Houston Astros: Preventing the Fall From Grace (2006-)

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2005 was a great year for this team. Aside from being swept, making it to the World Series was the plan from the beginning. 2006 was supposed to be similar in quality and therefore a similar run was expected of the team. However, as history tells us, this was the beginning of the downfall for this franchise. The team would finish 82-80 in '06 and miss the playoffs. I am looking to rewrite that. Playing as Greg Richards, new manager of the 2006 Astros, I will attempt to prevent the 10 year cliff the team fell off of up until 2015 apparently. Financials, strategies, and player creation modifiers will all be imported based on year. No historical transactions or lineups as we are trying to rewrite history. That means the OOTP development engine will be used to go from '06 into the future with a TCR of 115 just so there is some variation in historical prospects succeeding or failing as opposed to the real life outcomes. Lastly, to fill minor league squads, I have filled them the rest of the way with random fictional players to add alternate universe spice to things. So there will be additional prospects along with the ones the database provides. Additionally, international amateurs and free agents (independents also), as well as scouting discoveries are turned on all to the "few" setting. One more twist is there is also an independent league in the same universe with a rating of 6 just to give older players, scrubs, and burnouts a place to amuse us. Hopefully you guys follow along and enjoy! Screens upcoming!

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American Independent Association

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First series of the year upcoming.....let's see how we can change the course of history! Stay tuned and see how we do against the Florida Marlins!

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Taking a look at some of the fictional players who are breaking camp with us for the year, just so you can get to know them beforehand.....

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4-3-06 Opening Day

Astros-3 Florida-2

W- Roger Clemens (1-0)

L- Josh Johnson (0-1)

H- Chad Qualls (1), Dan Wheeler (1)

SV- Brad Lidge (1)

POG- Roger Clemens, 6 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 10 K's

Clemens gave us a great start, giving up just 2 earned runs in his last inning of work. Luke Scott knocked in his first RBI of the year in the 3rd when he brought Willy Taveras in from 2nd after a stolen base. Losing 2-1 through the top of the 6th, Lance Berkman hits the game winning HR, his first of the year, in the bottom of the inning to answer, driving in Luke Scott who had walked to start the inning. The bullpen held the lead and we won the game.

Houston: 1-0

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4-4-06

Astros-1 Florida-2

W- Dontrelle Willis (1-0)

L- Andy Pettitte (0-1)

H- Matt Herges (1), Taylor Tankersley (1)

SV- Joe Borowski (1)

POG- Dontrelle Willis, 7 IP, 8 H, 0 ER, 6 K's

Not much to this game really, Willis scattered 8 hits across the field but we couldn't convert anything with RISP. Reggie Abercrombie and Wes Helms would knocked in runs in the 4th to give them a 2-0 lead. Pettitte was only ok, going 5 IP with a high pitch count. Berkman would knocked in his 3rd RBI of the year in the 8th, but that would only prove to be a consolation run in the end.

Astros 2006: 1-1

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4-5-06

Astros-8 Florida-7

W- Roy Oswalt (1-0)

L- Anibal Sanchez (0-1)

SV- Brad Lidge (2)

POG- Lance Berkman, 2-4, Grand Slam HR (2), 1B, 2 R, BB

Crazy game. Ten of the fifteen runs scored in this game were scored in the first 2 innings! The Marlins scored 3 in the top of the 1st, we answered with 1 in the bottom half. We then were able to blank them in the top of the 2nd, then explode for 6 runs in the bottom of the inning when Berkman blasted a grand slam. Hopefully he can play like this all year! We'd get 1 in the 5th, give up one in the seventh to make the score 8-3 going into the 9th for Trever Miller's 1st appearance of the year. He proceeds to give up 4 runs within 2 outs and make Lidge have to come in with 2 men on to strike out the last man and end the game. Smh, a win is a win I guess. That 3 game series is over and now the Nationals come to town for a 4 game set.

Stats after series:



Astros 2006: 2-1

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4-7-06: W 4-1, W-Wandy Rodriguez (1-0) 7 IP, 1 ER, 10 K's, SV-Brad Lidge (3), HR-Adam Everett (1) (Inside the park!)
4-8-06: L 0-3, L-Brandon Backe (0-1)
4-9-06: L 1-3, L-Brad Lidge (0-1), BS (1)
4-10-06: L 3-8, L-Andy Pettitte (0-2), HR- Mike Lamb (1), Willy Taveras (1)

Astros 06: 3-4

Well that series didn't go well. Wandy started it off great with a magnificent start to earn the win with ten strikeouts. The offense and pitching disappeared after that game though. 4 runs in the last 3 games of the series is not going to cut it. Also haven't brought it up to this point but don't forget Craig Biggio's quest for 3,000 hits is something to keep an out for. He is up to 2803 so far into the 2006 season. Due to the lack of noteworthy offense or defense, there isn't much to say about this series aside from beating the Nats in the next one. Next series up for us is our first road trip of the year, a 3 game swing against the Giants. Stay tuned for more!

Season stats to date:




WTF Luke Scott........

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Transactions so far to date by Houston Astros GM & Manager Greg Richards:

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As you can see from this year's transactions, and as mentioned in the original dynasty post and overview, I was going to have a historical what if with international complex. Wanted to make sure and keep up on these signings and discoveries so without further ado, the first discovery of Greg Richards' tenure:

Ze-Min Jiang



Pretty iffy prospect but hey he's the first. Slightly odd to have that name and be from New Zealand but alright lol. Has a slim future as a reliever but who knows; with that mid 80's velocity, flyball tendency, and only 2 decent pitches, I don't see that working in our bandbox. Some decent hitting ratings for a reliever also. We'll keep on eye on him.

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April 11-13, 2006 @ San Francisco Giants










Well once again, this series began off with a quality start from Roy Oswalt that would lead to a win in the opener of the series. After that, however, we fell apart on both sides of the ball once again. Hopefully things begin to click soon even though the season just started, otherwise changes will be made. Next series is a 3 game trip to Arizona to take on the D-Backs. A series sweep would absolutely delight me at this point. Either way, when Brad Ausmus and Mike Lamb are your best hitters to date, it's easy to see why our record is what it is.

Season Overview:




Astros 06: 4-6

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April 14-17, 2006 @ Arizona Diamondbacks










Season Overview to date:





Definitely a better series for us this time around. Not a sweep, but we will take a series win everytime. Clemens came out in the first game and pitched great once again to earn us the win. Pettitte goes out the second game and throws a stinker once again smh. The 3rd game of the series had me infuriated at Dave Borkowski. He had already sucked it up in one game this year and cost us a win and he almost does the same thing again, putting us deeper in the hole in the late innings. Luckily for us, that offensive explosion I had been looking for happened in the 9th, scoring 8 runs to comeback and win the game. Next up for us is 3 games back at home against the Milwaukee Brewers, who are currently leading our division early on with a 8-4 record. This would be a good time to start bringing them down the standings.

Astros 06: 6-7