Depends on what you mean by 'invest'. There are a number of fans that are investing a lot of time in the team. The attendance figures have steadily climbed the past 4 seasons, so clearly fans are coming back as the team is winning which is a direct result of the product they are putting on the field. So, while you aren't at least 'monetarily' invested, plenty of other fans seemingly are explicitly based on rising attendance and implicitly based on interest in the team.
Winning helps. Houston will support a winner, regardless of sport. They will not support mediocrity and will downright become apathetic to bad teams (with the exception of the NFL, which is a different animal altogether). This simple metric is what I'm hoping encourages the owners/front office to not simply go after the bargains or try a piece-meal approach. This market is still ripe for the taking for the spring/summer months, and Houston has proven they can rabidly get behind an Astros team with true championship aspirations (and big names).
Crane's financial situation and their 4 year plan was made very public when he bought the team: he had partners/investors/lenders who wanted return on their money over the initial few years. Thus he cut payroll, and has built it back slowly. Now he is getting more money to spend on the team. It would help if the people of Houston would actually go to a ****ing game every once in a while.
Crane referenced the Cardinals as a model for both how to sustain talent but also where they'd eventually fall in payroll range. Their payroll this season was $145M. That'd give Houston ~$70M to spend to get there.
What a load of **** . The fans are just supposed to come back after 3+ abyssmal years . Furthermore those years were crafted on purpose. You can't your cake and eat it too . If crane wants to cut payroll and field a ****ty team to improve the long term product and increase profits then you can't complain when fans don't immediately react when you are good again . It takes time . The fans shouldn't be expected to come back until we make it to the playoffs multiple years in a row . Or at least accuire some star talent/ names. Also they ****ing raised ticket prices when we sucked . Don't get me wrong , there is a lot to like with how we've rebuilt the team ; but saying oh once fans show up we can spend more money engenders no sympathy from me . If you don't want the stadium to be overrun by other teams fans then don't purposely suck for 3 years and change leagues . Furthermore the media openly trashed the team and they had trouble getting cable deals . Most of houston's perspective on the stros is they have a cheapass owner who ranked for 3 years and can't beat the Rangers . It's unfair but it's not unexpected given how they've gone about rebuilding the team .
That's cool, I speak asterisk. I don't blame the fans at all, but fans buying tickets and going to games increases the revenue, thus there is more money to spend. Conversely, how much more money does he have to spend to get the fans to come out and.... I'll let you Houstonians figure that out, and I hope you do.
It's for crane to figure out . I'm sure they have economists on their team that can approximate how much fans will spend given a certain level of winning . It's up to crane to either be happy with the profits he's getting now , or trying to increase spending( getting a big name / improving the team ) in the hopes that more fans come . He may be perfectly happy sitting pat and expecting he team to get better as it ages . This is fine . He's a businessman and he's owning a team to make money . That being said , it's not fair to ask fans to come to games if he doesn't do everything in his power to improve the team season to season . We are past the rebuilding phase now . Money is his first concern . So it doesn't bother me that in order for him to spend more , more fans have to come . But it does bother me if he asks for it i.e. " if only more fans would come support us we could spend more on winning ." It's A duplicitous statement that gives the appearance of caring about winning . The city of Houston will decide too how much they want to support the Astros , but unless the Astros are consistently good then the fans cannot be blamed for not supporting the team enough . There is an inherent lag in fan support and tanking for 3 years was a calculated risk . We will see how it plays out . Baseball wise it was a great move . We will see how it effects long term fan support , especially if crane doesn't increase spending . Fans will be even more hesitant to support the team if it appears that the owner is only in it for the money .
My opinion is that fans won't really embrace the Astros until they reach the World Series. Once they do that the team will be wildly popular as long as the core (Altuve, Correa, Bregman, maybe Springer and McCullers) are still around.
^^ H-town was Astros crazy in 04-06 . In 04 we didn't make it to the WS but we had big names , made a big move at the deadline and made it out of the first round . We were able to build on the success the next year especially by playing the same teams ( I think ) . In 06 even though we weren't as good we still had big names and you knew they were going for it . Even in 07 we had over 3 million attendance .
I grew up having my dad take me and/or my friends to games, and once I "cough" grew up "cough" I have always gone to games just because it was fun. It didn't really matter how good the team was, it was just fun to go see a ballgame. I understand that I'm an outlier, but that's the biggest thing I miss about Houston and I wish there were more people who could do the same.
Of course... that was 2011-2012. A lot of recovery (financially) can happen in 5 years... especially with how flush the league is with cash given the recent internet/media deals that the teams do share. As far as your other point.... you do have at least some familiarity with the Houston sports scene. When have fans ever just unilaterally went to games without the team having either huge names or real tangible success? The 93 Rockets were still drawing 9,000/game initially, a year after Olajuwon's renaissance season and a heated western conference semifinal appearance (also, not to mention a 15-0 start and what would eventually be a championship season). The 98 Astros, coming off the first division title in 12 years, struggled at the gate... until a HUGE name was acquired (despite them having some decent names in their primes already). The 2002-2003 Astros struggled (relatively) at the gate as the newness of MMP had worn off and the teams were good but not great.... then 2004 comes along with Pettite, Roger, (eventually Beltran), and fans come out in droves. Attendance has been better this year, as it was last year... but its never going to be stellar until they either take the next step towards greatness, OR they acquire/develop true superstars that meet expectations. And those two aspects aren't mutually exclusive.
I think the only way is winning. What kind of superstar could Houston realistically acquire that would make a meaningful impact at the gate? There are no comparables to Pettitte/Clemens in the league much less that are available. Those were two HoF caliber hometown boys. I don't think even trading for a Chris Sale type would make a big dent. No, I think the only way they get back over the hump is with a WS appearance.
Chris Sale would go a longgg way though. Add him and improve the overall starting rotation. Trade some of the pitching prospects in the organization. Time to cash in on what Jeff Luhnow has been building in the Minors for the past 6 years.
The only 2 prospects I would call untouchables are Tucker & Whitley. Just because they are in track to develop into something nicely and they both were drafting pretty high in the draft. Astros have enough depth to trade for a Sale or Archer without giving up either. But push come to shove, anyone is available for a pitcher like Sale. Why ??! Contract, left-handed, young, and relatively healthy. A true Ace. If you reading this, Jeff Luhnow, time to cash in your chips. There is enough depth in the Minors to take a hit for a blockbuster trade in the offseason of this magnitude.
Yup, at the trade deadline they probably requested Bregman, Tucker, Martes, Musgrove, and 3-4 other prospects. Kicker might have been having the gull to ask for Springer or Correa. You heard their GM say they didn't have to trade Sales so they likely asked for the moon. But as it is, Bregman is building his MLB value and his trade value is about to hit the stratosphere. But for sure Bregman would be gone in any trade scenario for Sales.
