Other side here. Postolos was widely respected and during the sale of the club period he was cited as a reason the owners would accept Crane. That article by Jesus de Jesus read like garbage. New ownership got rid of ticket, marketing and business office people? OH THE OUTRAGE! WON'T SOMEONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN???!!! I wonder if any other new ownership team in the history of sports was SO EEEEEVIL that they replaced business office people with names they knew. I doubt it. Diabolical, out of touch idiots like THAT are usually strung up! As for the CSN deal, as annoying as it is, give me a break. It's all on Postolos? Crane is the one out there barking about not taking one cent less. Don't let writers for newspapers who have friends who might have been impacted dictate what you think about people. If Jesus de Jesus was replaced by Robert de Robert who had a friend who got HIRED to work in the business office the article might have read differently. "Postolos was a visionary who believed the Astros business office had grown complacent after years of decay under the previous ownership. Postolos wanted to bring in fresh blood with young faces to streamline and improve a side of the club that while rarely talked about has played a role in the declining revenues of the team over the years and was directly responsible for reduced investments."
Pretty much what Nolan Ryan does for the Rangers. Postolos seemed much more involved in the business and marketing side of the Astros... more so than any past president/ceo (Tal Smith). To say he did a bad job is putting it mildly. At a time where the big league team will struggle to draw flies because of its performance on the field... everything must be done to ensure that they're as fan friendly as possible in every other aspect. That means, get them on TV. That means, don't put up monstrosities in a ballpark when its clear that they don't give a damn about what the fan thinks (especially when they think the fans won't notice or complain about it). Even when the Astros were bad in the early 90's, the fan experience was never downgraded (albeit, the Astrodome offered as much of a fan experience as going to a giant warehouse)... and this dedication served the team well when they started winning. They actually drew VERY well in the last two years of the dome (better than what a good team in TB draws playing in an almost equally warehouse-ish ballpark). When you start messing with the fans ability to watch the team... whether its on tv, or with changes at the ballpark, it starts to get very personal and alienating. Much more so than simply putting a sub-par product on the field. I hope they correct this soon.
He isn't interested in travel right now, but that could certainly change in the future. Lets not forget that he has a 13 year old daughter he may want to spend more time with since he's mostly focused on his boys' baseball careers since retirement. Him taking a front office position wouldn't surprise me, but now doesn't seem like the time for him to take on that role, given his lack of experience.
That opinion can change quickly, since Postolos didn't have a history in baseball. It is fair to knock him for replacing baseball guys with non-baseball guys, if it wasn't working. Of course the CSN deal isn't all on him, but he is a significant player. The one positive right now that can really be said about Postolos' tenure is the re-brand.
It wasn't just that one writer saying that yesterday...the Brian guy who is the Astros beat writer was tweeting the same type stuff within the hour of the announcement. This organization is an absolute mess right now on the business end. They step in it so often I've lost track....culminating in last night's announcement about cancelling the fundraising gala for the Houston Area Women's Center less than a month before the event was to take place, citing a change in direction of non-profits they want to support....great...could you give 'em a little lead time so they can figure out how they'll replace about 40% of their operating budget that they count on from this event? I can defend what they're doing on the field....from a business/p.r. perspective, they're alienating even their biggest fans right now. The buck stops with your president/CEO on those things.
Yep, I love what they're doing on the field, but they are just horrible at P.R. This story is absolutely awful and crap like this makes it hard to support them during this time.
Crane needs a mea culpa moment. He can time it well within the next couple of weeks after the Postolos resignation. Come out and admit some things weren't communicated well....talk about direction of organization....write a check for $250K to cover what typically they raise at the gala they cancelled. Maybe you time all that with the hiring of a new president/ceo. Start communicating differently. Any connection with the Biggio or other old greats is a good thing. Reach out to Dierker and get him involved in some way. Whatever....the point is, you're trying to connect to a fan base. What you have on the field isn't gonna get it given the state of their roster.
http://www.crawfishboxes.com/2013/5...e-of-the-astros-recent-business-side-failures Recent business failures via TCB.
any one of those is explainable...but in the aggregate, they look awful. there can be real valid excuses for them...doesn't matter. perception matters, particularly in something like pro sports and the connection to the fan base. perception is the primary reality that matters in that business. it makes me wonder if my grandparents would still be fans were they alive today.
So did these bad business decisions have more to do with Postolos's incompetence and Crane pushed him out? Or was Postolos's tired of dealing with Crane's cheapness which was making him look bad so he wanted out?
One thing we know is, a lot of people apparently didn't like him. Whether he was forced out, or left because he wanted to is still up in the air.
also heard on the radio that ushers were moving people from seats even when in the correct section just in different seats that were empty.
True. I was looking at the charity stuff and realized they were going to put the money in another charity. It was just a bad move pulling out in such short notice.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Judy Nichols, wh helped run Gala since helping Nancy Caminiti and Patty Biggio put together 1st one, was told of cancellation in Jan.</p>— Jose de Jesus Ortiz (@OrtizKicks) <a href="https://twitter.com/OrtizKicks/status/334329102750318592">May 14, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Here's e-mail from Crane dated Jan. 25: "Judy asdiscussed our foundation will handle the event this year. ...</p>— Jose de Jesus Ortiz (@OrtizKicks) <a href="https://twitter.com/OrtizKicks/status/334331423764905984">May 14, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>More Crane email: "We will notneed your services moving forward. We appreciate what you have done in the past. ..."</p>— Jose de Jesus Ortiz (@OrtizKicks) <a href="https://twitter.com/OrtizKicks/status/334331533575983105">May 14, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>More:"Meg Valliancourt is our new executive director of the Astros In Action Foundation and you can hand this offto her. Thanks Jim Crane"</p>— Jose de Jesus Ortiz (@OrtizKicks) <a href="https://twitter.com/OrtizKicks/status/334331684961013760">May 14, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
