From Gammons's Mailbag: Q: Who is your dark horse for winning the whole thing? -- Patrick Hayes, Camilla, Ga. PWG: The Houston Astros. Their bullpen is so deep, and their young starters have so much life. If the team can just hit the good right-handed pitchers, they are scary. DIAMOND NOTES: Aug. 18 Astros owner Drayton McLane is a man of the heart, and he wears that heart right to his clubhouse locker, which is plunked between those of Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio. McLane has told his people he's going to lose money this season despite drawing 2.9 million, but he opened his wallet for Pedro Astacio. McLane and all the Astros know this is an important year for them, because next year the NFL expansion team will be competing for the media attention and entertainment dollars -- in a football area -- and Astacio, Moises Alou, Mike Williams and Vinny Castilla are among their potential free agents. Their priority this offseason will be finding a legit center fielder, but they are few and far between. From Jayson Stark's column: Jump of the week Even the Elias Sports Bureau doesn't keep stats on this sort of thing. But we're pretty sure Phillies spring champ Brian Hunter made history Wednesday against the Astros: Biggest jump in the history of baseball. While leading off second in the fourth inning, Hunter saw Wade Miller go into a quasi-windup and thought: "If he does this again, I'll have to take off." So on the next pitch, Hunter did indeed break for third. Except "break" might not be the right word here. Because by the time the ball left Miller's hand, Hunter had reached the dirt cutout around third base. So by our calculations, his "jump" was 80 feet. "It was like a cartoon," said Phillies pitcher Robert Person. Needless to say, Hunter made it into third standing up, then gave a kidding nod at his old teammate, catcher Brad Ausmus. "I guess Brad figured he didn't have much chance to throw me out," Hunter chuckled. "Why'd he hold it?" Hunter's jump was so humongous, it made some observers wonder whether anyone had ever stolen third base and home on the same pitch. If ever a guy had a chance to do it, this was it. "He was rounding third," said Phillies broadcast-humorist Larry Andersen. "But they held him up." From Jim Capel's column @ ESPN.com: While official baseball weights are as reliable as the weight listed on your drivers license, at a listed weight of 145 pounds, rookie Houston starter Carlos Hernandez is 100 pounds lighter than Boston reliever Richard Garces' listed weight of 245 (yeah, right). He is 10 pounds lighter than the next lightest listed weight, Florida's Jesus Sanchez's 155, and 130 pounds lighter than the highest official weight of 275 for Anaheim's Mo Vaughn. (Tony Gwynn and David Wells, by the way, are listed at 225 and 235, respectively). ... From the Chronicle: Astacio update Pedro Astacio will have an MRI on his stiff right shoulder today in Houston. He played catch this weekend and reported discomfort, but today's exam should help the Astros decide how to proceed with him. <img src="http://www.stopstart.fsnet.co.uk/smilie/flamethrower.gif" width="200" height="48" transparency="0" border="0" alt="Image"><img src="http://www.mlb.com/mlb/images/team_logos/logo_cin_79x76.jpg?GXHC_gx_session_id_=85c475703d53a20a&GXHC_servergroup=1081 <BR>" width="79" height="76" transparency="0" border="0" alt="Image">
FYI: Tuesday night's Astros-Reds game will not be televised by Fox Sports Net. Both the TV Guide and the Chronicle list it as being televised, but this blackout is another result of the Time Warner-FSN arrangement. Thursday's 3pm game against the Reds also will not be televised.
How do you mean? Do you think he is lying? Will Drayton ever get a break? He seems to be one of the better pro sports team owners to me. I could be wrong though.
I saw that too. It's a load of bull****. He's drawing huge numbers, at higher prices than at the Dome, and has a sweet deal/lease on the stadium and profits (like naming rights, etc.), courtesy taxpayer expense. Subtract from that a relatively modest payroll (in today's terms), and there's no way he's losing money. Statements like that worry me, because they indicate that he's not willing to increase payroll when it becomes necessary (whether it is Alou's contract next season or Berkman or our young pitchers a couple of years down the line).
