The Worst Seasons in Astros History

INTRO PARAGRAPH. SOMETHING ABOUT IT BEING FUN TO CELEBRATE AWFULNESS, LIKE 2010-2013.

First, some disclaimers:
1) I know some of the names of which you are thinking. But those guys probably didn't get enough ABs to qualify for the batting title, or innings pitched to qualify as a pitcher. I'm looking for worst start-to-finish, honest-to-God everyday player in Astros history. So you're not going to see Carlos Gomez, Jon Singleton, Brett Wallace, Jordan Schafer, etc. They didn't play enough in a given season to qualify.
2) I'm using FanGraphs' version of WAR because it's easier to sort. I like easy.

So let's take this in order from (tied for) 5th-worst, to the worst overall season in Astros history.

Three-way tie for 5th-worst:

Ryan Bowen, 1992: -1.2 fWAR

Ryan Bowen was the Astros 1st pick of the 1986 draft (#13 overall), after players like Gary Sheffield, Kevin Brown, Matt Williams, and Greg Swindell had been selected. After the 6th pick of the 1st Round of the 1986 draft, only two players enjoyed a career fWAR over 9.0 (Roberto Hernandez and Luis Alicea). He made his professional debut at Age 19 in Single-A Asheville, going 12-5 with 126 strikeouts in 160.1IP, a 4.04 ERA/1.38 WHIP. He walked 78 batters in foreshadowing of what would be an ongoing issue - Bowen walked 116 batters (but struck out 136) in 139.2IP for Double-A Columbus in 1989.

He made his Houston debut in 1991, allowing 73H/41ER, 49K:36BB in 71.2IP for the Astros. Bowen had a no-hitter going through the 5th of his first Major-League start against St. Louis on July 22...and then allowed four runs in the 6th inning. Bowen did mix in four Quality Starts for the 1991 Astros, and four disaster starts, the low point being a 1.2IP, 8H/8ER, 2K:1BB, 1HBP. But his last three starts saw him throw 18IP, 10H/5ER, 14K:10BB, holding opponents to a .159/.270/.175 slash line.

1992 opened with Bowen starting G4 of the season. The 1992 Astros finished 81-81 but the pitcher with the most wins was closer Doug Jones, with 11. One other pitcher - Jimmy Jones - had double-digit wins. Bowen's season debut didn't exactly pick up where he left off in 1991: 5IP, 8H/8ER, 2K:4BB, 3HR against Cincinnati on April 10. A scoreless inning of relief on April 14 was followed by another start on April 21 against the Giants: 4IP, 6H/6ER, 1K:3BB, 1HR. It didn't really get better. Bowen pitched into the 6th inning once in his nine starts. He didn't make it out of the 2nd inning in three of them. After the season the Astros left him unprotected in the expansion draft, and he was selected by the Florida Marlins.

1992 season line: 33.2IP, 48H/41ER, 22K:30BB, 8HR, 2HBP. 10.96 ERA/2.32 WHIP.

Travis Blackley, 2013: -1.2 fWAR

Blackley was the other Australian pitcher not named Ryan Rowland-Smith, an interesting case in that he was drafted in 2000, made his MLB debut (10.04 ERA/2.19 WHIP) 26IP for Seattle in 2004, didn't pitch in the Majors again until 2007 (7.27 ERA/1.73 WHIP) in 8.2IP for San Francisco. Didn't pitch again in the Majors until 2012, when the A's plucked him off waivers from San Francisco after he allowed 7H/5ER in 5IP for the Giants. With the A's, though, he threw 102.2IP, 91H/44ER, 69(nice)K:30BB. So this led to a trade to the Astros, who were Very Bad in 2013, for Jake Goebbert (whom I really liked).

An underrated part of the 2010-2013 Astros were that they were basically a non-profit organization - helping the poor, the needy, the under-privileged. Did you know that if you appear in one Major-League Baseball game, your health insurance is covered for the rest of your life? So the Astros played a whole bunch of dudes who had no business being on a Major-League roster with the explicit intent of letting them get free health insurance (this is how I'm partially justifying the hell of 2010-2013).

