I disagree - outside of the few sentences of criticism about the minors and the sentence criticizing the extension, I thought everything was right. Wade is well below average in his valuation of major league talent and he consistently overpays for mediocrity. He also seems to value names and/or "reputation" over actual production and statistics. His understanding of sabermetrics definitely seems lacking. If I had control of the Astros, I would let him go now, but that's unrealistic given that he was signed just two years ago for a rebuilding process. My hope is that he spends a few years rebuilding the minors and then is let go - because he's never really shown any ability to properly value players at the major league level. Right now, it's not too big a deal because all of his signings are short term (1-3 years) so he's not doing much damage. When the team is ready to really compete, longer-term deals are going to be involved and I don't want him anywhere near those negotiations.
[rquoter]...In 30 years, there's gonna be a miniature Theo Epstein in a cowboy hat in Houston, fresh with some new oil money from when Texas seceded and invaded Pakistan, and he's going to be absolutely befuddled how his boyhood team missed out on the revolution. If you had never been introduced to sabermetrics -- and they're not so good with the sliderules in Texas -- you might like Ed Wade's moves this offseason. Brett Myers? Hey, he throws as hard as he punches. Pedro Feliz? He's got championship rings and Veteran Presence. Matt Lindstrom? Whoa, now he throws hard. With Roy Oswalt healthy and Wandy Rodriguez and Carlos Lee and Fat Elvis ... look out! You can sell programs and calendars and ticket plans with those guys. (The Astros aren't, but, you know, theoretically.)... The rest of us look closely now. The Astros, bless their heart, don't... It's nice that the Astros exist... We must enjoy the Astros while we can. They are reading their newspaper in the morning and buying compact discs and checking their answering machine and signing up for AOL accounts. They won't be around forever. Appreciate them now, before they, finally, disappear. I'll miss them. I really will.[/rquoter] So, all that drivel above is "right"? The Astros will disappear? We're too stupid to use "slide rules"? The Astros "aren't looking too closely"? (which is a common logical fallacy: "if someone doesn't see what I see, then he obviously isn't looking closely or being objective!" I'm not necessarily decrying his thesis. But any moron can be sarcastic. And that's all netlore has become. A guy with--maybe--one or two reasonable points who repeats them five or six times mixed in with one-liners and sassy anecdotes. *yawn* I'll say it again: Wade is good at building minors and not-so-good at Major League stuff. In other news, water is wet.
I also love the assertion that we'll secede from the union and invade Pakistan. And that oil is so "everywhere" here that a random person would need to wipe it from his shoes. The "not so good with slide rules" remark has since been edited out of the piece. Nice. I get that all of that is some attempt at levity -- but it does nothing for his general point. It's drivel.
It's Deadspin - part of the site's concept is to mix in humor and sarcasm with their articles. I just read past that stuff. It does nothing to take away from the actual baseball information.
well, color me educated; I had never paid attention to or noticed that site before. my bad. as an aside, if their whole point was comedy mixed with a little opinion, why did they feel the need to edit out the slide rule slam?
Actually what really matters is now. Who cares about the past. But if you are one of those type of people heres one for you... Cowboys 5 Superbowls Texans/Oilers 0... Enough said. I didn't mean to offend anyone but I know how touchy you all are about the Cowboys... Whatever... Since alot of you are "homers" its hard for me to explain how good the Rangers are now and how good they will be for the next decade. I like the Astros... I just hate the players on the team. I would love it if the Astros would take the same approach as the Texas Rangers did and improve from within instead of expensive rentals. Granted the John Daniels made mistakes early on (Soriano for Wilkerson and Sledge) and (C. Young, A Gonzalez, Sledge for Eaton and Otsuka) he quickly redeemed himself with the Texiera Heist, the Josh Hamilton trade, along with all the international signings and amature draft signings minus Purke. I would love to see the Astros build themselves like the Rangers have. Unfortunatly it takes sacrifice... If anything it shows who are the real fans of the team. Calling myself a Rangers fan in itself should be admirable considering how weve been perenial losers for the better part of my life. The winds of change have come though and I hope the Astros transition is one that is quick and I hope you guys get back on your feet quickly. Rangers vs Astros World Series 2015... book it
Well, they both matter. History is important (but one shouldn't let history cloud an objective view of today, either). No, not quite enough: Rockets NBA titles: 2 Rockets Western Conference titles: 4 Mavericks: 0 and 1 nor should anyone be offended (were you offended? you went calling people "homers", saying they're "touchy" and you dropped a "whatever", after all...) At any rate, for me the back-and-forth with Dallas fans is good-natured ribbing. Historically, the Cowboys are by far the best of the six major franchises between the two cities; we've got you (historically) in baseball and basketball; you've got us currently in all three. One last thing: the Rangers have really done it right the last few years. There may be some good times in store. Kudos. Now, give us Nolie back. Now.
I hate the Mavs with all my heart..almost more than the Spurs...I've been a Rockets fanatic since I was 10...1994 to be exact.... I actually live in South Texas.. Rockets, Rangers, and Cowboys are what I live for
Since were making predictions on world series appearances etc. Astros make it to the playoffs again before the Rangers do, and win a world series before them. Book it, Frame it, Sell it, Quote it.
Are you serious? You must be delusional if you believe that. Texans will make the playoffs before the Astros... Book that.
Texans almost made the playoffs last year so that's probably likely. Even with the Astros struggles in the past few years they've still had a closer sniff to the playoffs than the Rangers, and our team isn't going to get much worse than it was post world series season. 2009 Astros 17 games out of playoff spot Rangers 8 games out of a playoff spot 2008 Astros 3.5 games out of a playoff spot Rangers 16 games out of a playoff spot 2007 Astros 12 games out of a playoff spot Rangers 19 games out of a playoff spot 2006 Astros 1.5 games out of a playoff spot Rangers 13 games out of a playoff spot So in the past four years we've had a better shot at the playoffs 3/4 times. And these have been the Astros down years. They won't get any worse than these previous seasons. So during our worst seasons we've had a better shot at making the playoffs than the Rangers have. The Astros are only going to get better as they are able to shed some of their larger contracts, and get a multitude of draft picks. So yes, I certainly think the Astros will make the playoffs before the Rangers do.
Actually the Astros are in a state of regression if you hadn't noticed. I don't think you completely understand how important having a good farm system is. The Astros farm system is ranked last of all MLB teams, while the Rangers is ranked head and shoulders #1. The Rangers are filled with young talent on the Major League Level as well as AAA AA High A and Low A. The Rangers are stacked from top to bottom as an organization. The only thing Texas is a bit thin at as far as prospects is outfielders not named Borbon. Anyway how about a friendly wager on who will have a better season this year?
I'm not wagering on who will have the better season because it probably would be the Rangers. I'm not denying the Rangers are a good team. I just think the competition is much harder in the AL than NL.
I'd suggest the Astros are currently worse this season than last. They got worse at closer. They got worse at setup man. They got worse at shortstop. They haven't improved at any position except maybe #3 starter, depending on how Brett Myers pans out.
They should be better at 3rd and the bench should be better. They should be better at first and at #1 starter. Their defense should be better. They should be better at manager.
