Crane has made it very clear that revenues from attendance will determine if he will spend money on FA. He has 20 something or more people to answer to in his partners so if the team makes no money he won't spend any.
Attendance will pick up when the Astros start winning. The Astros will start winning when their farm system starts really producing. He is doing it the right way.
Its not the answer right now, agreed. Its sort of like a dam. If you have 20 holes, plugging 3 of them isnt going to help much or make the money you spent seem worth it. But if you had 4 holes to plug, plugging 3 of them might put you over the top and into contention.
Joe Maddon took the Rays job coming off a 95 loss season, the only positives they had going for them were Carl Crawford and a young Scott Kazmir. They lost over 100 in Maddon's first season, and 96 in year 2. Went to the WS in year 3.
Attendance will pick up next year with 8-9 Rangers home games (They'll all sell out thanks Rangers fans), 3 with the Yankees, 3 with the Red Sox. Tigers, Rays, Angels, White Sox should be well attended. Will be interesting too see who is the inter league rival. Braves, Cardinals, Dodgers, Giants, Mets
Inter-league scheduling will be completely different. We only sold out one Rangers game this year. We actually drew very well for the Pirates series. Last year we didn't sell out any of the Red Sox games (good attendance numbers still). Attendance numbers won't change drastically.
Anyone who's taking the Crane comments seriously regarding the Mills firing/attendance link is delusional. Baseballa summarized it best on the previous page. Sorry, HillBoy, but Crane can't "just keep his mouth shut". He's the owner of the franchise, and the firing of a manager is hands down the most significant event of his tenure thus far. He's going to be asked to comment by local media. He did the best he could - a few vague, feel-good quotes that have limited basis in reality. As someone said, if he were genuinely that worried about attendance, guys like Wandy, Myers and Johnson would still be here. It'll determine how much, but no matter what, I think there will be a decent bit of spending this offseason. Luhnow said the team was targeting a payroll in the somewhere in the 50s for next year, and there's a long way to go to get there. I think they'll take their chances on a few young-ish guys with upside as well as Myers-esque veterans that they can build up and flip at the deadline.
It really doesn't matter who they hire for Manager. The guy is a dead duck if Crane & the organization expect him to win real games with a roster composed of crash test dummies. No top-level guy is going to want to come and manage in that kind of environment because he's doomed to fail from the start. About the best they'll be able to get is someone like Mills. The next guy who takes the job has to know this and I consider this to be a major limiting factor on the type of candidate the job will attract.
Nothing wrong with getting a guy hungry to prove himself. Honestly getting a LaRussa or Torre would be a waste. The key will be selectively adding veteran pieces that: a) provide a stabilizing presence b) don't block a legitimate prospect c) are legitimate ball players themselves I think the best of all worlds scenario would be bringing in one to two bats and one veteran starter, having 2-3 of the young guys make jumps, and the club would win >70 games. I don't foresee any more wins than that even being possible. As long as we don't lose more than 100 games again (not a certainty) I'd be thrilled.
There is no indication whatsoever (and no, rantings you "heard" from some buffoon on Dallas talk radio doesn't count) that this is the expectation.
