MSN: What was your take on today's article in the Chronic from ALstros syncophant Chip Bailey: http://blog.chron.com/ultimateastros/2013/02/28/astros-owner-jim-crane-%E2%80%93-the-honeymoon-is-over-or-not-begun/ Ditto on the **** you to Bud Selig
Jim Crane still wins on opening day when the stadium is packed to capacity…. who doesn't complain and hate there owner/gm/front office when they are the worst team in the MLB… give it time geez
Anybody catch that the Opening Series tickets are double their value. I can somewhat understand the Opening Day game, but to do it the whole series? That's not a great way to lure more fans into the park to watch a AAA team.
Pretty stupid too . . .Opening night everyone will be able to watch on ESPN . .then next two games will be overpriced so no one will go, and 65% of the fans wont be able to watch on TV either
I'm not sure, other than the writing was pretty sub-par. Dude cherry-picks a handful of emotion-laden "issues" and arbitrarily decides whether Crane "created" or "inherited" them, whilst providing water-cooler-level commentary around it. A general waste of my five minutes reading it. How much responsibility Crane has in all of this AL-switch and Comcast and ClearChannel crap is truly only known by a few. The rest of us can guess (and get super emotional about it) all day long, but I don't have the energy. With regards to where the Astros are and how I feel: I'm still chiefly pissed at the ****bag Bud Selig for pretty much *everything* he's done to what is becoming the National Baseball Association (hey, maybe the White Sox can bring those shorts back!) and especially what he instigated in taking our National League club away from our National League town. Other than that, I'm tickled pink with the emphasis and significant investment in player development and with the resumes of the parties involved. And hoping, based on that, to see some good times just around the corner. Even though we'll enjoy those good times watching our boys play frickin' softball.
All that's left for Butt Selig to finish turning our game into the National Baseball Association. (that's Bucky Dent in the picture)
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Last night on The Simpsons, Ned Flanders' version of Hell includes @<a href="https://twitter.com/astros">astros</a> in AL. Ours too. <a href="http://t.co/4TnaGRttSu" title="http://twitter.com/Houstorian/status/311116618816159744/photo/1">twitter.com/Houstorian/sta…</a></p>— Houstorian (@Houstorian) <a href="https://twitter.com/Houstorian/status/311116618816159744">March 11, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The WSJ did an article on the Astros today. I agree that spending less money on the current MLB club's PAYROLL is the right thing to do, but Crane needs to invest that money elsewhere (international players, coaching talent in MiLB, stadium upgrades, fan experience, etc) if he doesn't want to get labeled as a cheapskate. So far, so bad. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324532004578358762117791922.html#articleTabs=article
He's spending the maximum on the draft (without giving up draft picks). He's added the decision sciences or whatever department to the front office. Stadium upgrades were just made. He just rebranded the Astros to improve fan experience. I expect them to fully use the international FA pool as well, but haven't followed it very closely. Unfortunately it is nearly impossible for us to verify the quality of the minor league coaching, but he has brought in a ton of former Astros to work as assistants, coordinators, and coaches with our minor leaguers and our young major leaguer in ST.
Decision science is maybe $400K for the whole team. Stadium upgrades? What are you referring to? The ones done prior to the 2011 season under Drayton's watch? The new uniforms were a good idea, but not that big of an investment, and one that likely pays for itself through increased jersey/apparel sales. Let's put this in perspective -- Crane is saving about $75 MILLION per year in team payroll versus the average MLB team payroll. Again, I'm fine with sacrificing today's payroll for the betterment of tomorrow's team. However, you could get a lot if Crane spent some of that $75M in savings elsewhere. So far he hasn't. Therefore he's behaving like a cheapskate owner to me.
Furthermore... For Crane to claim this is a private company is just being completely disingenuous. Did all his previous private company success come with attractive public financing like his MLB stadium did? What about Drayton's claim of finding an owner who would be a good public steward? *snort* give me a break If nothing else Crane gets a big fat F in the public relations department for making absurd comments like he did in this morning's WSJ.
the more things change, the more they stay the same. buy your own damn team. until then, maybe *you're* the cheapskate.
Where do you want him to spend it? Would you want him to bring in Bourn, Napoli, Hamilton, and Lohse? Congratulations you just made yourself an 80-win team for the next 3 years and took yourself out of the Carlos Rodon lottery in the 2014 draft. The only thing that would make some sense from an informed fans point of view is lowering ticket prices to reflect the spring training atmosphere of this team. If management wants to use this year to evaluate their younger players, I'm fine with it, but don't make fans pay like you're putting a competitive product on the field.
He seems like a straightshooter, which is fairly refreshing. And he's right, just because we financed the stadium and pay for merch and tickets, doesn't mean we own the team. I don't find anything wrong with what he said...people were complaining that Drayton didn't spend and then he did, but then they complain he was carelessly spending when he should have been rebuilding. So Crane comes in and does exactly that, but people are complaining he's not spending enough?! Some more good quotes from that same article.. Crane and Lunhow are doing it the right way. So they're not spending a million to put in cushion seating at the stadium, who cares?! It's too early to judge his willingness to spend.
I'm betting the department makes more total. They lured guys away from other prominent places. Yes, the ones recently made by Drayton McClane. There really is no need for upgrades (other than moving the stupid signs in LF). You have to consider that those upgrades probably led to a higher price paid. I'm sure Crane spent plenty of money regarding the rebranding. Plus devalued all outstanding merchandise the club had out there. Of course he is going to make his money back on it. That is the objective as the owner of the business. Make investments that will give a good rate of return. The Astros spent $12M on the draft last year. Why are you pretending like Crane really has $75M sitting around? The Astros currently have lower than average ticket sales, so they may have less money available than many other teams. FWIW, if Crane did have $75M sitting around, I'd be fine with him using that cash to pay down the team's debt burden to give it more flexibility in the future.
