Dioner Navarro (LAD).  Johnson’s neighbor to the north, Navarro isn’t putting up much better numbers – especially considering he’s had two seasons with an OPS+ of 100 or better, and his 94 OPS+ in his previous stint in Los Angeles (2005).  If he continues on his current pace, he will post his third consecutive negative-WAR season since his All-Star year, 2008.  Unlike Johnson, however, Navarro has a positive dWAR, so at least there’s that.

First Basemen
Aubrey Huff (SFG).  Those of you who remember watching Huff struggle in Houston in 2006, only to turn around and have a couple of strong seasons in Baltimore, already know that he is an often-frustrating player to watch.  Imagine, then, Giants fans – who saw Huff post 5 Wins Above Replacement last year, only to put together a -1.3 bWAR so far this season.  He’s done it by slugging worse than he ever has in his career, but the real damage has been done on defense, where he’s lost 1.2 wins.

Lyle Overbay (PIT).  When the Pirates signed Overbay to a $5-million deal this offseason, they likely weren’t expecting the .230/.306/.356 line he’s put together so far this year, or the seven errors he’s accumulated at the halfway point of the season.

Jorge Cantu (SDP).  Even with an offensive decline in 2010, Cantu looked like a solid offseason pickup for the Padres, who was expected to platoon at first base with Brad Hawpe and backup Chase Headley at third for the Friars.  But after watching him stumble to a .194/.232/.285 line through 155 plate appearances, the Padres requested release waivers for him on June 21.

Second Basemen
Bill Hall (HOU/SFG).  Arguably the Astros’ biggest offseason acquisition, Hall’s tenure with the team only lasted 46 games, during which he hit just .224/.272/.340 before he was released from the worst team in baseball.  The Giants, no doubt thinking that Hall deserved another chance after the 104 OPS+ he put up in 2010 with the Boston Red Sox.  It’s still only 12 games into his San Francisco career, but he’s already lost almost half (0.4) of the Wins he lost in almost four times as many games in Houston.

Dan Uggla (ATL).  Uggla is a two-time All-Star, and finished third in the ROY voting in 2006.  Last season, he won a Silver Slugger award and finished in the top twenty in MVP voting.  This season, he’s hitting just .175/.241/.330 while remaining the butcher in the field he’s been his entire career.

Wilson Valdez (PHI).  Certainly, starting Valdez at second base thirty-one times wasn’t Plan A for the Phillies, but it hasn’t exactly hurt in their quest to be the best team in baseball, despite the 0.6 wins he’s lost for them, mostly on the defensive side of the ball.

Third Basemen
Casey McGehee (MIL).  After two consecutive seasons with an OPS+ well over 100, McGehee looked to be one of the rising stars in Milwaukee, but he’s struggled so far this season, posting just a .221/.272/.305 line, and is on pace to hit just half as many home runs as he did in 2009, his career low (16) – far off of the 23 he hit last season.

Chris Johnson (HOU).  Johnson hasn’t exactly hit poorly this season, though he hasn’t hit particularly well, either.  He’s well off of the pace he set his rookie season, dropping 65 points in batting average; 53 points in on-base percentage; and 88 points in slugging percentage.  But he’s third among NL third basemen in errors, which has helped him lose an amazing 1.6 wins on defense alone.

Jose Lopez (COL/FLA).  Another former All-Star, Lopez struggled mightily at the plate in his first season for Colorado – so much so (.208/.233/.288) that the Rockies released him.  Enter the Marlins, who picked him up after his release.  It took just twelve games, during which he performed even worse (.103/.161/.138) for them than he did for Colorado, before Florida decided to designate Lopez for assignment.

Shortstops
Yuniesky Betancourt (MIL).  Sure, the right side of the Brewers’ infield are starting the All-Star game for the National League, but between Betancourt and McGehee, the other half of the infield holds down the fort in the All-Bergen team.

Edgar Renteria (CIN).  1996 ROY runner-up, 5-time All-Star, two-time MVP top twenty candidate, two-time Gold Glove winner, 3-time Silver Slugger.  But his tenure in Cincinnati has been less than stellar.  Just 1 home run through 150 plate appearances, a .315 OBP, and a .282 SLG is far off of his pace.

Outfielders
Raul Ibanez (PHI).  Prior to 2011, Ibanez had posted 10 straight seasons with an OPS+, so the 84 he’s put together so far this year is pretty surprising.  In fact, it’s his lowest since 2000, the last year of his first stint in Seattle.  He’s on pace to lose as many wins this year defensively as last (1.2,) but is also on pace to drop his oWAR by 2.5.

Tyler Colvin (CHC).  Colvin was a pleasant surprise last year in Chicago, so they can be forgiven for thinking that he would continue to grow and flourish.  But he’s dropped more than 400 points in OPS this season, which hasn’t offset his improved defense.  He’s currently on pace to hit one-fifth as many home runs this year as he did last year.  The upside is that Colvin is just 25 this year, and has plenty of time to return to form.

Ryan Spilborghs (COL).  Spilborghs has quietly put together a nice career in Colorado, including three seasons with an OPS+ over 100.  He’s well off the pace this season this year, however, down in almost every offensive category and losing almost as many wins (.04) defensively as offensively (0.5).

Willie Bloomquist (ARI).  What’s always amazing to me isn’t that Willie Bloomquist continues to struggle as a Major League player, but rather that he continues to get chances.  The 85 OPS+ he posted last year (split between Cincinnati and Kansas City) was the highest of his career; he has a career .652 OPS; and he’s had a negative dWAR in almost every professional season in which he’s played.

Mark Kotsay (MIL).  The 35-year-old Kotsay is down over a hundred points from his career OPS this season, and after posting his worst statistical season of his career in 2010, he’s brought it down even farther this year.

Willie Harris (NYM).  Harris has traditionally hit fairly lightly, but this year he’s not hitting too poorly.  Unfortunately, his defense has declined in recent years.  He had -0.2 dWAR in 2009, -0.3 in 2010, and -0.4 so far this year.

Jerry Sands (LAD).  Just 23 years old, Sands has been pressed into service this year for the Dodgers, largely because of a number of injuries they’ve faced.  Sands has been a superstar in the minors, however, belting 35 home runs last year between Great Lakes and Chattanooga.  He’s a bright star on Los Angeles’ horizon, but his Major League season in 2011 has been far less than stellar.

