The Astros Process: 2014 Stats and Stories

Rather than try to type out all the stats, I'm just going to screenshot them for you. I think you can click them to make them bigger.

Pitchers

Not shown here are the guys who ended the season on the disabled list or in the minors.

Scott Feldman went 3-6 with a 4.32 ERA and 1.17 WHIP in 12 starts and 81.1 innings. He walked 22 and struck out 52, putting up 1.2 WAR.

Brett Oberholtzer went 12-8 with a 3.68 ERA and 1.23 WHIP in 27 starts and 183.1 innings. He walked 51 and struck out 109, putting up 1.9 WAR.

Alex White went 3-13 with a 4.66 ERA and 1.48 WHIP in 26 starts and 166 innings. He walked 69 and struck out 117, putting up 2.1 WAR. His FIP was about 0.20 lower than Oberholtzer's, which explains the higher WAR.

Hitters

Gregorio Petit appeared in just 2 games, getting 1 plate appearance and striking out.

Random non-Astros stories and stuff from the season

Jason Heyward took the NL batting title, hitting .319. Mike Trout's .349 average led the way in the AL.

The Dodgers seriously underperformed, finishing last in the NL West at 71-91, 21 games back of Colorado. This led to manager Don Mattingly being fired at the end of July, prompting one anonymous player to say "I never really agreed with his decisions and I think he's cost us a lot of games with the way he manages." Ouch.

The Dodgers also had one of the biggest trades this season, sending Hanley Ramirez to the Yankees for 5 minor leaguers.

Rockies reliever Greg Burke was indicted for his part in a scheme that defrauded investors of as much as $9 million dollars. No word the outcome of that trial yet.

Rumors swirled in July that Aroldis Chapman may have lied about his age. The investigation is ongoing.

Tim Lincecum threw a no-hitter against the Dodgers the last week of the season, striking out 8 and walking 1. It was the second no-hitter of the season following our own Scott Feldman's in May.

In outstanding headline writing, we're informed that on August 3rd, "Smoak cracks 5 hits."

Torii Hunter got fans excited in May with a 33 game hit streak.

Here's the playoff picture and final standings as we head into the post- and off-season.

The Astros Process: September 2014

We've reached the final month of the season. The squad showed some signs of competitiveness a couple months ago, but have fallen flat as the season has progressed. Time to bring a few guys up for the expanded roster to see what we have going into next year.

The bullpen, which has done fairly well most of the season, is showing signs of tiring, so I'll bring and Zeid up, as well as Cosart, who's made 2 starts at AAA since coming back from his torn back muscle. Cory Knebel, who came over from the Tigers in the Jesse Crain deal, will get added to the 40 man and called up, too. Cosart's return sends Peacock back to the bullpen.

On the offensive time, despite his struggles this year, I'll bring up Singleton to see if he shows signs of being able to be my Opening Day starter in 2015. Hoes and Springer both have been performing well since their demotions, so they'll come back, too. Springer will take back over full-time RF duties while Singleton will start primarily against right handed pitchers to try to give him the best chance for success.

September 19 (63-90)

Alex White's comeback season is over, as I've decided to shut him down after he started complaining of a sore shoulder. I'll do a complete, season-end statistical recap in my next post, but his results this year, while not spectacular, were a bit encouraging. Rudy Owens will take his spot in the rotation for the remainder of the year.

Later this evening, Jerome Williams was declared day-to-day with a mild abdominal strain suffered while getting in some weight work after the game.

One piece of good news: with today's win we're guaranteed not to lose 100 games this season!

September 21 (65-90)

In more pitcher injury news, Brett Oberholtzer is done for the year with a strained biceps. He turned in a solid season and with the cellar locked up tight, there's no point in trying to have him finish the year. Peacock will take his remaining starts.

In other news, Tri-City manager Ed Romero was let go and did not hold back his frustration when interviewed following the news. I'll let his words speak for themselves.

September Wrapup

69-93 overall. 5th place. 24 games back. 14-10 on the month.

