On the Astros, Hunsicker (and now Pupura) brokered trades and sets a course of free agent signings, but had to get the approval of McLane for any dollars he took on. And on high profile (and high dollar) deals, Drayton took a front seat to the negotiations without fail. So Drayton gets credit, as a negotiator of big contracts, for bringing in Clemens and Pettite and Kent, for the contracts given to Bagwell and Biggio (and now Berkman). He also authorized Hun to take on Randy Johnson's contract (but you have to give Hunsicker credit for working the phones and getting a deal done when nobody gave us a chance). Drayton has also spent poorly, on Drabek and Swindell and Hidalgo, but I don't see how you can fault a guy for spending cash to try to improve the team. Because picking up the option on Kent was a money deal, and so was the Beltran contract, you have to look at those as deals that Drayton had a significant hand in.
no,that's not what Richard said at all...here's exactly what he said: Those who blame rookie general manager Tim Purpura don't understand how the Astros operate. They are McLane's team. He approves every dollar that is spent and is involved in almost every decision. His smothering presence was a large reason why Gerry Hunsicker resigned or was forced out as general manager last fall. so again...does he then get all the credit for the good things? because you can't have it both ways.
Justice is crap at times, but man, he is on target w/ this article. But I'm thinking it's the curse of Houston sports. Once you got something going, the owners and management of each team know how to f**k it up.
Yeah, too bad we can't be more like Detroit, Texas, Minnesota, KC, Seattle, Cincinnatti, Pittsburgh, Montreal/DC, Tampa Bay, Baltimore, Colorado, Chicago (take your pick), Milwaukee, you know all of those other cities who get a good thing going and never screw it up.
Right. The one seemingly viable argument to this that at least Anaheim, Arizona, Florida, NYM, Cleveland have been to or won a series (2 for Florida). The thing is, had the Astros had a couple of balls fall differently last October, none of this conversation would be happening and our last ten years would eclipse everyone's excepting the Yankees and possibly the Marlins and the Atl. It's an age-old debate and both sides have merit. I personally have enjoyed the Astros' ride and don't mind that they weren't the Marlins or D-backs (a ring, then sucktitude).
ATL has ONE ring. they will be remembered for having a great team for an entire era. that's baseball. hard for those who follow football and/or basketball closer to understand. even in the cities you mentioned, above...at one point or another everyone could blame the owner...and did.
What gets me is that this team was outs away from the World Series last season. There was almost a sense of satisfaction by the front office. A complacency, thinking that "hey we gave the fans a run" and now they could sit back and get away with a few down years. Justice is right, the front office should have not been satisfied with last year. They should have seen it as an opportunity to push ourselves to championship contention. Particularly galling is the raising of ticket prices and the additional money from the TV deal. Where is that reflected in this season's payroll? Oh, it's not. We had the resources but not the front office leadership or desire to get it done. As a fan, that is incredibly frustrating.
I guess the Astros should listen to Trader_Jorge instead of McLane when it comes to personnel moves: 01/20/2003 "Biggio is *finished*. Post-injury, he's a below average second baseman and a bottom 25% outfielder offensively. He is 37 years old and on a rapid decline. This guy needs to be led out to pasture, not signed to a longer deal. " 09/25/2002 "Jeff Kent comes with a lot of character baggage as well. Outside of the ongoing dispute with Barry Bonds, there were a lot of rumurs that Kent was 'less-than-forthright' about his offseason injury. He has a clause in his contracts that says he can't ride motorcycles and many were speculating that his injury was the result of a motorcycle crash... Kent has significantly benefitted from the protection that Barry Bonds has provided him in the lineup, as well as the RBI opportunities that Bonds provided (high OBP) when he batted ahead of Kent. You could argue that his numbers are artificially inflated. You could also argue (quite convincingly) that it doesn't make sense to invest $40mm in a player that is 35 years old."
I understand that. I think Clemens' salary is where a good bit of that money went to. Remember, he's getting paid $18 million this year. They made the offer to Beltran...he walked....there wasn't much left out there at that point for them to spend on. They got burned by Boras/Beltran. And there wasn't much left.
One other thing, the payroll on opening day this year is higher than opening day last year, so I assume that Justice is talking about the beginning of this year compared to the end of last year when he makes his "cut payroll" comment. I don't know wher ethey ended up last year with respect to payroll - they added Beltran but they subtracted Hidalgo.
bobrek what did you prove by digging up 3 year old quotes? Is Biggio a horrible defender? yes. Did Kent have character issues before coming here? yes. Kent's play last season made it worth the gamble. What does that have to do with Drayton's decision to lose him over $2mm over the offseason? Nothing. My points stand.
If it were up to you (and others), the Astros would never have extended Biggio, nor would they have signed Kent to begin with. My point is that personnel moves are an "inexact science" (to quote Richard Justice). If Kent continues his May stats through the rest of the year, everyone will be saying how it's great the Astros didn't waste $9,000,000 on him. Last year folks were all over the Astros and McLane as well. Why not let the season play out a bit more before crucifying him?
Biggio: .299 avg 7 HR 22 RBI 23 Runs 4 SB .364 OBP .555 SLG Kent: .287 avg 8 HR 28 RBI 28 Runs 2 SB .390 OBP .537 SLG Biggio is a fine replacement at 2B, and better defensively than Kent...and there was a ton of talk, particularly from Justice, about how the Astros were impeding the growth of the youngsters who weren't so young, like Lane, by not giving them time in the field. There were baseball reasons and economic reasons for not signing Kent. Particularly while in the Beltran hunt. It's monday morning quarterbacking, to be sure. Justice can't decide if we should be signing 2B in their mid- to late-30's or we should be giving the young guys more time. So he changes his stance from article to article.
i'm not sure that's what he's getting at. he's talking about spending that money on Kent..and waiting to see if Kent would earn it.
Detroit - forgot about the Pistons and Red Wings Texas - forgot about the Crackboys Minnesota - forgot about the Twins winning the World Series and the Vikings KC - Did you forget about the Chiefs, who are now an offensive powerhouse in the NFL? Seattle - umm, I think the Sonics are currently in the playoffs and getting recognition for being 2-2 vs. San Antonio. Cincinnati - Bengals are starting to be heard around the NFL. The Reds are starting to do well w/ Griffey getting in the groove. Pittsburgh - The Steelers are always the talk of the NFL - Bus, Rothlesberger (not even close), Hines W, etc. Montreal - you got me w/ this city Tampa Bay - you got me here too Baltimore - I think the Orioles are the talk of the town - kicking ass and taking names. The Ravens, w/ Ray Lewis, will always be in NFL headlines. Colorado - the Broncos? The Rockies suck. Chicago - even though they have the sorry Bears and the Cubs, they're still a big city and get recognition Milwaukee - did you forget about the Green Bay Packers?
