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Astros. Sorry to rain on the parade.

Discussion in 'Houston Astros' started by franchise?..NOT, Mar 27, 2008.

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franchise?..NOT Member

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Astros are piecked by most pronostications to win 77 or fewer games.

Just a reminder of wade's body of work.

Early career in baseball
Wade began his baseball career in 1977 as an intern in the Phillies public relations department. In 1977, he was named public relations assistant for the Astros and was promoted to public relations director in 1979. In 1981, he left Houston to become the public relations director for the Pittsburgh Pirates, and he remained with that club for five seasons.

In 1986, Wade returned to Houston to work as an associate for Tal Smith Enterprises, a firm that has provided consulting services to 26 of the 30 Major League Baseball clubs. The most recognized functions have been in the preparation of arbitration cases, the financial appraisal of franchise, contract negotiations and other baseball-related matters.

Wade worked for the company until May 5, 1989, when he rejoined the Phillies as assistant to the general manager. In 1995, he was promoted to assistant general manager, and he served in that role until assuming the general manager duties for Philadelphia in 1998.

Work as the Phillies GM
Wade traded Curt Schilling, the Phillies' long-time ace, to the Arizona Diamondbacks. He signed veterans Mike Lieberthal and David Bell to large contracts when they were approaching the end of their careers. He also included no-trade clauses in star players Bobby Abreu, Jim Thome, and Pat Burrell's contracts.

During his tenure, the Phillies drafted power-hitting outfielder Pat Burrell, All Star pitcher Brett Myers, All Star second baseman Chase Utley, MVP first baseman Ryan Howard and All Star pitcher Cole Hamels.

Wade hired two managers during his tenure. He inherited Terry Francona when he was promoted, whom he fired after the 2000 season. Wade hired former Phillies shortstop Larry Bowa, who led the Phillies to their first winning season since 1993 in 2001, falling just two games short of the postseason. Bowa was fired with two games remaining in the 2004 season.

Wade was fired by the Phillies after the 2005 season, due to poor performance including a number of questionable trades and free agent acquisitions. Near the time of his firing, Sports Illustrated ranked Wade as one of the worst GM's in baseball.

After Phillies
Wade had been working in the San Diego Padres front office. Wade has also been seen scouting for the Padres.

Houston Astros
On September 20, 2007, Wade was named the General Manager of the Houston Astros, beating out 10 other candidates.

On December 12, 2007, Wade traded five players, including prospect Matt Albers, to Baltimore for shortstop Miguel Tejada.

I have not missed an opening day home game since 1979.
I will miss this year for the first time. This team is not even interesting. This "Team" is a joke.

No prospects to root for. Bourne has not sniffed a hit in over two weeks. They could not get Matsui out of NY fast enough. Lee, Tejada, Wiggington are all first basemen playing out of position and Berkman and his attitude are coasting to an early retirement.

I will not address the pitching staff.

McLane is showing who did the work on this club over the last 15years and he is in Tampa.

What a pisser. I love the Astros. It's damn disappointing to be this horrible to start the season. Cecil Cooper has to be wondering what he did to deserve this.

#1 franchise?..NOT, Mar 27, 2008

Buck Turgidson Member

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Thank you for sharing. Enjoy your summer.

#2 Buck Turgidson, Mar 27, 2008
franchise?..NOT Member

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Had to get it out. This sucks!

#3 franchise?..NOT, Mar 27, 2008
DOMINATOR Member

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hey 77 wins is good enough for me to win my bet!

pretty pessimistic about the season.

#4 DOMINATOR, Mar 27, 2008
JunkyardDwg Contributing Member

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The team last year was a joke. This year's team shows some promise...if anything it'll be fun watching them score runs for a change.

I look forward to seeing what Bourne and Towles can bring, watching Pence play his all-out style, Berkman and Lee and Tejada jack some home runs, Oswalt gunning for his 1st and overdue Cy Young, Backe's return to the rotation, seeing if Valverde can provide some stability at the closing position again...in other words, it's spring and as usual, hope springs eternal for all major league teams....can we save the gloom and doom for a little later in the season?

