Ah, ok then. We see this very, very differently. Rather than argue about it, I will say I've noted your opinion. Carry on.
The club wasn't worthless before - as best as I can tell, the Astros more or less appreciated in line with other major league teams over the past decade since Crane has owned the team. Still not $1.5b "net". Increased merchandise and sponsorship value form the basis of that $1.9b - unless you have a very different definition of the word "net" than me. I can agree that Crane has seen the value of the team appreciate by nearly $1.5b while he's owned it. The vast majority of that is not attributable to any cheating scandals on onfield success - in fact, according to Forbes, about $1.6b of the value of the team is the fact that it's an MLB team in Houston, TX playing at Minute Maid Park.
The facts are that the team appreciated after codebreaker launched in 2016. We vaulted from #26 in value into the top 10 in value. We didn't just sit in bottom quarter of the league like before. We didn't appreciate equally. The team was still in the same zip code. Code-breaker was a heist. We vaulted 16 teams in just two years.
I had a pretty interesting convo with a buddy of mine who was close to Cruz Jr. before all of this came out. It's amazing to me how much outfall was expected from the Yankees/Redsox MLB investigation vs what is actually being released to the public and (now) being deliberately swept under the rug. I don't know JCJr but have no reason to doubt a guy who's so connected with MLBPA, and when a guy like that thinks heads are gonna roll, then you expect a little more than what is being made public. Whatever is in that letter must be so damning that the MLB is willing to disregard every intention of appearing objective in the investigation of it's two most profitable franchises - even if they lose a certain percentage of baseball fans for good. What's even more stunning is the degree of willful ignorance the media and baseball writers are engaging in.
The facts associated with the team's appreciation in 2016: a.) 2nd highest OpInc in the majors (which, if you're into valuation, is really good) as a result of a cheap payroll and a competitive product - which is what happens to just about every team who goes through the rebuilding/tanking the Astros did and hits on their prospects b.) Replacing a terrible, bankrupt TV network available to <1 million households to one >4 million households c.) Minute Maid Park received multiple major renovations in this time See articles from the time: https://www.bizjournals.com/houston...s-among-most-profitable-in-the-mlb-value.html -- basically in one year the Astros jumped from 26 to 15th due to the elements above The fact that the Astros were a good, competitive team from 2016 on should hardly be a surprise - any team that went through the period of terrible records and invested in building a farm system and then would have a chance to be at least playoff worthy by the time they picked up their payroll like the Astros did. That's why SI did the "2017 champs!" cover story with Springer in 2014 - 2 years before you claim Codebreaker disproportionately affected their value. You can choose to believe Codebreaker was the difference between good and great and taints the WS victory, and no one can disagree with your opinion. But claiming it generated $1.5B in value is absurd.
You need to **** right off. We did not steal a World Series. Too many studies have come out that clearly show that statically the trash cans made very little or no difference. We couldn't cheat in Dodger Stadium. We didn't blow those saves for them. We didn't cheat when Bellinger set the World Series record for strike outs. Did you see game 5? It was loud. Really, really, really loud. It was hard to talk to the person next to you, let alone hear a banging trash can down in the tunnel. And losing the draft picks was huge, as well as the one of the best managers and GMs in the game. Get outta here with your trolling bullshit.
These are two of the points that the haters seem to conveniently ignore. I guess trash cans were the reason the yankees scored a total of 3 runs in 4 games in Houston...and 19 in 3 games in NY? Seems legit. Also, in regards to the volume in the stadiums: Correa has talked about this extensively. Sure, he could be making **** up, but given how candid he was about everything else it's pretty unlikely. You could also simply use common sense that MMP gets too loud to hear yourself think (in the postseason), let alone hear trash cans banging down a tunnel.
Stealing the World Series away? Man I’m all up for back and forth conversation, but you just sound like a bitter dodgers or Yanks fan that is trying to rile some feathers. We didn’t steal ****. There are studies that show how we did during all of it and prove that it didn’t helping. Go do your damn research. We were the best team and we earned that ****ing trophy.
Even the L.A. Times says the Astros trash-can gate didn't help them win. Did Astros Beat the Dodgers by Cheating? The Numbers Say No https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2020-02-27/astros-cheating-analysis
Where would you rank the Astros lineup all time in the entire history of baseball in the 4 years post code breaker until they were caught last November? Top 10 all time. Top 25 all time. Yeah. Me too. They were epic. when in your entire lifetime have you seen an Astros lineup do that? Doesn't make any sense does it. There ops post codebreaker has been as high as 850+. What was it pre-codebreaker? in the 700's. Yep. an offense barely seen since the 1920's. It's an orgy of evidence. Not even steroids could produce what we did. Topped off with two world series. Then getting caught. And admitting it.
Nope. That makes sense and goes against the narrative built up. We can't go around using our brain and thinking.
You mean how it coincided with adding guys like Carlos Correa (#1 overall), Alex Bregman (#2 overall), Yordan Alvarez (bonus baby), and Michael Brantley (all star veteran) to the the lineups, and Altuve and Springer entering their primes? Yes, seems like a massive conspiracy.
