You may feel that way but there is no evidence that shows that. Oh I know he said the right things in the media but I know from a good source that Borass was calling the Yankees eveytime the Astros made an offer and they said the same thing everytime..." don't call us, we'll call you". The Yankees wanted no part of Borass or Beltran. They needed pitching and that is what they spent their money on. Borass would not allow Drayton or any Astros management to speak with Beltran directly but invited the GM from the Mutts to visit Beltran in PR. Drayton could not even get Beltran on the phone ler alone speak to him. That does not sound like a person who wants to be signed by Houston.
I originally broke the Beltran-to-Houston story. Doesn't that tell you anything? Don't you think I could use that connection again? There is no "feel" here. Beltran's personal handler said he was leaning towards Houston. This statement was made "off the record," and as I am NOT the media, there was no need to blow smoke up MY ass (I mean, c'mon... who am I?). It still doesn't change the fact that Beltran ruined our damn off-season.
I am happy the way things turned out, but I too must also admit, I was completely ticked off when we didnt get Beltran. I always felt that Beltran would stay with us, and it hurt even more when he left. That being said, I will gladly eat crow and be thankful that we did not sign him. I do wish we would have kept Jeff Kent.
Yeah, if we had Kent right now I wouldn't be wishing for 1 more bat in the offense. I think after he came to town and I got the boooooos out of my system I feel much better about the whole Beltran fiasco.
VS, I was not doubting what you heard, just doubting the truthfulness of what was said to you. I know Beltran said through the media that he liked it here and liked playing here, and liked the players, blah..blah..blah It just seems like smoke screen to either drive the price as high as possible or try to get the Yankees attention. It just seemed like everybody that had inside info was saying that Beltran was signing here..that is everybody but Borass. All he kept saying was more, more, more then once the Muts got involved, he pulled the trump card and said oh BTW we need these other 11 demands, at the 11th hour. If a person really wanted to stay here, he would have told his agent get it done with the best deal possible. He would not take a gamble tactic like that unless he wanted to torpedo the negotiations.
Just a theory on Kent. Something I've just been throwing around in my head for the past 30 seconds. Isn't there a good chance that with Kent, we're the same team as last year? You know, the one that was sucking before we traded for Beltran (and for a bit after we acquired him)? I think there's something to be said for clubhouse chemistry and by all accounts, the 2005 Astros clubhouse is one of the best we've seen as far as it being a bunch of good guys who get along tremendously. Who's to say that Kent, who some here have heard was not a good clubhouse guy at all, wouldn't have been more of a detraction than an addition? I'm not saying I completely believe this and 9 times out of 10, I say we should've resigned him, but who knows?
It would be nice to have Kent back for his bat, but at the same time, the trade off with Biggio butchering fly balls in LF is something I would not like. Still, the option for a guy who puts up numbers like Kent was a steal, and they should have made it happen.
It was not about the option, it was about the guaranteed 2nd year that the Astros did want to give him and the Dogders did.