Eric Patterson (SDP).  Patterson hit just .214 in 2010 between Oakland and Boston, but apparently the Padres saw enough potential in him to make him the Player To Be Named Later in the Adrian Gonzalez trade.  Through 103 plate appearances, he was hitting just .180/.272/.292, and was designated for assignment on June 9 before he could do any more damage.

Up next: AL Pitchers.

Now, that’s not to say that Bergen wasn’t without merit.  He was considered a superior defensive catcher, and holds the record (6) for most base stealers thrown out in a single game.  Of course, he also finished in the top 5 in Passed Balls three times in his career.

But never mind that.

Bill Bergen amassed an 11-year career – 3,228 plate appearances – despite never posting a WAR above -0.6.  His career -15.0 WAR places him well at the bottom of position players all-time.

So it seems fitting that the “anti-All-Star” team should be named after him.

I’ve put together a list of the Major League players with the lowest WAR totals so far this season in my all-new “All-Bergen Team.”

It would be a misnomer to call these the worst players in baseball.  After all, to really accumulate negative WAR, you have to have some sort of staying power.  To even be considered, players had to have a minimum of 100 PA or 20.0 IP at the Major League level.

So these are, instead, the consistently-worst players in MLB this year.

There were a few no-brainers.  The two teams (our beloved Houston Astros and the Minnesota Twins) with the most players represented (five each) have also been the two teams to have spent the most time in the bottom of the standings.  The best team in the AL (the New York Yankees) did not have any representatives at all.

Of course, there were a few surprises, as well.  The best team in baseball, the Philadelphia Phillies, had two players on the list.  Only three teams did not have any players on the list – as mentioned, the Yankees.  But also the Washington Nationals and the Atlanta Braves.

Outside of the Yankees, no team in the American League had fewer than two. Several teams in the NL (the Nationals, Braves, Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Mets, and San Francisco Giants) had fewer than two.

Most surprising, perhaps, is that only two of these players – Bill Hall and Jose Lopez – have been released from their teams outright.

Rules for selection were similar to the All-Star game.  34 players, including 13 pitchers, and at least two players from each position.  Obviously, there was no rule that each team had to have a representative.  I simply laid it all out there.

And now, presenting to you the 2011 Mid-Season(ish) All-Bergen Team, starting today with the American League position players:

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Catchers:
Jeff Mathis (LAA).  Mike Napoli, The oft-injured Angels’ all-time leader in home runs by a catcher, had a bit of a tumultuous offseason – traded by the Angels to the Blue Jays as part of the Vernon Wells deal (more on Wells later), and then again by the Blue Jays to the Rangers for pitcher Frank Francisco.  Part of the reason was to end a long-standing position battle with Mathis, as well as to make room for rookie catcher Hank Conger.  The decision hasn’t exactly worked out well for the Angels, as Mathis has lost 2.0 wins this season, more than Napoli (1.3) has won.

Drew Butera (MIN).  In Kevin Smith’s “Clerks,” hero Dante Hicks is famous for his decree, “I’m not even supposed to be here today.”  No doubt Butera feels the exact same way.  When perennial MVP candidate, three-time batting champion, and three-time Gold Glove winning catcher Joe Mauer went down with bilateral leg weakness after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery in the offseason, Butera – who never hit above .235 in the minor leagues – was pressed into service.  He’s struggled mightily at the plate – so much so that, like Bill Bergen himself, his strong arm never really compensated for it.  Bergen ranks 5th in the AL with 37.9% of baserunners caught.

First Basemen:
Justin Morneau (MIN).  In 2010, a strong season by Justin Morneau was cut short when he suffered a concussion, and it seems as if he’s been battling injuries ever since.  There’s no doubt that Morneau – a former MVP – is a very good player when healthy, but the key word is healthy.  In his 231 plate appearances this season, he’s managed to go just .225/.281/.338.

Daric Barton (OAK). In three of his four previous Major League seasons, Barton has posted an OPS+ over 100.  In the fourth, he managed a respectable 85.  The former Cardinals first rounder and Baseball America Top 100 prospect has struggled out of the gate so far this season, however, and was sent down to Triple-A in June, but not before losing .4 wins.

Second Basemen:
Luke Hughes (MIN). This one is a bit misleading, as the Australian Hughes has actually played more at first base than second for the Twins, but he has played over 147 innings at 2B this season, and has given up .1 runs, which actually isn’t terrible, but the overall AL class is pretty good here.

Jack Wilson (SEA). Wilson is a former All-Star with the Pirates and won a share of the triples crown (tying Juan Pierre and Jimmy Rollins) in 2004.  But since moving to Seattle, he simply hasn’t been very good.  This season, he’s actually responsible for .1 win above replacement, but again, stiff competition in the AL landed him on the All-Bergen squad.  Generally known as a shortstop, he’s played enough innings to qualify, though two of his teammates – Adam Kennedy and Dustin Ackley – have him beaten in WAR at the position.

Third Basemen:
Chone Figgins (SEA). After the 2009 season, ESPN’s Gordon Edes called Figgins “probably… the third baseman most likely to be in demand, especially given his versatility.” The Mariners snapped him up to replace Adrian Beltre, who had failed to live up to the hype surrounding his 2004 season, when he finished second in the MVP voting to Barry Bonds.  Figgins has followed in Beltre’s footsteps, however, and was recently voted by Seattle Magazine as the third-worst player in the history of the franchise.

Brandon Inge (DET). In 2009, Inge was an improbable All-Star, selected in the Final Vote.  Two years later, he’s on the DL with mononucleosis and has a batting average below the Mendoza line.  His career has been full of these sorts of moments – brilliance followed by impotence.  In that same 2009 season, for instance, he entered the Home Run Derby and hit not a single home run.

Felipe Lopez (TBR). Since his 2005 All-Star appearance as a Cincinnati Red, Lopez has been an interesting case study.  Now on his seventh team in six seasons (eighth if you count his two Cardinals stints – 2008 and 2010), he entered the season as a fringe player who was expected to serve as a bench player to showcase himself in anticipation of earning a starting nod somewhere in Major League Baseball.  He hasn’t done himself many favors, going .216/.248/.320 in his limited playing time.

