4 former Astros Players We're Glad Are No Longer With the Club

No. 3: OF Myles Straw

Straw had his place while on the Astros, but his limitations became old quickly for most fans of the team.

Whenever he took the field, you knew exactly what you were going to get from him: no power, low on-base skills, blazing fast speed and exceptional outfield defense. Unfortunately, players like Straw are slowly being weeded out of the game. If you can't hit, you can't play in the big leagues.

Stolen bases were aplenty and he was worth 0.9 Defensive Wins Above Replacement in an Astros uniform, but his defense only took him so far. At the plate, he hit just three home runs with a .256 average (81 OPS+) in 196 games. There were a few times where flirted with the "worst offensive player in the game", but he did not quite get there until he joined the Cleveland Guardians.

The now-28-year-old played 152 games last year in Cleveland, posting a .221 batting average and dreadful 65 OPS+. Once again, his defense carried him, and he even won the first Gold Glove Award of his career. With the current outfield picture on the Astros, moving on from Straw was an easy choice.

What makes the loss of Straw even easier to swallow, is the fact that the Astros landed both Phil Maton and Yainer Diaz in the trade with Cleveland. Maton is a sleeper candidate to be DFA'd ahead of Opening Day thanks to his so-so mound performance last year and his off-the-field antics, but Diaz has some real promise.

The 24-year-old backstop didn't do much in a six-game showing in the big leagues last year, but he hit 22 doubles and 25 home runs with 96 driven in between Double-A and Triple-A. His .306 average is highly impressive and he projects to be an offensive weapon for the Astros once he makes it to the majors on a full-time basis.