One more thing concerning McLane's merit as owner: If the statement were, "McLane has done very poorly the last five years," there would hardly be an argument. I have to agree with that. But the statement was, "the most questionable owner in all of sports". To me, that's ridiculous (as in worthy of ridicule).
Maybe it's not so much that he's bad at evaluating the talent so much as he doesn't know how to properly build a team. For example, he found decent reliever in Lyon - he just didn't realize that a middle reliever isn't worth $6MM. Kaz wasn't a terrible player (until recently) - he was just never worth $6MM. His problem seems to be overpaying for talent that can be acquired cheaper.
I think its only the norm in baseball. At least as far as I know, and they are usually very specific. Basically I think they don't want to deny you drinks because its hot, and you could suffer from dehydration. This is Turner Field's regulations: [rquoter]Food, non-alcoholic drinks (non-glass, non-aluminum) and soft-sided coolers (with the hard plastic liner removed) ARE permitted.[/rquoter] http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/atl/ballpark/guide.jsp#prohibiteditems This is the Rangers' policy: [rquoter]CONTAINER POLICY/ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES No metal cans, glass containers or alcoholic beverages may be carried into the ballpark. Only soft-sided, collapsible coolers without plastic inserts are allowed – no hard coolers, backpacks, or oversized bags. All bags and purses must be 16"x16"x8" or smaller and are subject to search by ballpark staff.[/rquoter] http://texas.rangers.mlb.com/tex/ballpark/tex_ballpark_guide.jsp This is the Astros' policy: [rquoter]Food and Beverages: Food and beverages are available throughout Minute Maid Park at concession stands and carts managed by the ARAMARK Corporation. See "Concessions" for a brief description of foods offered at the various locations. Visitors may not bring food and drink items into the ballpark. [/rquoter] http://houston.astros.mlb.com/hou/ballpark/guide.jsp The policy doesn't bother me, as I always assumed it to be the policy everywhere, since so many places I've had to throw my drink away before entering, but baseball apparently is an exception.
I just feel that by comparing him to McMullen, it's setting the bar so low. I don't want to be happy with that. I agree though, that Drayton has been much better than McMullen. I hope McLane is able to give up control and build a this team like he did before. This season is important. If he allows Wade to trade Roy and Lance, that will be a good sign.
Agree with most of the stuff. My comparison with Berkman has to do with our lack of hitting prospects to work with a more ideal comparison. But seriously, paragraphs? Make things easier to read, my friend.
No doubt. If you look at his full body of work, he isn't close to the worst. People tend to go overboard over recent performance.
Still remains to be seen. By all appearances, he's drafted well, though none of those picks have made it to the majors. The AAA level is still an absolute mess with Castro being the only real prospect playing there (Bogusevic isn't far behind, but he's already 26). AA is where some of the hope begins with Lyles, Chia-Jen Lo, Obviously, he's done little to help the major league squad and bridge the gap. A couple of acquisitions seem to be doing well. Michael Bourn is on the verge of stardom. I happen to like what Lindstrom and Meyers are doing. Other than that, the rest are somewhere between questionable and terrible. The problem I have with Wade at this point is that there is still, 3 years in, no direction. Where is this team going?
I don't think Ed Wade is a good GM, but in his defense, he's in the same boat as Tim Purpura before him. They are puppets for the guy that really has Drayton's ear, Tal Smith. The reason the Astros were successful when Hunsicker was the GM is because he had an ego and would tell Tal to STFU. The reason the relationship between Gerry and Drayton soured is he started allowing Tal to meddle (see Clemens/Blue Jays/Hendricks Bros circa 2000-2001). It doesn't matter who the GM is as long as Tal is here. Wade's success in Philly is largely believed to be the product of the work of Mike Arbuckle and Ruben Amaro Jr. Those are the guys that were doing the scouting and drafting. Ed hired them, so he gets some points for that. His MLB talent evalution sucks. He gave away Schilling and Rolen for peanuts, gave stupid contracts with no-trade clauses to Burrel, Abreu, and Thome. He also signed Mike Liberthal and David Bell to rediculous contracts at the end of their respective careers. Bottom line is, Wade is part of the problem, but it ain't all his fault. Tal Smith is a bigger problem as long as Drayton owns the team.
This. And this is ENTIRELY on the owner, in my opinion. As long as people show up during the summers at Orange Juice Park, to buy insanely overpriced crap food and beer, the product on the field, the W's and L's, the record, playoffs, pennants, none of that matters. People like to throw out that the Astros had a very successful team over the last decade or so, and fine. But that is not BECAUSE of the owner, that was IN SPITE OF the owner. With an owner who actually cared about winning at least equally with counting the pennies, we would have had a much MORE succcessful decade, and would not now be the laughingstock of the entire MLB. SELL THE TEAM, DRAYTON. You have squeezed as much juice out of this city's baseballs fans as you are likely to get. Give it to someone who actually cares about bringing a winner to Houston.
It's interesting that this thread became more about Drayton McLane than Ed Wade. If someone made a Daryl Morey or Kubiak/Smith thread, I don't think people would end up talking about Les and McNair. It's indicative of how McLane has exterted too much influence over baseball decisions. He needs to get out of the way and let Wade run things.
i'll always agree with that. I wish he had his hands off the system.. but it'll never happen, so i won't be so unrealistic as to hope for it
I figured AB_ALLDAY would chime in on this one. I'm interested to read everybody's take on this subject. I don't have time now but will catch up later.
Bingo. Mclane has been a good owner up until Roger and Andy left; we absolutely cannot complain about the run we had up until then. I think he loved those couple of years and the profits that came from them so much that he is/was desperately trying to keep the team patched together without caring for the future. I think from the outset, he told Wade that we were still in "win now" mode when we should've been rebuilding. Ultimately Wade is just doing that job that Drayton wanted him to do (IMO), so it's probably not fair to blame him for much. Another year or two of this, and Drayton may start to resemble Al Davis- clouded by some huge mis-perception that nobody can really understand. I don't think Wade is a bad GM, but I don't know how capable he is of rebuilding a team. We'll probably never find out, though, as long as Drayton is here.
Personally, I would have signed Tejada knowing that Tommy Manzella was the alternative. This team DOES NOT have a vocal on-the-field leader. I would have signed Kelly Johnson. I probably would have looked for a catcher to sign in the off-season. Look at Pudge now hitting .333! Sure hindsight is 20-20, but there are so many questionable moves made or not made by Ed Wade that I question his baseball IQ. Nobody knew the Astros would be this bad this year, however. The pitching has been good. The offense the worst ever. Everyone slumped at the same time to start the season and once you start losing it can definitely become contagious.
I've had this argument a bazillion times here...but I can not imagine why anyone would honestly believe this.
typo? many of us "knew" the Astros would be bad this year. if your argument is that we couldn't really "know" but that it was our opinion or our prediction, that's fine--but many of us predicted our beloved Astros would suck this year. and suck they do.
Personally, I think Wade is a giant turd. He's too arrogant. But, he has done a decent job putting more prospects in the organization. I like our draft position this year and next so I'll keep my faith that he can right this sinking ship.