Shortstops
Reid Brignac (TBR). Just imagine. Had the Astros never traded Ben Zobrist to the Rays for Aubrey Huff, Brignac might well be their starting second baseman today.  As it stands, he’s become pretty much the opposite of a super-utility man.  Despite the ability to play all over the field, he’s only seen time at shortstop this year for Joe Maddon, and has responded with a 31 OPS+ and a batting average well below the Mendoza line.

Matt Tolbert (MIN). Matt Tolbert was a Freshman All-American at the University of Mississippi in 2002.  In 2011, he’s a soft-hitting utility infielder who is hitting just .186/.239/.279 in 141 plate appearances for the Twins, who are struggling with injuries all through their lineup and could probably really use a Freshman All-American right about now.

Designated Hitters
Adam Dunn (CWS). There can be little doubt that when the Chicago White Sox signed Adam Dunn to a four-year, $56-million contract, they expected more than 7 home runs at the All-Star break, though they might not have been very surprised by the accompanying 103 strikeouts.  Dunn has always been a feast-or-famine hitter, but this year is almost entirely famine, as he’s on pace for an OBP almost 50 points lower than his previous career low.

Edwin Encarnacion (TOR). It seems official: If you make a former Cincinnati Red your designated hitter, he’s going to struggle.  Like Dunn, Encarnacion was a super-prospect for the Reds once upon a time.  He’s struggled with injuries since coming over to Toronto as part of the Scott Rolen trade, and was signed in the offseason by the Oakland Athletics, who non-tendered him before he re-signed with the Blue Jays.  No doubt they wish they hadn’t bothered, as his -0.6 WAR makes him – along with Dunn – one of only two Designated Hitters with a WAR lower than the player the Athletics ended up with at the position, Hideki Matsui.

Outfielders
Magglio Ordonez (DET).  Ordonez is not a .211 hitter.  Ordonez is a career .312 hitter – or at least he was before this season.  But this season, he’s more than a hundred points off of his career average.  And we won’t even discuss his .286 SLG.

Mike Cameron (BOS). I will always have great respect for Mike Cameron as a player. He’s won three Gold Gloves, with the Mariners, Mets, and Padres, and since 1997, he’s never finished a season with a WAR under 1.0.  But this year, he was losing wins on both sides of the ball before Boston designated him for assignment last week.

Rajai Davis (TOR). Rajai Davis has walked just 8 times in 268 plate appearances, and he’s struck out more than six times as often – 51.  So it shouldn’t be surprising that his .224/.252/.332 line merits him a starting nod on the All-Bergen team.  And yet it is surprising, as he has posted back-to-back .320+ OBP seasons, and in 2009 had an OPS+ of 107.  But playing on an aggressive Blue Jays team that led the majors in home runs last year seems to have affected him a great deal.  Add to that the -0.8 wins he’s giving up as a defender, and you can see why he’s an All-Bergen this year.

Felix Pie (BAL). It doesn’t seem that long ago when Pie and Angel Pagan were both highly-touted Chicago Cubs prospects, but the “five-tool” Pie has struggled in the Major Leagues. Unable to win the starting center field job from Reed Johnson and Jim Edmonds in Chicago, he was traded to Baltimore for Garrett Olson and Henry Williamson prior to the 2009 season.  At just 26 years old, Pie still has time on his side, but his numbers have dipped drastically this year from the previous two seasons, in which he posted OPS+ of 98 and 93.

David Murphy (TEX). You still have to think the Rangers got the better end of the 2007 trade that brought Murphy to Texas in exchange for Eric Gagne, as Murphy has finished with an OPS+ over 100 in every season he’s played in Arlington.  This year, however, has been one to forget thus far for the lefty, who is slugging just .316, more than a hundred points below his previous career low.

Juan Pierre (CWS). Juan Pierre has always been a frustrating player for fans.  Despite a career batting average of .296, he’s never really put it all together, and only twice has he finished a season with an OPS+ over 100.  Still, he’s always been able to run.  Eleven times, he’s finished a season in the top five in stolen bases, and ranks 29th all-time in career stolen bases.  He’s led the league three times, including last season when he had 68.  This year, he already has eleven – but it’s come at a cost, as he’s been caught stealing 10 times.  The 52% stolen base percentage would easily be the lowest of his career, adding to a pretty frustrating season for a man once considered by many to be the best leadoff hitter in baseball.

Michael Saunders (SEA). Michael Saunders is very young – just 24 years old.  So it’s not a cause for great concern when he stumbles out of the gate hitting just .168/.223/.248, especially when it comes with 117 putouts, 1 outfield assist, and 0 errors.  But he’ll need to find the stroke he had in Tacoma, where he had an OPS of .922, if he’s going to turn his career around after a rocky start.

Vernon Wells (LAA).  Clearly, the Angels were the losers of the Mike Napoli-for-Vernon Wells trade.  Not only is Jeff Mathis, Napoli’s successor behind the plate, an All-Bergen, so too is Wells.  The three-time Gold Glover is losing 0.6 wins with his glove alone, so the 0.1 he’s gaining with his bat doesn’t carry him very far.

Coming next: N.L. position players.

But this year, I’m not stopping there.  The whole selection process is pretty silly.  Bruce Bochy used his managerial picks to give Ryan Vogelsong an All-Star nod, which raised a lot of eyebrows around the league.  But Vogelsong (1.9 WAR, 20th among NL starters) isn’t even the worst offender.  Jose Valverde made the squad despite a 0.4 WAR (38th among AL relievers,) as did Brandon League, who is tied with him.

And then there’s Jay Bruce, whose 0.9 WAR ranks him 39th among NL outfielders.

Meanwhile, Bochy snubbed his own third baseman, Pablo Sandoval, who leads all NL third basemen with 2.0 WAR.  Sandoval isn’t alone; he’s tied at the top with Chase Headley, who also wasn’t voted in.  Neither were Ryan Roberts (1.9) – who wasn’t even on the printed All-Star ballot – or Aramis Ramirez (1.6).  That’s right, the NL’s starting third baseman, Placido Polanco, ranks fifth.  The reserve third baseman, Chipper Jones, ranks tenth.

The second base situation in the AL is almost as bad.  Robinson Cano (2.4, 5th among AL 2B) was voted the starter, and Howie Kendrick (3rd with 3.1) is the backup, leaving Dustin Pedroia (1st with 3.7) as proof that even big-market players aren’t exempt.  He’ll have company watching the game; the Rays’ Ben Zobrist is 2nd with 3.6 WAR, and also didn’t receive a nod.