ANYWAY. The 2013 were bad enough to trade a young player for a 30-year old reliever with a career 5.37 ERA and a 5.8 K/9. The Astros ran Blackley out for 42 appearances in that 111-loss campaign. In his Astros debut he allowed 3H/3ER, 0K:2BB, 1HR against Cleveland in a 19-6 loss. Foreshadowing. Three days later he allowed a homer in 2IP against Seattle (though was credit with a hold. He had periods of showing that he could get hitters out followed by a complete inability to miss a bat. He faced 152 batters as an Astro, 47 of them breached base.

After he allowed a hit and a walk against Boston on August 7, Blackley was traded to the Ramgers for a PTBNL and cash, though I have no idea which player was actually named later. Maybe the PTBNL was a Ramgers fan jumping ship to Houston, and the Astros just took the fan and the $30 he spent at Lids buying a new hat as the cash and the PTBNL. He did not have nice things to say about his time with the Astros. I wrecked him.

2013 season line: 35IP, 30H/19ER, 29K:20BB, 10HR, 4WP. 4.89 ERA/1.43 WHIP, 6.91 FIP. You know how hard it is to post a -1.2 fWAR in 35IP?

John Hudek, 1997: -1.2 fWAR

John Hudek was drafted by the White Sox in the 10th Round of the 1988 draft, taken by the Tigers in the 1992 Rule 5 draft, and selected off waivers eight months later by the Astros. He threw 39.1IP for the 1994 Astros, earning an All-Star nod by allowing 24H/13ER, 39K:18BB, a 2.97 ERA/1.07 WHIP belied by a 4.25 FIP (but nobody knew anything about FIP in 1994, just amphetamines). 1995 went worse. In just 20IP, he allowed 12ER for a 5.40 ERA/1.20 WHIP...but with a 2.90 FIP. So his first two years cancelled each other out. 1996 was a return to his Even Year Form, even with a small sample size: 16IP, 12H/5ER, 14K:5BB - a 2.81 ERA/1.06 WHIP.

Then 1997 happened. He threw 40.2IP for the Astros and while there wasn't ever any game where you'd look and think "Holy crap that guy gotta go," there were prolonged periods of inactivity for a team that won the division yet under-performed their Pythagorean Wins by nine games. After the season the Astros traded Hudek to the Mets for (somehow) Carl Everett.

Perhaps you've seen that John Hudek's daughter, Sarah, was perhaps the first female to get a college scholarship to play baseball. He runs the John Hudek All-Star Baseball Academy in Sugar Land.

1997 Final Line: 40.2IP, 38H/27ER, 36K:3BB, 8HR, 3HBP, 4WP. 5.98 ERA/1.75 WHIP, 6.55 FIP.

Let's call it 3rd-worst:

Al Osuna, 1992: -1.4 fWAR

This cat is weird. Selected in the 5th Round of the 1985 draft by Baltimore AND by the Padres in the 2nd Round of the Secondary Phase (where you could stock your farm systems. It's strange, maybe I don't get it. Read about it here.), Osuna apparently didn't sign with either team, and was selected by the Astros in the 16th Round of the 1987 draft out of Stanford.

Osuna made his major-league debut on September 2, 1990 against Pittsburgh, striking out two but allowing 2H/2ER in the 7th inning. Two days later he started a four-game run where he threw 6IP, 1H/0ER, 3K:2BB including his first ML win. He would give up one run in four of his last seven games of the season. Whatever. He threw 81.2IP for Houston in 1991, allowing a respectable 3.42 ERA/1.29 WHIP, but with 68K:46BB. For what would be his Age-26 Season in 1992, it was a decent jump.

Yeah no. But it was fun at first! In his first 11 games (11IP) Osuna allowed 6H/0ER...but with 7K:9BB. He allowed four earned runs at Pittsburgh, blowing his first save of the season. Two weeks later he got his second loss at St. Louis. He had a pattern, a few outings of decent relief followed by a couple of runs. His nadir came on September 20 at Atlanta when he allowed 5H/6ER, 0K:2BB, 3HR in a 16-1 loss. Before the 1994 season Osuna was traded to the Dodgers for pitcher Jimmy Daspit, who never played in Houston.

