Quite true but the facts show that they (Rangers) had a pretty bad off season and lost out a number of players they wanted to get and their current lineup isn't (on paper) as strong as in past years. Add their flameout in the last WS and things are a bit tense over in Surprise. Looks like there will be a new Texas Rangers telenovela to join the continuing (18+ years and counting) Dallas Cowboys (in search of playoff wins) telenovela. Back on topic, Nolan would be a great asset and PR coup for the ALastros but I just don't forsee that coming to pass.
I'm not really sure why anyone can find any reason not to add Nolan to the Astros' front office with what we all currently know. It seems the main argument against bringing in Nolan to the team is based on the assumption that there will be a power struggle between Luhnow and Ryan. I'm not sure why we are assuming this. Obviously IF Ryan leaves and IF Ryan joins the Astros organization, all the parties involved (Crane, Luhnow, and Ryan) would have discussed his role and expectations pretty thoroughly. It's not like the Astros will sign him right away, and then try to figure out how he fits in the puzzle - that is simply not smart (and just about everything Luhnow has done is pretty dang smart in my humble opinion). From everything I've read, the additions Luhnow has made to his new and shiny front office, such as Sig Mejdal, have been nothing short of great. And if Luhnow agrees with some of our opinions that Nolan Ryan will be another great addition to the front office, than I am pretty darn confident in that decision. This is similar to a low risk/high reward type of move, but instead of a player, this is a front office executive.
There’s a Grand Canyon-size difference between “publicly ponder”ing and “threaten”ing, and to cavalierly dismiss it as being roughly the same is irresponsible. He went off script and said something really, really stupid; but there was no intention or substance behind it and he most assuredly did not “threaten.” I get the sinking feeling this’ll still be defining Crane 5, 10, 15 years down the road much the same way “cheap” incorrectly followed Drayton. He had no choice. No prospective Astro owner would have had a choice (other than to walk away). I’ve been told that by everyone from Jim Crane himself all the way down to staffers. The only villain here is Bud Selig. He held a franchise hostage so that this didn’t touch the Brewers or Diamondbacks (he owns a home in Arizona), the two most logical choices for a league change. Even if that’s 100% true, those colors mean nothing without the Astros’ name attached to them.
Yep...I posted they had a bad offseason. A really bad one, honestly. I'm not saying they'll be a bad team...but I don't think they're going to be anywhere near what they were the last few seasons.
funny how suddenly this historically disappearing blip on the radar is suddenly the model franchise for baseball in Texas. years ago, Ranger fans were like unicorns. A historically mismanaged five-year stretch in Houston has turned the baseball world upside-down, but it will soon right itself. The Astros will be somewhere between good and great, and the Rangers will be a hockey team in New York.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but these were order of events: -Jim Crane publicly swears up and down that he would NEVER let the Astros get moved to the AL under his watch. -It is reported that Jim Crane will be given $70 Million price break if willing to move Astros to the AL. -Jim Crane buys Astros I fully understand that Bud Selig is largely culpable. He is a tyrant. I have promoted and agreed with that wholeheartedly for the past year+. It was Selig who said "I will only allow the sale of this team to you if you agree to move the team to the AL", not Crane who said "I will only buy this team if you let me move it to the AL". I get that. I don't buy the belief that "No prospective Astro owner would have had a choice (other that to walk away)". Nobody should believe that. It seems pretty easy to read directly between the lines in this case: Selig had Crane by the balls, had denied him entry into baseball several times - likely because of his checkered past, and if he wanted in, this would be the only way, and probably his final opportunity. What would have been Selig's alternative to eventually letting somebody buy the team who refused to allow its move to the AL? Forcing Drayton to hold onto it longer than he wanted to? A different team would have been moved to the AL in the interim if that was the case. Crane did what he had to do. I don't blame him for that. He wanted to own a baseball team, and this was the only way that was ever going to happen. If moving us to the AL is still defining his tenure 15 years from now (I'm hoping that winning is instead), that's his cross to bear. It's the price he paid for wanting into the league at any cost. And I think it's perfectly fair game for the fans to pin that on him.
You’ll need to source that; from a very early stage of this process, Crane talked about being open to the move (reading between the lines: if he was properly compensated for it): "(W)e’ve told baseball that if they want us to move to the American League we’d certainly consider that, but we have to understand all the ramifications of that. That includes travel, that includes paying for a designated hitter that we don’t have to pay for. That includes our TV contract." Jim Crane believes it: “They made it clear to us that anyone who owned the team would be moving to the AL.” He might have had a *tighter* grip on Crane – but he had any prospective owner by the balls. While Selig drove the switch (ie protected the Brewers and, to a lesser extent, Arizona), this was not a unilateral decision. Many clubs favored realignment of *some* sort, including teams in the NL Central. It makes no sense to have a division of 6 and a division of 4. There is no alternative; he was making it a condition of ownership. If you refused to move, you were not going to be approved. And they couldn’t move another team. Not until they had leverage to force it. They’ve been asking teams to move for 5, 10 years. No one has volunteered. It was going to take a sale – and even then, it had to be a team that didn’t totally disrupt divisional alignment (ie an NL Central team who could move West).