David Robertson is tied with his bullpen mate, Mariano Rivera, to lead all AL relievers with a 1.5 WAR, but he’ll be sitting at home, also.

But it is what it is, and most of the guys who belong there end up there, one way or the other.   But would it kill Major League Baseball to rectify this situation somehow?  Maybe give the General Managers a vote?  Maybe SABR?  I don’t know; but I do know that something needs to change. The guys who earn All-Star nods must be allowed to play in the All-Star Game.

I’m all for the idea of the fan vote: Fans should be able to watch their favorite players take the field in July against one another.  But if a player out-performs every other player at his position, he should be on that field.

As is my tradition, I’ve taken the liberty of creating my own All-Star team, based on statistics, while maintaining current MLB rules (i.e. at least one player from each team**).

So, without further ado, my own choices for the 68 Major League All-Stars:

NATIONAL LEAGUE

STARTERS

C: Brian McCann (ATL)
1B: Joey Votto (CIN)
2B: Rickie Weeks (MIL)
3B: Chase Headley (SDP)
SS: Jose Reyes (NYM)
OF: Matt Kemp (LAD), Andrew McCutcheon (PIT), Ryan Braun (MIL)
SP: Roy Halladay (PHI)

BULLPEN

Cole Hamels (PHI), Cliff Lee (PHI), Clayton Kershaw (LAD), Jair Jurrjens (ATL), Jonny Venters (ATL), Craig Kimbrel (ATL), Eric O’Flaherty (ATL), Mike Adams (SDP), Carlos Marmol (CHC), Ian Kennedy (ARI), Daniel Hudson (ARI), Matt Cain (SFG)

BENCH

C Miguel Montero (ARI), 1B Prince Fielder (MIL), 2B Danny Espinosa (WSN), 3B Pablo Sandoval (SFG), SS Troy Tulowitzki (COL), OF Shane Victorino (PHI), OF Michael Bourn (HOU), OF Matt Holliday (STL), OF Carlos Beltran (HOU), 1B Gaby Sanchez (FLA), 2B Brandon Phillips (CIN), OF/1B Lance Berkman (STL), 3B Ryan Roberts (ARI)

AMERICAN LEAGUE

C: Alex Avila (DET)
1B: Adrian Gonzalez (BOS)
2B: Dustin Pedroia (BOS)
3B: Alex Rodriguez (NYY)
SS: Asdrubal Cabrera (CLE)
OF: Jose Bautista (TOR), Curtis Granderson (NYY), Jacoby Ellsbury (BOS)
DH: David Ortiz (BOS)
SP: Jered Weaver (LAA)

BULLPEN

Justin Verlander (DET), CC Sabathia (NYY), Josh Beckett (BOS), James Shields (TBR), David Robertson (NYY), Mariano Rivera (NYY), Jim Johnson (BAL), Aaron Crow (KCR), Sergio Santos (CWS), Felix Hernandez (SEA), C.J. Wilson (TEX), Gio Gonzalez (OAK)

BENCH

C Matt Wieters (BAL), 1B Miguel Cabrera (DET), 2B Ben Zobrist (TBR), 3B Kevin Youkilis (BOS), SS Jhonny Peralta (DET), OF Alex Gordon (KCR), OF Denard Span (MIN), OF Brett Gardner (NYY), DH Victor Martinez (DET), OF Matthew Joyce (TBR), OF Carlos Quentin (CWS), 2B Howie Kendrick (LAA)

* I calculated WAR by averaging bWAR and fWAR.
** Yankees 6, Red Sox 6, Braves 5, Tigers 5, Diamondbacks 4, Phillies 4, Brewers 3, Rays 3, Reds 2, Dodgers 2, Mets 2, Padres 2, Giants 2, Cardinals 2, Angels 2, Royals 2, Cubs 1, Rockies 1, Marlins 1, Astros 1, Pirates 1, Nationals 1, Blue Jays 1, Rangers 1, Mariners 1, Athletics 1, Twins 1, Indians 1

So any time I evaluate prospects, it has to be understood that these are simply educated guesses, based on the available data.  Still, I think it’s important to be aware of where the Astros minor league system stands today, and to that end I’ve taken a look at the players in each of the four primary minor leagues (Triple-A, Double-A, Single-A, and A-Advance) to see how their 2011 seasons are shaping up.

Catchers

The defensive element of a catcher is so vital to his development, which makes their offensive numbers somewhat misleading.  Still, of the six prospects (Robinson Cancel, Federico Hernandez, Chris Wallace, Roberto Pena, Rene Garcia, and Ben Heath) with at least 100 plate appearances this season, very little jumps off the page.

Cancel, recently called up to the majors, has the best numbers (.324/.384/.431 at Triple-A Oklahoma City), but at age 35 he can hardly still be called a prospect.  Which turns the eye toward Wallace, who’s hitting .293/.372/.550 in Single-A Lexington.  Still, a twenty-three year-old in the South Atlantic League comes with a distinct advantage, so his numbers must be taken with a grain of salt.

Heath (.260/.324/.423) has looked decent at the plate in Lancaster, where he splits time with Garcia, but those numbers don’t exactly get the pulse running.

First Basemen

At first glance, Kody Hinze’s numbers (.333/.469/.635) look impressive.  But again, he’s a 23-year-old playing in the low minors… worse than Wallace, he’s playing in the California League, against pitchers five years younger than he.  Still, he’s got great size and a nice pedigree (he was on the Chronicle’s 2005 All-Greater Houston team with Jay Bruce, Kyle Drabek, and Koby Clemens).

Clemens himself is one of the more interesting prospects in the system.  After time spent behind the plate, at third base, and in the corner outfield, he seems to have found a home at first base, where he’s effectively blocked by Brett Wallace.  Clemens’ .247/.335/.418 in Oklahoma City isn’t glowing, but he’s just 24, and could be knocking on the door sooner than later, especially with his experience around the diamond.

Brian Dopirak, at 27, is fast losing his prospect status, and Tyler Burnett has shown some ability at the plate (.287/.357/.395 at Lexington), but his low power numbers put a big question mark on any evaluation.

Second Basemen

Again, primarily a defensive position, it’s rare for second basemen to really pop out on a stat sheet.  Which makes it all the more surprising that the Astros have two players in Brandon Wikoff (.402/.478/.939 at Corpus Christi) and Jose Altuve (.408/.451/.606 at Lancaster), who both look like they might be able to contribute.

