Over at Big League Stew, Alex Remington was asked "How many games will the 2011 Astros win?"
Quoting Dan Szymborski:
Of the players predicted to make up the Astros' 25-man roster, Szymborski only sees four players likely to achieve production above league average: hitters Hunter Pence and Carlos Lee, and starting pitchers Wandy Rodriguez and Brett Myers.
So this isn't going very well.
The Astros don't have a single player as good as Pirate center fielder Andrew McCutchen, and they might not have anyone as good as third baseman Pedro Alvarez, either. After years of Pirate dominance of the NL Central cellar, the race for the bottom might finally be competitive in 2011.
So what's the verdict?
I'm predicting a 64-98 record.
Yowza!
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
