I don't think anybody "liked" how bad we were... but the nice reward was the #1 pick with extra slot money. At this point, its simply a thought exercise to see if we really "had" to be that bad especially since some seem to no longer value the #1 pick that much. Kuechel seems to be the only one who "could" have lost time with being replaced by an average MLB player... and again, I wasn't looking to completely stock the roster with all veterans and take away any chance of giving young guys a chance. I'd just have preferred to not be exposed to the plethora of young guys who didn't really deserve the chance to begin with (and still have to pay major league prices to watch them). There was really only one "experiment" (a minor league talent that got extended run at the MLB level) that really panned out or was able to be flipped for other talent (And in many ways, the Wade regime did jump-start the whole process with rushed promotions of Altuve and Lyles and the Pence trade). Again, simply a thought exercise... something you can do easier now that the team is no longer a joke (but some here do have a pretty short memory span to be able to completely block out those years as totally benign experiences). I'm sure this no longer really needs to be discussed as it has virtually zero bearing on the rest of this club as is (and the people here already talking about the team... the usual suspects... have been here for awhile and will obviously stick through anything... its the other fans that lost touch of this team that need to get back into them).
It genuinely never bothered me. the 09-10 treadmill mediocrity bothered me much more more. I understood what they were doing, and it was 100% the right thing to do from a pragmatic point of view. They traded everything that had any value, and replaced them with prospects. You are right that most of the prospects didn't work out, but the side effect was very high draft picks, it was a win-win. We found good players, or got high picks. If we had won 70 games or so instead, I wouldn't have been any happier.
The Astros had rightly moved on from any player with even an ounce of name recognition by, what? 2010? I think that, more than the losing, is what eroded the fanbase*. Casual fans are far more likely to see a losing team with players they recognize than they are a collection of nameless nobodies with no future. (* that's not to suggest losing didn't impact attendance - it obviously did.)
Nearly half of the attendance drop occurred while Astros record declined while Drayton was still trying to win. Losing mattered more. Oswalt and Berkman were done before dark times. A year and a half of Pence would have saved some fans, but not as much as losing. Losing 20 more games per year did most of the damage. If you win, new names get recognized to help replace the old.
Bryant stat line last night 5-5 3 homeruns 2 doubles. First player in 103 years to do that. Glad we picked Appel.
The Astros also picked Jiovanni Mier over Mike Trout in 2009. But 23 other teams also passed on Mike Trout. Stuff happens, drafting requires some luck.
A Bryant Correa left side of the infield that would have been crazy. That would be a HOF caliber left side. You would have altuve at 2nd and who cares who was at 1st.
I have not seen Appel pitch, however, just looking at the stats he's doing better than ok the last the year. He's 23-9, era around 4.30. That puts him in the majors at some point. It's only been 3 years.
Not sure what you are saying. Overall, Appel is 19-14 with an ERA over 5. This year he is 3-3 with a 4.46 ERA. He hasn't pitched in over a month due to an injury.
Win some lose some. So glad we took Correa over Buxton (18 months ago, Buxton was still rated ahead of Correa by BA, MLB, and BP). We took Jiovanni Mier 4 spots ahead of Mike Trout. The nature of the draft is we will hit some and we will miss many.
What everyone forgets, too, is that this wasn't Appel vs. Bryant. This was Appel vs. Gray vs. Bryant. Hell, a ton of analysts had BOTH Appel and Gray ranked ahead of Bryant (just like the draft played out). Passing on Appel could have very well meant we took Gray instead of Bryant.
