http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/features/04top10s/astros.html After underachieving in 2002 and 2003, the Astros appeared to be doing more of the same last year. By late August, they had wasted most of the buzz from bringing Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte back home and hosting their first All-Star Game at Minute Maid Park. When Houston dropped two of three home games to the Cubs, it fell to 61-62 and a distant sixth in the National League wild-card race. Then the Astros suddenly reversed course, winning 31 of their final 39 games to surge into the playoffs. They beat the Braves in the Division Series and took a three-games-to-two lead in the Championship Series before the Cardinals rallied to deny them a trip to the World Series. That disappointment only took away slightly from the most successful season in the franchise’s 44-year history, both on the field (Houston never had won a postseason series before) and at the box office (the club drew a record 3,087,872 fans). Shortly after the World Series ended, the architect of the Astros’ success resigned. General manager Gerry Hunsicker tired of haggling with owner Drayton McLane over big league payroll and player-development costs. Hunsicker presided over five playoff teams in nine years. Though he never had the biggest budget or the deepest farm system, Hunsicker was able to make trades both large (Carlos Beltran) and small (Brandon Backe) to address the team’s needs. Fortunately for Houston, it had one of the game’s top GM prospects on hand to replace Hunsicker. Assistant GM/farm director Tim Purpura was immediately promoted and spent much of his first winter as GM waiting for Beltran to decide if he’d accept a club-record $105 million contract offer. Beltran ultimately declined, costing the Astros a dynamic talent. Virtually every key management position has seen a change since the beginning of the 2004 season. Houston hired Tigers farm director Ricky Bennett to fill Purpura’s old role. Hunsicker reassigned scouting director David Lakey in June and gave those duties to Paul Ricciarini, the club’s coordinator of pro scouting. The farm system has gone through upheaval on the field as well, after sliding from third in Baseball America’s talent ratings after 2001 to 29th after 2003. Five of Houston’s 10 best prospects, including four of the top five, have joined the organization since the end of the 2003 season. Righthanders Ezequiel Astacio and Taylor Buchholz arrived in the Billy Wagner trade with the Phillies. Outfielder Willy Taveras was plucked from the Indians in the major league Rule 5 draft, and Hunsicker swung a deal with Cleveland to retain his rights. Outfielders Mitch Einerston and Hunter Pence and lefthander Troy Patton were products of Lakey’s last draft, with early returns indicating it may have been one of his best. Einertson, Pence, Patton and several other draft picks contributed heavily to Astros affiliates winning championships in the short-season New York-Penn and Rookie-level Appalachian leagues. TOP TEN PROSPECTS 1. Chris Burke, 2b 2. Ezequiel Astacio, rhp 3. Willy Taveras, of 4. Mitch Einertson, of 5. Troy Patton, lhp 6. Matt Albers, rhp 7. Taylor Buchholz, rhp 8. Fernando Nieve, rhp 9. Josh Anderson, of 10. Hunter Pence, of BEST TOOLS Best Hitter for Average Chris Burke Best Power Hitter Mitch Einertson Best Strike-Zone Discipline Todd Self Fastest Baserunner Willy Taveras Best Athlete Charlton Jimerson Best Fastball Ezequiel Astacio Best Curveball Taylor Buchholz Best Slider Chad Qualls Best Changeup Mitch Talbot Best Control Ezequiel Astacio Best Defensive Catcher Hector Gimenez Best Defensive Infielder Wladimir Sutil Best Infield Arm Tommy Whiteman Best Defensive Outfielder Willy Taveras Best Outfield Arm Charlton Jimerson
We almost became the yankees for a second. Luckily we are the Stros again. The same Astros who always finish in the wild card or just out of it. Our hometown products bumped by the Braves.
Why? I think most McLane sympathizers realize the economics of baseball and realize that the Astros with the market they're in can't be the Yankees. With that being said, the 5th best record in baseball over the last decade is a pretty damn good accomplishment. Don't know why I bother...
Tough pill to swallow??? If Gerry wanted to leave then let him. Would I have liked him to stay? Sure but Drayton has had many GMs besides Gerry and they have had plenty of success. I guess you are one of those Drayton haters.. Its so easy to spend someone else's money. Drayton has raised the payroll of the Astros 15% every year. Is that enough, maybe not but at least he is not gutting the team for maximum return. 2 out of the last three World series champs have had a smaller payroll than the Astros. That means we need to be smarter with the money that is spent.
GM gone, two allstars gone from last season, good riddance! No free agent additions, who cares? Minor league system ranked last, it doesn't matter! We don't need any more players! The Astros are FAN-tastic!
I guess you did not read the article that opened this thread: That does not look so bleak after all....
I did miss that article! Even though it was right on the page! Thanks for pointing it out for me, you're the best Dennis2112!!!
Biggio Burke Bags Ensberg Lane Palmiero Everett Ausmus Pitcher How bout that.....bleak enough for ya?
seriously guys, Hunsicker has been the freaggin best, really, if anybody doesnt know that, and consider themselfes Astros fans, they are just either ignorant or dont really follow the stros very close. Hunsicker will be missed dearly, and should never have been let go. I dont hate Mclane by any means, but he can be pretty damn cheap and annoying at times.........I applaud him for going after Beltran and Clemens, but frustrated for not doing <b>anything </b> for our bullpen, or our lineup. Did any of u guys go to ball games last year? They were literally sold out almost <b>every </b> game............I dont think you can bash him completely, but you cant exactly bash any other fans for bashing him either, he deserves some of it at least.........
But the pitching staff looks so much better Clemens Oswalt Pettitte Backe Hernandez, Duckworth, or maybe Astacio and lights out Lidge closing it out.
He was not let go , Gerry choose to leave, there is a difference. Exactly who should we have signed for the bullpen? and for how much? Would the added payroll affected our opportunity of signing Clemens or Beltran? There just were not that many options out there this off-season.
I was not trying to be funny just merely pointing out that the article had some good news in it as well. My apologies if I offended you.
Astacio, Einterston and Patton... these three names should be "buzz" words when it comes to talking about the Astros prospects. I'm psyched to have some decent prospects to watch for the next 2 years.
Right. Are you serious? A national article cites a nugget of info on the indifference between Gerry and Drayton concerning proper spending for a big league payroll (which, according to the sympathizers, was never a problem because McLane was doing more than enough) that subsequently resulted in Hun's resignation and you dismiss it by saying the Astros "can't be the Yankees". Nobody is expecting the Astros to be the Yankees; and although we are not in the media market that is New York city, we are not in Slapout, Oklahoma either. And this just in..... Drayton is making money!!!! And I should have guessed that you would bring up the stat that only you and MadMax seem to care about. A hollow statistic that has no signifigant backbone.
Articles like this always manage to leave out the fact that Gerry's wife is recovering from cancer and he wanted to spend more time with her. A GM's job is a very demanding one, time-wise. But you're probably right. Whether or not Drayton should have spent 5-10 million more per season on player personel had way more to do with his retirement than his family and its health.
The "want to spend more time with family" thing sounds good, its admirable. It's just usually a pretext. Hun will be back GMing as soon as he finds a good fit for him.
