Astros Retrospective: 2000s

Astros By Decade

2000-2009

Brick Red Uniforms (2000-2009)

The decade started with much promise.  The Astros were coming off three straight years in the playoffs.  They were moving into their new downtown stadium Enron Field (later Minute Maid Park).  But the first year in the new stadium was a difficult one, especially for some of the pitchers, Jose Lima in particular, who struggled to adjust to the much smaller ballpark.  It would take a few years, and a new batch of pitchers, for them to figure out you could be a flyball pitcher in the smaller ballpark if you kept it in the middle of the field.

The Astros fairly quickly recovered, returning to the postseason in 2001, but again bowing out early to the Braves.  A few years later came the big news.  Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens decided to come "home" to Houston.  The Pettitte and Clemens saga is too grandiose to cover here, but they did bring success in the form of the first playoff success in Astros history.  In 2004, Carlos Beltran was the late season acquisition who dominated and nearly pushed the Astros to the World Series.  The next year, after a terrible start and the infamous R.I.P. on the Houston Chronicle, the team got hot and they rode it all the way to the franchise's first ever World Series, despite Albert Pujols' best efforts.  The Astros were swept, but that really was an unjust final tally because they were probably the only team in baseball history that was swept but could have easily won each game if not for a few unlucky incidents.

Then came some of the most difficult years in Astros history.  After a decade of success, Houston fans expected more of the same.  As the team got older, the front office tried to fulfill the "win now" mentality by bring in one over-priced veteran after another (Carlos Lee, Kazuo Matsui, Ivan Rodriguez, Brian Moehler, Mike Hampton, Russ Ortiz, Miguel Tejada, etc).  It was a bad mistake.  The team kept getting worse and the cupboard more bare with all the prospects shipped away.  Within a handful of years they went from one of the best Minor League systems in baseball to the worst.  Something had to be done, and drastic measures had to be taken.

Record:  832-787, .514

Best Year:  2005 (89-73, 2nd of 6, reached World Series)

Worst Year:  2000, (72-90, 4th of 6)

Team of the Decade:

C:  Brad Ausmus (2001-2008)  By all accounts he called a great game and was a real field general behind the plate.  All the veterans respected him.  I always suspected he would be a great manager, and while it has not been all great in Detroit, he still has a lot of time.

1B:  Jeff Bagwell (2000-2005)  One great year, then injuries got the best of him.  It is fun to imagine his entire career in Minute Maid.

2B:  Craig Biggio (2000-2002, 2005-2007)  Some good years here, but not like the 90s.  He moved to the outfield when the Astros signed Jeff Kent for a few years, but he clearly did not have the arm for it.  Still, nothing can take away the thrill of his 3000 hit.

3B:  Morgan Ensberg (2000, 2002-2007)  Had a brilliant year in 2005 (4th in MVP voting), but fell off hard and quick after that.  The quest for stability at this position continues.

SS:  Adam Everett (2002-2007)  Never a great hitter, for years it seemed like the 7-8-9 of Ausmus/Everett/pitcher was an easy 1-2-3, but by many defensive matrices he was one of the best fielding shortstops of the decade.

LF:  Carlos Lee (2007-2009)  Had a great first year, a couple more good years, then became the huge contract nobody wanted.  In some ways he is the epitome of the late-00s, early -10s Astros.

CF:  Willy Taveras (2004-2006)  All of the outfield spots had a lot of turnover in this decade.  I could have gone with Michael Bourn, but Taveras was slightly better in two full years.

RF:  Lance Berkman (2000-2002, 2004-2007) Bending the rules a little bit to get him on the list, but he had to be on here.  Fat Elvis, Big Tuna, whatever you want to call him I loved the guy.  Played all over the outfield and first base, wherever the team needed him.  Had a career trajectory to be an all time great, but stalled in 2009 and will probably end up in the hall of very good.

SP:  Roy Oswalt (2001-2009)  Twenty wins twice, and 19 another year, he is one of the all-time great Astros starters.  Unlucky to have been a rookie the same year as Albert Pujols or he would have won ROY easily.  A great down-home foil to the next two guys.