#5 JunkyardDwg, Mar 27, 2008
Mehdi Rookie

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I dont understand why I mean i know we dont have a 5th starter...but i think our Lineup and Bullpen are pretty damn solid and so it our pitching...i think we will make the wildcard and win 89 games

#6 Mehdi, Mar 27, 2008
Uprising Contributing Member

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hmmm....I can't wait till the 22nd...going to a game in one of the suites...never been.

#7 Uprising, Mar 27, 2008

JunkyardDwg Contributing Member

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And Bourn's last hit came this past Saturday; up until that point his avg. had been a very healthy .304

#8 JunkyardDwg, Mar 27, 2008
Stack24 Contributing Member

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Uprising said:

hmmm....I can't wait till the 22nd...going to a game in one of the suites...never been.
Click to expand...

You will enjoy yourself. They have a great view.

#9 Stack24, Mar 27, 2008
Locke Member

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The only thing I agree with is your moniker.

#10 Locke, Mar 27, 2008
kaleidosky Your Tweety Bird dance just cost us a run

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wow.. thanks for the "history lesson" on Wade that has nothing to do with the Astros. Appreciate it.

Bourne hasn't had a hit in some stretch during spring training?? Call the ambulance!! Jeff Bagwell was a pretty crappy player too. I bet you hated him and threw him under the bus during his spring training slumps.

Matsui and NY? You're a bit behind the times my friend...he was in Colorado when we got him.

Tejada maybe not be a great defensive SS, but he's about average at least. And Wiggs is maybe a little below par at 3rd...but still way better than Mike Lamb (an actual 1B out of position).

Learn to spell "picked". And "prognosticators". If you HAD addressed the pitching staff, you might have actually hit on something that's a real problem at this point.

#11 kaleidosky, Mar 27, 2008
Uprising Contributing Member

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Stack24 said:

You will enjoy yourself. They have a great view.
Click to expand...

Awesome. All I can say is I scored it BIG with my current girlfriend. She's a Stros fan bigtime and we're going to like 10 games in the suite for free.

#12 Uprising, Mar 27, 2008
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PECOTA has them winning 74. One game improvement!

#13 Jugdish, Mar 27, 2008

SamFisher Contributing Member

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do not know astros even can has parade?

#14 SamFisher, Mar 27, 2008
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Bottom line is for the past few years, we've gone into the season with solid pitching and "hopeful" hitting. This is the first year that I can remember in a while that it's exactly the opposite.

#15 jtotheb, Mar 27, 2008
right1 Member

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I don't think Lee, Matsui, Bourn, Berkman or Wigginton have anything to do with the Astros and your perceived non-success they may experience this season. And I could give a rat's behind about Ed Wade's biography. No prospects? How about Pence's first full season and a rookie catcher named J.R. Towles? If the Astros suck, it will be because Wandy and Backe have bad seasons and the bullpen doesn't come together as a group. But you didn't address the pitching staff, did you? Are you sure you've been to every home opener since '79? It's damn exciting to be this good to start the season. Why...the 'Stros haven't even lost a game yet! Imagine that!

#16 right1, Mar 27, 2008
cmpatel Member

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anyone know of any links to watch the astros games online for free??? mms gods any ideas???

#17 cmpatel, Mar 27, 2008
MadMax Contributing Member

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THE SEASON'S OVER ALREADY?????

#18 MadMax, Mar 27, 2008

Refman Contributing Member

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MadMax said:

THE SEASON'S OVER ALREADY?????
Click to expand...

I just love all the gloom and doom talk. This is why Houston has never been considered a really good sports city. So many "fans" are ready to fling themselves off a freaking building before the first pitch has even been thrown yet.

#19 Refman, Mar 27, 2008
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#20 Cannonball, Mar 27, 2008

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