1992 Final Line: 61.2IP, 52H/29ER, 37K:38BB, 8HR, 4.23 ERA/1.46 WHIP. 270 batters faced, 85 reached base.

2nd-Worst:

Carlos Lee, 2010: -1.7 fWAR

I think we all knew how this was gonna go when the 6yr/$100m contract was signed. The first few years were gonna be pretty fine, but the back end was gonna be awful. The Astros were counting on that, with Uncle Drayton hoping the Astros could make another Series run before the contract became an albatross, which it did. Over the first three seasons (2007-2009) Lee hit .305/.354/.524 with 86 homers and 321 RBI (and 105 doubles) for a 128 OPS+. I mean, yeah, he hit into 56 GIDPs, which is a lot, but 86 homerz!

2010 was the worst year of his career - a 123-point OPS drop. After eight seasons of an OPS over .800, Lee cratered. He hit .238/.281/.409 against right-handed pitchers a year after hitting .293/.332/.482 against the same pitchers who happened to throw with their right hand. And in 2009 he had a .915 OPS but somehow that turned into a .766 OPS at Minute Maid. I would rather have given him $80m for 3yrs than $100m/6yrs but that's hindsight.

But Purpura and Drayton gonna Purpura and Drayton and the Astros still owed Carlos Lee $55m to post a combined 1.8 fWAR over the last three years of his deal, which included a trade to the Yankees no wait Marlins.

Lee rebounded slightly from 2010 to 2011, a season in which he posted a .275/.342/.446 line for a 2.9 fWAR. But it didn't eliminate 2010, or the Astros unwillingness as a franchise to see that major changes needed to be made - and not in the form of Carlos Lee or Woody Williams - to save the team as a whole.

2010 Final Line: .246/.291/.417, 24 HR, 89 RBI, 59K:37BB in 649 PAs. He made contact, none of it well.

The Worst Season in Astros History:

In 2017 Matt Dominguez will be in his Age 28 season, the point at which (reasonably speaking) a Major-League player should be peaking. But we knew what we were getting with Matt Dominguez: good-glove, no-hit 3B. He's as if Henry Skrimshander got moved to third to make way for Carlos Correa, but only to see if he could hang on to his job. If the Astros could make his bat work, it would be a steal.

The Marlins' 1st Round pick (12th overall) in the 2007 draft (the same round in which the Astros basically sunk the future to sign Lee and Woody Williams, didn't draft until the 3rd Round and didn't sign Derek Dietrich and Brett Eibner, making their first signed pick the 171st overall pick Collin DeLome), Dominguez was traded - in a really sweet piece of symmetry - to the Astros on July 4, 2012...for Carlos Lee.

In 31 games for the Astros in 2012 Dominguez fared well, hitting .284/.310/.477 with nine extra-base hits in 113 PAs. He got his first real shot for the 2013 Astros after the departure of Chris Johnson the season prior. In 152 games, Johnson hit .241/.286/.403 with 25 doubles, 21 homers, 96K:30BB. It was as good as it would get for Full-Time Matt Dominguez...

...because in 2014 Dominguez posted the worst season in Astros history.Because there basically wasn't anyone else who could play 3B at a "major-league level;" meaning the Astros couldn't find someone to not post the worst season ever in franchise history to play third base. Dominguez hit .215/.256/.330 with 125K:29BB. A 65 OPS+. He somehow hit 16 homers, though, with 23 GIDPs. Out of 7,364 Major-League players who had enough PAs, Dominguez's 2014 ranked tied for 7,348th.

2014 Final Line: 607 PAs, .215/.256/.330, 125K:29BB

Have a drink.

Travis Blackley has some funny things to say in a cute Australian accent

Oh Travis Blackley so funny! He had a whole host of things to say in a cute Australian accent. Let's see if what he had to say is accurate! (Everything in italics are quotes from Blackley in the linked article)

It went from couldn’t wait for the season to be over to don’t want it to end.

Now this is highly likely. Because the Astros were in last place, he wanted the season to be over. Now that he's in first place, he doesn't want it to end.

It kind of felt like that was a really long spring training or something like that.

In that he gave up 4H/4ER, 1K:2BB, 2HR in his first two outings (3IP)? I can understand that.

It was good when you were pitching well.

He had some good stints. Six outings between April 25-May 5: 7IP, 3H/0ER, 6K:4BB. Five outings between June 9-21: 2.1IP, 1H/0ER, 2K:0BB. Five outings between July 4-20: 4IP, 1H/0ER, 3K:1BB.