We finished the season with our first winning record over a month!

Rudy Owens showed that he deserves a long look next spring as he made 4 appearances, 2 starts, and put up a 2.21 ERA in 20.1 innings. Brad Peacock also made it known he wants to be in the mix again by throwing 10 innings with a 0.90 ERA. Also making a strong final showing was Josh Zeid, who threw 8 innings with a 0.63 WHIP and 1.13 ERA. On the down side, Bass, Fields, and Knebel all had ERAs over 8.00, but none of them pitched over 3.2 innings on the month.

Offensively, Krauss had himself a month by hitting .348/.410/.623 with 4 homers. Singleton did well in his debut, hitting .281/.369/.596 with 4 home runs and 14 RBI in 19 games. Sadly, Springer had another horrific month, putting up a .165/.242/.200 line with 29 strikeouts in 95 plate appearances. Not a good rookie year.

So there you have it, 2014 in the books and it wasn't quite as bad as I feared. A few surprises mixed with a couple disappointments to be sure, but I think the emergence of some of the young starting pitchers gives us reason to wait til next year.

The next post will essentially be a stat dump for those interested, though I'll throw in some of my favorite, non-Astros news from throughout the season that I missed along the way. Following that, I'll probably put the entire offseason in one post.

If you enjoyed this or have any comments, let me know in the, um, comments section. This is the first time I've written out my OOTP experiences and it's been fun putting a little more thought into what I do so I can explain it to you guys.

The Astros Process: August 2014

So, not much roster movement last month as we head down the stretch. Let's see how things go from here.

August 28 (54-80)

It's been a very uneventful month. Brett Oberholtzer is ready to come off the disabled list. At the end of last month, I was looking at releasing Jerome Williams, but he's pulled things back together enough to let him stick around. The rest of the starters are doing...okay. No one's really done poorly enough to warrant getting sent down. Looking at the bullpen, Zeid has a 7.20 ERA through 15 innings. I'm not completely giving up on him, but right now he's the least deserving of a spot in Houston, so off he goes to OKC. Oberholtzer gets his rotation spot back and Peacock goes back to long relief.

August Wrapup

55-83 overall. 5th place. 26.5 game back. 9-20 for August.

We're clearly just playing out the string at this point. Harrell continued his bounce back year, putting up a 2.68 ERA in August, though he just went 2-4 to show for it. Fields made 10 appearances and pitched to a 0.63 ERA, while Williams, as mentioned, turned things around for a 1.59 ERA in 11.1 innings. On the downside was Dallas Keuchel, who went 1-5 with a 6.97 ERA while giving up 12 homers in the month.

At the plate, Marc Krauss was the hot hand, hitting .293/.372/.434 on the month with 3 home runs. Robbie Grossman was the laggard, hitting just .208/.288/.226. Other than those two, no one really stood out one way or another.

A few minor league awards to hand out again. George Springer was named American Conference Batter of the Month in the PCL. He hit .319 with 14 homers and 37 RBI in August, heating up just in time for roster expansion next month. Luis Cruz was named Texas League Pitcher of the Month after going 5-0 with a 2.95 ERA. Finally, Josh Hader won Midwest League Pitcher of the Month, going 6-0 witha 2.53 ERA.

The Astros Process: July 2014

July 1

This month starts with the opening of the international signing period. There's a five-tool centerfielder available, but his bonus demands are above the point at which I'd incur penalties, so I'm going to let him pass and spread my money around a little. There's a workhorse of a pitcher from the Dominican Republic named Esteban Contreras with advanced command for a 16 year old and a free swinging centerfielder with speed and power from Venezuela named Luis Martinez. I'll start with those two and watch the market develop. I'll open the bidding on Contreras at $750,000 and Martinez at $310,000. I can spend up to $3M without penalty, so I'm sure I'll jump in on a couple others as the month goes on.

July 3 (35-51)

It's obvious there's going to be a fierce bidding war for these two guys. I won't update every twist and turn, we'll just see how things shake out in the end.

