The Astros dealt Michael Bourn and Hunter Pence at the trade deadline, leaving LF/1B Carlos Lee pretty much alone in the batter order among the veterans. He has not hit well at all in August for the Astros this month, as he has played in 17 games in which he is 10 for 58 (.172 avg, .556 OPS) with 5 runs scored, 1 homer and 8 RBIs. He has now played in 121 games for the Astros overall this year and he is 119 for 459 (.259 avg, .729 OPS) with 48 runs scored, 11 homers, 68 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. Lee is likely to get walked a lot the rest of the year because he’s not going to have much protection in the batting order going forward.

32-year old righty swinging shortstop Clint Barmes has been a huge disappointment for the Astros so far this year. In his previous three years (with the Rockies), Barmes played in 294 games in which he was 340 for 1,330 (.256 avg) with 159 runs scored, 42 homers, 170 RBIs and 28 stolen bases. So the Astros expected Barmes to hit well for them in 2011 while also giving them solid D at SS. That hasn’t been the case this year as Barmes has been awful with the bat so far this year. Barmes has played in 42 games for the Astros so far this year and he is 34 for 155 (.219 avg, .649 OPS) with 16 runs scored, 3 homers and 11 RBIs.

27-year old righty swinging catcher J.R. Towles is starting to look more and more like a AAAA-player….too good for the minors but not good enough for the majors. In his last 24 games, Towles is 10 for 72 (.139 avg) with 4 runs scored, 1 homer and 5 RBIs. He has now played in 34 games overall this year for the Astros and he is 22 for 105 (.210 avg, .649 OPS) with 8 runs scored, 3 homers and 9 RBIs. Towles has now played in 135 games in his first five years with the Astros and he is 75 for 386 (.194 avg, .613 OPS) with 37 runs scored, 11 homers and 48 RBIs. The Astros really need to cut ties with J.R. Towles and start looking for a legit major league catcher.

26-year old righty swinging starting 3B Chris Johnson is off to a very slow start in 2011 for the Astros. Johnson has played in 28 games for the Astros so far this year and he is 21 for 108 (.194 avg, .600 OPS) with 10 runs scored, 4 homers and 13 RBIs. Part of his problem has been the utter lack of discipline at the dish as he has only walked 2 times while whiffing 29 times already this year. He needs to quit swinging at everything so he can be the kind of hitter he was last year. Johnson played in 94 games last year for the Astros and he was 105 of 342 (.308 avg, .808 OPS) with 40 runs scored, 11 homers, 52 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. The Astros were depending on Johnson’s bat this year, so they need him to get back on the right track.

Starting 3B Chris Johnson had a breakout year for the Astros in 2010, so the Astros gave him the starting job in spring training. But, Johnson is off to a very slow start. Johnson has played in 10 games for the Astros so far this year and he is 7 for 37 (.189 avg, .485 OPS) with 2 runs scored and 3 RBIs. He has been very impatient so far this year as he has whiffed 11 times while only walking 1 time. The Astros need Johnson to hit well because they are going to have a hard enough time scoring runs even if he is hitting.