Correlation between Winning Percentage and OBP

This week has been interesting, with Brandon Phillips having some not so smart thoughts on on base percentage. Bob Nightengale of USA Today talked to Phillips about it, and Phillips responded with this:

"I don't do that MLB Network on-base percentage (stuff). That's the new thing now. I feel like all of these stats and all of these geeks upstairs, they're messing up baseball, they're just changing the game. It's all about on-base percentage. If you don't get on base, then you suck. That's basically what they're saying. People don't care about RBI or scoring runs, it's all about getting on base."

Coming from a guy like Phillips this isn't very surprising, but just being around a guy like Joey Votto, you'd think he'd be a little more educated. Now I don't expect players to be into advanced statistics, but they at least understand the value of getting on base.

Well today Jon Morosi over at Fox Sports tweeted this:

Interesting on Brandon Phillips/OBP discussion: Royals and Giants finished 16th and 18th in majors, respectively, in team OBP. They did OK.
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) March 25, 2015

Jon's tweet got me thinking. I would assume there is some sort of connection between on base percentage and winning percentage, but just how strong is that correlation? So I decided to crunch the numbers. 

I took the winning percentage of all 30 teams over the past five years (2010-2014). This gave me a decent sample of 150. I did a simple correlation with two different statistics, OBP and wOBA (Weighted on base, which you can read about HERE. Here were the results, in both table form and as a scatter plot

	Winning %	OBP	wOBA
Winning %	1.000
OBP	.535	1.000
wOBA	.547	.908	1.000

Winning Percentage vs. OBP

Winning Percentage vs. wOBA 

As you can see from the scatter plots, there is a pretty strong correlation between winning percentage and both OBP and wOBA, with wOBA being the stronger correlation.

The r value, which describes how strong the correlation is for OBP is .535 while the r value for wOBA is .547.

In general, here is a guide that describes r value and how strong a correlation is (From http://faculty.quinnipiac.edu/libarts/polsci/Statistics.html).

If r = +.70 or higher Very strong positive relationship 

+.40 to +.69 Strong positive relationship 

+.30 to +.39 Moderate positive relationship 

+.20 to +.29 weak positive relationship 

+.01 to +.19 No or negligible relationship 

-.01 to -.19 No or negligible relationship 

-.20 to -.29 weak negative relationship 

-.30 to -.39 Moderate negative relationship 

-.40 to -.69 Strong negative relationship 

-.70 or higher Very strong negative relationship

This shows that the correlation is indeed a strong one, like I had originally suspected. Take notes Brandon Phillips, on base percentage is important.

Other Top Prospect Compilation Bits

Been asked about what the points looked like and what the rest of this list looked like. Here are some more details about the top prospect compilation.

Here are the top 100 with their point totals

Byron Buxton	497
Kris Bryant	495
Addison Russell	488
Carlos Correa	487
Corey Seager	475
Lucas Giolito	471
Francisco Lindor	468
Julio Urias	464
Joey Gallo	448
Noah Syndergaard	439
Miguel Sano	439
Blake Swihart	434
Tyler Glasnow	431
Joc Pederson	427
Jorge Soler	425
JP Crawford	417
Carlos Rodon	415
Jon Gray	402
Archie Bradley	401
Daniel Norris	401
Dylan Bundy	381
Robert Stephenson	368
Braden Shipley	352
Mark Appel	347
Henry Owens	343
David Dahl	342
Hunter Harvey	324
Jameson Taillon	317
Raul Mondesi	311
Alex Jackson	310
Jesse Winker	309
Alex Meyer	300
Andrew Heaney	293
Aaron Sanchez	289
Jorge Alfaro	274
Luis Severino	269
Dalton Pompey	268
Jose Berrios	268
Aaron Nola	261
Austin Meadows	255
Aaron Judge	254
Eddie Butler	254
Jose Peraza	253
Jake Thompson	251
Kyle Schwarber	249
Nomar Mazara	247
Hunter Renfroe	246
Aaron Blair	245
Eduardo Rodriguez	240
Nick Gordon	226
Tyler Kolek	217
Kohl Stewart	214
Kevin Plawecki	214
Steven Matz	207
Matt Wisler	207
Michael Taylor	202
DJ Peterson	192
Josh Bell	188
Tim Anderson	186
Chi Chi Gonzalez	177
Manuel Margot	168
Sean Newcomb	165
Stephen Piscotty	161
Maikel Franco	159
Marco Gonzales	156
Austin Hedges	155
Kyle Zimmer	152
Reynaldo Lopez	151
Alex Reyes	145
Sean Manaea	145
Brandon Nimmo	143
AJ Cole	133
Brandon Finnegan	131
Daniel Robertson	128
Michael Conforto	124
Rafael Devers	117
Albert Almora	116
Steven Souza	113
Vince Velasquez	112
Mike Folty	110
Kyle Freeland	109
Jeff Hoffman	109
Trea Turner	106
Ozhaino Albies	102
Raimel Tapia	99
Amed Rosario	99
Ryan McMahon	96
CJ Edwards	91
Grant Holmes	89
Orlando Arcia	89
Andrew Susac	87
Franklin Barreto	86
JT Realmuto	85
Reese McGuire	83
Raisel Iglesias	82
Rusney Castillo	80
Dilson Herrera	74
Clint Frazier	69
Justin O'Conner	68
Rio Ruiz	66

