No Birthdays Today But ...

Since there are no future or former Astros with birthdays today, I was looking around for something relevant to the Houston Astros that had to do with this date.  In looking at Transactions on this Date from Baseball-Reference, I noticed that Shane Reynolds was released on this date in 2003. Whoa, didn't I just cover his birthday yesterday?  Why, yes I did.  So the Astros released the 11-season Houston veteran one day after his 35th birthday.  Happy Birthday, Shane.

Reynolds had undergone back surgery the prior June, but had recovered well and was fully expecting to make the team out of Spring Training.  Why was he released?  This Chronicle archive article from Richard Justice explores the various possibilities and gives Reynolds' side of the story.

But I was more interested in how Reynolds fared for Atlanta in that 2003 season as compared to the Houston staff he left behind than in how it all came about.  The rotation for Houston that year started as:

Roy Oswalt

Wade Miller

Jeriome Robertson

Brian Moehler

Tim Redding

Oswalt, Miller, Robertson and Redding were all fixtures for the entire season, but Brian Moehler's spot rapidly became a revolving door until it stabilized with Ron Villone.  Collectively, Brian Moehler, Scott Linebrink, Kirk Saarloos, Pete Munro, Jonathan Johnson, Rodrigo Rosario and Jared Fernandez made 26 starts, going 5-7 as starters.  Add Ron Vallone's starts and that becomes 11-13 in 45 starts.  Shane Reynolds was 11-9 in 29 starts for Atlanta that year.  He won as many games as those other eight pitchers combined.

As a matter of fact, Reynolds .550 win percentage as a starter for Atlanta was better than that of every starting pitcher on the Houston staff who had more than one start and wasn't named Oswalt or Robertson.  Happy Birthday, indeed.