Altuve’s power numbers are a bit inflated because of his 7 triples, but he’s a prototypical leadoff hitter (19 SB, .451 OBP, 38 RS).

Delino Deshields, Jr. is still a bit of a work-in-progress, but his .221/.294/.369 line in Lexington is quickly propelling him down on my evaluation.

Shortstops

Once again, a primarily-defensive position, but one where the Astros have lacked real production for a long time.  Wladimir Sutil, at 26, is a bit old for the Texas League, but his .302/.375/.755 in Corpus Christi isn’t bad.

Jiovanni Mier (.254/.367/.405 inLexington) hasn’t turned into quite the prospect his first-round draft status promised, but he’s just 20 years old still.  Jonathan Villar’s numbers (.259/.353/.414) are comparable, and are buoyed by his 20 stolen bases, tied (with Corpus Christi second baseman Jimmy Paredes) for the most of any Astros’ prospect.

Third Basemen

A quick glance at the Astros’ third base prospects brings Michael Kvasnicka’s name front and center.  Hitting .307/.371/.453 at Lexington, his age (22) is right on the upper border of the SAL.

Farther up, in Oklahoma City, Oswaldo Navarro is putting together a competent .253/.381/.330.  Astros fans saw Navarro take 20 mostly-disappointing plate appearances last year, and before that, he spent four games with the Seattle Mariners in 2006.  Still, he’s hardly a bankable commodity.

Outfielders

A few names leap out on the stat sheet when looking at the Astros’ minor league outfielders, not the least of which is Jacob Goebbert, the left fielder in Corpus Christi, who’s hitting .326/.415/.511.  Just 23, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him make the leap up to Oklahoma City before the July All-Star break.

Adam Bailey is hitting .310/.355/.552 for Lexington, but at 23 years old, he should be hitting well against California League pitchers.

Another 23-year-old, Daniel Adamson, has a .329/.402/.503 line, but again in Lexington, he’s at a competitive advantage over the much-younger pitchers.

The next look, then, must be at center fielder Brandon Barnes (.245/.348/.554 in Oklahoma City) and left fielder J.D. Martinez (.329/.406/.486 in Corpus Christi), both of whom are putting together very nice seasons in their respective leagues.

Pitchers

If it’s hard to evaluate position players in the minors, it’s next to impossible to evaluate pitchers.  I will always remember the time I was watching Homer Bailey, then an uber-prospect for the Cincinnati Reds, pitching for the Dayton Dragons.  He had an awful game, and when I asked why, I was informed that he had been instructed to only use off-speed and breaking pitches, because his fastball was already solid.

So judging a pitcher from a few games is a tiring process.  Still, it’s important to look and see what the Houston farm has to offer.

There are 15 pitchers currently with FIPs below 4.00, which is where I’ll start my look.  In order of lowest FIP to highest, they are: “Old Man” Andy Van Hekken, Jason Chowning, Fernando Nieve, Gabriel Garcia, Jorge De Leon, Fernando Rodriguez, Murilo Gouvea, Danny Meszaros, Sergio Escalona, Jordan Lyles, Wesley Wright, Alex Sogard, Xavier Cedeno, Dallas Keuchel, and Ross Wolf.

Nieve, Rodriguez, Escalona, Lyles, and Wright should be familiar to Astros fans from 25-man rosters past and present, but here we’re just going to evaluate their minor league numbers from this season.

31-year-old Van Hekken, who has always pitched well but far above his age range, strikes out 11 batters for every nine innings pitched. But a high WHIP (1.681) and H/9 (11.6) are causes for concern.

Garcia has had a much more promising season: a razor-thin WHIP (0.815), 10.0 SO/9, and 7.5 strikeouts for every walk he’s issued.  He’s been pretty lucky with balls in play (hitters who put the ball into play are just .246 against him), but overall he’s looking very sharp in Lexington.

Also of note in Lexington is Chowning, despite some pretty alarming hints at some character issues.  Still, with a 1.069 WHIP and 10.6 strikeouts per 9 innings, he’s pitching well, though being a 23-year-old in the SAL helps.  He has an extraordinarily-high strand rate (83.9%), which is contributing to his success.  The third pitcher in Lexington’s stable is De Leon, another 23-year-old, which a 0.969 WHIP and 4.8 strikeouts for every walk issued.

The scarcity of starters among this group is of concern.  Cedeno and Keuchel are the only starters without big-league resumes, and while neither has been amazing, they’ve both pitched well in Corpus Christi this season.

Sogard has some nice numbers: 1.081 WHIP, 9.1 K/9, but the 1.3 HR/9 is alarming, especially in Lexington, where the balls tend to stay in the park.  He will need to work on that if he’s going to advance.  Meszaros is the other outlier, with a 1.214 WHIP and 10.3 K/9 in Corpus Christi, and his 7.1 H/9 is pretty good among this group.

Overall, there aren’t a lot of guys who leap out at you, but definitely some developing players who could make solid contributions in the future.

On Opening Day, 2000, the ceremonial first pitch was thrown by Kenneth Lay (oops) to open what was then known as Enron Field, now Minute Maid Park.  Since then until the end of last season, no fewer than 97 position players and 124 have donned a Houston Astros uniform. 

The Astros have been through a lot during that period – 4th place in their division in 2000, and then starting a string of success that would culminate in the 2005 National League pennant, followed by a sharp and dramatic decline. 

As we step forward into a new era – one in which no single player who saw that ceremonial first pitch is still an active player for the Astros – I got the idea to look back and answer a very basic question: “Which Astros have been the best players during the Minute Maid Park era?”

For this, I looked at a number of stats, mostly WAR, only factoring in seasons in which the Astros called MMP (or Enron Field) home.  Most of the players were chosen for their total team value, though some were given the nod for big contributions over the course of just a few seasons.  A twenty-five player roster proved to make some decisions much too difficult, so I expanded it to 30.

What this is not is a look at the best hitters in Minute Maid Park.  No attention was paid to home-road splits, although I may revisit that idea down the road.  Also, I used B-R’s WAR, which sometimes varies wildly from FanGraphs’ WAR.  It is what it is.

