Crane has a lot of money invested in the Astros and thus a lot of money invested in, and relying upon, the MLB. Anyone that thinks Crane had any option other than to just do what they wanted probably hasn't thought too deeply about it. If he tried to expose the entire league as being cheaters, how much would the MLB (and all the owners) stand to lose from that? You probably don't want to tank your $680 million investment. He is probably just annoyed that the Astros (and thus him) are still being harped on nonstop as if they are the only ones that cheated. Seems like the "agreement" was for that to stop, but the Astros have just become everyone's favorite whipping boy constantly.
But it's exactly what happened. And I don't blame Crane at all. How can anyone talk **** about Dusty, as a hire?
I swear I WILL NEVER SAY that Aubrey Huff gave you a reach around in a truckstop men's room. You could have at least bought him some pretzels afterwards...c'mon.
Not just that but they are missing their best starting (cy young winning) pitcher, best closer in a year where they blew alot of saves, best slugger for the entire year and had Bergman, uncle Mike, presley out for an extended period of time.
On the one hand, apparently Crane was "mandated" by Manfred to fire both Luhnow and Hinch. On the other hand, Manfred has played the role of a cuck, spineless, no confidence, incomptenent commissioner... that it surprises me that he would be able to create a threat of yielding such power. Is he still standing by the excuse that MLB has "no control" over how the balls are manufactured... even after they had bought the manufacturing company? Looking back at least year's HR numbers is even more of a joke than ever. Far more impactful on game to game results than "sign-stealing" ever was or could be.
I mean, it wasn't really that hard of a threat to make. He's the one that was responsible for doling out punishment. If he had said Hinch and Luhnow were banned for life, would anybody in baseball come to their defense? Would Crane have had any real ground to stand on if he opposed it?
What did he do at the trade deadline. Click is probably a great scout, but so far he looks more like Poops as a GM than Luhnow. If the Stros want to be great they need a GM that's ruthless and puts winning above all else. Just like the rest of the big boys do. Apparently Crane is going to give Manfred what he wants, LA/NY/Boston/Chicago to be championship contenders. How can we tell? By looking at the punishment he handed down to them vs the Stros when they all were doing the exact same things. All about the money
What exactly could he have done at the trade deadline that would have made our star hitters not be complete ass? He hasn't even had one offseason to make moves. People want him to throw away even more prospects (which are increasingly hard to come by) at this short ass season.
Why does image matter so much in today's world. Truth is there's a double standard and Cashman should be fired too. The media got what they wanted out of this deal. Luhnows head, Hinch was just collateral damage. I can't wait until Fiers comes to town and fans start throwing rats on the field. That should be great entertainment.
I think Click realized the randomness injected into this season made making win-now (or even win-later) moves a poor allocation of resources. We have virtually no sample of Click’s prowess in trades, free agency signing, and waiver claims. He’s made a few inconsequential moves for bullpen help. If there’s anything to draw from his time in Houston so far, it would be whatever you think his contribution is to developing the young pitching; between Javier, Valdez, Taylor, Paredes, and all the other young arms who have shown well this year, Houston has probably added >$100M in future surplus value. If you’re looking for a negative, it would be that Toro, Jones, Stubbs, and Straw have all mostly sucked. But it is hard to say Click really had anything to do with those either. And really hard to fault Click for Altuve, Bregman, Gurriel, and Correa all struggling offensively, and Verlander, Alvarez, and Osuna getting hurt. Frankly, I can’t think of a single thing Luhnow would have done differently than Click in the last 9 months.
Would Manfred have the stones to ban Crane or force him to sell if he didn't want to fire Luhnow? Yes, he was in charge of the punishment... which he determined to be 1 year suspensions. Not permanent bans, not forced firings. He can coerce/threaten continuously... but based on the new precedent he's set for two-time offenders such as the Red Sox, and mitigating further exposure of the widespread nature of this, I do not think he has the authority or desire to basically eviscerate/execute any individual or team. A 1 year suspension is more than fair for this offense. There have been worse ethical violations in baseball history that were met with similar or less harsh penalties. A forced firing along with permanent "ban" (but not official ban) is a tad over the top... if Luhnow wants to work in baseball again, I believe he should (and will) get that opportunity.
My assumption is that Manfred works at the direction of the owners, and I think the most influential owners wanted Luhnow gone and the Astros to take the fall for the overarching cheating scandal. I also don’t think Crane is very well-liked by many other owners (this is pure speculation on my part). Hinch was collateral damage (as were Beltran and Cora). That is one reason I will be surprised if Luhnow works in baseball anytime soon, because I think the secondary motive in the punishment was to get Luhnow out of the game (the primary motive being to sweep the cheating scandal under the rug by having the Astros take the fall).
Have the Astros had a 56 game stretch at any point since 2017 that was this mediocre? I’m not sure an easy way to look that up. I’d wager that they have but even if they haven’t, this is by far the most depleted roster they’ve dealt with. As pathetic as the offense has looked at times, I feel like this exact same team in a regular 162 games would still end up division winners.
All of this may be true... and I don’t think Manfred has any sort of unilateral power whatsoever... but at the end of the day, what is the worst this collection of owners can do to Crane? Again, if Luhnow wants to get back into baseball after serving his official suspension, and he’s somehow denied of this by a secret society of owners who don’t want him to be a GM for anybody, he’d have a fairly good legal case. Also keep in mind that owners/teams are still hiring or employing all the guys who served under Luhnow... its pretty short-sighted to think that there won’t be a team interested.
In '17 they went 28-28 in late June-August; 30-26 late June-August '18, didn't look at '19 because they pretty much wrecked **** all year (worst month by far was a 15-11 June, iirc)
Thanks. I could be misremembering but late June thought August ‘17 was about the time Fiers was the anchor on the staff. Pre Verlander and Keuchel on the DL. Our offense has been a bigger problem of late but the bullpen blew all kinds of ass early on. All in all with guys coming back and the pitching getting better, this Astros team is probably very good over the course of 162.
I assert there is not out one team in this league, the NBA, the NFL, Any sport that doesn’t somehow cheat. The only sports that are fair are gentleman games like Tennis and golf. The fans get brainwashed cause human beings like drama... including the cheating.... otherwise we wouldn’t have anything to complain about in the off season!