And then you have a couple bad ones in a row, try to pull yourself out of that hole...

Like the aforementioned first two games of the season? 3IP, 4H/4ER, 1K:2BB, 2HR? Or the three straight outings between June 25-29 (2.1IP) where he allowed 5H/5ER, 2HR? Or the July 22/24 back-to-backs where he allowed two homers in five total batters? Or his last game with the Astros, when he faced two batters - both of whom reached?

...or you don’t get put in a game for 10 days. It’s tough.

This never happened. Twice he pitched on six days of rest, and one of those stints was because of the All-Star Break. He pitched once between July 6 and 20. There were nine games in that span (again, the All-Star Break and two off-days in a calendar week). Blackley made 42 appearances for the Astros. 31 of those appearances were on two or fewer days of rest. Five times he pitched on three days rest, three times on four days rest.

That was my first experience doing that, sort of relieving.

71 of his 131 (54.2%) appearances in both the majors and the minors between 2008-2012 (while with the Giants, Mets, A's, and the Australian Baseball League) came in relief.

I felt like I ended OK, and most of the time I got it done when it counted, especially the one-run games...

Blackley came into one-run games 12 times for the Astros in 2013, and while he gave up earned runs in only three of them, he allowed baserunners in eight of them.

...or coming in with the lead or tied.

25 of his appearances came with the Astros ahead, or tied. They were in a worse position when he left in 12 of them.

Most of the ERA came from the blowout games...

Mostly true. In nine games with a margin of 5+ runs, Blackley allowed a .353/.476/.706 line. In Baseball-Reference's "clutch stats" splits, these "blowout" games saw Blackley allow his highest OPS, at 1.182. Late & Close? .828 OPS. In High Leverage situations, opponents were 5x36 with one extra-base hit (.495 OPS). In Low Leverage situations, opponents had a .990 OPS.

...where I came in facing a team down 10 or six or seven, and all at home

Blackley never faced a team down ten runs. He did face the Indians at home in his Astros debut on April 20 down nine runs, and gave up 3H/3ER, 0K:2BB, and the Tigers on May 5 down nine runs at home, and gave up 1H/0ER in 0.2IP. Against Oakland on May 25 at home, down six, he struck out two in a scoreless inning. Yes, all three of those appearances were down 6+ runs (but not ten) and at home. 117 of the 152 batters he faced came with a margin of three runs or fewer.

I gave up one run on the road; all the other runs came at Minute Maid. I’m not a big fan of pitching there.

That's true. he gave up 19 earned runs. 18 of them were at Minute Maid Park (1.126 OPS); one was on the road (.439 OPS) - at Baltimore on August 1, when the Astros were down by two. When he left, they were down by four. Sucks that, you know, half the games are at Minute Maid Park. We were not fans of him pitching there, either.

It just felt like the mound was 75 feet from home, and it was just a weird feeling for me.

I don't even know what this means.

Boston, you feel like you’re 30 feet from home, like you’re right on it, and that’s great.

Travis Blackley has pitched at Fenway twice in his career.

But I’ve thrown here before, and I’m pretty comfortable here.

In his career, Blackley has pitched in Rangers Ballpark four times. In 42 plate appearances he has allowed a .317/.333/.537 line. So, good for him for being comfortable. 

Travis Blackley has been traded to Texas

Somehow, the Astros have traded Travis Blackley to the Rangers for a Player To Be Named Later and cash considerations.

Blackley, designated for assignment last week, had cleared waivers and accepted his assignment to Oklahoma City.

Of course, we'll keep tabs on the PTBNL. I'm just surprised this went down at all.

UPDATE: Old Pal Evan Grant says there is no PTBNL in the deal (so does T.R. Sullivan). So it's just...



UPDATE: Tweet from Jose de Jesus Ortiz:
In text to beat writers 10 minutes ago, Astros sais player to be named from Rangers in exchange for Travis Blackley. Some say cash instead.

UPDATE! Again, Ortiz, quoting Luhnow:
"All PTBNL transactions have an 'or cash' component to them."

Whatever. Since the Astros are just selling guys now, maybe they'll get Luis Suarez by the time the transfer window closes.