The largest single-season WAR for any position player was posted by Lance Berkman in 2008, and the largest single-season WAR for a pitcher was the 7.2 that Roger Clemens put up in 2005.  In fact, not surprisingly, it was the pitching that year that propelled Houston into the playoffs.  Of the top five single seasons ever put together by an Astros pitcher in the Minute Maid Park era, 3 of them came that year: #1 Roger Clemens (7.2), #3 Andy Pettitte (5.8), and #5 Roy Oswalt (5.3).  Only one position player from that season, Morgan Ensberg (third at 6.5), had a season in the top ten of all-time seasons by an Astros position player in the MMP era. 

So without further delay, I present to you the 30 Greatest Astros of the Minute Maid Park era:

Starting Pitchers

1. Roy Oswalt.  Of the ten best pitching seasons in the Minute Maid Park era, Oswalt has four (2002, 2005, 2006, and 2007).  He’s far and away the leader in overall WAR, owing largely to the fact that his 291 starts dwarfs any other pitcher – Wandy Rodriguez has the second-most, with 167.  Oswalt came up with the Astros in 2001, and played his entire Astros career in the MMP era.  With 5 Cy Young top-five finishes, 3 All-Star appearances, 4 appearances in the Top 25 of MVP voting, and a Rookie of the Year runner-up, he’s easily the most-decorated pitcher of the era.  But it wasn’t just longevity that aided Oswalt.  His 4.2 WAR-per-season as a pitcher is second in the MMP era only to…

2. Roger Clemens.  Clemens was already a six-time Cy Young Award winner by the time he needled (see what I did there?) his way into Houston in 2004 to begin a three-year stretch of dominance that saw him win one more Cy Young, a second top three finish in the voting, two All-Star appearances, and two MVP top-25 selections.  He also threw at his son, Koby Clemens, who had earlier homered off of him in an exhibition game. I mean, I’m just saying that that happened.

3. Wade Miller.  When Miller’s name is mentioned around Astros fans, it usually takes them a moment or two to remember who he was, but he did post double-digit wins three years in a row (2001-03).  Unfortunately for him, the World Series year of 2005 was his first away from the club.  If one includes the 10.1 innings he pitched during the Astrodome era, Miller was 58-39 as an Astro, with a 3.87 ERA, 117 ERA+, 1.309 WHIP, 7.7 K/9, and 2.15 K/BB.  He also struck out 6 Braves in 7 innings in his only playoff appearance, Game 1 of the 2001 NLDS. 

4. Andy Pettitte.  Astros fans can be forgiven for thinking of Pettitte and Clemens as one in the same.  The strong lefty-righty combo came into town – and left town – at the same time, from the same New York Yankees, and back to those same New York Yankees.  Pettitte’s 7.5 WAR over that time pales in comparison to the other three names on the list, but he did finish fifth in the Cy Young voting in 2005 and helped propel the team to their first World Series appearance.  Pettitte also left town with a cool 1.230 WHIP and more than three strikeouts to every walk he issued as an Astro in the MMP era.

5. Wandy Rodriguez.  At first glance, Rodriguez’s place on this list seems to owe itself more to the fact that he’s the longest-tenured current Astros pitcher of the MMP era, and there is some merit to that.  His 167 starts is second among Astros pitchers during this time.  But his 1.3 WAR-per-season isn’t bad – the only pitchers not on this list who can match it are Shane Reynolds (1.3) and Chris Holt (1.9).  Wandy’s been successful as an Astro largely by keeping the ball in the park – he’s allowed just 1.0 home runs per 9.0 innings pitched since coming up in 2005, and his WHIP has been on a downward trend ever since the career-high 1.60 he posted as a sophomore.  Rodriguez has also posted three seasons (2008, 2009, 2010) with an ERA+ above 100, and has had three double-digit win totals: His rookie campaign in 2005, 2009, and 2010.

6. Brett Myers.  Myers may look out of place on this list, as he’s only had one full season as an Astros pitcher, but that season ranks among the best all-time in the MMP era.  His 4.7 WAR-per-season is second only to Clemens’ 5.1, outpacing even Oswalt’s 4.2.  In his lone season as an Astro, Myers finished 10th in the Cy Young balloting and posted a career-high 123 ERA+. 

Relief Pitchers

1. Octavio Dotel.  There aren’t a whole lot of surprises on this list, but the first might be seeing Dotel ranked above closer extraordinaire Billy Wagner.  A case could be made for either of the last two in the once-vaunted Lidge-Dotel-Wagner trio that was once used to mop up opponents during the early years of the MMP era, but Dotel wins on tenure.  His 10.6 WAR over the course of 5 seasons as an Astro during this period is the best for any reliever, and his insanely-good 3.05 K/BB ratio (which does include 85.1 IP during the Astrodome era) is pretty impressive, too.

2. Billy Wagner.  When the hard-throwing lefty came up in 1995, he captured Astros nation and held it for nine seasons, five of which came in the MMP era.  The final year of the Astrodome era was his best and earned him 4th place in the Cy Young balloting, but he pitched well even in the new ballpark.  In fact, it was his final year in Houston, 2003, that saw him post his career-high 44 saves, and he earned 2 of his 3 All-Star Game appearances as an Astro in the MMP era.

3. Brad Lidge. It’s easy enough, after watching Brad Lidge struggle through the end of his tenure as a Houston Astro, to forget how dominant he could be.  But from his first full season in 2003 through the World Series year of 2005, he owned opposing hitters, striking out more than 3.75 batters for every one he walked, posting a 1.078 WHIP, and putting together a string of devastating ERA+: 122 in 2003, 230 in 2004, and 185 in 2005.  He finished 5th in the Rookie of the Year balloting in 2003, 8th in the Cy Young voting in 2004, and earned an All-Star nod in 20
05.

4. Chad Qualls. Qualls was never quite as flashy as Lidge, Dotel, or Wagner, but he did post consistently-high ERA+ during his tenure as an Astro in the MMP era: 124 (2004), 130 (2005), 119 (2006), and 146 (2007).  During these four seasons, he posted a 1.236 WHIP, 6 saves, and 23 wins out of the bullpen.

5. Dan Wheeler. Wheeler has never enjoyed greater success as a pitcher than he did during the 3+ seasons he spent as an Astro during the MMP era, an era during which he posted an amazing 1.088 WHIP and a 145 ERA+ over 268.2 innings.  The 3.9 WAR he posted over the course of that time is incredible for a middle reliever, which he’s been for the overwhelming majority of his career.

