Countdown to Opening Day 2012: #30 Houston Astros

By Andrew Marcus

Sportswriter for Montgomery Media

Follow me on Twitter @amarcus515

To help pass the time between now and the start of the 2012 Major League Baseball season I am going to be examining a different team every day. Starting with the Astros, working toward the Phillies. I will give you my projected starters, breakout and bust players, each team's X-Factor and top prospect.

PROJECTED LINEUP

CF Jordan Schafer
2B Jose Altuve
SS Jed Lowrie
1B Carlos Lee
LF J.D. Martinez
RF Brian Bogusevic
3B Jimmy Paredes
C Jason Castro

P Wandy Rodriguez

PROJECTED ROTATION
Wandy Rodriguez

Bud Norris

Livan Hernandez
Jay Happ
Jordan Lyles

PROJECTED BULLPEN
Closer - Brett Myers
Set-up - Brandon Lyon

Top Prospect - Jonathan Singleton (1B)

Breakout

Jed Lowrie - After being pin-balled back-and-forth between positions, the minors and future plans in Boston, this may be the best spot to land for the former top prospect. Lowrie, when healthy, is a switch-hitting stud who can hit .300 and and belt 15-to-20 home runs in Houston. With over 900 plate appearances under his belt, Lowrie is one of the veterans on this rebuilt team. In his age 28 season, he could be one of the few bright spots in this organization.

Bust

Carlos Lee - Lee is a business-like hitter who has just pounded pitching for the last decade. But with no protection in the order and looking closer to 40 years old (age 36 season), Lee is clearly on the back nine of his career. His best hope is to have such a good first half that a contender trades for him, but it's more likely he and the 18.5 million dollars he will make this year will be stuck playing with a bunch of Double-A players trying to stick in the bigs. 

X-FACTOR
Jason Castro - The one true game-changing prospect the Astros have drafted during the forgettable Ed Wade era has not been able to make an impact because of injuries. Castro is healthy this spring, but his injuries have forced Houston to bring back-up plans to camp and now the top-10 pick is fighting for a spot on the 25-man roster. If Castro can live up to the hype of 2008 and he becomes a fixture in the middle of the lineup and behind the plate, he could help take this team from not-watchable to promising. 

LAST YEAR'S RECORD: 56-106

Carlos Lee is auditioning for contenders

PROJECTED FINISH: 6th in the National League Central

***THANKS FOR READING MY TEAM BY TEAM OUTLOOKS TO HELP PASS THE TIME
 

Check back tomorrow for the Oakland Athletics