The Rangers are sending Blackley to Round Rock, where they will stretch him out as a starter. Back in May, Blackley told an Australian newspaper that he would be open to joining the rotation.

Travis Blackley to join OKC

Travis Blackley, who was designated for assignment last week, has apparently cleared waivers, since he has accepted his assignment to Oklahoma City.

In 141 career appearances at Triple-A, Blackley has a career 4.54 ERA/1.43 WHIP.

Blackley DFA'd, Chapman's Coming to Town

This morning Travis Blackley tweeted about being on waivers.

On waivers waiting to see my fate. Hopefully someone could use a lefty the rest of the way. Everything happens for a reason!
— Travis Blackley (@Travis_Blackley) August 8, 2013

We all wondered if he didn't understand  the month of August...turns out he was announcing his own DFA before the Astros had the chance.

As tweeted by Brian T. Smith of the Houston Chronicle -

#Astros add LHP Kevin Chapman. Travis Blackley DFA. #MLB
— Brian T. Smith (@ChronAstros) August 8, 2013

So there we have it - another bullpen change. Let's hope this one has a positive effect.  More to come on Chapman, who's been pitching for AAA Oklahoma City, shortly.

Chapman, who came to Houston in the Bourgeois/Quintero trade with Kansas City, is 1-2 for OKC in 45 games (50.2IP), with a 3.20 ERA/1.54 WHIP. He has allowed 42 hits, while the Walk Bug bit him to the tune of 36 walks, or 6.4 BB/9. If it makes you feel better, Chapman walked 18 batters and April and May (101 plate appearances), and 18 walks since (128 plate appearances). May was a particularly bad month - when he allowed a .250/.449/.417 line with 10K:12BB. And that is mainly due to a rough five appearances in nine days when he walked nine batters.

This also makes Oakland the clear winner of the Blackley/Jake Goebbert trade. Goebbert was hitting 268/.352/.480 at Double-A Midland before getting promoted to Triple-A Sacramento. In four games with Sacramento, Goebbert is 3x9 with a double, homer, one strikeout and six walks.

I don't think Travis Blackley understands the August waiver process

Travis Blackley just tweeted:

On waivers waiting to see my fate. Hopefully someone could use a lefty the rest of the way. Everything happens for a reason!

Perhaps he's not clear on how the August waiver process works. Basically, almost everybody gets put on waivers. When said player is placed on waivers, a team can claim him. If multiple teams put in a claim, the priority is given to the team with the worst record. They then have two days to come to some sort of agreement, or the team that put said player on waivers can simply pull him back. If they try to work out a deal and can't, it's no big deal, everybody just moves on.

So. Either Blackley has been DFA'ed, and just let the entire world know (unlikely) or he is confused about how it works (more likely).

The New Guy Gets His 1st Hit Off the Guy He Was Traded For

In case you didn't watch the Astros' 6-3 loss to the Baltimore Orioles last night, you missed L.J. Hoes, the only major-league ready player from the Bud Norris deal, get his first hit off the very man he traded places with at Camden Yards the night before.

I'm pretty sure that's never happened before in baseball.  Kinda cool, right?

It would have been MUCH cooler had the Astros won, but it's 2013 so that didn't happen. Jordan Lyles was solid despite giving up five runs and nine hits in 5 2/3 innings. He struggled with runners on, but seems to still be continuing to develop and improve his outings.

The first hit off Norris by an Astro? His former batterymate, Jason Castro.  In addition, good friend of Norris, Brett Wallace, hit a very nice homer off of Bud as did Marc Krauss. In contrast, the only extra base hit from the O's was a Chris Davis homerun off of Travis Blackley in the 7th. Yes, it was a very weird night. Do yourself a favor and go watch the game recap.

Monday Morning Link Dump

Articles from the last 24 hours that I don't have time upon which to post them separately:

*Awful Announcing on the CSN Houston deal. Takeaway: CSN Houston is asking for more per subscriber than the YES Network. 

*The Daily Telegraph (in Australia) has a fun story on Travis Blackley. From the story, we find that Blackley is:

• More than happy to move into the rotation.
• Liking it in Houston.
• Would like a long-term deal.
• Writing off the playoffs, but they have apparently set a goal of .500.
• Reminded of the Kansas City Royals when he looks at the Astros

*Bo Porter is keeping a list of Missed Wins. 