SP:  Roger Clemens (2004-2006)  It hurts to have him on here, but you cannot deny his importance in the playoff runs in the mid-2000s. 

SP:  Andy Pettitte (2004-2006)  I never liked him, but his 2005 season in particular was too good to leave him off.  My lasting image of him on the Astros is seeing him shout "Oh my God!" from the top step of the dugout when Pujols sent the Lidge pitch into orbit in the 2005 NLCS, which is only funny in retrospect thanks to the next game.

SP:  Wade Miller (2000-2004)  Had some pretty good years, averaging 15 wins over three seasons, then quickly fell off the face of the earth.

SP:  Wandy Rodriguez (2005-2009)  The last surviving member of the 2005 pennant winning team when he was traded in 2012.  He was a good #3 or #4 starter who was forced into being an ace, and did pretty well, when the big guys left.

CL:  Billy Wagner (2000-2003)  Deserves more of a look for the Hall of Fame.  Yes, only 903 innings.  Yes, five teams.  But look at his K/9 and WHIP career records.  At his best he was dominant as any closer.

Notable Performances:

Lance Berkman 2006: .315/.420/.621, 45 HR, 136 RBI, 29 2B, 98 BB, 163 OPS+

Jeff Bagwell 2000: .310/.424/.615, 47 HR, 132 RBI, 37 2B, 9 SB, 107 BB, 152 OPS+

Richard Hidalgo 2000: .314/.391/.636, 44 HR, 122 RBI, 42 2B, 13 SB, 56 BB, 147 OPS+

Moises Alou 2000: .355/.416/.623, 30 HR, 114 RBI, 28 2B, 52 BB, 151 OPS+

Morgan Ensberg 2005:  .283/.388/.557, 36 HR, 101 RBI, 30 2B, 85 BB, 144 OPS+

Roger Clemens 2005:  13-8, 1.87 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, 1 CG, 211 IP, 185 K, 226 ERA+

Andy Pettitte 2005: 17-9, 2.39 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 222 IP, 171 K, 177 ERA+

Roy Oswalt 2002: 19-9, 3.01 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 233 IP, 208 K, 144 ERA+

Billy Wagner 2003: 1-4-44, 1.78 ERA, 0.87 WHIP, 86 IP, 105 K, 247 ERA+

Brad Lidge 2004:  6-5-29, 1.90 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, 95 IP, 157 K, 228 ERA+

Best Trade:

Roger Cedeno, Chris Holt, and Mitch Meluskey to the Tigers for Brad Ausmus, Doug Brocail, and Nelson Cruz (December 11, 2000)

Meluskey got injured and never recovered after a fantastic 2000 season.  Ausmus, in his second stint in Houston, spent 8 years behind the dish and hit one massive playoff home run for the Astros.  That's a good trade.

I thought about putting the Carlos Beltran trade here, but like the Randy Johnson trade he was fantastic but they did not win in the playoffs and he left as a free agent.

Worst Trade:

Billy Wagner to the Phillies for Ezequiel Astacio, Taylor Buccholz, and Brandon Duckworth (November 3, 2003)

Wagner almost had to go after (true) comments he made about management not being willing to pay for a championship.  He remained a good-to-great closer for seven more years.  None of the three pitchers they got lasted more than two years, and none of those years were particularly good.

Another pretty bad one was sending Ben Zobrist to the Rays for Aubrey Huff in 2006.

Best Draft:

2000

            1st round (27th overall) Robert Stiehl - two picks before Adam Wainwright

            2nd round (67th overall) Chad Qualls

            9th round (277th overall) Eric Bruntlett

            19th round (577th overall) Michael Bourn

In another decade of bad drafts, this one at least got them Qualls and Bourn, plus a decent utility player in Bruntlett.

Worst Draft:

2002

It's so bad it's not even worth writing out.  All they got out of it was 35 innings from Mark McLemore (not that one) in 2007.  2003 was also bad since Drew Stubbs, third round pick, did not sign.  2007 was a complete bust as well, but they did not have a pick until the third round.