Here are the others

101	Miguel Amonte	62
102	Nick Kingham	61
103	Willy Adames	59
104	Lucas Sims	54
105	Michael Lorenzen	51
106	Matt Olson	48
t107	Jake Lamb	44
t107	Yasmany Tomas	44
109	Joe Ross	43
110	Billy McKinney	38
111	Dominic Smith	36
112	Max Fried	35
113	Touki Touissant	33
t114	Nick Williams	30
t114	Domingo Santana	30
116	Colin Moran	28
117	Brett Phillips	25
118	Chance Sisco	23
119	Kyle Crick	22
t120	Greg Bird	21
t120	Alen Hanson	21
t122	Derek Hill	19
t122	Tyrell Jenkins	19
t122	Brian Johnson	19
125	Pierce Johnson	18
t126	Francisco Mejia	17
t126	Brad Zimmer	17
t126	Erick Fedde	17
t126	Brandon Drury	17
130	Rob Kaminsky	16
131	Adalberto Mejia	15
132	Kyle Crick	13
t133	Lewis Thorpe	10
t133	Francelis Montas	10
t135	Christian Bethancourt	8
t135	Spencer Adams	8
t135	Tyrone Taylor	8
t135	Max Pentecost	8
139	Hunter Dozier	6
140	Luis Ortiz	5
141	Marcos Molina	3
142	Nick Burdi	2
t143	Steven Moya	1
t143	Jacob Lindgren	1

Top Prospect Compilation

Here is a compilation of five of the 2015 top prospect lists (Baseball Prospectus, MLB.com, Fangraphs, Baseball America, and ESPN (Keith Law).

