Oakland Athletics: Offseason AL West Power Rankings

Rank #4: The Houston Astros

September 14, 2014; Anaheim, CA, USA; Houston Astros shortstop

(3) celebrates his three run home run with third baseman

(30) and catcher

(22) in the second inning against the Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

The Astros are number four? Yes, Houston is number four because, even though they have struggled greatly for the last ten years or so, in 2014, they finished ahead of the Texas Rangers in the standing by three games. Despite that, the Astros have a lot of young talent, mixed with old veterans.

The Astros may not be a very good team, but with the potential growth of Chris Carter, George Springer, Jon Singleton, Jason Castro and of course, Jose Altuve, Houston could become a good team. The Astros also just added Evan Gattis into the mix, via trade with the Atlanta Braves. The Astros also have veteran  players in Dexter Fowler, Jed Lowrie and Carlos Corporan.

The Astros have proven that they can beat teams with the bat, even though most of their players have a batting average under .240, aside from Altuve who has a .341 batting average to go with his impressive .377 OBP. Fowler had the next highest average at .276. Fowler also as a .375 OBP, just two points shy of Altuve.

Jun 14, 2014; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Astros right fielder

(4) is congratulated by second baseman

(27) after scoring a run during the third inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Minute Maid Park. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Given all of this, and while it may not sound like the Astros have much offense, between Carter, Altuve, Castro, Springer, Singleton, Fowler, and Matt Dominguez, the Astros had 115 home runs hit combined from these seven players. Another surprising stat on these players is that most of them had an OBP that is between .280 and .350.

The flaw with this is that, although the Astros get on base, their hitters are not consistent enough to knock them in for runs unless it is a home run. A team can get on base as much as much as they want, but it doesn’t matter if they can’t get the runners home.

While run support is more or less an issue for Houston, their biggest flaw is their pitching. The Astros’ starting rotation is not the strongest in the league, and neither is their bullpen. Although, Houston did pick up a couple of former A’s relievers in Pat Neshek and Luke Gregerson, and adding them will help in terms of depth. The Astros bullpen has shown weakness, specifically in Chad Qualls and Tony Sipp.

Last season, Qualls had six blown saves, a 3.36 ERA and just 48 strikeouts. In his career Qualls has 50 blown saves to his 70 total saves. On the other hand, there is Sipp, who was streaky with his 4-3 record, 3.38 ERA, four saves and two blown saves. Qualls and Sipp are just two pitchers in the Astros bullpen with an ERA over three, as every pitcher has an ERA of at least three or more.

The Astros probably will do just as well as they did last season, if not slightly better, but will not be in playoff contention, due to lack of pitching stability.

Next: Texas Rangers