February 04, 2008
Team Offense, Houston Astros
We continue to look at team offenses for 2008 with the Houston Astros.
Hunter Pence
Photo: Icon SMI
In 2007, the Astros scored 4.46 runs per game.
I plugged in a likely lineup to the Lineup Analysis Tool, using the Marcel the Monkey predictions from Tom Tango. For pitchers, I used the team pitcher averages from 2007. The lineups rate as follows:
- Best: 5.14 runs per game
- Given: 4.84 runs per game
- Worst: 4.49 runs per game
The Astros look like they'll put a pretty good lineup on the field if their hitter live up to these expectations. Matusi should use far fewer outs than Craig Biggio. While Matsui isn't an offensive force by any means, he'll be about 50 points better in terms of OBA. Towles projects to impressive numbers, but even if he falls short of the predicted OBA and slugging percentage, he should be an improvement over Ausmus. Even Berkman rebounds after a bit of an off year. Maybe the obituaries for the Astros are being written a little too early.
The lineup used is from CBSSportsline. I would bat Pence second and move Matsui down to the bottom of the order. The lineup I would use would score 4.91 runs per game.
Previous teams covered in the series:
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