Rank	Player	Team	Position
1	Byron Buxton	Minnesota Twins	OF
2	Kris Bryant	Chicago Cubs	3B
3	Addison Russell	Chicago Cubs	SS
4	Carlos Correa	Houston Astros	SS
5	Corey Seager	Los Angeles Dodgers	SS
6	Lucas Giolito	Washington Nationals	RHP
7	Francisco Lindor	Cleveland Indians	SS
8	Julio Urias	Los Angeles Dodgers	LHP
9	Joey Gallo	Texas Rangers	3B
t10	Noah Syndergaard	New York Mets	RHP
t10	Miguel Sano	Minnesota Twins	3B
12	Blake Swihart	Boston Red Sox	C
13	Tyler Glasnow	Pittsburgh Pirates	RHP
14	Joc Pederson	Los Angeles Dodgers	OF
15	Jorge Soler	Chicago Cubs	OF
16	JP Crawford	Philadelphia Phillies	SS
17	Carlos Rodon	Chicago White Sox	LHP
18	Jon Gray	Colorado Rockies	RHP
t19	Archie Bradley	Arizona Diamondbacks	RHP
t19	Daniel Norris	Toronto Blue Jays	LHP
21	Dylan Bundy	Baltimore Orioles	RHP
2	Robert Stephenson	Cincinnati Reds	RHP
23	Braden Shipley	Arizona Diamondbacks	RHP
24	Mark Appel	Houston Astros	RHP
25	Henry Owens	Boston Red Sox	LHP
26	David Dahl	Colorado Rockies	OF
27	Hunter Harvey	Baltimore Orioles	RHP
28	Jameson Taillon	Pittsburgh Pirates	RHP
29	Raul Mondesi	Kansas City Royals	SS
30	Alex Jackson	Seattle Mariners	OF
31	Jesse Winker	Cincinnati Reds	OF
32	Alex Meyer	Minnesota Twins	RHP
33	Andrew Heaney	Los Angeles Angels	LHP
34	Aaron Sanchez	Toronto Blue Jays	RHP
35	Jorge Alfaro	Texas Rangers	C
36	Luis Severino	New York Yankees	RHP
t37	Dalton Pompey	Toronto Blue Jays	OF
t37	Jose Berrios	Minnesota Twins	RHP
39	Aaron Nola	Philadelphia Phillies	RHP
40	Austin Meadows	Pittsburgh Pirates	OF
t41	Aaron Judge	New York Yankees	OF
t41	Eddie Butler	Colorado Rockies	RHP
43	Jose Peraza	Atlanta Braves	2B
44	Jake Thompson	Texas Rangers	RHP
45	Kyle Schwarber	Chicago Cubs	C
46	Nomar Mazara	Texas Rangers	OF
47	Hunter Renfroe	San Diego Padres	OF
48	Aaron Blair	Arizona Diamondbacks	RHP
49	Eduardo Rodriguez	Boston Red Sox	LHP
50	Nick Gordon	Minnesota Twins	SS
51	Tyler Kolek	Miami Marlins	RHP
t52	Kohl Stewart	Minnesota Twins	RHP
t52	Kevin Plawecki	New York Mets	C
t54	Steven Matz	New York Mets	LHP
t54	Matt Wisler	San Diego Padres	RHP
56	Michael Taylor	Washington Nationals	OF
57	DJ Peterson	Seattle Mariners	1B
58	Josh Bell	Pittsburgh Pirates	1B
59	Tim Anderson	Chicago White Sox	SS
60	Chi Chi Gonzalez	Texas Rangers	RHP
61	Manuel Margot	Boston Red Sox	OF
62	Sean Newcomb	Los Angeles Angels	LHP
63	Stephen Piscotty	St. Louis Cardinals	OF
64	Maikel Franco	Philadelphia Phillies	3B
65	Marco Gonzales	St. Louis Cardinals	LHP
66	Austin Hedges	San Diego Padres	C
67	Kyle Zimmer	Kansas City Royals	RHP
68	Reynaldo Lopez	Washington Nationals	RHP
t69	Alex Reyes	St. Louis Cardinals	RHP
t69	Sean Manaea	Kansas City Royals	LHP
71	Brandon Nimmo	New York Mets	OF
72	AJ Cole	Washington Nationals	RHP
73	Brandon Finnegan	Kansas City Royals	LHP
74	Daniel Robertson	Tampa Bay Rays	SS
75	Michael Conforto	New York Mets	OF
76	Rafael Devers	Boston Red Sox	3B
77	Albert Almora	Chicago Cubs	OF
78	Steven Souza	Tampa Bay Rays	OF
79	Vince Velasquez	Houston Astros	RHP
80	Mike Folty	Atlanta Braves	RHP
t81	Kyle Freeland	Colorado Rockies	LHP
t81	Jeff Hoffman	Toronto Blue Jays	RHP
83	Trea Turner	Washington Nationals	SS
84	Ozhaino Albies	Atlanta Braves	SS
t85	Raimel Tapia	Colorado Rockies	OF
t85	Amed Rosario	New York Mets	SS
87	Ryan McMahon	Colorado Rockies	3B
88	CJ Edwards	Chicago Cubs	RHP
t89	Grant Holmes	Los Angeles Dodgers	RHP
t89	Orlando Arcia	Milwaukee Brewers	SS
91	Andrew Susac	San Francisco Giants	C
92	Franklin Barreto	Oakland Athletics	SS
93	JT Realmuto	Miami Marlins	C
94	Reese McGuire	Pittsburgh Pirates	C
95	Raisel Iglesias	Cincinnati Reds	RHP
96	Rusney Castillo	Boston Red Sox	OF
97	Dilson Herrera	New York Mets	2B
98	Clint Frazier	Cleveland Indians	OF
99	Justin O'Conner	Tampa Bay Rays	C
100	Rio Ruiz	Atlanta Braves	3B

