You'll definitely be missed around here! I had taken for granted your 100mph fastball would be around 'til you retired but "reality bites", you know? I'll miss ya cuz you were a true home-grown player from our minor league system. Yeah, you had the talent coming out of college BUT you refined it down on the farm. Much success to you in Philly except when you play against us of course! Thanks for ALL the good memories! And thanks Uncle Drayton, you'll also be missed.....errr, uh, you're still around, huh? Not going anywhere, huh? Oh well, "reality bites", you know?
unless mcclane sells out to some huge corporation that is going to put together a huge cable tv deal, then it really wont matter who owns the team...we'll have the same payroll restraints unfortunately
The same "Srooge" McLane that signed Wagner and Hidalgo to their contracts? The same one who signed Kent last year?
yeah...don't even bother. round and round and round and round. they love to compare apples to oranges in a sport with no real significant revenue sharing.
there was an internet article about it, cant remember from where though. i think they said after the all star game or something he would sell the team, most likely to the dude who owns landrys?
The same one who kept Biggio and Bagwell together for years, unheard of in today's baseball? The same one who signed Berkman to a generous deal years before he needed to? The same one who funds arguably the most prolific South American baseball academy?
"It's hard to compare (Houston) to St. Louis, Chicago and other baseball towns where the fans are knowledgeable about the game. Sometimes here they're not sure when to cheer and when to boo." Houston Chronicle, 10/5/03 Billy sends his regards to all the fans of Houston. Billy, enjoy the much-more-knowledgable-than-us-rubes-in-Houston Philly fans. I can't wait until he blows a save on a HR after throwing 12 straight fastballs to a hitter, then proclaims after the game, "I got beat with my best stuff." Philly fans will eat him alive.
Whats going to happen when Berkman and Oswalt are free agents? As cheap as McClane is I seriously doubt he will offer them market value. This team is starting to look like the A's. Raise the talent until its contract time and then let them go.
How many quality players have the Astros 'raised' and then let go (without making a decent attempt at signing them)? Can you name any? McLane has signed Bagwell and Biggio to contracts that kept them here for life (of course, some fans are now complaining about these contracts). He signed Hidalgo and Berkman to generous deals years before it was necessary. He signed Wagner to a generous deal (again, fans complained about the need for an 8 million dollar closer). Name one quality player the Astros 'raised' (under McLane's ownership) and then let walk away without making a serious attempt to resign him. The only player that even remotely comes to mind is Kile and the Astros offered him a fair deal. His leaving for free agency also brought the Astros the draft pick they used on Lidge. Please let me know the players that I am forgetting.
bobrek, I know you're a smart guy. In fact, you're one of my favorite posters, so I'll tell you something you probably already know. You just wasted five minutes of your life typing that. Most people here can't get it through their heads that their opinions about our owner are flat out wrong. You stating these facts won't do a thing. Hell, they even made Kile a competitive offer, within a million or so, IIRC.
Thanks for the kind words....Sometimes I just can't help myself. I also forgot to mention that somehow, the cheap owner that the Astros have manages to keep one of the top GMs in the game year after year when teams with deeper pockets are on the lookout for a new GM.
Why need to defend the owner? He has done a fair job, lots of mistakes but, so what, that's humanity. Oh, the humanity. The owner being attacked by Wags' words after the last pitch were, in my opinion, right on. McLane does not seem willing to go the extra mile to become a Champion. However, Drayton's #1 problem, IMO, is always carping about money. Money, money, money. The Astros are supposed to divert me from the pursuit of money and other worldly issues (and separate me from some of my money in the process). I feel like all I hear from Drayton McLane is money, money, money. Shut the mouth, already. Field a team and let's talk baseball. Let's argue Wags' lack of killer curve or Berkman's failures from the right side, or the beauty of Adam Everett going into the hole and lasering a bullet to Bags to save a hit for Roy O. Maybe we should reminisce about Ryan's heater or Scott's No-No close out of the Giants or the first, and still best, of the Cruuuuuuzzzzz'.
By the same token...tell Wags to shut the hell up. Wags was paid quite handsomely while arguing about how much money McLane was spending on players. Wags was on a team that finished 1 game out of making the playoffs...the team that finished 1 game ahead ultimately came within a couple of innings of a World Series appearance...and Wags blew a key game down the stretch of the season. And at the end of the season...all Wags could talk about was someone else's money. On a team that clearly could have made the playoffs, he wanted to deflect it on to the owner. I don't mourn for the loss of Billy Wagner.
Ok he signed Hidalgo and Wagner to deals and then he traded Wagner and now Hidalgo is on the market. The offer he made to Kile might have been decent for his standards but not for Kile market wise.
