinez		Kelly Norris-Jones
Albert  Cartwright		Kevin Jordan
Kash Kalkowski		Yonathan Mejia
Geno Escalante		Christopher Triplett
Jacob Goebbert		Ben Orloff
Erik Castro		Breshon Kimbell
Enrique Hernandez		Christopher Lovett
Tyler Hanover		Shon Carson
Brandon Barnes		Mark Payton
Telvin Nash		Yoel Araujo
Adrian Morales		Khiry  Cooper
Johnny Coy		Ronald Sanchez
Darwin Rivera		Grayson Greiner
Drake Roberts		Kirby Bellow
Willie Argo		Jay Baum
Garen Wright		Max Homick
Jose Monzon		Dylan Davis
Zachary Alvord		Drew Stiles
Jose Fernandez		Rouric Bridgewater
Kevin Patterson
Kyle Robinson

 

Pitchers		Pitchers
Michael Palazzone		Austin Urban
Josh Zeid		Dakota Freese
David Berner		Kilby Pena
Arcenio Leon		Dan Mengden
Matt Nevarez		Pat Connaughton
Daniel Renken		Jose Trinidad
Zachary Grimmett		Kirk Clark
Pat Urckfitz		Jorge De Leon
Michael Ojala		Danny Barnes
Dean Kiekhefer		Cody Martin
Brad Dydalewicz		Carlos Quevedo
Colton Pitkin		Enderson Franco
Jonathon Crawford		Francis Ramirez
Rolando Botello		Luis Ordosgoitti
Rudy Acosta		Ricardo Batista
Thomas Pecoraro		Clayton Crum
Trae Davis		Daniel Child
Trevor Teykl		Agapito Barrios
Shane Wolf		Ambiorix De Leon
Forrest Snow		Alberto Arias
Jose Cisnero		Ashton Mowdy
Robert Donovan		Billy Sadler
Alex Sogard		Brad James
Casey Upperman		Brandt Walker
Kyle Greenwalt		Brian Wabick
Andrew Smith		David Duncan
Kyle Necke		Elias De Leon
B.J. Hyatt		Francisco Baso
Brett Bruening		Gary Majewski
Chris Hicks		Leandro Cespedes
Seth Maness		Leonardo Alayon
David Martinez		Mike Schurz
Juan Minaya		Nathan Pettus
Murilo Gouvea		Rochi Gutierrez
Ruben Alaniz		Roliner Iturralde
Mark Jones		Alex Schmarzo
Pedro Gomez		Yuri Perez

 DSL Players:

DSL

Yairo Munoz

Iosif Bernal

Mitchel Martes

Luis Reynoso

Arturo Michelena

Adalberto Mondesi

Luis Enrique Acosta

Manuel Marcos

Helsin Martinez

Alexander Martinez

Javier Saucedo

Edgar Ferreira

Jandel Gustave

Johan Arias

Richard Rodriguez

Harold Arauz

Reymin Guduan

Mauricio Silva