Here are the breakdowns by position and team

Team	#
Arizona Diamondbacks	3
Atlanta Braves	4
Baltimore Orioles	2
Boston Red Sox	6
Chicago Cubs	6
Chicago White Sox	2
Cincinnati Reds	3
Cleveland Indians	2
Colorado Rockies	6
Detroit Tigers	0
Houston Astros	3
Kansas City Royals	4
Los Angeles Angels	2
Los Angeles Dodgers	4
Miami Marlins	2
Milwaukee Brewers	1
Minnesota Twins	6
New York Mets	7
New York Yankees	2
Oakland Athletics	1
Philadelphia Phillies	3
Pittsburgh Pirates	5
San Diego Padres	3
San Francisco Giants	1
Seattle Mariners	2
St. Louis Cardinals	3
Tampa Bay Rays	3
Texas Rangers	5
Toronto Blue Jays	4
Washington Nationals	5

Position	#
Right Handed Pitcher	33
Left Handed Pitcher	12
Catcher	9
First Base	2
Second Base	2
Third Base	7
Shortstop	14
Outfield	21

If I were commissioner for a day

A lot of people think they have all of the solutions to fix the so called problems that baseball has at the moment.  Those problems range from length of games to hall of fame voting to the free agency to many, many others.  Like me, I'm sure that you would all love to be able to implement some changes to the game that we all know and love.  Well I'm taking a crack at it.  Let's say that Major League Baseball allows me for one day to step in and make any changes that I see fit, as long as they positively effect the game.  Well here are my changes:

Implement the DH in the National League

The National League and the American League having different rules, but having the same roster construction is a big problem in baseball.  The ability to simply throw some in the DH role if they can't play defense or if they are getting up their in age is a distinct advantage for the AL when it comes to roster construction.  There is a reason that you have seen the big free agent sluggers land longer and larger deals to play in the AL.  AL teams were able to ink guys like Prince Fielder, Albert Pujols, and Robinson Cano to longer deals because they have the luxury to stick them at DH later in their career.  Then there is a guy like Jose Abreu.  While he was expected to hit, there were big question marks as to what kind of fielder he would be.  This is one of the main reasons that most of his suitors were in the AL.  Until this problem is fixed, the AL has a distinct advantage when it comes to building a roster.  Also, with the increased number of interleague games, it creates problems for both leagues.  When playing in AL parks, NL teams are forced to use bench players as their DH while AL clubs can use their regular DH.  When playing in NL parks, AL teams are forced to have their pitchers hit, which increases the chance of injury for guys that aren't use to hitting or running the bases.  The only solution here is to add the DH to the NL as well and level the playing field for everyone. 

Create a more balanced schedule

I read a great article by Matthew Truebllod over at Arm Side Run (http://armsiderun.wordpress.com/) about how the MLB schedule is preventing many fans from seeing most of the league's players.  More hardcore fans often have MLB.tv or some sort of package like Extra Innings so they are able to watch more games, but the casual fan usually only watches what is on their television or whomever comes to their home park.  The current schedule, with the extreme amount of intradivisional games, doesn't allow for the casual fan to see all of the league's talent.  Matt uses Andrew McCutchen as an example, showing that in his 2013 MVP winning season, Cutch played 115 of the 157 games he played in NL Central parks.  That means he only played 42 games of an 162 game season in parks that were not in the NL Central.  This lack of exposure is really hurting the game.  This is why baseball should go to a schedule to what the NHL implemented this year.  Each teams plays a home and home with every team in the league.  The remaining games would be played against divisional opponents.  While this might require more 2 game series and subsequently more travel, it would greatly improve the exposure of the league.  Fans would get a chance to see all of their star players come through their home park every year.  The schedule would look something like this, using the Cubs as an example.

