Astros Retrospective: 1970s

Astros By Decade

1970-1979

Blue Shooting Star (1970)

Orange Shooting Star (1971-1974)

Rainbow Uniforms (1975-1979)

Take out 1975, and the 1970s was a decade of stability as the Astros stayed around .500 and either third or fourth place.  Finally, in 1979, the Astros stepped up by winning 89 games and reaching second place, only 1.5 games out of first place.  It was a sign of things to come, as the Astros would begin two and a half decades of sustained success.  It's interesting to think just how could they could have been if they still had Joe Morgan, Rusty Staub, Mike Cuellar, John Mayberry, and the like.

The 1970s in Houston were dominated by a few star players.  Cesar Cedeno, J.R. Richard, and Bob Wastson would be the center piece of the franchise for the majority of the decade.  Doug Rader and Roger Metzger solidified the left side of the infield, contributing greatly to the stability.  The upswing at the end of the decade was aided largely by the success of Richard, Joe Niekro, and Joe Sambito, as well as the addition of guys like Alan Ashby, Jose Cruz, and Terry Puhl.

Record:  793-817, .492

Best Year:  1979 (89-73, 2nd of 6)

Worst Year:  1975 (64-97-1, 6th of 6)

Team of the Decade:

C:  Johnny Edwards (1970-1974)  Basically three full seasons and two part time seasons of decent offense.  There's not much to choose from here.

1B:  Bob Watson (1970, 1975-1979)  Some pretty good seasons here, a .808 OPS in his years in Houston.

2B:  Tommy Helms (1972-1975)  After trading Joe Morgan, the Astros struggled at this position until they got...Joe Morgan back in 1980.

3B:  Doug Rader (1970-1975)  Three twenty home run seasons, not an easy feat in the Astrodome in the 70s.

SS:  Roger Metzger (1971-1978)  The Texas native was the full time shortstop for basically the whole decade.

LF:  Bob Watson (1971-1974)  A .300 average and .800 OPS over these four seasons.

CF:  Cesar Cedeno (1970-1979)  One of the best all time Astros, he had over 1600 hits, 343 doubles, 55 triples, and nearly 500 stolen bases with a .805 OPS in his career in Houston.

RF:  Jimmy Wynn (1970-1973)  1970 and 1972 were very good, 1971 and 1973 not nearly as good.  He had one more good season for the Dodgers in 1974 before hanging on for just three more seasons.

SP:  J.R. Richard (1971-1979)  After a slow start to his career, by 1976, his only 20 win season, he was one of the best starters in the league.  The very unfortunate on field stroke in 1980 ended what could have been a Hall of Fame career.  Over 300 strikeouts in 1978 and 1979 with 9.9 and 9.6 strikeouts per nine innings.

SP:  Larry Dierker (1970-1976)  Not as good as his 1960s, but still a solid starter over six seasons.

SP:  Don Wilson (1970-1974)  His 1971 and 1972 seasons were very good.

SP:  Dave Roberts (1972-1975)  On this list largely due to his 1973 season (17-11, 2.85 ERA, over 249 innings) but he had three other good seasons.

SP:  Joe Niekro (1975-1979)  Largely a relief pitcher until 1977, he won 21 games in 1979 for the first of back-to-back twenty win seasons.  Interestingly he would peak in his mid- to late-30s.

CL:  Joe Sambito (1976-1979)  The Astros' first great relief pitcher, his 1979 season (see below) was key to their very successful season.

Notable Performances:

Cesar Cedeno 1972: .320/.385/.537, 22 HR, 82 RBI, 39 2B, 8 3B, 55 SB, 162 OPS+

Denis Menke 1970: .304/.392/.441, 13 HR, 92 RBI, 26 2B, 82 BB, 127 OPS+

Jimmy Wynn 1970: .282/.394/.493, 27 HR, 88 RBI, 32 2B, 24 SB, 106 BB, 141 OPS+

Bob Watson 1973: .312/.403/.449, 16 HR, 94 RBI, 24 2B, 85 BB, 137 OPS+

J.R. Richard 1979:  18-13, 2.71 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 19 CG, 292 IP, 313 K, 130 ERA+

Don Wilson 1971: 16-10, 2.45 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 18 CG, 268 IP, 180 K, 138 ERA+

Joe Niekro 1979: 21-11, 3.00 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 11 CG, 264 IP, 119 K, 117 ERA+

Joe Sambito 1979: 8-7-22, 1.77 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, 91 IP, 83 K, 199 ERA+

Best Trade:

Joe Cannon, Pete Hernandez, and Mark Lemongello to the Blue Jays for Alan Ashby (November 27, 1978)

            They gave up not much for an everyday catcher for the next ten years, not to mention a pretty good announcer for the next few decades.

Worst Trade:

Joe Morgan, Cesar Geronimo, Jack Billingham, Ed Armbrister, and Denis Menke to the Reds for Tommy Helms, Lee May, and Jimmy Stewart (November 29,1971)

            One of the worst trades you will see.  One of the all time great middle infielders, a solid starting pitcher, and a good outfielder for three seasons of adequate play at first base and three and a half not very good play at second base.  Using baseball-reference, this was a -82.8 WAR trade for the Astros.  That's terrible.

Best Draft:

1976

            1st round (1st overall) Floyd Bannister

            3rd round (49th overall) Reggie Baldwin

            4th round (73rd overall) Jim Pankovits

            8th round (169th overall) Dave Smith

            17th round (385th overall) Bert Roberge

Floyd Bannister, after two MLB seasons, was traded for Craig Reynolds.  Bert Roberge had a good relief season of 32 innings in 1979.  So basically their best drafted netted them a very good closer (Smith), a decent shortstop (Reynolds), a utility player (Pankovits), and half a good season from a relief pitcher.

Worst Draft:

1971

            1st round (12th overall) Neil Rasmussen - next pick Frank Tanana, George Brett and Mike Schmidt in the second round

            2nd round (36th overall) Art Gardner

            3rd round (58th overall) Paul Siebert - 7 picks later Ron Guidry

            4th round (82nd overall) David Warburton

            5th round (106th overall) James Donker

            6th round (130th overall) Marc Cochran

            You get the idea.

Art Gardner had a total of 96 ABs for the Astros in 1975 and 1977, hitting .167/.216/.167.  Paul Siebert pitched 69 innings over three seasons with a 1-5 record, 3.25 ERA, and 1.514 WHIP for the Astros.

1970 and 1972 and 1974 and 1975 and 1977 weren't much better, but they did not have the talent of 1971.