Nolan Ryan, Jon Daniels had to be physically separated during argument

I think Nolan back in the fold definitely puts Round Rock back in play. I believe their deal with the rangers is up in 2017. Crane would still have to purchase an existing team, build a stadium, and move them to Conroe. Why do that when you can reclaim the ground lost in Central Texas in one fell swoop? The Ryan's back working for the Astros and then he can buy the Express if he wants to...like they're doing with the Hooks. I still don't see any benefit to having a team so close to the parent club other than saving a couple hundred bucks on traveling when they call a prospect up.

 

More $$$.

 

He was discarded by John McMullen.

 

Crane says he would ensure Nolan Ryan fits with Astros

Nolan Ryan was a fixture for the Rangers beyond his aura and plaques on the wall. He was always at the ballpark. He carried the last word on many matters — that was his job as the CEO, president and part owner of the team.

Eventually, though, there wasn’t room for two chefs to stir the pot. The Rangers seemed to force Ryan out, leaving the control baseball operations to general manager Jon Daniels.

...What makes Astros owner Jim Crane, then, believe that Ryan and Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow would be simpatico if Ryan joins the front office?

Primarily, because Ryan’s role with the Astros would be reduced from what it was with the Rangers.

“I don’t think at this point it’s a situation where he wants the day-to-day responsibilities and making all the decisions, that was pretty clear,” Crane told the Chronicle on Saturday. “He wants to let (Astros president of business operations Reid Ryan) do his job. He believes in what Jeff’s doing and they had a good conversation.”

Ryan’s an outsider, and that’s valuable. Here’s someone who might take a different look at a prospect, or plans to upgrade a facility. Baseball folks, like those in many businesses, have to protect against becoming too insular and single-minded in their evaluations and approach.

“Jeff’s new, I’m new, Reid’s new,” Crane said. “To have someone senior that’s reviewed a lot of those situations, it would put a good endorsement for all of us and give us some information we may not see. You don’t know what you don’t know.”

Ryan made the rounds with Astros heads on Tuesday. A decision on whether he’d accept a role with the team could come any day now, Crane said, and likely before spring training starts. The ball is in Ryan’s court.

...

“I think he’s thinking over about how much time — because he went to every game and I think he’s trying to figure out how much time he wants to put into it,” Crane said.

Ryan’s role with the Astros would be advisory “in all aspects of the business,” Crane said. That includes working with business operations and “confirming some of Jeff’s decisions.”

Crane cited Ryan’s visit to Minute Maid Park a year ago when he said the speaker system needed to be replaced, and Crane agreed.

“We replaced all the speakers,” Crane said. “He was right.”

Luhnow said he did not want to comment on Ryan until a decision on whether he will join the team is reached.

It would be hard to imagine Ryan’s addition would not add some level of additional pressure to the baseball operations staff. When Ryan joined the Rangers, Daniels was 30, and Ryan is credited with helping Daniels along. Luhnow, 47, is in a different age and experience bracket.

Part of Crane’s confidence in a seamless integration, were Ryan to accept the job, is because of Crane’s personal charge. The owner himself oversees the coordination and communication between departments, and that’s a matter he said was addressed in the Ryan process.

“Here’s my job,” Crane said. “My job is to make sure we don’t have conflicts with my staff. My job is to make sure Jeff gets along with Bo (manager Bo Porter). If we’ve got any discord throughout the system, either on Reid’s side or Jeff’s side, it’s my job to step in and make sure everybody’s communicating and nobody jumps rank. We talked about that, to make sure that that wouldn’t happen here.”

Crane once upon a time bid against Ryan for the Rangers, so he has some familiarity with Daniels. But the nitty gritty of what led to Ryan’s exit from the Rangers, he said, wasn’t his concern.

“Nolan was the lead person in the baseball, so he went to the meetings,” Crane said. “Now, you can analyze that any way you want. He’s not that person any more, because he had complete control of the team when those guys bought it. … When we looked at that team, we were bidding against Nolan, we were impressed with Jon and think he does a good job.

“When you look from the outside looking in, I don’t know what happened up there, and I don’t really care. But you could see that there were probably some things moving around and that wasn’t clear with everybody. That would be my guess in managing some companies.”​

 

I wish this would have happened before Nolan convinced Bud Selig to move us to the American League.