Astros History: Geoff Blum Plays A Lot

2002 was a pretty good year for the Astros. They didn't make the playoffs but they made a good go of it (by today's standards), posting an 84-78 record, scoring 749 runs, while allowing only 695 runs. The finished second in the division to the St. Louis Cardinals who finished with a 97-65 record.

Offensively there wasn't much to write home about, Jeff Bagwell did his thing and a 26 year old Lance Berkman did his thing. The only other regular position player with an above average OPS+ was newly acquired Geoff Blum who played in 130 games in his first season with the Astros. That would be the most games in a season he would appear in for the Astros.

Chris Truby got the Astros a third basemen who hit .283/.367/.440 for an OPS+ of 107 in 421 plate appearances. Baseball References defensive WAR had him at .5 on the season which combined with his 1.3 offensive WAR amounted to a 1.7 overall WAR.

Blum wasn't an All-Star in 2002 but he was far from the reason why the Astros didn't make the post-season. Chris Truby, the player the Astros traded to the Montreal Expos for Blum, put together an OPS+ of 48 in 2002 for both the Expos and Tigers.