July 6 (36-53)

Robbie Grossman is ready to come off the disabled list. I know a good bit of Springer's struggles are tied to an absurdly low BABIP, but I'm sending him back to AAA hoping he can get things going, regain some confidence, and come back later in the season ready to succeed. Presley and Grossman will platoon in right field.

July 9 (36-56)

After seeing the Rangers jump into the fray for the two international prospects I was targeting, I made a full push to get them signed. Apparently it worked, as the both signed today. Contreras signed for $950,000 and Martinez signed for $392,000. Knowing I have a little more money to play with, I take another look at the international pool. I find a couple of kids who, while not really projecting to be stars, show some intriguing upside and they're relatively inexpensive. One is Victor Gonzales, a Dominican outfielder with blazing speed but average tools otherwise. Right now we're talking in the range of just $50K to get him signed. The other is Jorge Colon, a Venezuelan LHP who could be a back of the rotation or middle relief option if he meets his potential. He's looking for about $700K. They've been talking with some other clubs already, so I jump into the fray. This may lead to these kids getting bid up a little, but I'm comfortable with that with the money I still have available, as long as things don't get out of control.

July 13 (37-58)

The All-Star rosters were announced today. OOTP doesn't require that every team has a representative, and no Astros were named, though a few were worthy. Oberholtzer could have a case for inclusion, as he's currently 9-5 with a 3.43 ERA. Chad Qualls has done well so far as the closer, with 16 saves and a 2.57 ERA. Villar also has room to complain, as he's hitting .280 with 19 steals and 21 doubles.

The All-Star break is also when I look to see if it's time to make any trades, either to improve for this year or deal some veterans for prospects. Since we're in the cellar, there's obviously no use in improving for this season. Jesse Crain has proven himself to be healthy and effective, with a 1.63 ERA through 27.2 innings. He's on a one year deal so I'll see what kind of return I can get for renting him out to a contender. Toronto's holding a slim .5 game lead in the AL East with a 4.64 staff ERA, so let's target them. I offered them Crain for #90 overall prospect, low-A shortstop Franklin Barreto.

Jesus Guzman is arbitration eligible next year and Jon Singleton is starting to come around. I don't expect much in return with him, so I'll just shop him around and take the best offer once he come off the disabled list in a couple weeks.

July 14 (38-58)

Fast but curious response from Alex Anthopoulos. He's not going for the deal straight up, but he may be willing to make the trade if I throw in Jerome Williams. Williams came into the month with a decent 3.22 ERA, but three straight horrible outings have ballooned that number to 6.75. He's also a free agent at the end of the year, so I'm ok with throwing him in the deal as well. I modify the trade and resubmit for his acceptance.

July 15 (38-58)

Apparently someone told Anthopoulos about Williams' latest outings, so he's not going to stick to our handshake deal. I'm a bit peaved about this, so I make a quick flight to Toronto to sit down with him face to face, documents in hand, to make one last attempt to land Barreto. He tells me he'll make the deal if I replace Williams with either Mark Appel or Marc Krauss. I tell him to kiss my Krauss and storm out of the meeting, hop back on the jet, and get back to Houston.

When I land I see I have a missed call from Detroit GM Dave Dombrowski. He heard about what happened with Toronto and he's interested in getting Crain for the stretch run. I take a look at our scouting reports on his prospects and ask for Cory Knebel, an interesting power arm that just got promoted to AAA. Dombrowski agrees and, just that quickly, our deal is done.

That leaves an opening in the bullpen. Josh Zeid has been dominating at AAA so he'll get a shot to keep his hot pitching going in Houston.

July 23 (40-60)

Jesus Guzman is ready to be activated. I'll play him for a few games to showcase that fact that he's back to full strength, then see what I can get for him.

July 25 (41-61)

Jorge Colon signed today. Milwaukee had bid him up to just over $1.2M and I was about to back out, but Colon took my final offer.

