No doubt. While Marvin's criteria was to consider any player whose number is not retired, it is hard to call someone who would make the All-Time Astros lineup card an underrated player/

Which by the way, that one is always fun and came up not too long back around here. If the rule was to assemble an all-time Astros lineup where a player had to play a minimum of three seasons here and you had to take the totality of their work (not just one peak season, for example), AND you cannot cheat by shoehorning a player into a position other than their primary one(s). This last one is the tough one for me as an Astros fan and such a big Biggio fan because while I still put him in the lineup as C (Altuve gets the nod at 2B), Biggio's bat was not special as a C (which is why I put him at the bottom of the hypothetical order).

For me, I would go:
CF Cesar Cedeno
2B Jose Altuve
LF Lance Berkman
1B Jeff Bagwell
DH Yordan Alvarez
RF George Springer
3B Alex Bregman
SS Carlos Correa
C Craig Biggio

Bench: Jason Castro, Kyle Tucker, Moises Alou, and Bill Spiers

SP Justin Verlander
SP Roy Oswalt
SP Nolan Ryan
SP Roger Clemens
SP JR Richard
Bullpen: Billy Wagner, Dave Smith, Joe Sambito, Ryan Pressly, Octavio Dotel, Mike Scott, Joe Niekro

It would cut down on the use of the opener for sure

RyanC said:

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It would cut down on the use of the opener for sure

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Which is currently running rampant in MLB right now, you know?

SpaceCityAg05 said:

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No doubt. While Marvin's criteria was to consider any player whose number is not retired, it is hard to call someone who would make the All-Time Astros lineup card an underrated player/

Which by the way, that one is always fun and came up not too long back around here. If the rule was to assemble an all-time Astros lineup where a player had to play a minimum of three seasons here and you had to take the totality of their work (not just one peak season, for example), AND you cannot cheat by shoehorning a player into a position other than their primary one(s). This last one is the tough one for me as an Astros fan and such a big Biggio fan because while I still put him in the lineup as C (Altuve gets the nod at 2B), Biggio's bat was not special as a C (which is why I put him at the bottom of the hypothetical order).

For me, I would go:
CF Cesar Cedeno
2B Jose Altuve
LF Lance Berkman
1B Jeff Bagwell
DH Yordan Alvarez
RF George Springer
3B Alex Bregman
SS Carlos Correa
C Craig Biggio

Bench: Jason Castro, Kyle Tucker, Moises Alou, and Bill Spiers

SP Justin Verlander
SP Roy Oswalt
SP Nolan Ryan
SP Roger Clemens
SP JR Richard
Bullpen: Billy Wagner, Dave Smith, Joe Sambito, Ryan Pressly, Octavio Dotel, Mike Scott, Joe Niekro

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Hey, you build your Mr. Rushmore on your own property.

SpaceCityAg05 said:

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No doubt. While Marvin's criteria was to consider any player whose number is not retired, it is hard to call someone who would make the All-Time Astros lineup card an underrated player/

Which by the way, that one is always fun and came up not too long back around here. If the rule was to assemble an all-time Astros lineup where a player had to play a minimum of three seasons here and you had to take the totality of their work (not just one peak season, for example), AND you cannot cheat by shoehorning a player into a position other than their primary one(s). This last one is the tough one for me as an Astros fan and such a big Biggio fan because while I still put him in the lineup as C (Altuve gets the nod at 2B), Biggio's bat was not special as a C (which is why I put him at the bottom of the hypothetical order).

For me, I would go:
CF Cesar Cedeno
2B Jose Altuve
LF Lance Berkman
1B Jeff Bagwell
DH Yordan Alvarez
RF George Springer
3B Alex Bregman
SS Carlos Correa
C Craig Biggio

Bench: Jason Castro, Kyle Tucker, Moises Alou, and Bill Spiers

SP Justin Verlander
SP Roy Oswalt
SP Nolan Ryan
SP Roger Clemens
SP JR Richard
Bullpen: Billy Wagner, Dave Smith, Joe Sambito, Ryan Pressly, Octavio Dotel, Mike Scott, Joe Niekro

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I do like this exercise, though. Since I'm stuck in an airport I might give this some barstool thought.

