[Fox 26] Astros interested in outfielder Preston Wilson

You do realize Ausmus was one of the top #8 hitters in the NL last year, right?

 

Now, explain to me why you have to speak English to be black? If anything, wouldn't knowing English make you not black. It is a language founded by a bunch of white people. I'm going to assume you speak English well and therefore I guess you should start considering yourself European or White.

 

You know your right i do recall that a black player got the game winning hit that scored another black player .Dam that's got to be it .

 

Uh, no. Black people in America speak English. All of them. Willy Taveras is hispanic. As such, he speaks spanish. Is this not so hard to understand?

 

Ha ha very funny you know what i mean by speking english or maybe you don't let me make it clear .A AMERICAN BLACK IE speaking english not spanish as there natural language.

 

Are whites from South Africa black?


Keep D&D civil!!!

 

Yes, because it's wrong. If someone is of African descent, shouldn't that be enough? You *do* understand that America is the entire Western hemisphere, not just the United States of American, right? So, does the fact that an African American may hail from Venezuela make him less black, or less American? Or, do we wish to be further racist by not only imposing racial quotas on rosters but then punishing black players if they were not born in the USA?

Amazing. Stupid.

(I don't mean to say that you yourself or anyone else is stupid--jsut that argument.)

 

Holy crap!! I didn't know Venezuela wasn't in America??

 

How are we punishing them? And, you wouldn't find African "Americans" in Venezuela. Venezuelans aren't from Africa. They are from Spain or Native Americans or 'mestizos.'

 

Au contraire, you will certainly find folks of African descent in several South American nations. Not that everyone with a dark complexion is of African descent, but the horror that was slave trade was not by any means unique to the region north of Mexico.

 

Not only that, he hit .300 July-September with around a .380 OBP.

 

I just looked at the Atlanta Braves roster looking for a non-Hispanic black, and found one, Brian Jordan who lost his spot on the team. There were 2 on the White Sox. The only one I saw on Boston's was traded away midseason.

 

OK, point conceded, but what most people are referring to when they say "black" is an African American (if you want, I'll say African United States of American) who is United States of American ( ). Also, it's as much a culture as a skin color. A black United States of American ( ) is much different culture wise than one from Venezuela. So we cannot group all people with black skin together like you are doing.

 

I believe the major league average is a little over 2 blacks per team.

 

Precisely. Because the African American population has been losing interest in baseball. There is even an organization that exists to bring our national pastime back to the nation's African American youth--the RBI Foundation. So many are noticing this development. Makes it hard to fill your roster with African American athletes when they're all playing football and basketball.

But, that's not it. Drayton's a damn racist. I've scoured every roster in the entire Astros' system to prove it.

 

I agree with everything you say here, for the record.

 

I don't understand what the debate is all about.

I'm African American and I want an African American on my team. It has nothing to do with how anyone else feels about it or if the organization is racist or not...it's what *I* want.

Why are you guys trying to influence the *personal* preference of a few people? I'm not asking anyone to agree with me.

 

Well, how miniature do you want to go with this?? Seriously.

If Yao Ming has a child in Houston, and that child grows up to play for the Rockets, are you going to say that the Rockets don't have any Asian players on their roster? That may not be the best example, but to separate "english-speaking" african americans and say that only they count is IMO more elitist than what you're whining about in the first place. If I have an african american from venezuela and one from Navasota, TX, and the Venezuelan has a career OPS that's .150-.200 than the Navasotan, do I have to take the Navasotan just to please your sensitivities and "prove" that I'm not racist?? Poppycock!!!!

If I'm the Astros, I don't give a damn if you're purple--I want somebody who can hit the ball. I'm not going to impose quotas on my roster to care for someone's feelings. I'm going to take the 25 best guys I can get based on position and budgetary constraints and go for it. I don't care if nobody's white, or nobody's hispanic, or nobody's African American, or if nobody's East Asian. I just want to win. And if people want to b**** about it, fine.

That all said, another reason this is so freaking STUPID is the african american players that *have* come through this organization. We signed Doc Gooden when we *knew* he was done, just in case the magic returned. Who, additionally, is our current bench coach? Remember our beloved fat backup catcher? (Oh WAIT, he spoke spanish, so he doesn't really count). Charles Gipson, Charlton Jimerson. We went out and got Carl Everett.

I'm wasting too much Internet bandwidth discussing this. Apologies to Clutch.

 

I believe I can understand where you are coming from, but (hypothetically) which team would you rather root for, a team with no African-Americans that consistently contends for the playoffs or a team with 3-5 African-Americans that consistently finishes in the bottom half of the league.

Please note that I am NOT equating a team's hypothetical record with the number of African-Americans on a team.

In other words, is it more important for you to be able to racially identify with a team, or for that team to be consistently fighting for a playoff spot? In the ideal world, these two would coincide, but the past couple of years (at least as it pertains to the Astros) it hasn't.

 

I just kind of doubt that Preston Wilson would agree to be an insurance policy at this stage in his career. Did he have other offers on the table?

I'm all for an insurance polciy, but I just wonder if this is a precursor to another deal. If not, I'm cool with that if Preston is.