In other news, Guzman homered in his first game back and doubled in the next and teams are starting to call but no offers yet. I'll see if I can get someone desperate right at the deadline.

July 27 (43-61)

Victor Gonzales signed with me after the Phillies late push came up short. In farm system news, Colton Cain threw a 1-hit shutout last night for Lancaster, striking out 8 and walking 2.

July 28 (44-62)

Dexter Fowler was named AL Player of the Week. He hit .526 with 2 home run for the week, bringing him up to .284 with 9 homers for the season. He's had just 218 at bats so far due to his injury earlier this year.

In this evening's game, Dallas Keuchel shutout the A's as the Astros won 12-0. Keuchel gave up 5 hits and 3 walks to go with 6 strikeouts.

July 30 (46-62)

Busy month! Good news, bad news today. The OOTP gods awarded me a bronze achievement medal for winning our 6th game in a row, but Brett Oberholtzer hits the disabled list for 4 weeks with shoulder inflammation. Rudy Owens has been pitching well this year at Oklahoma City and he's already on the 40 man roster so, welcome to the big leagues!

July Wrapup

46-63 overall. 5th place. 18.5 games back. 12-13 for the month.

There ended up being no takers for Jesus Guzman. I'll let him play out the season and either deal or non-tender him after the season.

Dallas Keuchel paced the pitching staff in July, going 2-1 with a 2.56 ERA. Jerome Williams sucked eggs, giving up 16 hits and 12 runs in just 6.1 innings. No one wanted to trade for him, so he's about a half-step away from being released. Harrell also came back to earth, putting up a 6.46 ERA for July, but he's still at a respectable 3.58 ERA for the year.

At the plate, Chris Carter got hot again, hitting .283 with 8 home runs for the month, giving him 24 on the season. Jason Castro struggled, hitting just .169 with only extra base hit, a double, though he did add in 11 walks.

A couple awards were handed out to our minor league guys this month. Lancaster pitcher Colton Cain won the California League pitcher of the month after going 5-0 with a 2.13 ERA. Tri-City pitcher Jandel Gustave was untouchable on his way to the New York-Penn League pitcher of the month award. He went 3-1 with an exceptional 1.09 ERA, holding opposing hitters to just a .161 batting average while striking out 42 in 41.1 innings.

The Astros Process: June 2014

Into the dog days...

June 6 (28-34)

Draft Day! Of course, we have the #1 overall pick, so let's see who's available. One of the things I love about the last few versions of OOTP is that they have actual draft prospects, so I get to choose between guys like Brady Aiken, Alex Jackson, Tyler Kolek, and Carlos Rodon. They're all about equally ranked, so I think I'll go with the guy with the lowest bonus demand, lefty Brady Aiken. I'm not much of a draftnik in real life, so I really don't recognize most of the rest of the names. I'll take Mike Elias' advice for the rest of the draft.

June 12 (29-38)

Apparently our 5th round pick wasn't happy with being a 5th round pick. Despite meeting his demand, he's decided to return to college for his senior season. We were surprised he had fallen that far and thought that our extra slot money would be enough to entice him to sign, but I guess $1.5M doesn't go as far as it used to.

June 14 (29-41)

Jesus Guzman hits the disabled list for 6 weeks with a quad strain. He's been about replacement level so far this year, hitting .246 with 5 HR, so it shouldn't be too hard to replace him. Singleton's only hitting .209 at OKC, so he's not coming up. Gregorio Petit is the only other position player on the 40 man at AAA, so he get's the call by default. Krauss will man 1st in Guzman's absence while Petit fills the last man on the bench role.

June 20 (31-44)

The injury bug has bitten. This time it's Grossman going down 2-3 weeks with an intercostal strain. He's been holding his own, with 0.8 WAR so far this year through 60 games. Fowler is due back in just 4 days, so rather than shuttle someone up for such a short time, I'll hold the roster at 24 until then.

June Wrapup

34-50 overall. 5th place, 16.5 GB. 9-18 on the month.

