Introducing the Houston Dislastros

Coming down to the final month of the MLB regular season, we begin to see the separation between the contenders and the pretenders. While teams like the Tampa Bay Rays are emerging, teams like the Pittsburgh Pirates are fading fast.

Sorry #PRNW

There are teams that we thought were out out of it, like the Seattle Mariners and the Detroit Tigers, and there are teams that are definitely out of it, like the Cleveland Indians and the Miami Marlins.

Then there are the Houston Astros. I mean Lastros. Well, actually more like Disastros. The Astros are in a league of their own, for all the wrong reasons.

Yes, this was a thing that happened.

As of August 23, the Astros are 39-86 and 36.5 games behind the first-place Cincinnati Reds in the NL Central. To put it in perspective, the Astros would have to win their final 37 games and the Reds would have to lose their final 36 games just to tie for first place!

This is not just some string of bad luck or an under-performing team, this Astros team has to boast one of the worst rosters in MLB history. By my count, only three (Jose Altuve, Brett Wallace and injured Jed Lowrie) of the Astros eight position players are legitimate MLB players.

@HowManyAltuves in an Altuve?

Only one pitcher on their current staff has more than three years of MLB experience. Bud Norris has regressed from an average pitcher to a disappointment and 21-year-old Jordan Lyles seems completely over matched at the MLB level. The only pitcher on the current roster with any shred of hope to become a decent starter is Lucas Harrell who has ten of the team's 39 wins by himself.

The Astros current roster is just a shade of what it was at the beginning of the season. JA Happ, Brandon Lyon, Brett Myers and Wandy Rodriguez have been traded from the pitching staff. Meanwhile, Carlos Lee and Chris Johnson have been traded from the every day line up.

Hugs in the dugout = YOU ARE TRADED BRO.

Five of the most recognizable names of the team, gone to contending teams throughout the MLB for prospects in return. The Astros did not receive any impact prospects in return for those players, but they began the road to rebuilding.

The Astros were able to acquire depth in their MiLB system, which is arguably more valuable to an organization than just one or two impact players. Depth breeds clusters for playing time, which in turn breeds competition, which brings out the best in young players.

From 1997-2005, the Astros reached the playoffs six times and even appeared in the World Series before losing to the Chicago White Sox in the 2005 Fall Classic. From 2006-2010, the Astros averaged a 78-84 record and did not make the playoffs in any of those years.

To summarize it in one word, the Astros were mediocre. In professional sports, it does not pay to be mediocre. In the MLB, teams who spend less are basically rewarded with revenue sharing and teams who finish with horrible records are rewarded with high draft picks.

Note: DO NOT draft Bryan Bullington with any of them.

During those five years, the Astros organization was in limbo to the max. Old players filled the rosters and big contracts filled the pay checks, but why? They were not winning enough to be relevant and they were not losing enough to build for the future.

After a terrible 56-106 season in 2011, the Astros earned the No. 1 overall pick in the 2012 draft. They used that pick to select Carlos Correa, who could end up being the team's short stop of the future. With the stripping of the old roster to make way for the younger players, the Astros are finally headed in the right direction.

"I got drafted by who?"

A rebuilding process in the MLB takes more than just one year of struggling, such as the New Orleans Hornets in the NBA, but it is a necessary process for a franchise like the Astros. A franchise that has dug their own grave in this regard.

Hopefully in a few years, the Astros will be back up and running in the weak NL Central. Wait, they are moving to the AL West next year? Yikes. Good luck with that!

"Haha, good one guys!"

Stinging the Rebuilding Process

Welcome to the Route 30 Detour! US Route 30 intersects at I-95 in Philadelphia and goes from coast to coast, including passing through Pittsburgh and the home of Drexel University SMT student and blog contributor, Bryan Fyalkowski (@fyalkowski)...




The NBA Draft Lottery is always an exciting event. Not for the entertainment value, mind you, but the fact that opportunity is in the air. On May 30, 2012, just before the Miami Heat would take on the Boston Celtics in game two of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Draft Lottery was held in New York City.

As the competitive NBA teams play towards a championship, the bottom feeders look to receive a high draft pick to build their team for the future. Representatives from the 14 non-playoff NBA teams attend the event, like Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert's son, Nick Gilbert, who always looks hip in his nerdy garb.

 Ugh.

