The Astros decided that they didn’t like the make up of their bullpen last season so they blew it up. 28-year old righty Jose Valverde will be the new stopper for the Astros this season. He pitched in 65 games (0 starts) for the Diamondbacks last season and he was 1-4 with 47 saves (led the majors), a 2.66 ERA and a 1.12 WHIP. He also whiffed 78 batters in only 64.1 innings which shows what kind of dominating stuff he has.

26-year old righty Oscar Villarreal will be one of the top set-up men on the Astros this season. He pitched in 51 games (0 starts) for the Braves last season and he was 2-2 with 1 save, a 4.24 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP. Look for better numbers out of him for the Astros this season.

41-year old righty Doug Brocail will also be used late in games this season by the Astros. He pitched in 67 games (0 starts) for the Padres last season and he was 5-1 with a 3.05 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP. Look for his numbers to spike a little bit as he won’t be pitching his home games at Petco Park this season.

31-year old righty Geoff Geary will pitch earlier in ballgames for the Astros. He pitched in 57 games (0 starts) for the Phillies last season and he was 3-2 with a 4.41 ERA and a 1.44 WHIP.

31-year old righty Dave Borkowski will be the mop up man for the Astros again this season. He pitched in 64 games (0 starts) for the Astros last season and he was 5-3 with 1 save, a 5.15 ERA and a 1.53 WHIP.

23-year old lefty Wesley Wright will be the lone lefty in the bullpen when the 2008 season starts. He was a Rule 5 Pick over the Winter from the Dodgers’ organization. He has pitched in 152 games (9 starts) in his minor league career and he is 18-17 with 4 saves and a 3.65 ERA. He will need to throw strikes to stick all season with the Astros. He has whiffed 333 batters and walked 168 batters in 291 career minor league innings.

27-year old lefty Mark McLemore will start the season in AAA but he will get a call at some point of the season by the Astros. He pitched in 29 games (0 starts) for the Astros last season and he was 3-0 with a 3.86 ERA and a 1.60 WHIP. He whiffed 35 batters and walked 18 in 35 innings for the Astros last year.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE 2008 SEASON: C+

30-year old righty Roy Oswalt is one of the best pitchers in all of baseball but he won’t have much help behind him in the rotation this season. He pitched in 33 games (32 starts) for the Astros last season and he was 14-7 with a 3.18 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP. Oswalt has now pitched in 221 games (209 starts) in his major league career and he is 112-54 with a 3.07 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP. Look for Oswalt to win 15-20 games in 2008 for the Astros.

30-year old righty Brandon Backe will be the #2 starter for the Astros this season and they need him to stay healthy, which has been a big problem in his career to date. He started 5 games for the Astros last season and he was 3-1 with a 3.77 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP. If he can stay healthy he should do a decent job in 2008 for the Astros.

29-year old lefty Wandy Rodriguez will be the #3 starter for the Astros in 2008. He is like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as he is a very good pitcher at home and one of the worst starting pitchers in the majors on the road. That will have to change if he is ever to be an above average major league starting pitcher. He started 31 games for the Astros last season and he was 9-13 with a 4.58 ERA and a 1.32 WHIP.

30-year old Shawn Chacon will move back into the starting rotation for the Astros after pitching in relief for the Pirates last season. He pitched in 64 games (4 starts) for the Pirates last season and he was 5-4 with a 3.94 ERA and a 1.49 WHIP. I have a feeling that he isn’t going to pitch to well this season for the Astros.

30-year old righty Chris Sampson beat out Woody Williams for a starting job in spring training. He pitched in 24 games (19 starts) for the Astros last season and he was 7-8 with a 4.59 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP. Don’t expect Sampson to be anything more than a .500 pitcher if he’s lucky in 2008.

The Astros don’t have much depth in the starting rotation behind the top 5. 27-year old righty Jack Cassel will likely be the first pitcher recalled from AAA if the Astros have problems in the starting rotation. He pitched in 6 games (4 starts) for the Padres last season and he was 1-1 with a 3.97 ERA and a 1.54 WHIP. He also pitched in 27 games (24 starts) in AAA last season and he was 7-14 with a 3.91 ERA and a 1.56 WHIP.

