The 2 moves I would have made that they didn’t were signing a catcher who can hit and adding a SP. My choices based on how the market played out would have been Omar Narvaez at C and Andrew Heaney or Mike Minor at P. Narvaez is out 2 months with an injury, Heaney got blown the fuck up in his first start, and Minor is still unsigned. So I’m glad I’m not the GM.
The Astros ended the offseason with 6 hitters who projected to be extremely good and another 2 who performed well as everyday players last season, with their 9th projected everyday hitter being their defensive-minded C who apparently has incredible intangibles in gameplanning and pitcher management. Their bench projected a competition between 2 of their top 5 prospects for the backup C spot, their previous starting CF who is returning from injury, a utility player who is Dusty Baker’s son’s friend, and a wide open competition for the 13th spot (with Hensley in the pole position based on his playoff performance and versatility). Prior to Brantley and Altuve getting hurt, any criticism of their position player roster construction was picking nits or whining about the quality of the 12th and 13th guys. After Brantley and Altuve getting hurt, the pickings to replace them were extremely slim.
The pitching side was similar. Prior to McCullers getting hurt, they projected 6 effective SP and 7 relievers returning from one of the best bullpens in league history, backed by a deep stable of SP slotted for AAA. Before McCullers got hurt the worst thing that could be said was that they didn’t have a proven lefty for the pen, but again that’s picking nits.
No team can lose a player of Altuve’s importance without feeling it, so this team very well could be in a division dogfight after 50 games. But they have the depth and resources to weather it over the long haul. This team will be fine.