Are we seriously already having a an appreciation thread when nothing has happened? I could have told someone to cut payroll and start fresh. Yes he finally forced Wade to do it but at the end of the day we knew this was coming. I will reserve my judgement on the new regime until we start really showing some upward movement and rebuilding.
I would be a lot more appreciative of a new owner like Mark Cuban who would spend whatever it takes to get a winner.
I can't say I appreciate an owner who wants to slash payroll before he even officially takes over. I can appreciate trying to build up a farm system, though. Hopefully, this isn't going to be the theme of things with this team - hovering at a payroll of 70 million. From everything I've read, he doesn't seem like that kind of guy.
There's a difference between willingness to spend and payroll. They are different concepts. Especially when it comes to baseball where minor league spending is quite significant. I honestly don't give a damn just how low the Astros major league payroll is. I just want to see Oswalts, Berkmans, Biggios, etc. appearing for us in the big leagues in 2-3 years. Whether it's due to Crane hiring a super-smart GM who could spot talent, or because he spends so much on international and draft picks that some pan out simply through shear volume. I don't care. Right now, I want to see prospects who could turn into stars. That's all I ask. Payroll on the major league level is worthless until that happens. Only when you have a core of cheap, young star-level talents can the owner supplement that with quality FA signings. Before then, whether the Astros are a 60 win team or a 70 win team makes no difference.
•The Astros’ sale is just a week away, Stark writes. Other clubs are hearing that incoming owner Jim Crane may drive payroll down to $50MM or below from $71MM.MLBTR
Impossible unless he can find people to trade for Wandy, Myers, Lee AND eat most of their contracts...
Actually, I THINK, if they move Wandy or Myers they can get the payroll down to 50 million. Moving Pence(10 million), Bourn(7 million) and Keppinger (5 million) already trimmed the payroll to around 60 million, depending on arbitration eligible guys.
I'm not liking the constant references to a a certain payroll target by Crane. I totally get not wanting to have a big payroll for a crappy MLB roster, but putting an ulitmatum on the GM to get to a certain payroll number seems arbitrary and short-sighted. I will appreciate Crane a lot more if he replaces Wade with Andrew Freidman.
Hmmmmmm, this is not good. Maybe MLB is being extra cautious with everything that's going on in LA but it's still odd. Haven't they had this on the table for 3 months?! Could Bud and his boys be forcing the AL issue down Crane's throat before approving the deal? http://blog.chron.com/ultimateastros/2011/08/15/jim-cranes-astros-ownership-vote-is-delayed/
Kind of an insult to Drayton here. Mr. Crain has a checkered past and is already promising to slash payroll to a point where Drayton probably hasn't had the team since the mid 90s. Not saying he won't be a great owner or even better than Drayton. Not much to appreciate at this point.
I didn't realize how much of Crane's deal was going to be financed. Maybe they were joking, but I swear somebody on the radio said that Drayton was loaning Crane like 60 million as well. I really hope MLB turns this guy down. The more I hear, the less I like.
This guy has been close to buying an MLB team one more than one occassion. He absolutely blew away what anyone expected the Astros would sell for...and he's been the owner in waiting for months now...you still need more investigation? Methinks this is about realignment, sadly. All indications were this was a rubber-stamp job.
