The Houston Astros are poised to have a pretty horrible season. I have no reason to believe that the team, as it sits now, will win more than 60 games this year. Is that me being pretty negative? Maybe, but I think it’s me being pretty realistic. I’d love to say that the rebuild efforts were further along than that, but they’re not.

The good news is that the minor leagues look good. They’ve jumped in the rankings from the very bottom of the pack (30) to being a top 10 minor league system in a very short time. And we all know that to have a successful ball club, a minor league system jam-packed with talent is essential. So Jeff Luhnow’s plan seems to be moving forward and, dare I say, working.

In the meantime, those of us who mainly follow the big league team suffer a bit. So how will the Houston Astros keep our attention this year? Is a new Manager in Bo Porter enough? Is watching Jose Altuve enough? Is Carlos Pena enough? Nope. None of those things will get fans to put their butts in seats.

I’ve wondered if the dismal failure that is the spread of Comcast Sports Net would encourage attendance to games. “You can’t see it on tv, so see it live!” But at a dinner this weekend 2 out of 4 fans said they’d change cable providers to insure their ability to watch Houston baseball. For the record, I have AT&T Uverse and will not be switching. I”ll find another way and there’s always radio.

But if you’ve been following the announcements coming out of Minute Maid Park recently, you know that everything old is new again…and I don’t just mean the logo. The team’s recruiting former players for roles in the organization. Is this an attempt to draw us back? If a favorite of mine is working for the team, will I come to more games?

Who’s on the menu so far, you ask. We all know that Craig Biggio already has a role as a special assistant to the GM and I can only see his role increasing over time. Roger Clemens will be working with the pitching staff. He’ll be hands on starting at Spring Training and will likely spend the majority of his time working with minor leaguers.

Alan Ashby, who played with the Astros throughout the 1980′s as a catcher is back as a tv* guy. And Geoff Blum will join the television broadcast team and is expected to cover about 60 or so games to fill in when Bill Brown isn’t on air.

Morgan Ensberg and Adam Everett will return to the club in roles in the minor leagues. Ensberg will be a development specialist assigned to Class A Lancaster and Everett will be an infield instructor and will work with both the minor league teams and the major league club. Both of these guys were on the 2005 Astros World Series team.

So, is this a gimicky parade of boys from the past to get our attention, or are these legit hires? I’d argue that they are both. Every one of these guys is definitely qualified to do the job they’ve been hired to do and in some cases, Clemens in particular, I don’t think there’s anyone who could do it better. Adam Everett was a fantastic defensive player and we all know that the Astros could use some serious help in that regard – if you don’t know what I’m talking about – go watch THIS VIDEO. (By the way, Bo Porter gets a shoutout in that video as the Nats 3B coach).

I salute the Astros for reaching out to former players who have the talent to help coach the young staff. I think it’s a good move. And in a year where good moves are needed to appease fans who are angry about all the bad moves (Jim DeShaies, Dave Raymond, Brett Dolan – good talent lost needlessly). Will this be enough to get former fans to come back and buy tickets? Nah. It’s not enough. But it’s an interesting move and one I’ll be following to see how these new coaches pan out.

None of these guys will be in high profile positions and fans aren’t going to see them, hear about them, etc throughout the season, but there is a little flicker of something – dare I say “hope” – that players who played in Houston’s glory days are coming home to play a role in returning the team to the days of old.

Terri Schlather (AGirlintheSouth) is the tortured Senior Houston Astros Writer for Aerys Sports. You can email her at agirlinthesouth@gmail.com, or follow her ridiculous ramblings on sports, vodka and the weeone on twitter @agirlinthesouth.

*Edited – my first draft went out before I had caffeine and I stated that Alan Ashby would be joining the radio team. That was incorrect. He will be joining the television team.