6. Jose Valverde.  Antics aside, Valverde proved a useful commodity in the retooling years of 2008 and 2009, with a 3.3 WAR and a 1.159 WHIP.  He struck out 3.16 batters for every walk he issued, and 9.9 for every nine innings he pitched as an Astro – a full 139 of the 552 batters he faced (over 25%). 

7. LaTroy Hawkins.  Hawkins is much-maligned around certain (ahem, Cubs) circles, largely because he always seemed like a setup man who could never really step up and become a full-time closer.  That may well be true, but he pitched well during his Astros tenure, from midway through 2008 through 2009.  He held down a 1.71 ERA during those two years, and an amazing 244 ERA+.  Like Rodriguez, he was a guy who kept the ball in the park, allowing just 0.7 HR/9, with a 1.091 WHIP.  His 3.3 WAR for less than two full seasons is pretty remarkable for a middle reliever.

8. Brandon Lyon.  Though Lyon has pitched just one full season in Houston, 2010, his 2.0 WAR in that single season ranks among the best single-season WAR for any Astros reliever during the MMP era.  Never truly dominant, he did post a 125 ERA+ and allowed just 0.2 HR/9.

9. Dan Miceli.  A case could be made for lefty Tim Byrdak, but Miceli gets the nod for his 1.6 WAR in 2004 and parts of 2003, which saw him pitch for 4 major league teams.  His 375 ERA+ over the course of the 30.0 innings he pitched as an Astro that year reek of bad sample size, but striking out 3.03 batters for every walk issued is a pretty solid argument, as well.

Catchers

1. Brad Ausmus.  Ausmus wins on playing time alone.  Sure, he posted a 2.8 WAR as an Astro during the MMP era, his second stint with the team, but it took from 2001-2008 for him to do it.  He also won three Gold Gloves during this time, and much of his value came on defense, unlike:

2. Mitch Meluskey.  Meluskey took to Minute Maid Park like a pig to mud, ranking fifth in Rookie of the Year balloting during the park’s inaugural season, after which he departed, only to return in 2003 to much more dismal numbers.  That rookie season alone was enough to win the hot-headed backstop a spot on a thin roster of Astros catchers.  Despite losing 0.5 wins to his poor defense, he made up for it at the plate, where he hit .300/.401/.487.

Infielders

1B Lance Berkman.  Since getting 6th place in the Rookie of the Year balloting in MMP’s inaugural 2000 season, Berkman has been a mainstay, first as a corner outfielder (plus who remembers his 1,292.1 innings as a center fielder over parts of five seasons?) and then as a first baseman.  With five top five finishes in the MVP balloting and five All-Star selections, the switch-hitter has been nearly-synonymous with the MMP era, picking up where legends like Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio left off, as one more Killer B.  His 46.1 WAR over this time dwarfs any other player.  Of course, as we all learned last night, he isn’t any less deadly in MMP as an opposing hitter, either.

2B Craig Biggio.  The consummate team player, Biggio changed positions with some regularity.  After coming up in 1998 as a catcher, he moved to second base, later to the outfield to make room for Jeff Kent, and then back to second base.  In my mind, he will always be a second baseman, a position he defined for the Astros over the course of 17,154.2 innings at the position.  His finest days may have been behind him once the move was made to MMP, but he never took a pitch off, amassing 10.9 WAR from 2000-2007.

3B Morgan Ensberg.  Though Ensberg played in MMP’s inaugural 2000 year, he didn’t work his way into being a full-time starter until three years later.  In parts of seven seasons, though, he put together a .266/.367/.475 line, including the 2005 season which saw him finish 4th in MVP voting, earn his only All-Star selection, and win a Silver Slugger award en route to leading the Astros offense that won the NL pennant.

SS Adam Everett.  Everett is another player whose value came mostly from having a longer tenure than anyone else at his position during the MMP era, but he also provided 6.9 WAR over 7 seasons as a defender alone. 

Outfielders

LF Moises Alou.  Alou was already well-traveled, having played for Pittsburgh, Montreal, and Florida before he landed in Houston in 1998 with a campaign that saw him earn an All-Star nod, a Silver Slugger award, and third in the MVP voting.  It wasn’t until he resurfaced with the team in  2000 and 2001, though, that he got to be a part of the MMP era.  And during his time in Houston, he made his mark on that period with two more MVP top-twenty finishes and another All-Star nod before departing for Chicago to blame fans for interfering with balls he would never have caught in a million years.

CF Richard Hidalgo.  Fans may have trouble remembering Hidalgo, who played for the Astros in parts of 8 seasons, including 2000-2004 in the MMP era.  Certainly, Mets and Rangers fans would have liked to have seen him continue the .278/.356/.501 line he put up during his tenure as an Astro, or the 17.4 WAR he accumulated, all but 3.3 of which came during the MMP era.

RF Hunter Pence.  It’s difficult not to think of Pence, now a team leader in his fifth season with the club, as the goofy 24-year-old that surfaced in 2007 with a rookie campaign that earned him third in the ROY voting.  He boasts a 6.6 WAR over that time, despite losing 1.1  wins on the defensive side of the ball (all in 2010), which actually ranks him third after Berkman and Hidalgo among players who have manned right field for the Astros in the MMP era. 

Bench

1B Jeff Bagwell.  Bagwell played five full seasons, and part of a sixth, during the MMP era, and though he might not have been the force he’d been earlier in his career, he did amass three seasons (2000, 2001, and 2003) with numbers good enough to finish in the top 15 of MVP voting, including a 1.039 OPS in 2000.  From 2000-2003, he posted four consecutive seasons with an oWAR over 3.5, and all told, he added over 20 wins from 2000-2005.

2B Jeff Kent.  One of two future All-Stars to man the second sack for the Astros in the MMP era, Kent had already solidified his career in Toronto, New York, Cleveland, and San Francisco by the time he landed in Houston from 2003-2004, where he posted a .293/.350/.521 line and 5.9 WAR.

3B Ken Caminiti.  Caminiti had already spent 8 years in Houston during the Astrodome era before parting for San Diego in 1995, but he would return in 1999 and play his final year for the Astros in 2000, the inaugural year of MMP.  The 1.5 WAR he posted that season was far from the best of his career, even of his Astros career, but the fading slugger did well enough that year to warrant a spot on the thirty best.

UTIL Ty Wigginton.  After the Rays dealt Wigginton to the Astros in 2007 for Wheeler, he put together probably the best stretch of his career, going .285/.347/.506 in 161 games, split between third base, first base, and both corner outfiel
d spots.  The 2.8 WAR he put together in such a short time is the best of any team he’s played for.