Harrell continues to drastically outperform his FIP (5.43 for June) as he went 3-2 in 5 starts with a 3.34 ERA and more walks than strikeouts. Most of the rest of the staff came crashing down to earth this month as Peacock, White, Bass, Chapman, Fields, and Williams all turned in ERAs over 6.00 for the month. Chapman now has 7.5 BB/9 on the season, so I'm sending him down to work on his control and bringing veteran Raul Valdes up to be my LOOGY. The rest of the staff I'm going to leave alone for now.

Chris Carter's BABIP finally caught up with him and regression took a big chunk out of his butt in June. For the month, he hit just .160 with 1 HR. Springer is slowly crawling out of his hole. He managed a 106 OPS+ for the month and cut down on his strikeouts. Injuries really prevent me from making any moves right now so we'll just keep rolling.

The Astros Process: May 2014

So now we reach the part of the season where weirdness like Springer's .160 BABIP should normalize, so let's see how the Astros do.

May 8 (14-21)

In just his second game after being demoted to OKC, Cosart suffered a torn back muscle and will miss four months. That's a shame, though he may be back in time for roster expansion in September.

May 11 (15-22)

Dexter Fowler, who had been hitting .306, sprained his ankle and will miss 6-7 weeks. Alex Presley is the only other outfielder on the 40-man right now, and he's been doing as well as you'd expect a guy with a couple years of major league experience to do, so he's coming to Houston. Springer shifts over to center field while Presley and Hoes platoon in right.

May 16 (16-25)

Arizona offered me Martin Prado for Lucas Harrell (............keep talking) and Delino DeShields Jr. This reminds me to set DDJ to "untouchable".

Also, the league office informs me that Lancaster pitcher Kyle Smith has been suspended 8 games for his role in an on-field fight.

May 17 (16-27)

Scott Feldman sent me a message today. He's unhappy playing for a loser and wants to be traded. I tell him it's still early, that he knew there'd be struggles this season when he signed, and to try to stick it out. To myself I think "Maybe if you weren't 2-6 with a nearly 5.00 ERA we might not be as bad."

May 18 (17-27)

Lancaster center fielder James Ramsay ruptured his MCL and is out for the season. He was hitting .333. Bummer.

May 19 (17-28)

Albert Pujols hit his 500th career home run off the Astros. Because of course he did. His 6th inning homer off Kevin Chapman gave the Angels the lead as they go on to win 8-6.

May 22 (20-28)

It seems my pep talk with Feldman paid off, as he hurled his first career no-hitter against the Mariners as the Astros won 6-0. He struck out four and walked five, so he was more lucky than dominant, but I'll take it. A quick check with him a couple days later and his morale is much better. It's amazing what happens when you quit whining and start winning.

May 28 (22-31)

Arizona really, really wants to dump Martin Prado. This time they're looking for Carlos Corporan and Dominican League outfielder Luis Payano. Now this is intriguing. Payano doesn't profile to be much more than organizational depth, and I have Max Stassi waiting at AAA. I think he's more than a backup catcher, but I could bring him up as the short side of a platoon situation with Castro to see how he does as I decide what to do with the increasingly expensive Castro going forward. Hoes is struggling horribly, even in his platoon role, so he could go back to AAA to make room for Prado. The downside is that Prado is signed for $11M/yr through 2016. If I do this deal, it eats up any payroll flexibility I have left, not just this year, but next as well, with Castro and Fowler due raises in arbitration.

Bottom line for me is that this makes perfect baseball sense and it doesn't cost me any real prospects. I think I can talk Crane into loosening the purse strings a little. After all, this TV deal has to be worked out soon, right? RIGHT?

May 30 (23-32)

Apparently ticking Feldman off wasn't such a great idea. He's now out 5-6 months with shoulder inflammation. All is not lost, though, as Peacock has dominated at OKC since his demotion, throwing to a 1.78 ERA in 35 innings. I'll call him up and see if he's gotten himself ready for the spotlight again.

