Assuming they keep committing to developing a farm system, they will be better than they are right now, I believe. I think we'll see it as improvement and end up crediting it to Crane.
Crane appears to have overpaid for this team, if he was just a money guy i don't think he would have done that. While I think we had it better than people give drayton credit for, i think it could be even better under Crane. As long as we tay commited to the farm we'll be OK.
Why do you think he's overpaid for the team? Crane isn't just some fan who came in to a bunch of money. The value has little to do with the on-the-field product. Yes, a bad team = lower attendance = less revenue...but Drayton and his team have done a remarkable job keeping the Astros financially secure and valuable.
I voted "we won't notice a difference either way." They'll lose some, and they'll win some. Baseball will still be baseball. And the Astros will still fail to sign Cliff Lee, Albert Pujols, Mariano Rivera, Babe Ruth, and Walter Johnson and as such Crane will be hailed as "cheap" despite the $100MM payroll.
Personally, I'm very excited for the Crane era after reading up on him some. Looks to have a good mind for how to run a team. I've refused to give the club a dime the past 3 years (letting my wallet do the talking) and I'd really really like to be an active fan of the team again.
Time to get rid of Tal Smith, bring in a great GM, let bad contracts expire (Lee, Myers) and develop the farm. All for a money/morey-ball approach
No way to really tell yet, I think Drayton was underrated as an owner throughout most of his tenure here. He spent a reasonable amount of money but he always preferred to spend the big dollars on guys he (and the average casual baseball fan) had heard of. Hoping they would draw fannies to buy 9 dollar nachos. Huge step up from all previous owners (but that is faint praise). Besides his preference for instantly recognizable aging vets his other weakness was an unwillingness to "get it" about the need to totally rebuild until just recently (and who knows if he would have committed to it even now if he hadn't planned to sell the team). The other stuff he gets blamed for I don't buy, cheap. About half of MLB would LOVE to have an owner as cheap as Drayton. Too loyal? To Biggio, maybe...but in retrospect is it really so terrible that we lost Chris Burke's "best" years to see Craig's victory lap. Definitely too loyal to Selig with that "Yes, Mien Fuhrer, we won't pay over slot crap. All in all, good job making the Astros relevant Uncle D, you probably caught a break with the NFL hiatus from Houston and having a couple hall-of-famers grow up together. I think Crane will do pretty well if he makes us glad Drayton is gone. But certainly that is what I hope for.
Drayton got too much flak for not spending anything, when in reality he did, it was just in the wrong places. He did seem to care about winning and created a pretty damn good gameday experience. I just hope Crane can be smarter with the way he operates the franchise and the farm system. Bring in some fresh faces and a new approach and let's continue to build the system and develop some great prospects that can be a part of a solid team in a few years. And the good thing is these are local investors and Crane himself is a baseball guy. Drayton wasn't.
I didn't want to create a new thread for this. But let's say if you were the owner. Would you trade for and pay off the entire two or three or maybe even four year contract of a sorry player if that meant you would get three or four prospects along with that fat contract? You guys think Crane would do something like that? Trade Hunter Pence to some team that has a player with a bad long contract? In Return we get that fat contract of that player, and let it run off, and collect those prospects?
Agreed. The Astros, as an organization, have become too complacent. Time to blow the franchise up, start fresh and new at as many positions as possible.
...we will be in the playoffs and Crane will get the credit. Wade will get the same amount of credit he gets for building/drafting the current Phillies however Drayton will simply be a distant memory.