<B>I saw that too. It's a load of bull****. He's drawing huge numbers, at higher prices than at the Dome, and has a sweet deal/lease on the stadium and profits (like naming rights, etc.),</B> While I'm not defending Drayton, this isn't true. The Astros have the most expensive stadium lease in baseball ($9M, I believe, compared to ~$1M for the Rangers). They also have some of the cheapest tickets in baseball. For comparison, the Astros best non-suite seats (right behind homeplate) are cheaper than 2nd-deck Rangers tickets. Since the owners don't open their books, its hard to say if he's making a profit or not, but his revenue streams are far less & expenses higher than many other teams with new stadiums
These are opening day player salaries, the Astros ranked 17th. More data to follow as I find it. heheh Player salaries Opening Day Team Payrolls Comparison The 2001 payrolls and average salaries for the Opening Day rosters of the 30 major league teams: Team Payroll Average New York-AL $109,791,893 $3,541,674 Boston $109,558,908 $3,423,716 Los Angeles $108,980,952 $3,757,964 New York-NL $93,174,428 $3,327,658 Cleveland $91,974,979 $3,065,833 Atlanta $91,851,687 $2,962,958 Texas $88,504,421 $2,854,981 Arizona $81,206,513 $2,900,233 St. Louis $77,270,855 $2,664,512 Toronto $75,798,500 $2,707,089 Seattle $75,652,500 $2,701,875 Baltimore $72,426,328 $2,497,460 Colorado $71,068,000 $2,632,148 Chicago-NL $64,015,833 $2,462,147 San Francisco $63,332,667 $2,345,654 Chicago-AL $62,363,000 $2,309,741 Houston $60,382,667 $2,236,395 Tampa Bay $54,951,602 $2,035,245 Pittsburgh $52,698,333 $1,699,946 Detroit $49,831,167 $1,779,685 Anaheim $46,568,180 $1,502,199 Cincinnati $45,227,882 $1,739,534 Milwaukee $43,089,333 $1,595,901 Philadelphia $41,664,167 $1,602,468 San Diego $38,333,117 $1,419,745 Kansas City $35,643,000 $1,229,069 Florida $35,504,167 $1,183,472 Montreal $34,774,500 $1,159,150 Oakland $33,810,750 $1,252,250 Minnesota $24,350,000 $901,852 *Figures were obtained by The Associated Press from management and player sources and include salaries and pro-rated shares of signing bonuses and other guaranteed income.
shanna, where have you shown me that what I said wasn't true? The stadium deal, which did give Drayton naming rights, was financed only 28% by the Stros/private funding. The public picked up 72%. Compare that to the Giants, who payed for their stadium entirely through private funding. Also, according to this article, the average ticket price jumped 50.4 percent from the Astrodome to the new stadium, to $20.01 (#8 in baseball). That's last year's number, but I would be surprised if we were significantly lower on the last this season. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/news/2000/04/04/ticket_prices_ap/
The Astros are 12th in home attendance this year. 17th payroll, 12th attendance, and 8th in average ticket price? Hmmm... 2001 Attendance Home 1 Seattle 42,787 2 NY Yankees 41,493 65 3 San Francisco 40,800 4 Colorado 40,731 5 Cleveland 39,887 6 St. Louis 38,695 7 Baltimore 38,012 8 Los Angeles 36,652 9 Texas 36,466 10 Milwaukee 35,873 63 11 Chicago Cubs 35,519 12 Houston 35,148 13 Atlanta 35,107 14 NY Mets 34,851 15 Arizona 33,283 16 Boston 32,630 17 Pittsburgh 32,043 18 San Diego 28,959 19 Oakland 26,715 20 Anaheim 25,827 21 Cincinnati 24,635 22 Detroit 24,382 23 Minnesota 23,763 24 Toronto 23,448 25 Philadelphia 23,188 26 Chicago WS 22,783 27 Kansas City 20,252 28 Florida 16,773 29 Tampa Bay 16,319 30 Montreal 8,621
Of course you also have to consider the HUGE franchise apreciation value due to the new stadium. The non-financial benefits of being a MLB -club owner are also very significant. I refuse to pity any owner who cries poor while owning a franchise worth approx 100 million dollars.
If Drayton is losing money, why does he even own a baseball team - I don't think its simply out of the goodness of his heart. Remember, not too long ago MLB tried to tell us that all but two or three teams in the league were losing money, which was shown to be complete and utter crap. And of course, Drayton may simply be firing a few shots in a new labor disagreement.
The Astros are worth a heck of a lot more than $100 million. According to Forbes, the Astros were valued at $280 million in 2000. I'm sure that figure must be higher this year. Franchise Values according to Forbes Magazine Team Value 1. New York Yankees $548 2. Atlanta Braves $388 3. Cleveland Indians $364 4. Baltimore Orioles $347 5. Los Angeles Dodgers $325 6. New York Mets $314 7. Colorado Rockies $305 8. Texas Rangers $294 9. Seattle Mariners $290 10. Boston Red Sox $284 11. Houston Astros $280 12. Arizona Diamondbacks $268 13. Chicago Cubs $242 14. San Francisco Giants $237 15. St. Louis Cardinals $219 16. Detroit Tigers $200 17. San Diego Padres $197 18. Anaheim Angels $195 19. Cincinnati Reds $175 20. Milwaukee Brewers $167 21. Chicago White Sox $166 22. Tampa Bay Devil Rays $163 23. Toronto Blue Jays $162 24. Pittsburgh Pirates $161 25. Philadelphia Phillies $150 26. Oakland Athletics $134 27. Florida Marlins $125 28. Kansas City Royals $122 29. Minnesota Twins $91 30. Montreal Expos $89 League Averages $233 * All figures in millions
The Future is Bright. Jackie Moore, Jason Lane and Tim Redding were named Manager, Player and Pitcher of the Year Respectively in the Texas League. Only the 6th time in history that one team has swept all three awards. It should've happened last year, but Oswalt was robbed.
Bud Smith. He's a very good pitcher, and had a hell of a year, but he won the award based on two fantastic performances - but Oswalt was better over the entire year.
Smith was 12-1 with a 2.32 ERA in AA and threw 2 no hitters. It is hard to say that Oswalt was "robbed". Oswalt was 11-4 with an outstanding ERA of 1.94. Either pitcher would have been deserving of the award.
