We are all guilty of calling the Houston Astros the Houston “Lastros,” this girl included.
With 2014’s season almost in full swing, a lot of MLB fans forgot about the team in Houston. What are they trying to do to make them a team that stands out rather than a team that disappears?
According to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports, there is an experiment that is about to be implemented in Houston. And I literally mean experiment. This sounds like something straight out of The Big Bang Theory. (And sorry boys, Penny isn’t involved)
Hollywood Reporter
“They employ a staff economist. They also employ a guy who left NASA, and another guy who used to design semiconductors. They hired two guys who were bloggers, albeit very smart bloggers, in key front-office roles,” says Heyman.
I’m assuming this strategy is coming into play simply because nothing has worked for the Astros in the past.
The 2013 Astros had a record of 51-111. No, this isn’t a typo. The year before, they had similar record of 55-107. They finished last in the National League Central one year prior to moving to the American League West last year and finishing in the cellar once again. While these numbers make you cringe, remember there are still some benefits to this losing season situation the Astros seem to be famous for. They’ve been able to get No. 1 Draft picks two years in a row, which means young and extremely talented prospects get to shine. See? Silver lining.
In addition, the Astros’ general manager Jeff Luhnow mentioned a specific approach towards contracts in which he explained that “they are willing to make multi-year offers to players other might consider non-stars so long as they believe they’re good enough to be major-leaguers through all their pre-arbitration and arbitration years.”
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So in short, the combination of young players with senior advisers and a staff of everyone from your school’s Science department, I believe this experiment can go one of two ways; it’ll work, or it won’t. Create your own hypothesis. At the end of the day, we all secretly want the Astros to do better. Being the “team that loses” is a reputation nobody wants.
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