4 games (2 home and 2 away) vs. all of the AL teams=60 games
6 games (3 home and 3 away) vs. all other NL teams outside of the Central-60 games
Final 42 games (5 or 6 home and 5 or 6 away) against remaining 4 NL Central opponents

This schedule might be a little more difficult logistically, but I believe it would great help the league as a whole.  It could obviously use some tweaking and this is just a very basic look at things, but that's my suggestion.

Fix the Hall of Fame voting

The Hall of Fame is a museum showcasing the best things Major League Baseball.  The steroid era is one that not only existed in baseball history, but it also brought back baseball in 1998 with the home run race.  This is why there should be nothing keeping guys linked to steroids out of the Hall of Fame.  While I'm the least certain of how to fix the voting problem, I believe numbers are the answer.  Jay Jaffe has created JAWS, which is a numbers based system to decide who should be in the Hall of Fame.  The Players Union and the league, in partnership with Cooperstown should come up with some sort of system similar to JAWS to get players into the Hall.  There is no reason that guys like Barry Bonds, Pete Rose, Roger Clemens, and many more absolutely deserve to be enshrined among baseball's greats.

Fixing the length of games problems

I for one have no issue with the length of games.  The longer I can be watching baseball, the better.  However, this is a serious problem for the baseball's ability to attract and keep the casual fan.  I have a couple solutions that might potentially fix this problem.  The first is very simple, force batters to stay in the batter's box in between pitches, similar to in high school. This is basic, but some guys take FOREVER in between pitches messing with their batting gloves, adjusting their jock, etc.  All of this is incredibly unnecessary and adds minutes to games.  The second solution is to limit the number of mound visits per inning game.  There will no longer be any mound visits by a coach unless he is removing a pitcher.  Coach visits are 99% of the time useless and are nothing more than a coach giving a brief pep talk to his pitcher, which most of the time the pitcher doesn't pay attention to anyways.  In addition to coach visits, defensive players will not be allowed to visit the mound either.  If the players want to talk defensive positioning or strategy, they can do it through hand signals or however they want to.  Hell, allow the bench coach to hold up signs in the dugout like college football players signaling in plays.  I really don't care how they do it, but there are much faster ways than coming to talk to the pitcher multiple times per inning.

Updated Prospect List

Well Spring is here and players have reported to Spring Training (Although it's currently 20 degrees and snowing heavily here in Chicago).  With the season fast approaching, all of the prospect rankers have released their annual top prospect lists.  With all of the lists out, I have updated my top prospect list, which is a compilation of Baseball Prospectus, MLB.com, Scout, ESPN, Fangraphs, and Baseball America.  

A couple of notes about the list.  Scout didn't rank several players who are expected to start in the big leagues (Xander Bogaerts, Nick Castellanos, Travis d'Arnaud, Jackie Bradley Jr., Billy Hamilton, Kolten Wong, and Matt Davidson), so for their point total for Scout, I simply took an average of all of the other rankings.  Baseball America ranked 3 players that no other list did (Masahiro Tanaka, Jose Abreu, and Carlos Martinez), so I just skipped over them and continued the list when awarding my point totals.

Without further ado, here is your list of top prospects, according to all of the prospect rankers:

1. Byron Buxton

2. Xander Bogaerts

3. Oscar Taveras

4. Carlos Correa

5. Javier Baez

6. Archie Bradley

7. Addison Russell

8. Francisco Lindor

9. Miguel Sano

10. Taijuan Walker

11. Kris Bryant

12. Gregory Polanco

13. Jonathan Gray

14. Noah Syndergaard

15. George Springer

16. Dylan Bundy

17. Kevin Gausman

18. Mark Appel

19. Kyle Zimmer

20-t. Lucas Giolito

20-t. Robert Stephenson

22-t. Albert Almora

22-t. Jameson Taillon

24. Eddie Butler

25. Austin Hedges

26. Nick Castellanos

27. Yordano Ventura

28. Aaron Sanchez

29. Corey Seager

30. Andrew Heaney

31. Tyler Glasnow

32. Raul Mondesi

33. Maikel Franco

34. Travis D'Arnaud

35. Alex Meyer

36. Jackie Bradley

37. Kyle Crick

38. Joc Pederson

39. Clint Frazier

40. Jorge Soler

41. Henry Owens

42. Julio Urias

43. Lucas Sims

44. Marcus Stroman

45. Max Fried

46. Billy Hamilton

47-t. Kohl Stewart

47-t. Rougned Odor

49. Matt Wisler 

50. Jorge Alfaro

51. Eduardo Rodriguez

52. Austin Meadows

53. Mike Foltynewicz

54. CJ Edwards

55. Braden Shipley

56. Garin Cecchini

57. Colin Moran

58. Gary Sanchez

59. Chris Owings

60. Kolten Wong

61. Erik Johnson

62. Jonathan Singleton

63. David Dahl

64. Blake Swihart

65. Mookie Betts

66. Hunter Harvey

67. AJ Cole

68. Jesse Biddle

69. JP Crawford

70. Stephen Piscotty

71. Eddie Rosario

72. Zach Lee

73. Nick Kingham

74. Alen Hanson

75. Miguel Almonte

76. Matt Davidson

77. DJ Peterson

78. Christian Bethancourt

79-t. Arismendy Alcantara

79-t. Reese McGruire

81. Dominic Smith

82. Rafael Montero

83. Allen Webster

84. Lance McCullers 

85. Jake Marisnick

86. Jake Odorizzi

87. Rosell Herrera

88. Taylor Guerrieri 

89. Jonathan Schoop

90-t. Phillip Ervin

90-t. James Paxton

92. Hak-Ju Lee

93. Edwin Escobar

94. Josh Bell

95. Matt Barnes

96-t. Justin Nicolino

96-t. Pierce Johnson

98. Luis Sardinas

99. Joey Gallo

100. Delino Deshields

There is your top 100!!  Here are the guys who just missed the cut, in order of how many points they received:

Michael Choice

Vincent Velasquez

Jorge Bonifacio

Josmil Pinto

Jose Berrios

Trevor Bauer

Mason Williams

Hunter Dozier

Brian Goodwin

Trey Ball

Sean Manaea

Jimmy Nelson

Chi Chi Gonzalez

Wilmer Flores

Hunter Renfroe

Alberto Tirado

Casey Kelly

Enny Romero

Dan Vogelbach

Alex Gonzalez

Nick Williams

Devon Travis

Tyler Austin

Alex Colome

Chris Anderson

Mauricio Cabrera

Marcus Semien

Brandon Nimmo

Roberto Osuna

Taylor Lindsey

Tim Anderson

Jesse Hahn

Nick Ciuffo

Raimel Tapia

Alexander Reyes

Robbie Ray

Jose Ramirez

Rob Kaminsky

Jose Peraza

Louis Thorpe

Mitch Nay

Pitchers and Catchers Report!

Beautiful.

Houston Astros

2013: 51-111 
2012 Season Recap
2013 Season Preview

Houston's inaugural season in the American League ended about as well as their last season in the National League....in last place.  We told you that the 2013 version could literally go no where but up...

Then Houston promptly goes out and proves us wrong by somehow finishing last year worst than their just as woeful 2012.  How bad was it?  A game in September drew a 0.0 rating in the Houston area, which means that there was no statistical way that Nielsen could prove that anyone actually watched the game.  Nielsen stats were probably unnecessary too since the only way to catch an Astros game in Houston is if you happen to be a Comcast subscriber.  It was a pretty bad 2013 in Space City.  

Et tu, Olympics? 

But that doesn't mean that all hope is lost. The biggest moves and improvement that the Astros made weren't as much on the field as in the General Manager's office.  In the time since taking over their reins of the front office in late 2011, GM Jeff Luhnow has built up the Astros farm system to arguably a top five organization.  