*Jon Singleton will begin his comeback next week in Quad Cities and will end up in OKC. He could be in line for a late-season call-up. 

Hell breaks loose, roster moves abound

It started with a random tweet this morning from an account not affiliated with minor-league baseball - 2011 10th Round pick Kyle Hallock had been called up to Triple-A Oklahoma City from Low-A Quad Cities. No one really knew what it meant. Was it roster filler, and nothing was happening, or was something actually going on?

Nope. Something is up. NewStro Travis Blackley strained his stupid shoulder in his very first bullpen session at Minute Maid Park and was put on the 15-Day DL, so fellow lefty Dallas Keuchel is on his way to Houston to take his lefty long-relief role (since Xavier Cedeno was about as effective as a pin-pricked condom last night), and lefty Hallock will take Keuchel's spot at OKC.

Hallock threw to three batters in Quad Cities, struck out two of them, and got the other one out, too. And so the season-long battle royal among pitchers continues.

Astros announce corresponding roster move

The Astros have designated Edgar Gonzalez for assignment in the wake of the Travis Blackley trade, meaning that Rhiner Cruz will have further opportunities to terrify opposing batters as they have no idea where the ball is going (if only because Rhiner Cruz has no idea where the ball is going, but it's going hard).

And in the linked piece, we also find that Alex White is in fact going to have Tommy John surgery. I defer to my Neighborhood Doctor over at the Crawfish Boxes, Subber10, and their piece on White's injury/recovery. That's what I get for studying history, not being able to comment intelligently on injuries.

See you at the end of 2014, Alex White.

Pissing contest with Billy Beane continues

First there was the Lowrie trade, then the A's claimed Nate Freiman, and now the Astros have traded 2009 13th Round pick Jake Goebbert to the A's for 30-year old Travis Blackley, ensuring that the Pissing Contest between Luhnow and Billy Beane continues into Month Two.

I loved Jake Goebbert. I actually had a post scheduled to go live at 6pm for Minor-League Opening Night with all my Minor-League Man Crushes, and Jake Goebbert was my OKC Man Crush.

He was drafted out of Northwestern, enticed by $100,000 to sign with the Astros after having missed the last part of the season with a lacerated kidney, which he got from crashing headlong into the outfield wall at the old Metrodome. My favorite part of the story? He thought he only cracked a rib, so he stayed in the game, hit a double off the wall in his next AB, and knew something was wrong when he couldn't catch his breath. 

In 456 minor-league games, Goebbert hit .285/.363/.431 and hit .304/.399/.473 in 114 games for Corpus last season.

Blackley, a left-handed Australian not named Ryan Rowland-Smith, pitched in 24 games for the A's (15 starts) and went 6-4 with a 3.86 ERA/1.17 WHIP in 102.2IP (striking out 69 batters, and walking 30). It'll be interesting to see how the Astros use Blackley. As a starter (79.1IP), he had a 4.54 ERA/1.24 WHIP in 2012. As a reliever (28.1IP), he had a 2.86 ERA/1.13 WHIP but with a worse K:BB ratio.

Blackley's opponent OPS, by month in 2012:
May (16IP): .610
June (30.1IP): .625
July (27.1IP): .666
August (21.1IP): .746
Sept/Oct (12.2IP): .903

That last month is all jacked up, because at Texas on September 27 Blackley faced eight batters, gave up 5H/5ER and 2HR, and got three outs. So. Overall he had a 4.10 ERA, a 3.96 FIP, and a 4.32 xFIP. FanGraphs gave him a 1.1 WAR for 2012.

He'll report to Houston tomorrow, so that means someone has to get optioned off the 40-man roster. I'm not going to speculate, because I'm terrible at that sort of thing. But right now (and I'm seeing some of the speculation on Twitter as I type) Rhiner Cruz looks a little vulnerable...

Immediate Update: Brian McTaggart's new blog post says Blackley will be used in long relief.

Luhnow:
"He's a left-handed long man, which is something we've been trying to figure out how to work into our roster."

They've apparently had their eye on him all spring, and once he got DFA'ed by the A's (DFAthletic'ed amirite?) got a deal done.