An Unconventional Rebuilding Strategy

The MLB playoffs are looming. The Astros, my hometown boys, are long gone from the playoff hunt. We've traded away two of our best players in Hunter Pence and Michael Bourn, and are now fielding a team of youngsters hoping to make a splash against big league opponents as the train wreck of a 2011 season winds down for Houston.

With all of that said, there is a positive to be taken from this: I noticed that with all of the new players seeing major league time for the Astros, there seems to be an interesting connection running through several of the players. Their names all start with the letter J.

Now, having been an Astros fan back to the time of the Astrodome, I fondly remember the era of the Killer B's (Bagwell, Biggio, Derek Bell, and in the later years Lance Berkman). So we know that Houston's management has not been against constructing teams loosely-based on player names. Knowing that, take a look at the number of players on the current Astros roster who fit the criteria:

Juan Abreu

Jeff Fulchino

Jordan Lyles

Jason Castro

Jose Altuve

Jimmy Paredes

Jason Bourgeois

Jason Michaels

Jordan Schafer

And that's not all! Check out this fascinating list of players:

J.A. Happ

J.B. Shuck

J.D. Martinez

J.R. Towles

With this trend in mind, I propose we make some more additions to the roster to complete our overhaul this year. Let's trade for Atlanta Braves catcher J.C. Boscan, Orioles shortstop J.J. Hardy, Blue Jays catcher J.P. Arencibia, and bring back the ghost of former-San Francisco Giant 1st basemen J.T. Snow's career. Since we're undergoing an ownership change as it is, let's get rapper Jay-Z to chip into the ownership, and we can do this "J" thing right.

Lastly, I feel like a nickname would be fitting, similar to the "Killer B's". After thinking about it, my two thoughts would be the "Flying J's" to continue with the Astros' space theme, or my personal favorite of "The J Crew".

Go 'Stros!