that is the million dollar question...if he does, we are going to be calling for the next guy's head within 2 years....but if he increases payroll (not to Yankees/Red Sox levels obviously) and gives a GOOD GM the latitude he needs, then we can right the ship. Our biggest foe right now isnt who we bring it or who we dont....its the FA market for pitchers. Its our biggest need right now and the market is as dry as a 90 yr old twat. It gonna take some wheelin and dealin to get a solid #2 and #3 for next year
I was responding to RIET's post pointing out that there is a better owner in Houston: Les Alexander. I can't argue with that. So, I'll give him (RIET) that, absolutely. McLane is the best owner the Astros have ever had, but he's second best in Houston history (at least to my memory and IMO) to Alexander.
I think we have very different definitions of impact guys. Wolf, Pierre, Eckstein, Molina, Marquis, DeRosa, Canseco, Olreud, Rogers, and Polanco are all much more like Mike Lamb, Mark Loretta, or Jason Jennings acquisitions. Some performed above expectations, but they weren't marquee level impact players. Of the teams on your list, I think the teams that most fit are the Braves, Cards and Mets. The Cards, though, don't fit too well - Carpenter was a mediocre/bad player when they acquired him and they've had Edmonds for 7 or 8 years now. But including them, not surprisingly, those teams are alongside the Astros as the most successful teams in the NL over that period. (the Mets success is more recent, but most of their acquisitions were also more recent.) I fail to see how putting "Drayton's moves" alongside the other best teams in the NL makes him such a terrible owner.
Im not saying it makes him a terrible owner....im just sayng that lets not make him out ot be the guy who reinvented the wheel in terms of signing good players
Oh - certainly he's not unique or the best owner ever or anything like that. But the original person suggested that he didn't do anything to make this team win ("does he even have a top 10 moves" or something of the sort). I would argue that the Astros are in the top-tier of teams in terms of making major moves to improve themselves, and that's all you can ask from an owner. If fans are expecting more than that, they are delusional. Only the Yankees/Red Sox have the flexibilty to do substantially more.
I posted about this in the "firing" thread, probably should have done so here. Drayton letting fan/media opinion drive his decision-making is absolutely terrifying. The Marketing/PR influence on baseball decisions has been a problem for years now, but this is something new.
can we maybe drop the ky and step away from the gerry huniscker dicksuckathon? he was certainly a competent gm while he was here, no doubt; but the guy works for the tampa bay devil rays. let that sink in for a minute or two.... the architect and king of blah, blah, blah is working for, arguably - no, no: there is no argument: the single worst franchise in baseball. there could obviously be reasons for that beyond job performance and personality (he did go to school in florida, iirc), but if the guy was as revered in baseball circles as much as he is here...... wouldn't he maybe be working for a higher profile franchise? he's gone from new york, to houston, to tampa bay..... meanwhile, stark shows his hand right here: garner and pupura may very well be "wonderful human beings" but that has absolutely nothing to do with their (in)ability to perform their jobs. have good people never been fired before? stark then takes a wholly unnecessary shot at drayton for not being a toastmaster graduate. petty much? kind of obvious what’s going on here, no? i'd bet a year's salary garner, purpura or someone close to one of them or someone with an axe to grind against mcclane (my guess, gun to head, is clemens and pettitte's agent - whatshisname) was in stark's ear – the article smells like a mouthpiece. as for those bashing drayton mcclane, i can't honestly wrap my head around whatever your perspective might be. the rockets have been lousy for a decade, they've made one spectacularly bad decision after another (including running off a local legend) and are now very clearly third, if not fourth on the houston sports depth chart. ditto the texans, only their rottenness has only existed for five years.... and you want to rag on drayton mcclane, owner of far and away the city’s most consistently successful franchise? as i said to someone else, it's amazing the lengths people will go to justify a conclusion they drew in 1996. time to revisit, people. he’s been a great owner and we’ve been lucky to have him here.
I haven't read where Drayton gave his reasons; and I missed the presser. Do you have a link or a summary?
interestingly, the texans and their owner are working on their 16th month of getting roasted for not doing that very thing... damned if you do, and all, i guess....
Once again, is Jerry Jones a great owner for hiring Jimmy Johnson and now magically the genius is gone? You should Open wide and say ahhh.
But would they honestly be better had they done what fans and sports radio hosts were clamoring for? Honestly, I think not.
You can listen to the press conference at the team site, and here's his following interview with Palillo: http://www.790kbme.com/podcast/pallilo.xml He also said that the "number one problem with this team is *hitting*". Cecil starts talking and lists them as "pitching, defense and situational hitting". One of these men understands baseball, one understands marketing.
Actually, Craig Roberts was talking this morning about how McMullen would invite the media in to run ideas by them to get their reactions.
I accept your opinion. I do not accept that Alex brought the championship teams here. He lucked out on that. The whole town and NBA world did, too.
Emulating McMullen isn't exactly something one would hope for out of Drayton. And, let's face it, the media was different then. Drayton specifically mentioned "sports radio".
Oh, I'm not defending it at all. While I'm not upset about the firings at all, I am concerned about this.
I think that's a pretty defendable position. I love Ryan, but he has the highest HOF voting % in history, and an argument can be made that his career was no better than Bert Blyleven, who's barely broken 50% in his 10 years on the ballot.