36-year old righty Brian Moehler will be the long man in the bullpen when the season starts but he has been a starter most of his major league career. He pitched in 42 games (0 starts) for the Astros last season and he was 1-4 with a 4.07 ERA and a 1.41 WHIP.

25-year old righty Fernando Nieve will miss the start of the 2008 season due to injury but he has a nice upside. He pitched in 40 games (11 starts) for the Astros last season and he was 3-3 with a 4.20 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP.

24-year old righty Felipe Paulino will also miss the start of the 2008 season due to injury. He pitched in 5 games (3 starts) for the Astros last season and he was 2-1 with a 7.11 ERA and a 1.53 WHIP. He also pitched in 22 games (21 starts) in AA-ball last season and he was 4-5 with a 3.62 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE 2008 SEASON: C-

The Astros forgot something over the winter: you need decent starting pitching to win at the major league level. Roy Oswalt will win 16-20 games himself but the rest of the rotation is looking pretty poor. Brandon Backe, Wandy Rodriguez, Chris Sampson and Shawn Chacon? I would have to make a small play on the under despite all of the offense that the Astros have.

25-year old righty swinging Hunter Pence is moving to RF full-time for the 2008 season. He played in 108 games for the Astros last season and he was 147 for 456 (.322 avg, .899 OPS) with 57 runs scored, 17 homers, 69 RBIs and 11 stolen bases. He played in 14 games in RF last season and he made 2 errors while showing outstanding range. Look for Pence to crack at least 25 homers in 2008 and drive in close to 100 runs as long as he can stay healthy.

26-year old righty swinging Victor Diaz is a darkhorse to provide power off the bench for the Astros in 2008. He played in 37 games for the Rangers last season and he was 25 for 104 (.240 avg, .797 OPS) with 13 runs scored, 9 homers and 25 RBIs. He played in 24 games in RF for the Rangers last season and he only made 1 error but showed poor range.

Jose Cruz played in 23 games in RF last season for the Padres and he didn’t make any errors while showing outstanding range. Darin Erstad played in 9 games in RF last season for the White Sox and he didn’t make an error while showing poor range.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE 2008 SEASON: B+

25-year old lefty swinging Michael Bourn was brought in with a trade with the Phillies in the off-season and the Astros are going to see what he can do. He played in 105 games for the Phillies last season and he was 33 for 119 (.277 avg, .726 OPS) with 29 runs scored, 1 homer, 6 RBIs and 18 stolen bases. Bourn has averaged 40.8 steals per season in his 4 years in the minors. He played in 12 games in CF for the Phillies last season and he showed below average range but didn’t make an error.

34-year old lefty swinging Darin Erstad is a good insurance policy in case Michael Bourn can’t handle the job. Erstad played in 87 games for the White Sox last season and he was 77 for 310 (.248 avg, .645 OPS) with 33 runs scored, 4 homers, 32 RBIs and 7 stolen bases. The Astros hope that Erstad revives his bat as he has a career average of .284 with a .750 OPS in 1,407 games in the major leagues. Erstad played in 45 games in CF for the White Sox last season and he only made 1 error while showing below average range.

27-year old righty swinging Reggie Abercrombie played in 35 games for the Marlins last season and he was 15 for 76 (.197 avg, .554 OPS) with 16 runs scored, 2 homers, 5 RBIs and 7 stolen bases. He whiffed an amazing 22 times last season for the Marlins as he’s not a good hitter at all because he tries to hit homers instead of putting the ball on the ground and using his speed. He played in 17 games in CF last season for the Marlins and he made 1 error while showing outstanding range, but, he mis-plays a lot of balls.

If injuries spread among the CFs of the Astros, Hunter Pence could return there. He played in 95 games for the Astros last season and he made 4 errors there while showing outstanding range.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE 2008 SEASON: C-