Astros should consider themselves lucky if Nolan even considered going to Houston. He's 1000000x's better than that piece of crap Clemens
Seriously, why on earth would three other teams change league affiliations to satisfy one teams league affiliation?
I've always been a fan of Nolan, as a pitcher he was one of the toughest competitors i've ever watched. Our organization is headed in the right direction right now though, in my opinion, and I wouldn't want a big change in the front office. Some have mentioned "why would Nolan come here without a big role, if the reason he would leave the Rangers would be a decreased role?" Well, sometimes it isn't just about the role itself. Sometimes if you are in a certain position and you feel like you are being squeezed out, you might take on a lesser role somewhere else, just not in that situation where you feel like you have done so much and there is no appreciation. Getting Nolan back would be a great PR move for a team that needs one badly. It would likely mean getting RR back as our AAA team in the near future. Those things would be great, I really don't want the guys running the baseball side of things right now to be moved out though.
Seems as logical as moving the Brewers to the NL Central, and then later deciding to accomodate for the Brewers having made the leagues/division unequal, by moving the Astros. Confusing indeed.
Well the three teams moving is illogical. One of the Rockies/D-Backs DEFINITELY still needs to be swapped for the Astros. I'll be calling for it until it actually happens. The two Texas teams in the same league?? It's bad for the business of baseball. Really dumb.
More articles about the situation http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/te...-nolan-ryan-for-receiving-too-much-credit.ece http://rangersblog.dallasnews.com/2...tween-nolan-ryan-and-rangers-management.html/
His job was CEO of the Texas Rangers. It wasn't to look out for the best interests of the club that let him go twice.
So true. Folks here don't remember the John McMullen F-job that was done on Astro fans. Running off Nolan Ryan was the last straw for me - especially when he goes up to the Rangers and still pitches two more no hitters and becomes integral in getting them to the world series. I'll say this: the Rangers were going nowhere until Nolan took charge of baseball operations, helped assemble the current ownership group and turned things around for the better. At least he knows what's he's doing and has a proven track record to show. Apparently, this is all being orchestrated by Jon Daniels. There is a lot of BS going on behind the scenes with Daniels being a numbers guy (like Morey) who totally discounts the wisdom of baseball guys like Washington & Ryan. Gotta hand it to the Dallas pro teams where personal ego is always placed above the welfare of the team. This is exactly like Jerry Jones' buffoonery with the Cows where it's more important for him to get all of the credit than to win in the playoffs.
Put me down in favor of getting Round Rock back as an Astros minor league affiliate. Going to an Express game was a great experience.
We only let him go once. The 2nd time was purely his choice. I'm not asking him to advocate for us. I wanted him to not be advocating against us. He could have just gone about his business like the other 28 Presidents.
But that was his business - it was in the best interest of the Rangers to get the Astros in their division. That wasn't the case for the 28 other teams.
Agreed. He was in a division with three WC teams and no geographic rival. It made perfect sense for the Rangers and I don't think anyone should hold a grudge against Nolan for doing something that was so obviously in the best interest of his team. The Astros do a very good job of managing their alumni. I know Biggio is a trusted advisor to Lunhow and was actively involved in the managerial search. There's no question they'd find a spot for Ryan if he was interested. Trust me, all the Astros have to sell right now is their alumni - and they're going to do it in a very big way this year. Bringing in Ryan would be a terrific coup.
honestly, there's almost enough time that has passed to the point where today's generation of fans barely know who biggio and bagwell are. i don't see how (don't mean to sound insensitive but...) an old man could be much of a selling point/coup for fans who have never heard of him/seen him play. he's a dinosaur. i think drayton pretty much wrung the alumni appeal sponge dry. nothing is going to fill seats besides the yankees, rangers, and winning.
Yeah, why would anyone ever dislike someone's actions if they were only doing what was best for them? So they guy who ****ed me over for a promotion by making me look bad to my superiors? Why should I care about what he did...he was only trying to help himself! The dude's banging my ex-wife while we were married? I can't be upset, they were just looking out for themselves. That's a pretty silly argument to make, IMO. FYI, only one of those examples is real.
Who do you consider "today's generation of fans"? Teenagers? That's the great thing about baseball: to be a fan almost requires a deep understanding and appreciation for its history; it's unique in that regard. And as a result of that, baseball is always recycling - one generation passing their experience onto the next and so on. If the... 20-somethings don't know who Nolan Ryan is, I promise you the 40-somethings do. And if you bring him back into the fold, those 40-somethings are going to introduce their kids to Nolan Ryan. And then when the 20-somethings are 40-somethings, they'll tell their kids about growing up watching Bagwell and Biggio, and on it goes... There's tremendous value in preserving and honoring your franchise's baseball history. Nolan Ryan lends creditability to your organization and its current regime; it sells them in the short-term while the long-term is still being managed. His hiring won't fill the stadium but I guarantee you it'll increase everyone's patience with Crane and Luhnow and provide them space needed to continue to do this the right way.
And before the response to my post brings up ethics, I don't think it's very ethical to extort someone when they're trying to purcahse a MLB franchise.
But Nolan didn't disparage the Astros in order to make the move happen. In fact, he would probably argue (and not incorrectly) that by creating the foundation for a geographic rival that didn't previously exist, he actually benefited the Astros longer-term. The Astros would be absolute fools not to hand Ryan a blank check.
