http://blogs.chron.com/sportsjustice/ Was Griffey almost an Astro? The Astros made a hard run at Junior Griffey in the days leading up to Wednesday night's deadline for setting playoff rosters. Drayton McLane had given his baseball staff the go-ahead to do the deal. I'm not sure if the Astros would have taken on all of Griffey's remaining $34 million, but they certainly would have taken the majority. In the end, it was the Reds who decided to hold onto Griffey. Had the Astros gotten it done, the race for the National League wild-card berth would have been changed dramatically. This race will be decided by how much the Astros get from their third, fourth and fifth hitters -- Morgan Ensberg, Lance Berkman and Jason Lane. Griffey would have made a dramatic difference, perhaps more than Carlos Beltran made last season. <End of blog> Sure would've been nice: CF Taveras 2B Biggio LF Griffey 3B Ensberg 1B Berkman RF Lane SS Everett C Ausmus Oh well, here's hoping the platoon of Luke Scott/Chris Burke pans out for the stros.
I don't know how to feel. I would have been thrilled to have a great, great bat added to the Astros lineup. But, on the other hand, I don't have to cheer for that egotistical prima donna or worry about his bi-annual injuries.
GM IQ, possibly. (I know you were just joking, but I remember that dude running our scouting department when the organization won all kinds of awards and had one of the strongest farm systems around.) I wish he were still director of scouting, or whatever that title was.
If the Astros traded a prospect and $9 million for Jeff Kent right now, who wouldn't applaud the move? Sad.
I've seen it posted on other message boards that ESPN radio reported that the Stros were closer than any other team to landing Junior -- largely because we were willing to take on 90% of his salary as opposed to the Chisox only willing to take on 75%. Ironic that, in a scenario where Drayton had the highest bid, the other party got cold feet. (assuming those posts are true.) All I know is this makes me want to beat the damn Reds 20-0 the next two games. They asked too much for Dunn, and they pulled out on a Griffey deal -- two trades that could have made a HUGE difference. Damn Reds and their crazy manangement team...
The Reds have the most incompetant management in all of baseball. Here you have a team that is desperately in need of rebuilding with prospects. You have teams throwing all kinds of young talent their away, take big contracts off their hands, and speed up the rebuilding process. Instead, they decide to do NOTHING, and remain a sh*tty ass team.
He should be fired! To miss the boat and not deal for a bat, for whatever reason, is inexcusable. You just don't miss a chance to roll the dice for improvement - Hunsicker didn't miss many chances. that's his job. Purp is 0 for 1 in my book. (i can't provide him credit for Willy, he is the exception, nor MO, he's a statistical anomoly). I just don't see him having improved the team. I understand that to not vote (do nothing) is still casting a vote, I just don't like his vote. If I have my heart set on a championship, and I don't make a deal to have a legitimate shot, because the price is too high, then I'm the wrong man for the job. Championships are timeless, and moves and trades to get there are actually useless and forgotten facts at the end of the day. If you can stamp history with a championship, all these Astros who've given their careers would have earned it. This team in the playoffs, without a magic bat (Griffey?) will fall as they have in the past. With a 2004 Beltran playoff type potential, Griffey could single handedly have hit us into the Series. Roll the dice... AND - I personally could care less if he sits on a skinny or a fat @ss - either way he should bounce twice on it, while being thrown under the bus if this season ends poorly (and my personal expectations for this team include: at the very highest credit given them, not getting past the Cards).
Blah blah blah, just like Beltran did, right? Perhaps all the moves Hunsicker made are the reason we need a bat right now. That's not to say they were bad moves, but adding a player, superstar or not, doesn't guarantee a title, and it definitely affects your future ability to win. Making a move at any cost is the absolute dumbest thing a GM could ever do. It's the reason so many teams suck for so long, while you're even here talking about the Astros competing for the playoffs this year. Had we followed your philosophy each of the past 10 years when we were in the playoff hunt, we'd be the worst team in baseball right now.
I guess I need to work on my reading comprehension skills because when I read: I took that to mean that the deal didn't get done because the Reds pulled out -- not because "the price [was] too high."
Wow ... I thought this would quiet some of the critics that said the Astros were trying to do nothing. There was ONE bat that was available and the Astros made the best offer of any team to get the bat and people still think its Purpura's fault? Amazing!
I'm not a Purpura apologist or anything (I give him a C+ so far), but it's pretty clear at this point that we were actively trying to improve the team at both trading deadlines and there were no willing partners out there. Anyone who can't (or won't) see that has blinders on. At this point, let's just forget about what the roster could have been and focus on rooting hard for the guys that are on the team to bring the Wild Card home. Go Stros!
man, i agree. whatever direction cincy wants to go, griffey's going to be a part of the equation? they had a chance to dump his injuries, his salary and whatever problems he may or may not be causing behind the scenes to a division rival, no less, and they passed???? talk about leaving a "get out of jail free" card on the table. either the story is an out and out plant job by the astros, or the reds are indeed one of the poorest run franchises in professional sports.
I think he tried, but there were no bats available. All the people that say him doing nothing is a crime, don't have any idea of the deals that might have been on the table. Maybe the Reds wanted Lidge, Lane and our top 3 pitching prospects for Dunn. Would people have been happy with that deal. From what I've seen, there just weren't any available bats (unless you thought Lawton would have been the savior).
Wow, what a great job for Purpura to have then. Man would I love to go to my boss, time after time, and say I wanted to make the sale, but I couldn't find anyone to buy......... I'm sure there would be no criticizing of my performance...
This wasn't Purpura's fault - but he's still a bad GM (see Kent, Jeff). Let's hope he has a better year next year.
The problem with your analogy is that Purpura wasn't the seller. He was the buyer, and nobody was selling.
If everybody else had the same results and there were no buyers buying from anyone, and there was no evidence that you did a bad job except for a bunch of random people who insisted you could have sold without knowing anything about what buyers were offering, I would hope no one would be criticizing your performance.
