So, you think Drayton will decide to make a serious commitment to improve this team in the off-season, given its shortcomings? Guess again: (from the chronicle) "I'm excited about where we finished," said team owner Drayton McLane. "This was a team that was in question when we began the season. Both St. Louis and Chicago spent a lot of money in this offseason, and we'll finish ahead of St. Louis and just behind the Cubs. "So I'm proud of what we accomplished this year. It's easy to get discouraged and say we should have won this game, but I'm very proud of what the club accomplished this year." HELLO!!! So, he's happy we spent less money than those teams, and still competed... BUT YOU CAN'T SAY THAT IF YOUR TEAM DIDN"T WIN! Hell, he could have spent NOTHING, and this team would have the same end result... save a lot of broken hearts, and wasted opportunities.
Drayton's problem is that he only cares about winning divisions. If he cared about getting to the World Series he would force the Astros brass to make some big time changes to the current ballclub.
At least Octavio isn't afraid to speak the truth: "How can you lose to Milwaukee in the position you were in?" "We could have played better than that," Dotel said. "I don't want to say that (the Brewers) are the worst team in baseball. I know they have great players. Remember where we are and where they are. But we can't get two out of three against Milwaukee when we need it? I can't take that. I'm not happy with what we did. I don't think our team can be happy. "The way we've played lately and the way we played against San Francisco and St. Louis, it looks like we don't care. The way we played against those guys, I don't think that was the right way we have to play. If we're going to lose, I understand that. But if we're going to lose, we have to play our best. I don't think we played 100 percent against those guys. That's why I'm so mad. We could have done better."
Drayton is proud of what they accomplished? What the hell did they do?? Because they finished above .500??? The best thing for him to do is to sale the Stros to a owner who wants to win and is not afraid to open up the wallet. Players I don't want to see in a Stros jersey next year: Orlando Merced, Biggio,Gabe White,Brad Ausmus, and Dave Miceli (or whatever)
Two things. One...easier said than done. Drayton authorized Astros "brass" to obtain a front line starter via trade. There weren't any available without totally depleting the team of up and coming position players. Two...the Atlanta Braves have been called a dominant team for so long. Guess what? They have 1 World Series win. 11 of those years they could only raise a division flag. NO owner is going to "open up the wallet" and LOSE MONEY. Nobody. Team payroll went up this year and attendance went down.
I don't think this is really Drayton's fault for "not spending enough". We got the best player we could've this offseason. If that doesn't show commitment to winning, I'm not sure what does. I realize that Drayton is a penny-pincher, but he's no worse than a lot of other owners whose teams did better. Now, I think Drayton's comment was about as STUPID a comment as could possibly be made. "Excited about where we finished"? WTF!!!?!?!? Personally, I dump Jimmy Williams -- I've never liked his managerial style, and I see no need to keep him around if these are his results . . .
I too, agree, that Drayton did as much as he could THIS PAST off-season to make this club better. Getting Jeff Kent suprised everybody. At the time, we were confident that Berkman would continue to improve his numbers at the plate, as he'd done the 2 years before that. (remember... 42 HR and 128 RBI in 2002). Additionally, we were counting on Roy and Wade to carry the starters, as they were poised for huge seasons coming off a dominant 2002. I many ways... the STARS played better in 2002 than they did in 2003. 2003 had guys like Brad Lidge and Jeriome Robertson step up... additionally, Richard Hidalgo helped off-set Berkman's decline by improving his numbers. Overall, this team was more balanced in 2003... but injuries and a lack of a dominant player took its toll. Bottom line... Drayton is trying to help this club win, but he should admit dissapointment when it is obvious this team underachieved. I only hope that once he realizes that its too hard for teams to compete against bigger payrolls (in their own division, nonetheless), he'll sell the team to someone who can.
Maybe during the season, it is tougher. But options should open up in the offseason. That's one more world Series title than the Astros have. Plus the ATL also has 5 more national league championships than the Astros do, so they do have success in the playoffs. Success in the playoffs is what Drayton should care about, but he doesn't and that is not fair to Astros fans. And most disgustingly, since 1991, the ATL has 12 more playoff series wins than the Astros do. Astro fans would love to have the success the Braves have had.
good post Nick, I did overlook the injury bug to Oswalt. And it's not drayton's fault that berkman had somewhat of a down year. But these comments he made gives the impression that he doesn't care about improving this team a whole lot. I applaud Drayton for getting Kent, but he needs to do another splash this offseason to improve this team again. A great thing he could do is trade Hidalgo. Another great thing he could do is get rid of Biggio, even if that means cutting him.
I just get annoyed hearing the man talk about how we have been champions in the past and will continue to do so etc... so what we won a division title.. i only consider there to be one champion at the end of the season.. and thats the world series one
The bats didnt pick up in clutch situations. The Astros were 4th in runs scored, so we _do_ have an explosive offense. I think the main thing we really need to focus on this off-season is picking up a legit leadoff man, and improving the bottom part of our rotation. Oswalt, Miller, Redding are locks, but Villone and Robertson wont cut it next year. However, it will be difficult to fathom justifying Robertson not getting a starting job next year considering he led the team in wins this year. Don't forget that Rosario and Hernandez will be back and should make a push for a starting job. Moehler will be back, but hes horrible. As well as Hidalgo played this year, I wouldnt mind seeing him go via trade [he is the most unclutch player on the club, he has a what like 220 average with the bases loaded?]. likewise for Wagner. Despite Wagner having a career year, I doubt he keeps it up for more than 3 years. Unload these contracts work on obtaining a leadoff man and a left handed starter.
