It appears that the eye is infected. Lance could hardly open it this morning. Kinda hard to play baseball with one eye. He could go out there and be called the Cyclops Puma.
other than the burke game, havent we lost every single one of these 15+ inning games the past 5 or 6 years?
and it continues. to say it's time to rebuild is an understatement. a 10 year old could understand that this team isnt going anywhere until drastic changes are made. it's a huge slap in the face to the fans if mclane doesnt do some serious selling at the deadline.
The problem is that if he gets rid of all the fan favorites, the team will likely go back into receivership. Did you by any chance live through the days of 8,000 a night at the Astrodome? I did. It was awful. The team was always awful...and that was before the days of the inflated pay scale we have today. If the Astros completely blow up the team as you suggest, in 5 years you'll have Montreal Expos South. Sure, we'll have some great prospects...who will be playing somewhere else as soon as they hit FA status.
They blew up the team around 1990 and it worked out OK. They were down for 2 or 3 years but it was hardly the wholesale Armageddon that you predict.
i think you made this same post, almost word for word, a couple months ago. i understand what you are saying, but i think you're giving our current following of fans too much credit. they will still come in droves. what's the alternative? play sub .500 ball till lee, roy, and berkmans contracts run out? which would fans prefer? i'd say keep lance (that alone would keep the fans) and trade away as many of the others as you can. try to be competitive as cheaply as possible next year, with an eye on the future. keep lance, and your offense can't be much worse next year anyway. and whatever young pitching we get will automatically give us a better or at least more watchable staff immediately. there is NO reason for optimism with the roster as is. i can't think of anything worse as a fan.
I don't think it's that bad. This is a team that draws 3 million regularly, now. They may not do that while rebuilding...but they're a long way from receivership. The whole league is a very different place from what it was when that happened before. I understand the concern though, having lived through that. I think you keep Berkman...and you listen to offers for anything else.
