Yeah, it's amazing how many 'Stros fans are buying in to the immediate damage-control response put out by Astros.com and the Chronicle. Almost the instant Beltran said no to the Astros, there were articles up on those websites saying McLane and Purpura weren't to blame. What a joke. I'm seeing a lot of those articles being regurgitated by McLane apologists.
Beltran should have been a KC lifer, therefore I will blame MLB for their broke ass system.. I'm ready to move on though let's see what else we can salvage from this offseason, personally I would try to sign as many decent number 3-4 type starters as possible and use them to fill the rotation and bullpen and maybe one aging bat who could still do it for one more year. It is imperative that we stay in a challenger mindset until Bags salary is off our "cap".
so you are ok with taking a break from competitive baseball this year after getting within 9 outs of the WS?
I love the positive attitude but honestly....and im not being sarcastic here...who at this point can get us back to where we were last year?
r****d here I think Drayton and Tim totally dropped the ball here. I agree with Trader here, if you are already gonna commit 100 mil to the guy, if you are ready to blow your offseason and possibly your entire year on one guy, you better make sure that no matter what happens, you win. You dont tease the city with almost getting to the World Series and then take a dump on yourself saying something like, " We ran out of time ", I mean, anyone that buys that, I got some property and a few bridges for sale. Its just always funny to me that we lose players, and then its always, always, always the players fault, Drayton never steps up to take the blame, its always a "smart business decision" How many players do you expect to give us home town discounts, I mean, they roll up with a 5 yr 75 mil offer, and think thats gonna do it, are you kidding me, thats disrespectful right there. The Mets came with 100 mil out the box. Next thing you know, you have Tim and Drayton running their mouths, and both contradicting each other, Richard Justice is blasting Beltran publicly and the deadline hasnt gotten here yet. If thats not Tim and Draytons fault, then who ? They dropped the ball, in my mind, there is no way you risk your season like this, and come up empty handed, which honestly, it looks like we will. What I do realize is that in a few months, we could be surprised by the team thats on the field, they could possibly come together somehow and make some noise, but I also understand, we could be in the cellar, looking up all year, and honestly, if we are, its directly related to the actions of Drayton and Tim, and maybe moreso on Drayton
Soriano would be a decent start, not to mention there's still a chance that Clemens will come back (which I think he will if we make a trade for Soriano). If Clemens comes back, basically the only loss from the beginning of last season is Kent/Dotel. We've replaced Dotel already and Kent simply wasn't worth the money he got from the Dodgers, IMO. If you add Soriano and Clemens to the mix along with bolstering the bullpen, which you know they'll do anyway, then there's no reason to not count the Astros among the favorites in the Central.
So, 7 yrs. and $105-108 million aren't enough for you. You would have also given him ANOTHER $11 million right off the top? That doesn't in any way sound silly to you? Where then would you come up with the money for Oswalt and Berkman, two career Astros that actually want to be in Houston?
I agree Soriano will help....and judging by stats, he is comparable to Beltran in most areas other than defense...I wonder what we will be willing to part with to get him. I'd love to think that "selling high" with Backe would make sense for us but i dont know And I think you may be right about Clemens if we get Soriano.
I don't blame Boras. He did his job, and he did it well. Beltran is to blame. At the end of the day, it's HIS life, HIS choice, and HIS agent choice.
Fine, if you think the negotiation in unwinnable, then don't enter into it in the first place. When Drayton and Purpura entered into the negotiation, they mortgaged the farm to win it. It was their *flawed expectation* of being able to win the negotiated that destroyed our entire offseason. Why on earth Drayton thought he'd win when he KNEW that he didn't have the highest bid is beyond me. It really is. Especially when you are dealing with Boras -- a man with a reputation of selling to the highest bidder. If you mortgage the farm to win a negotiation, you'd better be prepared to do whatever it takes. If you aren't prepared to do whatever it takes -- and Drayton clearly wasn't -- then don't even bother. Salvage your offseason by acquiring cheaper talent. Drayton and Purpura got taken to the cleaners.
i think this is a fair point. they were enamored with beltran's assertions that it would be different with hiim...that he was really concerned about a winning organization and a warm-weather climate, etc. the astros bought into that, no doubt. maybe they were suckers for doing that. the problem is...the backlash would have been hell if they hadn't pursued beltran. for every one fan that blames them now for this...there'd be 3 talking about how cheap drayton is for not pursuing beltran at all. my take is that, at the end of the day, the offer was more than fair. i think the astros would have been overpaying beltran relative to other talent in the league if he had accepted their offer. teams that go into negotiations with no cap or limits on what they're offering a player get hosed. particularly with boras, who gets teams bidding against themselves.
no..i don't. i'm simply saying the fan criticism now rings hollow with me if the same people would be bashing him for not going after beltran, in the first place
Why? Drayton is too cheap to sign Beltran today, just like he was too cheap to sign Beltran at the beginning of the offseason? What has changed??
there's nothing cheap about a $105 million offer, TJ. there are 10 contracts like that in the history of the league. it's a fair offer. you don't overpay to match the other guy who overpays.
He's a Met because they overpaid to get him. And I doubt he even wanted to stay in Houston. Vlad Guerrero gets paid less then him and is a better player.
Not at all. It's time to make some deals. Drayton better bring some players in. We need speed, we need relievers.... I say spend the money on numerous players. I should of wrote the following: If Drayton spends the money he saved on this deal on other players then he made a sound decision. (IMO) I do not and will not accept any excuses from him for not signing Beltran if he doesn't replace him!!!!