I'm sick of people bringing up the injuries we had. What team didn't have injuries? Look at every team in the NL playoffs and all of them had significant pitching injuries. And 3 out of the 4 teams in the NL playoffs had a major pitcher go down for the entire season. We knew we didn't have good pitching coming into the year. But neither Kent, Hidalgo, Bagwell, Biggio, Berkman, or even Ausmus had close to a career year. We didn't even have 1 of our 10 million dollar sluggers even get 100rbi's.
Who cares if no one on our team got 100 rbi's? collectively as a _team_ (this is what is important) we were 4th in the NL in RBI's. The "Astros' offense stinks" arguement holds no water at all. yes we play in a hitter's friendly ballpark, but nonetheless, the only arguement you can make is that the Astros' offense didnt pick it up when they needed to.
The key word in that quote by McLane is money . Drayton isn't going to spend a dime this offseason, because he is convinced that as long as the Astros are contenders for the division, the fans will keep payng to watch the team underachieve. Pitching is what wins championships. NL style ball is what the Astros need to play, and they look like an AL team, just waiting for someone to hit a homerun. The team needs some speed, better defense, and a couple of players with some heart. Hopefully Drayton will sell the team after next season. He definitely wants to keep the team next season for the All-Star festivities. Injuries aside (and it was said best in an earlier post, what team doesn't have injuries?) this team just plain underachieved and showed NO heart. If this team is kept intact without making a couple of trades or FA acquisitions, then I won't watch because I refuse to watch a team that is kept on the cusp of mediocrity. And for Drayton apologists, you're right... he doesn't need to open his wallet to lose money. But he does need to recognize that fans don't want to keep hearing about how much money he has lost and how much he is still losing when he has new revenue streams from MMP. Drayton is obviously a businessman who wants to make a profit off of owning a MLB franchise, what he needs to realize if that owning a professional sports team is basically a billionaire's toy. If he doesn't want to spend the money, and wants to keep crying about operating at a loss, then sell the team. But don't come up with crap quotes about being proud of an underachieving team whom he doesn't feel the need to spend money to improve upon. Thank God for the Rockets and Texans, with owners who actually want to win it all, not just a division.
What he cares about and what he says publicly may be totally different. Many people come from the school of thought that you NEVER bash your employees publicly. It's just poor form. When you look at what he said, it is hard to imagine him being able to throw many more cliches in there. Why? Because he's washed up? Just like Nolan Ryan was when we didn't re-sign him and got Jim Clancy. Be glad you don't root for Detroit. These revenues looked like they would be the difference when the plan was developed in 1996. Then the world changed again. The Braves kept rolling in money from their Superstation (and a corporate owner who used the losses to offset income from other operations), and the Yankees entered into a ONE BILLION DOLLAR TV deal. Just when we thought we knew the answers, the questions changed. Funny...most accounts I have read say that he is not. The team is basically breaking even. Who would buy a baseball team to lose money on operating it? I sure can't think of anybody. This is why MLB can't find anybody to buy the Expos. If you change the owner, that does not mean that the revenue numbers will change. It will be the same story with a different face in the owner's box. And imagine...you've listed teams from 2 sports with a salary cap. There is cost certainty in player salaries. MLB does not have that.
what is left on hidalgo and wagner's contracts? does wagner have one year at 9M and hidalgo 2 years at 8M left? could we ever really trade wagner? he's so damn dominant and would he be able to command 9M again? hasn't the market come down on relievers lately? hidalgo makes sense b/c his value is high and so is his contract. anyway, i just wanna know since they are brought up in trades so often. oh and make carlos beltran happen. edit: well nm on hidalgo, just read (and then remember i read it earlier) that next year is a contract year.
Why?? your still asking this??? Biggio is a rally killer. How many times do I have to say this. I'd rather see you at the plate in the clutch than this guy. The fact that he's washed up doesn't even matter. You could call these last six games playoff games, and Biggio choked again, and yet you still think he can be an integral part of a winning ball club?? c'mon now. Lets see, in these last 6 "playoff" games...biggio went a combined 5-25, a .200 clip with no walks. Not one freaking BB. That is unacceptable for a leadoff hitter. And keep in mind, 2 of those 5 hits came in the blowout 12-5 lose to milwaukee.
That's one more world Series title than the Astros have. Plus the ATL also has 5 more national league championships than the Astros do, so they do have success in the playoffs. Success in the playoffs is what Drayton should care about, but he doesn't and that is not fair to Astros fans. What do you suggest is the difference between winning in the playoffs and winning in the regular season, from the owner's perspective? In other words, if you build a team that can win 95-100 games in the regular season, what can the owner do to make it hit in the postseason? If they won all the regular season games, they obviously had good players and a good manager.
I don't think they will get rid of Biggio. I mean come on now, go to any Astros game and how many kids do you see lined up against the first base line trying to get his autograph? How many kids and women do you see wearing his jersey? It would be horrible public relations. I don't think there's any other player on the team that you can compare his popularity with besides Bagwell. I think the best thing to do would be to use him off the bench.
