We expected them to suck, but right now they are beyond suck. This offense is way worse then predicted.
I don't think anybody knew the Astros would be 14-27 with the worst offense that I can ever remember (and I saw a lot of games in the Dome.) What's the argument here msn? That you predicted or somehow knew for a fact the Astros would be this utterly terrible. Kudos. I thought they would be able to score a few runs. Little did I know. You, on the other hand, are the Ms. Cleo of mlb, apparently.
Check out all the projections. PECOTA and CHONE. Sadly, most of them predicted us to finish last or barely ahead of the Pirates.
I changed my mind on Ed Wade. I really don't need to go two years into the future to judge him. I want to judge him this trade deadline. Even assuming Berkman and Lee can't hit enough to be traded, we have plethora of tradeable pitchers with Oswalt, Myers, Wandy, and Lindstrom. If Ed Wade plays his cards correctly with a firesale, we could accelerate our rebuilding process quickly through Marlins way of rebuilding. For the first time I think ever, Wade has found some good, cheap MLB players in Myers and Lindstrom. If he doesn't take advantage, I'm going to vomit.
I agree Wade has an opportunity to trade solid vets for young prospects. But will Drayton let him? I have a feeling Drayton is like a deer in the headlights right now, frozen and scared to make any major moves.
Drayton can't possibly still have hope after this early season's debacle. Although I guess if the Astros somehow put together a mystical run at .500, things could get dicey. I don't even want to think the possibility that Drayton won't start the rebuilding process this year.
Wade is the GM. He's responsible for building this team. In the end, if he allows McLane to dictate his actions to the detriment of the team, he's still useless from a fan's perspective.
Wade may be the GM, but he is still an employee of the Houston Astros. McLane owns the Astros, therefore he is the boss. If Wade puts a potential deal together and McLane says no, then Wade has to do as his boss says. From this perspective, it is no different than any other employer/employee relationship.
Wade deserves a lot of the blame. He has been on the job for 4 years almost. He should have traded Tejeda and Valverede last deadline and got something back in return. He gave Moehler $3 million dollars for nothing. He signed Hampton and Ortiz. He signed Kaz. He doesn't have any creativity. He signed Lyon to a 3 year deal which was terrible. The bottom line is win and losses and the team has sucked under him.
I think meh's point is that if that is the case, then it doesn't really matter who the GM is because the team would be screwed regardless. Fans don't really care if Ed Wade is theoretically a smart guy - they want a GM that actually gets results. So if he's not allowed to make the moves needed to improve the team, there's no reason to care if Wade is here or not at that point.
All fair points but... Trading Miggy and Val would have been wise but if your owner(and Tal) tells you NO what are you going to do? The rest are, again, all fair points but also note the positive moves he has made. He traded Lidge for Bourn, acquired Lindstrom, Myers and trading for Miggy/Val. Also not offering Val arbitration will turn out to be gold during this years draft. Wade has done an adequate job with what he has had to play with so I won't kill him, sadly this mess comes down to McLane and Smith.
Exactly. Wade may theoretically be able to bring us prospects who turn out to be the next Clemens and ARod. But if he doesn't actually pull the trigger because he can't convince Drayton, then it's a moot point. Just like it's a moot point that the Astros theoretically would've drafted Derek Jeter if McMullen wasn't such miser and won't sign off on the signing. The end result is that we still didn't get him.
Remember guys, we got the 19th and 32nd pick for Valverde signing with the Tigers. Hopefully Drayton will spend some money in the draft here in a couple weeks.
Great post as always Brooks. As for Ed Wade, I have posted before, I really do not believe the Astros will be able to turn the corner and effectively move in the right direction until Ed Wade is fired. It is absolutely mind boggling to me to that our front office does not embrace the statistical revolution in baseball. How can a GM ignore all of the detailed information that is available to him and his staff. Now, I am sure that they do look at some of it, but they are clearly "old school." When Ed Wade was hired in 2007, I didnt like it. However, in order to be fair I was willing to give him a chance. I will grant him the fact that he inherited a complete mess. Tim Purpura set this franchise back much more than most people realize. It probably deserves its own thread. In Wade's first full year, the Astros completely over achieved. The fact that they won 86 games with a negative run differential indicates that they were a lot more lucky than they were a good baseball team. This past year has put the nail in the coffin. Giving Brandon Lyon 3 years and 15 million was an absolute joke. Not to mention giving Pedro Feliz 5 million. Feliz is a declining player who not to mention has never had a good offensive season. The way he spends money on spare parts ( Moehler 3 million, Erstad 1.9 million, etc.) show me that he lacks the overall understanding on how to effectively and efficiently build a roster. I want the Astros to go into a full rebuilding mode. The problem I have is that I do not trust Ed Wade to get the proper return for the few assets that we do have. One tangent- I wish the Astros had not passed on Justin Smoak in the 2008 draft. This team is only going to get worse while Ed Wade is at the helm. I know that luck is needed in all professional sports, but there is a reason why Ed Wade has never been to the post season in all his years in baseball.