I was trying to watch the Hooks game online and randomly noticed Seth Beer is in AA…ouch. Not long after we traded him he was in the majors. Can't believe he has dropped to AA

Lonestar_Ag09 said:

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I was trying to watch the Hooks game online and randomly noticed Seth Beer is in AA…ouch. Not long after we traded him he was in the majors. Can't believe he has dropped to AA

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To be fair, he was in the majors with the Diamondbacks who were picking up losses left and right.

#Rays McClanahan leaves game in 4th with head athletic trainer Joe Benge

— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) June 22, 2023

Rays ace injured

Lonestar_Ag09 said:

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I was trying to watch the Hooks game online and randomly noticed Seth Beer is in AA…ouch. Not long after we traded him he was in the majors. Can't believe he has dropped to AA

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This is why I try to never overvalue farm talent. You just never know. "Oh, they gave up too much. The cost was too high." How can you know? I'll take the big league producer over multiple lottery tickets every time, with the only caveat being that you need a lot of them. Don't include too many prospects at once, which is a different mindset from thinking they might grow into something. Their value is in the potential that other teams perceive.

Sucks for him. For his sake I hope it isn't major.

All time Astros lineup for me


1. Biggio - C
2. Altuve - 2B
3. Springer - CF
4. Alvarez - LF
5. Bagwell - 1B
6. Berkman - DH
7. Cruz - RF
8. Bregman - 3B
9. Correa - SS

Rotation (going with the 6 man)
Verlander
Cole
Oswalt
Ryan
Scott
Clemens

tjack16 said:

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All time Astros lineup for me


1. Biggio - C
2. Altuve - 2B
3. Springer - CF
4. Alvarez - LF
5. Bagwell - 1B
6. Berkman - DH
7. Cruz - RF
8. Bregman - 3B
9. Correa - SS

Rotation (going with the 6 man)
Verlander
Cole
Oswalt
Ryan
Scott
Clemens

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Where to begin…

Minimum swap Berkman and Alvarez positions. Cam at 3 over Breg.

Pitching wise, JR has to be in there. Not sure who over. RJ could be argued too. I assume we are only talking about performance as an Astro.

How about Bill Doran and Glenn Davis

I loved both of them when I was a little kid

Porkchop always had good input on these discussions. Anyone know if he's ok?

bigjag19 said:

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tjack16 said:

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All time Astros lineup for me


1. Biggio - C
2. Altuve - 2B
3. Springer - CF
4. Alvarez - LF
5. Bagwell - 1B
6. Berkman - DH
7. Cruz - RF
8. Bregman - 3B
9. Correa - SS

Rotation (going with the 6 man)
Verlander
Cole
Oswalt
Ryan
Scott
Clemens

---

Where to begin…

Minimum swap Berkman and Alvarez positions. Cam at 3 over Breg.

Pitching wise, JR has to be in there. Not sure who over. RJ could be argued too. I assume we are only talking about performance as an Astro.

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I'm taking them on their "best seasons as an Astro" so for Bregman it's like 2018-2019.

And yeah Caminiti didn't exactly put up great numbers really any season as an Astro. His one all star season he had an .840 OPS

Can Bregman hold Caminiti's bong with respect to defense? I say no.

In last year's SI commemorative World Series edition they had a section featuring the Astros All Time team and they had Jim Wynn over Berkman in the OF. That kind surprised me.

OKCAg2002 said:

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Unrelated to Astros talk, but this Wake Forrest vs. LSU game has been awesome. 0-0 in bottom of the 10th.

I'm kind of surprised that nobody mentioned Billy Spiers as an underrated player. He was great on those late 90s teams.

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Skenes will likely be in the bigs this time next year. It'll be interesting to see who gets him. Rangers have the 4th pick so hopefully he goes before that

I don't think he gets past 2.

Farmer1906 said:

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I don't think he gets past 2.

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Would him and Crews be the first teammates to go 1 and 2 in a draft?

tjack16 said:

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Marvin said:

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Can Bregman hold Caminiti's bong with respect to defense? I say no.

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Caminiti: .946% fielding

Bregman: .967% fielding

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Lies, damn lies, and stats. Or something like that. No way anyone that watched these two in person in their primes would take Bregman over Cam. No way.

I'll die on this hill.