Last Friday, I spent the evening watching the Houston Aeros hockey team play some team in red. Anyway, I went to the game with Jayne from What the Heck, Bobby, the blog that follows the Houston Astros minor league system. It stands to reason that in an evening fueled by Grey Goose, Dewers and twenty-somethings on skates that baseball would be a topic of conversation, right? Duh.

One of the topics that we wandered onto that evening was Jordan Lyles. We talked about his season and his woes the third time through the batting order last year. The first two times that hitters saw Lyles’ stuff he had the upper hand, but by the third at bat, hitters had his number. It was like clockwork and he was getting lit up like a Christmas tree. Is it something they can coach him through? That’s what I wondered.

I don’t have an answer to that particular question yet, and I’m working on it, but when I read Brian T. Smith’s article on Chron.com about Roger Clemens taking an active role with the Astros again, that exchange last week about Lyles is what immediately came to mind.

According to the Chronicle article, the Astros are expecting and hoping for a decent amount of involvement from Clemens this season.

“We’ve got the whole calendar mapped out, and we’re going to sort of figure out what makes sense,” Luhnow said Monday. “But the idea is to plug him in in spring training, plug him in throughout the season, and just have him get a lot more involved with our pitchers.”

So there you have it. Roger Clemens is going to be spending some time working with the Houston Astros pitching staff.

There’s been lots of buzz about Clemens in the last year. First there was the whole “pitching for the Skeeters” thing that fueled rumors of a posible start at Minute Maid Park again. Those rumors were squelched by Clemens himself. Now, we’re a day away from finding out what judge and jury have to say about Clemens, PEDs and history when the results from this year’s Baseball Hall of Fame voting are announced. Clemens, along with several other steroid-era players, appeared on the ballot for the first time this year.

What do I think about the influence of Roger Clemens on the young pitching staff in Houston? I think it could be outstanding. The Astros have needed reinforcements in pitching for quite some time. With a rotation of young kids, the need increases. If you have a pitcher like Clemens ready, willing and able to impart some advice, knowledge and help, you have to be excited.

Imagine being a 22 year old pitcher, finding your way in the major leagues and your new mentor just happens to be a guy with 7 Cy Young Awards, a guy who has two World Series rings, a guy who was named an All-Star 11 times and the All-Star MVP once, a guy who had a career 3.12 ERA. Not many pitchers get the opportunity to be coached and mentored by a player like that.

So thinking back to last week when the Aeros were beating that team in red and my ramblings with Jayne about Jordan Lyles, do I think that that the Astros could use the expertise of Roger Clemens? Absolutely.

Terri Schlather (AGirlintheSouth) is the tortured Senior Houston Astros Writer for Aerys Sports. You can email her at agirlinthesouth@gmail.com, or follow her ridiculous ramblings on sports, vodka and the weeone on twitter @agirlinthesouth.

Roger Clemens is slated to take the mound in the Houston Metro area this Saturday, but not at Minute Maid Park. The Rocket has apparently signed with the Sugarland Skeeters of the Atlantic League. It’s independent baseball in Houston’s backyard.

Fox Houston reports -

Sugar Land Skeeters president Matt O’Brien and Roger Clemens’ agent Randy Hendricks told FOX 26 Sports that Clemens worked out for the Skeeters today and will sign with the team.

Hendricks and O’Brien told FOX Clemens will start for the Skeeters this Saturday in Sugar Land.

Clemens will join former pennant-winning 2005 Astros teammate, Jason Lane who is also pitching for the Skeeters.

If you haven’t made a trip down to Sugarland to see this team play, it’s worth the drive just for the ballpark alone. Although a hot place for a summer day, the park itself is exceptionally  nice and a joy to watch a baseball game in. I have a feeling tickets are going to get MUCH harder to get than for games at Minute Maid Park.

Which 2005 Astro is next?

Terri Schlather (AGirlintheSouth) is the tortured Senior Houston Astros Writer for Aerys Sports. You can email her at agirlinthesouth@gmail.com, or follow her ridiculous ramblings on sports, vodka and the weeone on twitter @agirlinthesouth.