ummmm...Roger got PAID!!! but don't get me wrong, i'd love to see the Rox acquire a star from Houston or ANYWHERE...for the MLE or anything else.
They are lowly because it will take them a long time to become not lowly. It is going to be a while before they can right that ship. They have to draft promising prospects again, rebuild their farm from essentially ground up, and shed their currently horrid contracts. They went a long way in getting rid of Berkman and Oswalt, but that was just the start. The rebuilding for the Astros are going to take a long time. My guess is for about 6-7 more years before they become competitive again. The Rockets on the other hand, while they are currently pretty bad, are in a much better situation. We have a very solid collection of complementary players on very manageable contracts, meaning that we have a solid foundation in addition to a manageable salary cap to start off on. While some of our players were brought in to play with Yao, most of them can play off any scoring superstar. Our huge contracts are all EC's and the biggest one has most of it paid off in insurance. We also have a good GM who makes good calls and not out of desperation. So yes, the Astros are lowly. Yes, I am also a fan. I have watched them since I was a child during the glory days of the Killer B's (Bell, Bagwell, Biggio) along with Hampton, young Oswalt, and Lima time. I have also watched all 18 innings of the playoffs game against the Braves. Hell I even watched them even after they picked up Tejada, Lee, and Matsui, old players with large contracts that I NEVER wanted on the team. The Rockets are in a MUCH better situation.
Roger signed for something like $5 mil the first year. He got paid subsequent years. But they are still "sweetheart" deals given that he could've landed multi-year contracts elsewhere. Big money for one year at a time is actually very favorable for management, given that they carry very little risk. While players wishing for money grabs would take the long term deal. My point still stands that the Astros were VERY lucky with Clemens and Pettite.
1. It doesn't matter that there are many low payroll teams that compete. The only reason TB and Texas win is because teams like the Yankees and Mariners are horribly-run. The Yankees have signed maybe 10 Kelvin Cato's in the last 5-6 years, it's not hard to win when divisional opponents are that terrible at talent evaluation. 2. If it were hard to make the playoffs then you wouldn't have dynasties like NY and ATL penciled in every year, more or less, to win their divisions lol. It's about money, don't kid yourself. 3. The Astros had been trotting the same core (including roiders like Bagwell) out there for a long time and had no playoff success. Suddenly you add two roiders to the most important position in baseball and you finally win, lol... 4. Wouldn't have helped Yao but it sure did help Clemens make it out there every 5th day without fail.
Cato was a filler piece in the Scottie Pippen trade to make the salaries match. Cato was far from a star Center, but he was young and with alot of potential, and the team was preparing for post Hakeem years so they took a chance and it didnt work out. We all know how alot of teams in the MLB overpay for good, young pitchers with potential even though alot of them dont work out. The Rockets might have to overpay for a good Center like Baseball teams have to overpay for good pitchers. I just dont think the Rockets would overpay for a Mike Hampton like Center.
"In a league where more teams make the playoffs than don't..." Again, what does this have to do with the Rockets when they are winning 50+ games in the seasons they make the playoffs? Let's compare relative success over the last five seasons. Let's compare relative success over the last two decades. The Astros had a nice period where they were a really good franchise, but ultimately came up short in the two seasons in which they finally won in the playoffs. That was over five years ago. Before those two seasons, how many playoff series had the Astros won?
Why are you guys trying to compare the NBA or MLB? Just way to different with salary caps, organizational structure and team structure.
I'd love for the rockets to become the "post all-star break" Astros. They started playing their young guys and actually started winning for a while. For a while they were the team with the most runs scored after the all-star break. I'm sure they fizzled out though...I didn't really follow the stros this year.
Is it a coincidence that the Rockets only great playoff success in the franchises entire history occurred only because MJ was out of the league? This can work both ways......
Didn't mean to insult the Rockets franchise with this post, but as an avid Astros fan its annoying seeing people try to discredit the team and its success.
The only great playoff success? The Rockets have won four conference championships and have other deep playoff runs. Michael Jordan played in 1995. Besides that, the Rockets consistently beat the Bulls in the regular season before Jordan's mini-retirement. They had no answer for Hakeem Olajuwon. The Rockets won their championships because they were the best team in the NBA.
Yes but were talking about the franchises best runs, resulting in championships. And the MJ wasn't around excuse has always been there for the Rockets, and now people are trying to say the Astro's best years only occurred because of steroids. Neither of the above statements can even be proven and are just simple opinions. I'm not going to continue this argument. I simply stated what I did because you shouldn't try and discredit another franchises success, whether it be small or large.
Michael Jordan played in 1995. That's not an opinion. That's a fact. <object width="480" height="390"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/BztuspM7TNE?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/BztuspM7TNE?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="390"></embed></object>
I wouldn't worry about those saying roids were a factor in 2004 and 05, they are just casual fans who didn't see every inning or pitch like we did. At the same time, the Rox championships were legit. Bulls had bigger issues then not having Jordan in 94 and having him only half a season in 95.
No, you weren't. If you were, you wouldn't have mentioned the Astros, because by this standard, they have had no playoff success or "best runs." They didn't win the world series.