Also, no - this isn't how it unfolded. He bought the Astros in May 2011; MLB approved the sale November 2011. At some point in the six-month interval, Crane, McLane and MLB negotiated a $70MM compensation package to grease the skids on the AL move.
Well first of all, you just said he said he'd be open to the move if he was properly compensated. If that's the case, doesn't that end any argument anyway? You can't both acknowledge this, and claim that putting blame on him for the move to the AL is incorrect. Nor can he, for that matter. This is all i found in a quick search. 99% sure that quotes from him on the matter were posted on this board, but i can't find the article. http://aol.sportingnews.com/mlb/sto...otential-owner-disputes-reports-of-move-to-al http://houston.culturemap.com/newsd...gue-jim-crane-ownership-group-not-interested/
I get the feeling if Nolan leaves the Rangers, he'll go back into the Ryan-Sanders group and go home to Georgetown. Maybe he'll accept a special asst. position with the Astros but I just get the sense he might want a break.
Your second link quotes his ownership group as being opposed to the move (a far cry from, "Jim Crane publicly swears up and down that he would NEVER let the Astros get moved to the AL under his watch.") It also indicates, as has long been speculated, that his approval would be held-up until he agreed to the move. If he wanted to own the team - any team, really - he had to accept MLB's conditions of an AL move. I don't blame the guy. The article mentions him growing up a Cardinals fan; I doubt he *wanted* to do it, this wasn't his choice. He accepted it, ultimately - but he was stuck between a rock and hard place and too many fans are much too quick to dismiss that and dump it all on the guy. Which is why (full circle) brining Ryan back would be a smart move. People who grew up on NL baseball also, absolutely, grew up on Nolan Ryan. He's soothe a lot of wounds...
From the article: Sounds like he could stand to do a bit more research. Every game (except for a handful of Saturday night games) has been televised in Houston for as long as I can remember. Obviously, that stands to change now if a deal isn't done with Comcast and the other providers (UVerse, Dish, etc)....but ALL of the games will then be televised...it's just that most of the market won't be able to watch because they won't have the channel. But every single game will be televised, nonetheless. More national coverage of a local team gone wrong.
Sounds like he's a former weathercaster! A 40% chance of rain doesn't mean there's a 40% chance it will rain - it means there's a 40% chance a particular spot will see rain. So if there's a 80% chance of rain, but it's only expected to cover 50% of Houston, the rain forecast would be 40%. Similarly here, don't about 40% of Houston households have access to Comcast Houston? If so, then 100% of games TVed x 40% chance of having access to it = games available 40% the time.
Yeah, I meant to capture that point as well, but apparently didn't. If they reach a deal, then every single Astros game for as long as I can remember has been televised (except for just a few Saturday night games over the last few seasons).
Quite true but by then, the fans were turned off by that Sept fade job from the Rangers. Still, they drew 3M fans which is something I never thought I'd ever see given how long it took them to become contenders (been watching them since the 80s). But as you pointed out, it will be interesting to see how all of this shakes out this season. Hamilton's loss was no big deal. It just goes to show what happens when you setup a guy to be above the rules that everyone else has to follow. They bent over backwards to kiss his a$$, excused his every transgression and looked the other for that clown and in the end it didn't matter for squat. Can't wait to see this happen with the Cows and Dez Bryant. I was more upset at how Michael Young was treated given what he'd meant to the organization and all but in baseball terms, he was clearly on the decline and his moving on was for the best. They had a terrible off season and that - to me - is what's behind this "crisis". That being said, what's interesting to note is what you don't hear: Nolan. Hi silence is speaking volumes and only serves to further fuel the fire so to speak. Today I heard how the ALastros front office is desperate for Nolan to stay up here as they are terrified that Crane will jump on him if he's available for PR purposes in order to appease the dozen or so fans they have left. As I posted before, it's Looney Tunes up here right now.
And it will be well deserved. F him and his butt-buddy Selig. And that's their story and they are sticking to it, right? You ACTUALLY believe that the MLB owners- some of the most greedy, selfish bastards that ever walked this planet, would have walked away from $610 MILLION dollars because Crane refused to switch leagues? Where else were they going to get that kind of offer? Was it waiting in the wings? Were they waiting for the Martians to bid? Sorry but I don't buy that line at all. You'd think they could have come up with a better cover story - something along the lines of "It was God's will that the Astros move to the American League". That I could actually respect if not completely believe.
