Max...i used t think you were a bit more reasonable than RM...a little more realistic...but if you cannot come to terms with the fact that there was NO PLAN B if we didn't get Beltran, then you are being extremely naive.
blah blah blah. plan b for what??? we didn't have beltran at the start of last season. we lost kent. but we found backe. we go into the season with young players, whom most of the critics said should have been playing (with Kent on the bench) last season....and arguably the best rotation in the NL. yeah. i'll take my chances with that...and we'll see who becomes available during the season. had they not pursued beltran you and others would have screamed like crazy that they didn't have a commitment to winning...to keeping a guy like that here. it didn't work out, despite making the guy an offer that would have been among the top 7 deals of all time. so now you want to b**** that they don't sign jeremy burnitz??? please. give it a rest, already. let's see how they play. you won't be watching...no need to...but i'll keep you posted here if you'd like.
I'm rolling my eyes at your ridiculous and idiotic ASSumption that the Astros will let Roy and Berkman go. As far as Plan B, anyone with a brain can figure out what Plan B is. It doesn't matter if you like it or not, but there is one.
ummm...plan B for signing a player that could replace some offense since we lost our 2 top run producers to free agency and our best all around hitter who may be on the shelf for a while if its between him and palmiero, yes Let me explain something Max...the fact that you and RM roll your eyes at everything I post is really of no consequence to me. Fact is, I havent stated anything so ridiculously offbeat. I can simply recognize that my favorite team has done a crappy job this offseason and unless something out of the ordinary (like having a bunch of has beens and youngsters have break out seasons) happens, we are going to struggle to win games this year. I am happy with the pitching staff...I think that, other than Chicago, we have the best starting 5...BUT...as a season ticket holder and long time fan, I will always want one thing....and that is to win...and I dont have a great feeling about the upcoming year. Hopefully I'm wrong.
NJ -- we get that you're frustrated. believe me...we get it. i wish they would have retained beltran, as well. but i'm not particularly jazzed by any of the other choices out there. i have ZERO interest in jeremy burnitz, frankly. a guy who hits .244 outside of his home park does little to excite me....particularly when he's not a long-term solution, anyway. i hear people say alou...but you would have had to beat the Giants' offer by quite a bit, i bet, to get him to play anywhere else but there with his father in his final seasons. there is not a lot out there, period. J.D. Drew?? no thanks. it's the constant complaining...even about things that haven't come to pass...that just gets tiring. i know, i know...i could ignore them...move along...whatever. but hardly a day passes where you're not b****ing about something that has or hasn't even happened yet. i'm not ready to say this team won't be competitive. yes...we need good seasons from veterans, who've had good seasons recently (so that's not exactly reaching) and from young guys like Lane and Burke. I'm not a big Lane fan personally...but I hope I'm wrong with him. But I also know that this team has made moves during the season to make themselves better. If there's a good bat available, i think they'll try to make a move for it.
That and the implied assumption that he knows how to run a team better than Tim Purpura. PLAN B DAMMIT!!
No...but Hun did...in fact, a lot of people arent even recognizing that fact that in addition to the worst offseason as far as player movement, we lost one of the best GMs in the game....and it didnt take long to show
hunsicker was awesome. my son is 3 months old today. he was born on 11/1/04. my wife had a c-section, and while she was in recovery they sent me back into our room. i was still had some adrenaline going, but i couldn't go anywhere or do anything. i turned on ESPN. they announced that hunsicker was stepping down and purpura was taking the job. exactly 3 months ago today. before we condemn or celebrate purpura, we might want to give him more than 3 months. which leads me right back to my point about assumptions.
my assumptions that we will struggle are no differnt than yours that we will be fine with the current team
But your assumptions that we didn't have a plan B or that we're going to lose Berkman and Oswalt are different.
the Berkman and Oswalt things are just dominoes that should fall ovder the course of the next week or so....but based on this offseason, I am a little hesitant to be so sure that these deals will get done....but I hope they will. The Plan B thing is much different. We never had one....period. If Plan B was to go with the younger guys, then we would have known that Carlos was even more important than we thought. What, in your opinion, was (or is) our Plan B? Hoping the young guys play well enough to stay in the race and add a slugger mid season isn't a plan B...its a risk that we are forced to take by not having a solid plan B.
NJ, all you're saying with everything is "Here's what you're saying the Plan B was. I think that was just the result of not having one in the first place." This is an argument over semantics. NJ thinks the Plan B was never in place, and it is what has occurred. Others (myself included) think that the Plan B was to go with the younger players, build around pitching and speed, hope you get production from certains guys. These are the SAME THING. Regardless of how you present it, the facts remain. All NJ would like to say is that he thinks Purpura/Drayton are idiots...and went into Beltran negotiations blindly...HOPIng we got him, and thinking "well if we don't, we're completely screwed...something will probably work out." You know, I kinda have a feeling that guys in charge of a team are a little more open-minded and more intelligent than that. They had an idea of what they'd do either way. The fact that you don't like the way they went is making you dislike Purpura....which makes you want to say he sucks and he never thought about anything. But logically, there aren't many intelligent people--much less intelligent BASEBALL professionals--who would have been so stupid about it.
You have *no* idea... "period." Unless you were privy to all the conversations that went on within the Astros organization and between the Astros and other organizations and agents, this is an utterly ridiculous assumption, with nothing but your opinion of the Beltran fiasco to back it up. How can you be so dogmatic about it? Clairevoyance? I did. I even posted it here. I also said the jury is out on what type of GM Purpura is. But 3 months, as was wisely pointed out by others, is nowhere near enough time for anyone to determine. Unless, of course, one is clairevoyant.
How in the hell do you know? Did you speak with Purpura or McLane about it? This is amazing. You've got nothing to go on except the spin provided to the media by Purpura & Co., and you know exactly what was in the minds of the Astros organization at the time, as well as their disposition and expectations and fears? That's pretty freaking amazing. Will you please tell me what stocks to buy and pick the next five horse races for me?
I am basing my assumption that there was no Plan B on the fact that our opening day lineup looks like this (with less than 3 weeks until spring training mind you): Bidge Burke Bags Ensberg Lane Palmiero Everett Ausmus P On what are you basing the assumption that there was? We all know that only the homers are allowed to assume that things are going to happen or not happen.
