Dierker. Don't necessarily hate the guy and felt he was shown the door prematurely as manager but for some odd reason he just bugs me once in a while... It would have to be Beltran for the recent ex-Astro. All the outpour from the 'Stros fans for him, all that awesome performance put in and it didnt mean anything but the straight dollars. Looking back he could hardly even fake the sentiments that he'd remain with the balllclub...But for the all-about-Carlos thing he ended up making a good decision I guess... (oh let me throw in Tim Bogar..I liked absolutely nothing about that guy on that particular club. Might be the lamest regular Killer B's thats come through)
Billy Wagner... you will not find a more "heralded" player who really hasn't accomplished all that much, but got paid like he was one of the greatest players to ever step foot on a mound. I didn't really mind that he made the comments... Billy always spoke without thinking, and I felt he was going to be traded anyways because the club was itching to get out of his albatross-contract (seriously... $12 million a year for a guy who only threw one inning, and didn't win them any playoff games). I also feel like he got too much credit for the club's success, but only Biggio and Bagwell took much of the blame (and they took it with class) for their playoff failures... who knew how much more flexibility they would have had without making him the highest paid reliever west of Mariano (hell, he may have been getting more than him).
Facts-Yes there was no one worth trading for you are right but Wagner's comment was directed at the front office (er Uncle Drayton) for not signing Houston native Woody Williams when he wanted to pitch here and not in St Louis but signed there when the Astros did not offer a contract. Facts-When Drayton bought the team he spent some money on pitching but when the team continued to strugged he took a loss big time the first few years (the tune of eight figures a year) so he cut back payroll and raised prices. Facts-Drayton said with prices the way they were he needed to average 30k a game in the dome to "break even" well at this stage of the game (1996) he went on a nice three year run of 30k plus 1997-1999 and still claimed he was losing money so at this point old uncle d looked and sounded like a cheap old fool. Facts-When we moved into a brand new tax payer built stadium he claimed he needed to make money he cut payroll from 1999-2000 getting rid of top pitcher Mike Hampton. As payroll climed back to where it was in 1999 in 2001-2003 Uncle Drayton continued to raise tickets and concessions at a much higher rate of inflation it was not untill 2004 when payroll caught up to what us as fans were asked to dish out in "our" ballpark. He never admits to making money when he has spent the last seven years cleaning up and the last ten turning some profit acording to the astros own projections of what attendance needed to be and other outside reports like Forbs magazine. This whole time the 90 million dollar investment (that included hotels) has parleyed itself to a franchise worth over 300 million. Yes we do have the third highest payroll (largely do to Bagwell and Pettitte's backloaded contracts) but now he has been exposed and has to spend.
As of now, its Beltran...Although, as most fans, I wish we'd go after area talent...Woody Williams for the stros', VY for the texans and Rashard Lewis for the Rox...
Ding! Ding! I still hate that SOB. And I hate the Mets, too. The Beltran fiasco did nothing to help them, either.
Drayton made him a millionaire? You're crazy. Billy made himself a millionaire by hard work and dedication. The guy holds the all-time NCAA K's per 9 IP with 19.1. He was destined to be a star.
Nice sig UH football has done what? They could not even beat SMU last year and Rice the year before, that is just plain terrible. Oh well, good luck to the coogs but it's hard to be a fan when you go into each season knowing there is zero chance of ever winning a national title. As far as Wagner you are right he earned his contract. Look Billy might of been out of line but it was after the team chocked in 2003 and he made a true statement which was if Drayton got them one more starter it would not have come down to the last week.
Lidge might make this list soon. BUT...he's done SOOOO much the past few seasons that I can never HATE him unless he moves on and starts dissing the stros. Joe Morgan is a punk...hate him!!!!
and lidge is a good guy. he isn't placing blame elsewhere. he isn't calling people out. he hasn't performed, and that sucks. but that doesn't put him on my most "hated" list.
Well, unlike the Texans, UH has been to the postseason twice in three years. Since 02(the Texans first year), UH FB has 4 more wins than the Texans in 15 less games played. So, that means one thing. I'M A COUGAR!
The point is, Drayton is the one that OFFERED him the mega-contract. Had Billy really been so intent on playing for a winning team, he could have accepted an offer of less money so the team would have more available to go after other players. Instead, he accepts the contract and THEN b****es about the team not signing any extra help (and in those days, the Astros had plenty of talent). Classic case of Wagner wanting his cake and eating it too. I'm not sure if he ever opened his mouth without thinking about it first.
The Cougars were 0-11 in 2001 and that is in CUSA The Cougars were 6-6 last season which was caped off by a blowout loss to Kansas St (a team that was down like 56-0 at halftime to the eventual champs the longhorns) so where does that put the coogs? I hope they do well and I will go to some games but if you are trying to pump up UH and there trip to the all inclusive 56 team bowl lineup it just sounds dumb. BTW-if UH played in a real conf it might take them five years to catch up recruiting to win more than 1-2 conf games a year. Oh well we will see, Go Coogs but please folks don't brag about anything that has happened in the last 15 years for UH and please go to the games they can't even draw 15k.
The point is, Billy Wanger made himself a millionaire. Just like Jim Carey, Donald Trump and every other millionaire. They all have that special something that people pay to see or buy. Hard work and dedication. If we still had Billy, we'd be in first place by 10 games.
Still doesn't mean you should run your mouth off about the person signing the checks you enjoy so much. If he had any problems with the way the team was run, if he had any amount of class or cared at all about the franchise, he would have addressed those with management. Instead, he spoke to the media. **** him.
Yes it does mean you should call him out. He's the best closer in Astros history and one of our worst mistakes was letting him go. He's the classiest of all Astros and still one of the most popular in franchise history. BRING BACK BILLY THE KID!!
