You know where Baseball and the Astros stand in this city in terms of importance when this kind of news doesn't even cause a ripple in the sports talk landscape of the city. 50 years of tradition doesn't mean **** in a city like Houston. It's a what have you done for me lately kind of town.
what's there to talk about at this point? when this story first broke, it was all over sports radio. i listened to 2 different hosts on different stations talk about how surprised they were there was so much resistance from callers regarding the move. right now, it's relegated to tweets because no one knows what is happening. when the word comes down officially or major media souces start running it as "going to happen" then you'll have that response again. the astros aren't getting much attention, regardless, right now. 100 loss season will do that.
The Astros have been an embarrassment for a few years now in a football town. That kind of run has a tendency to silence interest among the fans.
agreed. and despite that, they still finished better than 13 other clubs in terms of percent of capacity sold. they drew more fans than 11 other clubs, including the white sox, indians and rays.
http://blog.chron.com/ultimateastro...movement-yet-toward-ownership-change-al-move/ Jim Crane spokesman says no movement yet toward ownership change, American League move A spokesman for Jim Crane’s prospective ownership group said on Wednesday morning that there have been no meetings about moving the Astros to the American League as the group seeks approval on its $680 million bid to buy the team. Crane met one-on-one with commissioner Bud Selig last Thursday in Milwaukee in a session both sides deemed constructive. Should Crane need to move the Astros to the American League, still a possible precursor to adding an additional wild card team in each then-15-team league, he would likely seek compensation. MLB.com columnist Peter Gammons wrote on Twitter Wednesday that the group was expected to be approved in November along with a move to the American League. With Crane’s contract with Drayton McLane expiring Nov. 30, the Nov. 15-16 owners’ meetings in Milwaukee are a target date for approval.
Haha Crane is gonna get paid to buy the team and move them to the AL. I bet he still keeps payroll artificially low.
Per Peter Gammons, it looks like it is going to happen. Link to mlbtr: http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2011/10/astros-expected-to-complete-sale-move-to-al.html Gammons hasn't been the most accurate source of information for the past few years, so I am hoping he is wrong. So if Crane agrees to this, this is obviously a purely financial decision in my opinion. If he truly cares about the organization or the game as a whole, I see no reason to make this move, so it has to be about getting more money. That being the case, would it soften the blow IF (and I understand that is a big if), management uses the extra financial benefit to better the team, meaning better high-level management (I'm looking at you Friedman), better scouts, coaches, players; the whole nine yards? I oppose the move to the AL, but if that means my Astros don't look like total garbage out there and are a better team in 2 years because of it, I think I will take that trade-off. And as much as I prefer to be in the NL and have the pitcher hit, it would be nice to not have a lineup that doesn't include 3 virtually automatic outs (going back to the Everett, Ausmus, and pitcher) days. I still prefer to stay in the NL, but maybe I am just trying to justify the inevitable happening, and being overly optimistic?
Man, that World Series year sucked, didn't it, with those three automatic outs at the end of the line-up.
Just make the move already and get Tal and Ed outta here and bring in Andrew Friedman as GM and Postolos as president. Playing the Rangers 15 times a year will be great and lets face it the NL Central is going to be insanely tough over the next decade. Cards and Brewers aren't going away. Reds are on the rise, Pirates are close and Theo is with the Cubs.
That World Series year was great, and I had a hell of a time going to each of the playoff games. I will never forget that experience, I wish it turned out a little different, but amazing nonetheless. I'm not discounting Everett's and Ausmus' contribution to the team, but their contribution came mainly from defense for Everett and defense and calling a great game by Ausmus. I'm just saying that they didn't become millionaires for their offensive prowess (although Ausmus did hit that huge HR in the ninth just over the out-stretched glove of Andruw Jones). So I'm not sure what your point is exactly. I would be surprised if you had confidence in our 7th, 8th, or 9th hole hitters getting hits when we needed them, even in our World Series year. So I will go ahead and stand by my point and say that it sure would be nice to not have 3 automatic outs in the bottom of the lineup.
I don't think there's any financial incentive; I just don't think he has much of a choice. His past makes him an easy target to reject and he knows this is his last chance to own a team. I think the fact he paid as much as he did indicates how steep a climb he expected and decided he'd just bowl them over with money. Selig and MLB, IMO, are holding all the cards here. I just don't see how he could have said, "no." (Short of walking away from the deal.)
I understand Selig and MLB has leverage, but doesn't Crane have more? His group's offer is very high, and paying all that money for the Astros instantly increases the value of each of the other 29 owners' teams. Wouldn't the owners gain more by accepting their offer, as I am sure that in the end the money will trump all of these "he's not a nice person" issues they seem to have. That being the case, why could Crane just not flat out say, "I made an agreement with Drayton to buy the NL Astros for $680M (or whatever it is), and that is my final offer. And we will not budge on the move to AL, we have always been an NL team and that will not change under my ownership." As long as he stays firm with that stance, then I honestly see no way that MLB doesn't blink first. In the end money talks, at least that is my perspective and theory on the issue, from the outside looking in.
I agree. Baseball and College football are not what they used to be for me. I hate the American League, I don't like the rules or the teams. I still enjoy pro football and the NBA, luckily those two sports take up about ten months of the year.
His investors are interested in ROI and nothing more, that's the impetus behind the short-term payroll slash. Crane has zero leverage and only 2 options: own an AL team or don't own a team.
