State of the Astros

It's the best of times and the worst of times for the Astros as they are one of the most successful teams on the field in recent years but also embroiled in a sign-stealing scandal that all but negated their success and drew hatred from fans and opposing players around the league.

Ownership:  Owner Jim Crane made his stash in the logistics and transportation business.  He bought the Astros in 2011 and fully supported the teardown/tank model of rebuilding engineered by GM Jeff Luhnow.  Scandal is not entirely new to Jim Crane as his company was accused of discriminatory hiring practices and war profiteering, and his personal life has been a bit on the messy side.  Interestingly, he is reportedly a supporter of the Democratic Party and golfing partner of Barack Obama.

Although no evidence has surfaced that Crane was aware of the sign-stealing issue, his handling of questions around it has come under fire.  At one point during a press conference, he claimed the sign-stealing did not affect the outcome of games then denied saying it less than a minute later.  In addition, there are reports that Luhnow led a toxic management culture in the front office that Crane was, or should have been, aware of.

Grade D.  This is tough.  The Astros have had tremendous on-field success during Crane's ownership but that success will be forever largely negated by the cheating and other scandals.  When all is said and done, you can't give the guy at the top a pass on responsibility.

Management:  

The Astros are under new management, so there is no track record to grade here.  GM James Click comes out of the ubiquitous Rays shop where he was VP of Baseball Operations.  He would be reasonably expected to continue an analytic approach.  On the other hand, new Manager Dusty Baker is about as old school as you can get.  Dusty is more of a leader/personnel type manager than baseball strategist and has always inspired his players to play with enthusiasm.

Grade B(incomplete).

Current Roster:

Starting Nine:  Martin Maldonado C, Yuli Gurriel 1B, Jose Altuve 2B, Alex Bregman 3B, Carlos Correa SS, Michael Brantley LF, George Springer CF, Josh Reddick RF, Yordan Alvarez DH.

Bench:  Dustin Garneau C, Aledmys Diaz IF, Kyle Tucker OF, Myles Straw IF/OF.

Starting Rotation:  Justin Verlander RHP, Zack Greinke RHP, Lance McCullers RHP, Jose Urquidy RHP, Austin Pruitt RHP.

Bullpen:  Roberto Osuna RHP(Closer), Ryan Pressley RHP, Joe Smith RHP, Josh James RHP, Brad Peacock RHP, Chris Devenski RHP, Joe Biagini RHP.

Grade A-.  Pretty tough to find much fault with this outfit...well, other than the cheating scandal part.  Maybe some age starting to creep in, particularly on the pitching side.  Otherwise, it's an elite roster which should compete once again for a World Series Championship.

Farm System:  

The system has thinned out a lot with trades and graduations.  Forrest Whitley is MLB's top Astros prospect and he's become a bit of an enigma.  Urquidy and Abraham Toro follow at #2 and #3 respectively.  I don't recognize any names in the rest of the top 10.  

Grade C