May Wrapup

25-32 overall, 14-15 for the month

Quite a bit of roster movement this month, between injuries and trade, and things are looking a little better.  I'm good with the pitching staff, as Alex White works his way back in (1-2, 5.40 ERA in 5 games). Besides White, only Keuchel (4.72) and Chapman (4.09) had ERAs over 4.00 for the month. Believe it or not, Harrell is the ace of the staff so far, leading the way with his 2.87 ERA, though his FIP of 5.43 is scary looking forward. I'll keep a close eye on him to potentially trade him soon while his value is still a little higher. Jesse Crain and Anthony Bass are sporting a 1.50 ERA so far, with Fields not too far behind at 1.91.

Marc Krauss has gotten hot, hitting .304 with 5 HR in May. Chris Carter is still, somehow, keeping up his unreal BABIP and hit another 6 HR this month. George Springer's struggles continue, as he hit just .152 in May. For the season, Carter's hitting .290 with 15 homers and 81 strikeouts. No way he keeps this up much longer, right? Springer is hitting .153 on the season with a .183 BABIP. If things don't turn around for him soon, he'll be the guy going to OKC when Fowler returns.

The Astros Process: April 2014

For the most part, I sim straight through the first month of the season, letting things settle out before I start tweeking things.

Opening Day

The Astros managed just 5 hits off CC Sabathia and company in a 12 inning, 3-1 loss to the Yankees. Scott Feldman went 7.2 innings, giving up just 3 hits and 1 1st inning run. A 4th inning home run by Matt Dominguez kept things tied until a 2 run homer by Brian McCann off Josh Fields (too realistic) put the Yankees on top for the win.

April 6 (2-3)

Toronto offered me Adam Lind for Austin Wates and Jon Singleton. That reminds me to change Singleton's status to "untouchable". REJECTED

April 14 (4-9)

Jesse Crain is ready to come off the disabled list, so it's time to decide who needs to head to OKC. Fields settled down after his opening day meltdown, so I'd say he's safe. Chapman's been struggling, but he's the only lefty in the pen. I could send down Peacock to keep him stretched out as a possible rotation candidate later in the season; he's only pitched two innings so far. Or I could send down Bass, who was the last righty to make the pen coming out of Spring Training and only has 2.2 innings so far, though he hasn't given up a run. Finally, I decide that since Crain hasn't seen competition since mid-season last year, I'm going to put him on a rehab assignment and let the bullpen shake itself out a little more.

April 18 (7-10)

Lucas Harrell shut out the A's on just 3 hits, though he did walk 5, while striking out 5 and inducing a mind blowing 16 groundball outs as Houston won 6-0.

April Wrapup

Houston finished up the month 11-17, 8.5 games back of Seattle in the American League West. The rotation is doing...ok. Oberholtzer is 4-1 but with a 5.10 ERA. Dallas Keuchel has a 3.86 ERA, but is 0-3. Cosart is really the sore spot. He's 0-4 with an 8.89 ERA and 21 walks in 27.1 innings. Josh Fields has only given up one more run after the egg he laid on Opening Day, sitting with a sparkling 1.76 ERA and 10 K/9. I'd like to send Cosart to AAA for a little bit to get right and slide Peacock into the rotation, but his 16.88 ERA is tough to ignore, although it's only in 2.2 innings. Alex White has put in 13.2 innings of rehab work, so I decide to demote Peacock and Cosart and bring up White and Crain. Qualls has done well in the closer role, so I slot Crain in as the 8th inning guy while White takes the 4th slot in the rotation.

On offense, Chris Carter had himself a month, hitting .292/.390/.613 with 9 homers...and 39 strikeouts. His .379 BABIP tells me he probably won't keep this up, but it's nice for now. Dexter Fowler is raking, too, hitting .337/.448/.511. On the down side, Springer is hitting just .154/.198/.385 with 35 strikeouts, though he does have 6 home runs and 19 rbi and an absurdly low .160 BABIP. I'll leave him where he is and hope some more hits start dropping in for him.