What Houston found out the hard way is that being perennially awful also leads to high draft picks. The Astros top five prospects are all former first round picks including the top picks from 2012 (SS Carlos Correa) and 2013 (RHP Mark Appel).

Those picks with a new collective bargaining agreement that provides significant advantages to teams with lower records allowed Luhnow to make shrewd signings for prospects like Lance McCullers Jr. and Rio Ruiz along with trades for guys like Jonathan Singleton, Asher Wojciechowski, and Domingo Santana.  The future for Houston is looking up.    

In the meantime, who's left to compete in Minute Maid Park until the kids are ready is the remnants of a complete overhaul and dismantling of anything that resembled a Major League team from the previous ownership/management.  That's not to say there isn't any fresh, young, talent in the Big Leagues.  Top pitching prospects Jarred Cosart and Brett Oberholtzer made the ascent to Space City during last season, landed in the rotation, stayed there, and showed flashes of their potential along with occasional brilliance.

Catcher Jason Castro established himself as a bona fide major leaguer as the Astros lone ASG representative; mighty midget 2B Jose Altuve is only 23

The offseason brought in veterans like OF Dexter Fowler to help bring youngsters like J.D. Martinez, Robbie Grossman and L.J. Hoes along.  Perennial journeyman/midseason trade bait Scott Feldman brings his veteran presence along with a friendly contract to the rotations to help increase his trade value as much as possible before the deadline provide his veteran leadership to the young throwers.  In the bullpen, vets Chad Qualls and Matt Albers were signed along with a trade for Anthony Bass to join an injured-but-recovering Jesse Crain to stop-the-bleeding-as-much-as-possible if the starters run into trouble (or try to hold on for dear life if they somehow are provided with a lead).

TOP STORYLINES FOR THE 2014 HOUSTON ASTROS

1.  Can this team possible be any worse than last year's squad?  (hint: the answer is NO)

2.  If the answer to Question 1 is "no", how much better can this team be from last year (hint: the answer is "not a lot.")


3.  So if you guys have already spoiled, questions #1 and #2, what other questions are there?  

4 - 10: How good can prospect ________________ be and when will we see him in Houston?

(answers for #4 - #10: pick any of the following)  

• Carlos Correa
• George Springer 
• Mark Appel
• Mike Foltynewicz
• Jonathan Singleton
• Asher Wojciechowski
• Lance McCullers Jr
• Domingo Santana
• Vince Velasquez
• Michael Feliz
• Delino DeShields Jr. (yes, he's the son of that Delino DeShields)
• Jake Buchanan
• Nolan Fontana

BONUS QUESTIONS:

X.  Dexter Fowler: the spark the Astros need or just another Coors Field hitter?
X.  Will Scott Feldman be gone by the trade deadline?
X.  Can Jesse Crain be healthy enough to be another trade chip too?
X.  Who will the Astros draft with their 3rd consecutive #1 overall pick in the draft?
X.  Will anyone be able to watch them?


Any of these above prospects have the talent and potential to be in the Big Leagues by the end of this year.  With the growing trend of teams not being afraid to push youngsters to reach The Show when they're still legally unable to rent a car, you can probably expect to see some of these guys in Minute Maid Park by the end of the year.

Hey, trust me Houston fans.  I feel your pain.  I know what it's like to support a losing baseball team.  I am a Tiger's fan that had to watch my team from literally the entire 1990s and early 2000s suck really, really, hard.  We lost 119 games one year.  Even the Astros haven't done that.  But every summer, we'd still hit up the park.  Tickets were cheap, food was cheap, and you got to see future stars before they were famous.

It was disheartening to see the poor attendance and overall lack of enthusiasm for the home team living in Houston last year (outside of a few die-hards, whose sarcasm and honest-till-it-hurts-analysis makes me respect the loyal Astros fans) .  I can't say that I blame the fans but trust me...this will be an exciting team in the near future and the future for many of these exciting young players is now.

Watch the dynamic, youthful talent in Houston and support your home team and do it this year before the team gets competitive, tickets get expensive, and everyone you hate jumps on the bandwagon faster than a Texans playoff season.  You'll be happy you did.