I don't think anyone argues that Drayton isn't the best owner the Astros have ever had. Should we be happy with settling for that, though? I've been one of his biggest defenders through the years of him being called cheap. My problem with him isn't if he's spent enough. My problem with him lies in the people he's hired to make the baseball decisions and the ones he's chased off. Quit hiring "yes" men. Tell Tal Smith that he's retiring. Bring in people who can make this once great organization great again. Otherwise, this team is doomed for long term suckitude because of the decisions he made.
It depends. We could have better, but we could have a lot worse. A great owner hires a great GM, and then fades into the background. The problem is, that great GMs aren't that easy to find. The most disappointing thing is that Drayton quit investing in the draft and international scouting. Its improving though.
If Hunsicker gets credit for what the Astros were earlier this decade, shouldn't Wade get some credit for what the Phillies currently are? That being the case, shouldn't we, as fans, give Wade a chance to rebuild/reinvent the Astros?
I think Wade is helping to improve the minor leagues, but making the wrong moves with the major league club. Similar to what happened in Philly.
Right. Also, where is the blame for Hunsicker's last three drafts? They were horrible. Not to taint his amazing record in any way, but let's do tell the whole story. Are you sure about this? People decried closing the Venezuelan Academy, but didn't the Astros immediately open another one in DR? How is that a stoppage of investment? And, IIRC they've invested more in scouting in Asia. How is that a stoppage of investment? And on the draft, and the whole "slot money" fiasco. Where is Stubbs right now? What became of him? (I simply haven't followed.) And as far as not giving way-over-slot-$$$ to a HS kid, I'm sorry but I agree---but wait hear me out. That HS kid, unless he's the second coming of Willie Mays, you have no idea what he's going to become. Huge money for a kid who hasn't even finished his last growth spurt is a huge risk. Where was the problem in that draft--it was in the idiot GM drafting teenagers that he didn't even know were signable. It was a stupid, stupid mistake which Purpura then repeated. The biggest fault in where this organization is at lies at Tim Purpura's feet. He was fantastic at the position he had before his promotion; he was a flat-out horrible GM.
Wait -- in Philly they were laden-down with long, fat contracts to average players, right? How is a one-year, medium-range salary similar to that?
Definitely, as far as giving Wade credit for the Phillies current success. I just don't see how the signing of Pedro Feliz, the re-signing of Jason Michaels, and the probably overpaying of Brandon Lyons helps this team move forward. Feliz is a nice player, but it's time to sink or swim with the youth. Michaels had a decent 2nd half, but he's an easily replaceable player with a kid from the minors who costs less. Lyon might be a decent closer option, but reports were that he was getting offers nearly 1/2 of what Wade gave him. Was it really necessary to give him an extra year and millions more? The farm is certainly improving little by little. But it still seems that they draft in accordance to signability more than talent. Sure, Wade deserves more time, but this goes back to my original argument about Drayton. He needs to get out of the day-to-day baseball decisions and let the baseball people make baseball decisions. The way things are going, this team is digging a hole that it won't get out of for years to come. I don't want to see the Astros become the new Pirates or Royals and that's the direction they're heading with some of the moves in the last few years.
He hasn't had the payroll to do that yet, but he did go get an over the hill Tejada(though Drayton may have pushed that button), plus he overpaid Lyon. Wait until Berkman and Oswalt's contracts expire and see what he does with a big budget.
Hidalgo, Abreu, Santana, Hernandez, Garcia, Guillen, & Mora were all signed international FA that became highly touted prospects. We quit signing those players. Lo is the first international prospect I can remember us signing in a while. Paulino was signed in 2001. I can't find one international prospect signed between him and Lo to be considered a top 10 prospect of our system. Thats 7 years between signing a notable international FA. We should have paid over slot when we didn't have 1st and 2nd round picks. When you give up your picks like that you have got to sign the best player available at that point you finally get to pick. With Wade instead of paying way over slot, we are taking players earlier then they are predicted in going thus allowing for a higher slot value.
great...so we're criticizing him now not for what he's done...but for what we think he probably might do. :grin:
we were the only team with a significant academy in venezuela for a while. that changed. everyone is out shopping international now...everywhere. by the way..since we've hired wade, we've invested much more in international scouting. we're going to have to give all of this some time to play out.
None of those guys were "notable international FA" IIRC. They were teenagers in the Academy, hand-developed by the Astros. There is an academy in DR. If they're not hitting as well on their international scouting, they should bring in some people -- and they just did prior to last year. Let us see how they do.
That is kind of the point. We were ahead somewhere, but we didn't go look elsewhere or really try to compete. We seemed to give up. The team seems to be getting back to signing international players now under Wade. This is back to back years of signing an international free agent worth mention. That makes me happy.
This doesn't surprise me at all.....Drayton complained for years about losing money while the franchise value was blowing up. I figured he would ride us into the ground and then dump the Astros. Yes, we were a fixture in the playoffs, but there wasn't any organic growth due to the deals. We can thank Hunsicker for what success we had on the field.It's amazing what he did while chained up by Drayton. Given free reign Gerry would have put us in a couple more World Series IMO. Drayton is an incredible business man. (who does quite a bit of good ) and has treated the team as just that.PR moves and not signing draft picks. I will say this...him trying to sell NOW when the economy sits where it is..is very interesting....probably more about exhausting our assets and saying adios. Buy around 80 - 100 and sell around 4 and change...new stadium and all.
did you notice the downtrend pretty much coincided with Purpura's reign? You said McLane "stopped investing internationally". If anything, he's picked it back up. The Venezuelan Academy was awesome. The Astros felt they had to get out, IIRC, because of the political upheaval. Maybe that was foolish. At any rate, let's hope the DR Academy can become what the Venezuelan one once was.
i don't get "happy" from your posts here about this topic. i thought you were complaining about what we were doing to sign international free agents. maybe i misunderstood. i'm not saying we gave up...i'm saying it was a lot more difficult for us after our "exclusive" pipeline from venezuela was no longer exclusive.
right. people forget that the Academy was an innovation that came from the Astros. no, it's easier just to blame the owner than to look at the entire story. That said, it's up to them to get ahead in this current reality. Purpura, et. al. failed miserably. So far, Wade and Heck seem to be at the beginning of the right track.
Currently I'm unhappy about the major league moves. In the past I had been unhappy about the minor league talent, but I think its dramatically improving under Wade.
Do you think they'll go out and get a quality number 2 ( a 1 would be nice) who eats innings? Anything less is unacceptable IMO and shows a lack of commitment.