On the minor league side, a couple of Quad Cities players took home some awards. Chase Davidson was named hitter of the month in the Midwest League, hitting .371 with 4 homers and 20 RBI. Adrian Houser won the pitcher of the month as he went 4-0 with a 2.06 ERA.

When asked about his pitching, Houser said "I actually never wanted to be a pitcher. I was an outfielder until high school and on the third day of tryouts my coach came up and said, 'Son you couldn't hit a lick even if we put it on a tee for ya.' Well, that ticked me off, so I decided if I couldn't hit I wanted to make sure no one else could either and so here I am."

The Astros Process: Opening Day Roster

I've tried to recreate the Opening Day 40 man roster, as for some reason it only had 31 players on it to start things out. Unfortunately that means I, too, am stuck with Lucas Harrell. For now (cue ominous laugh/music).

Since I'm the one in charge here, Springer Day is Opening Day. Other than that, I think I'll leave the 25 man alone right now. Bo and I sit down to discuss the rotation, depth chart, and lineups. I'm not really wanting to start Harrell in the rotation after his horrid 2013 season, but Bo says to give him one more shot. I acquiesce, but let Bo know that Lucas is on a very short leash.

With Crain starting the season on the disabled list, Bo says he wants to go with a duo of Chad Qualls and Kevin Chapman (remember, in the OOTP universe, Chapman hasn't imploded yet) depending on the matchups, but he'll probably lean on Qualls more.

For the lineup:
CF - Fowler
2B - Altuve
C - Castro
DH - Carter
3B - Dominguez
1B - Krauss (vs R)/RF - Springer (vs L)
RF - Springer (vs R)/1B - Guzman (vs L)
LF - Grossman
SS - Villar

Hoes will be the 4th OF, covering all three positions. Guzman will spend a little time at LF, RF, and 3B. Marwin will back up 2B and SS, with a little time at CF. Finally, Corp is our C2.

Heading into Opening Day, Jim Crane lets me know that he's "evaluated several factors" and that he has no expectations for the season, I can do whatever I want. Awesome.

OOTP predicts this squad will finish 5th in the AL West (shocking) with a 71-91 record. We have the 7th best minor league system, though, highlighted by Correa as the 8th best prospect, Springer at 24th, Folty at 29th, Michael Feliz at 64th, and Domingo Santana at 95th. Curiously missing are Mark Appel and Jon Singleton.

That's all for tonight. Next time we'll get the season started.

The Astros Process

Being the diehard Astros fan that I am, I'll start my first sim with a pretty standard setup, taking over the Astros at the beginning of the 2014 season. True to "The Process" my main philosophy will be to continue building through the minors, supplementing here and there with modestly priced veterans. I did this a couple times already as I worked through my review, and it seems to work, so here's hoping.

Let me list a few small tweaks to the default settings before we get started. First, I can't be fired. I know the first year or two are going to be rough with the Astros and I don't want to get booted before things get rolling. Otherwise, I may be tempted to make moves that are good for the short-term, but don't follow "The Process."

Next, I delegate a few duties. I'll let the minor league managers decide when my PreStros are ready for promotion or demotion and set their rotations and lineups. I'll also let Bo Porter have complete control over his personnel (which also means the minor league coaches).

I've noticed that OOTP can be a little trade happy for my liking, so I'm setting the AI trade frequency from normal to low.

Other than that, we're running this sim straight out of the box. Next time around we'll look at how the team shapes up heading into the regular season.

Welcome

For those of you who know me from twitter or my other workings at Astros County or How Many Altuves, you know that I'm a major fanboi for Out Of The Park Baseball, or OOTP. I've been playing for about 5 years now and have reviewed it for the last two years. Besides the gameplay itself, one of the things I love about OOTP is the great community that surrounds what I describe as everything you could want in a baseball simulation game. I'm constantly talking with James from Astros County, comparing our successes and failures as we pilot our fictional franchises. So I thought I'd put those experiences down here, in a dedicated blog. I hope you enjoy.