One of those bottom feeders was the New Orleans Hornets who, at the time, were owned by the NBA and finished the lockout-shortened 2011-12 season with a 21-45 record, tied for the third-worst in the league. Although the Hornets had only a the fourth-best chance (13.7%) of getting the top pick, the ping pong balls came up in their favor.

Aside from conspiracy theories and other concerns about an NBA-owned team winning the Draft Lottery, it was the beginning of a very busy summer for the Hornets. On June 15, the NBA completed the sale of the Hornets to New Orleans Saints' owner Tom Benson for the price of $338 million, a sale that had been in process for two months.

During the 2012 NBA Draft on June 28, in addition to first-overall pick Anthony Davis, the Hornets drafted Austin Rivers in the tenth slot and Darius Miller in the second round. Rivers was taken with a draft pick the Hornets got in return for Chris Paul, who they traded to the Los Angeles Clippers before the season began.

 Note: That is NOT Darius Miller in the center.

In July, the Hornets completed two trades that drastically improved their front court. Putting out a lineup last season that included Emeka Okafor and Chris Kaman was not getting it done, so the Hornets went out and traded for Ryan Anderson from the Orlando Magic, and Robin Lopez and Hakim Warrick from the Phoenix Suns.

These moves allowed the Hornets to dump Okafor and Kaman, while getting solid depth to take some weight off of the Davis' 19-year-old shoulders. The acquisition of Lopez will allow Davis to play his natural position of power forward when matched up with a over sized center, such as Dwight Howard or Marc Gasol. Meanwhile, Warrick has been a valuable bench player since he has come into the league.

Threes on threes on threes on threes on threes...

Anderson agreed to a four-year, $36-million sign-and-trade to the Hornets, which will allow the 24-year-old breakout star to provide some continuity in the lineup. To add even more stability in the lineup, the Hornets matched a four-year, $59-million maximum offer sheet that the Suns gave to restricted free agent Eric Gordon.

Gordon was the key piece that the Hornets got in return for Paul. He is a 23-year-old star guard, but his career effectiveness on the court has taken a hit due to his continual visits to the IR. Although Gordon said he wanted to go to Phoenix and start anew, matching the offer sheet was absolutely the right thing to do for the Hornets.

 

Unfortunately a very common sight.

With a manageable roster on paper, the Hornets now needed to lock up one of the most promising young coaches in the league. Monty Williams came from the Nate McMillan coaching tree, having served as assistant coach under him for five seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers.

Williams was offered the head coaching job with the Hornets for the 2010-11 season and did not disappoint, leading the team to the seventh seed in the Western Conference with a 46-36 record and an eventual 4-2 loss in the first round of the playoffs to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Kobe absolutely torches the team that originally drafted him.

Even after a disappointing 2011-12 season, in which the Hornets went 21-45, new ownership still has confidence in Williams, and they proved it by locking him up with a four-year extension on August 19, which will run through 2015-16. This was absolutely the right thing to do as Williams has the confidence and coaching ability to lead this group of young players to become a competitive team for years to come.

As Kevin Rossi touched upon in his I-95 article last week, NBA teams who are not the Lakers or the Heat need to find ways to rebuild and become competitive again. While the Magic have just begun the rebuilding process, the Hornets endured one terrible season and come come through the other end of the tunnel.

You got traded, can you shut up now please?

With young talent such as Davis, Rivers, Anderson and Gordon locked up for the next four seasons expect the Hornets to be in the playoff hunt during that time. This team is young, but supremely talented, which is all you can ask for when building the nucleus of a roster.

Sprinkle in some solid role players, such as Miller and Warrick, and some viable bench options, such as Greivis Vasquez and Al-Farouq Aminu, and that builds a legitimate contender. Plus, Williams is only 40-years-old and is likely to emerge as a great coach and leader for many years.

YOU DA MAN!

Things like the draft and the salary cap exist so that teams have a chance to pick themselves up from the dumps and become relevant again. Franchises hurt themselves by not taking full advantage of these things while the team is not championship caliber, and that is why they struggle for many years.

It is always difficult to face the fact of rebuilding as a professional sports franchise, but the Hornets are an excellent example of what can happen if you swallow your pride and accept that things have to get worse in order for them to get better.

Enjoy your trip back to I-95 and I'll see you next week!