{"id":35347,"date":"2011-03-09T13:13:05","date_gmt":"2011-03-09T21:13:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.capperspicks.com\/blog\/?p=35347"},"modified":"2023-02-07T07:38:17","modified_gmt":"2023-02-07T15:38:17","slug":"odds-2011-houston-astros-predictions-gambling-preview-9311","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/mlb-baseball\/odds-2011-houston-astros-predictions-gambling-preview-9311\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston Astros Predictions | 2011 Season Betting Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"

2011 MLB Team Preview: Houston Astros<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Hard to believe, as many of us watch the snow fall outside, that the Boys of Summer are almost back. But it\u2019s true; teams have started reporting to 2011 Major League Baseball training camps and it\u2019s time to start our team-by-team baseball gambling<\/a> previews for the year. <\/p>\n

SIGN UP TODAY With MySportsbook.com – 10% Sign UP Bonus – 10cent Baseball Lines – Gamble On 2011 MLB Future Odds and 2011 World Series Championship Lines<\/a><\/h3>\n

Astros Calender<\/strong><\/p>\n

FEB. 1-18, 2011 – Salary arbitration hearings
\nFEB. 14, 2011 – Voluntary Spring Training reporting date for pitchers, catchers and injured players
\nFEB. 19, 2011 – Voluntary Spring Training reporting date for non-pitchers and catchers
\nFEB. 26, 2011 – Mandatory Spring Training reporting date for all players<\/p>\n

The days of Biggio, Bagwell, Berkman, Oswalt and Wagner are long gone in Houston. It appears that that the Astros had their shot over the last two decades at various points but blew it. Now, it almost feels like Houston is closer to perennial basement dweller Pittsburgh than to anyone else in the National League Central. Is there any way the Astros surprise in 2011?<\/p>\n

HOUSTON ASTROS<\/strong>
\nWorld Series odds: +10000<\/p>\n

When I took a look at the Houston Astros\u2019 depth chart for 2011, I almost vomited all over my keyboard. Arguably, the Astros will have more bench players than true starters in their Opening Day lineup. The Astros will deliberately let Clint Barmes, Bill Hall and Humberto Quintero play baseball for them this season. But, hey, if that doesn\u2019t work out, they still have Jeff Keppinger to save the day. Or the unproven, converted pitcher Brian Bogusevic. Or \u201cleadoff\u201d man Michael Bourne and his .331 career on-base percentage.<\/p>\n

OK, so I\u2019m being overly pessimistic there. Houston has a few bright spots. Hunter Pence is really quite good and also very consistent year to year. Carlos Lee could draw inspiration from Vlad Guerrero\u2019s 2010 season and prove this year that he\u2019s far from finished. Chris Johnson impressed in a half season last year and Brett Wallace is a Rookie of the Year contender if he can find his way into Houston\u2019s lineup. \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Still, it looks to me like the Astros will field one of baseball\u2019s weakest offenses. Because of that, I was ready to slot them behind Pittsburgh. Good thing I reviewed each team\u2019s pitching staff first.<\/p>\n

In reality, Houston\u2019s rotation ain\u2019t half bad. Brett Myers matured and really delivered on his former promise as a starter last year. Wandy Rodriguez is a stalwart on my all-underrated team. J.A. Happ, lost in the shuffle among the Phillies\u2019 star-studded rotation before arriving in the Roy Oswalt trade, is a sneaky-good lefty. Bud Norris hasn\u2019t become a household name yet but he really knows how to strike guys out and could break through this season.<\/p>\n

Led by Brandon Lyon, Houston\u2019s bullpen looks like somewhat of a mess to me, but does it really matter? Not only will the \u2019Stros rarely take leads into the ninth, it\u2019s not like they\u2019ll be part of any crucial playoff chase.<\/p>\n

2011 OUTLOOK<\/strong><\/p>\n

Houston\u2019s starting rotation should keep it from being an embarrassment. For that reason, I like the Astros to win at least 70 games this season. That should float them above the lowly Pirates. But I can\u2019t possibly see them contending in the Central with an offense this bad. Even if they manage to hang with the Cubs and the shorthanded Cardinals, there\u2019s just no way the Astros rub shoulders with the Reds or Brewers this year.<\/p>\n

Prediction: 5th, National League Central<\/strong><\/p>\n

TEAM BY TEAM MLB PREVIEWS —-><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

View The MLB Cappers Leaderboard For 2010 \u00a0– Picks Packages for 2011 On Sale! \u2014\u2013><\/strong><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shea Matthews weighs in with his Houston Astros 2011 Team Gambling Preview. Not only will the Astros rarely take leads into the ninth, it\u2019s not like they\u2019ll be part of any crucial playoff chase. Do your MLB betting with Cappers Picks MLB expert picks in 2011…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":195,"featured_media":35353,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[670],"tags":[46281,43915,12489,25762,12490,12491,46283,66513,10729,11207,12492,12493,46282,66497,678,681,740,12170,901,11260,11215],"class_list":["post-35347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb-baseball","tag-2011-astros","tag-2011-mlb-team-preview","tag-astros-futures","tag-astros-mlb-picks","tag-astros-odds","tag-astros-predictions","tag-astros-world-series-odds","tag-handicapping","tag-handicapping-baseball","tag-houston-astros","tag-houston-astros-picks","tag-houston-astros-predictions","tag-houston-world-series-futures","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-betting","tag-mlb-gambling","tag-national-league","tag-national-league-central","tag-nl-central","tag-nl-central-predictions","tag-nl-central-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/195"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35347"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107873,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35347\/revisions\/107873"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}