OF Michael Bourn.  Bourn’s still got a lot of holes in his game, but the All-Star and two-time Gold Glove winner has amassed 7.1 WAR over the last two seasons, after a disastrous first year which saw him give away 2.1.  He led the league in dWAR, Total Zone Runs, and Stolen Bases in 2010, and seems to be maturing before our very eyes. 

OF Carlos Beltran.  Beltran played just 90 games for the Houston Astros after a midseason three-team trade that saw John Buck go to the Royals and Octavio Dotel to the Athletics, but he made his time here count, putting together 3.5 WAR and leading the charge deep into the playoffs, where he posted an OPS over 1.5.  Only Lance Berkman has carried this team on his back better than Beltran did in the second half of 2004 during the MMP era.

In a way, I think it’s fair for me to say that it was my destiny to be a baseball fan.  That sounds a bit ridiculous, I’ll admit, but in a way I feel like my birthday – April 15 – was the day that baseball was really born.  Baseball the way we understand it and play it today.  Because it was April 15, 1947 when the Brooklyn Dodgers played the Boston Braves in Ebbets Field and batting second for the Dodgers was first baseman Jackie Robinson.

Yes, I’m proud to share a birthday with modern baseball.  With a Major League Baseball that incorporates people from around the world.  People of all colors.  Because as much as people want to rave about Babe Ruth or Ty Cobb or any player before 1947 being the best ever, the truth stands that they did not compete on an even playing field with the best players in the world.

Jackie Robinson was a very special player and a very special human being, and I’m proud to be tied – even in such an indirect way – to what he accomplished.  

Happy Jackie Robinson Day, everybody.

For those of us who follow trade rumors, it’s sometimes easy to forget that there are some people who are very interested in these rumors: The players themselves.

When one lefty gets signed, it can have a dramatic influence on other lefties.  The difference between a major league signing and a minor league invite are major – they are, literally, the difference between getting a job offer and getting an offer for a job interview. 

Byrdak, who pitched pretty well for the Astros over three years, wound up in New York.  But the way he tells it, it sounds like a cyclone, spinning you around and around with no idea where you’re going to land until you wake up the next morning and take stock of your surroundings.

Excerpts below, but you should read the entire article.

“I thought we’d have more of an opportunity to secure a big-league job,” Byrdak continued. “So you have to keep watching the wire, MLB Trade Rumors, all these sites to see who is going where, who has interest in guys. So it became a pretty valuable tool for me to keep an eye on other lefties that were still on the market, and how that market was developing.”

What may seem like a minor post to a reader about a team’s interest in a middle reliever is seismic to someone like Byrdak, and he found it hard to avoid getting frustrated by some of the things he read.

“There were a couple [of times],” Byrdak said. “You would hear from a couple of different teams, and you thought you’d be starting the negotiation process. People have asked me, ‘How come I don’t play for the White Sox’ [Byrdak is from nearby Oak Forest, IL], and I tell them, ‘Well, you know, they’ve never offered me a job.”

“I read somewhere, Chad Durbin said the same thing, that you’ve got to take what was out there,” Byrdak said. “There wasn’t a big-league job out there for us to get. I’m a guy who usually is coming into camp – you’re in shape – but it’s about getting your arm strength, getting everything together without the pressure. It was different this year. You have to compete, put up zeroes as early and often as you can.”

The Astros are at their payroll limit, but would like to add a left-handed hitting outfielder to platoon with Jason Michaels if they go with Carlos Lee over Brett Wallace at first base, which is hardly a sure thing. Wallace is hitting .362/.388/.617 this spring.

The team’s greater need is a replacement for catcher Jason Castro, who is out for the season due to a torn ACL in his right knee. The Astros like the Royals’ Brayan Pena, but the Royals won’t trade him with Jason Kendall still recovering from shoulder surgery.

I know I’ve been something of a J.R. Towles fanboy, and I understand that the team might be reluctant to give him another shot to translate his skills to the Major League level, but if going .344/.382/.594 in Spring Training, with more at-bats than any other player at your position, doesn’t earn you a chance to be the starting catcher, then I don’t know why we even have Spring Training. Of course, I understand that Humberto Quintero and Chris Corporan have posted comparable, and at times better, numbers. But Towles’ minor league production backs up his spring numbers, and I just happen to think he’s due one last chance to either be the starting catcher or to be traded or released.

As for the speculation about Carlos Lee, I think Brett Wallace has to be installed as the everyday first baseman to start the season. You have to believe that he’s going to find his power stroke at the major league level, and the thought of platooning Jason Michaels with any other options isn’t promising. Brian Bogusevic, the obvious in-choice left-handed outfielder, isn’t performing well this spring and needs to swing the bat a few more times in Oklahoma City before he should be called up. That means going out and getting a free agent, which more or less is limited to Ryan Church, as every other option with big league experience is right-handed, to my knowledge.

So, really, it just makes much more sense to me to put Lee and his diminished defense in left field, with Wallace and his potential big bat at first; rather than Lee at first and a combination of Jason Michaels and any other human being in left field.

Until it wasn’t.

Castro’s season came to a screeching halt when he tore the ACL in his right knee, leaving the Astros once again fielding the question: Who will start at catcher?

Defensive stalwart Humberto Quintero is an option, if not a great one on the offensive side of the plate; former top prospect J.R. Towles is also lingering around, after a few unsuccessful major league stints.  

There are a few options that may be available via trade, but in my opinion, a rebuilding team like the Astros would be foolish to give away any piece of merit for what amounts to being – at best – a one-year stopgap behind the plate.

Then there’s Bengie Molina.

Molina, a thirteen-year veteran with the Angels, Blue Jays, Giants, and Rangers, is leaning towards retirement, but has said that he would be open to signing with a team where he could get full-time employment.

He would certainly become the number one option behind the plate, probably with Quintero filling in from the bench.  He would no doubt be available at a reasonable price, similar to the Ivan Rodriguez deal.

Though last year was not a good one for Molina, it was the first time since 2003 that he slugged below .400.  The last time the Astros had a catcher with over 150 plate appearances who slugged .400 or better, the year was 2001 and the catcher’s name was Tony Eusebio.  Molina also brings a veteran presence to a team that seems to get younger by the minute.