http://blogs.chron.com/sportsjustice/archives/2010/07/astros_prove_ag.html Quite frankly, I wholeheartedly agree. He goes crazy over the Berry firing. How must Roy feel that Drayton is delaying a trade until he breaks the Astros win record at home (and he got moved down to 3rd in the rotation to accomplish that) to sell more tickets.
I agree with almost all of the entry except coming down so harsh on Wade, what does he want the guy to do when Uncle D is directing him to do something like sign veteran talent. The beauty of Gerry was that he could stand up to Drayton but, as we all saw, that got old REAL quick for all parties involved. Keep drafting and signing good young international talent mixed in with a good few trades to get rid of the older guys and we will revisit the Stros in 2012 or 13.
Richard Justice is an idiot. And its just another reactionary article for his blog. This is the same guy that said we would be at .500 by the end of April. In this piece he says the Astros will always be a joke under Drayton, when in fact he has presided over the greatest run in franchise history. He blames Ed Wade who wasn't the one that ruined our farm system. We suck right now. The offense outside of Keppinger is under-performing their career norms. Nobody is blaming Berry for us sucking, but they are looking for anything to jump start Berkman/Lee/Pence.
I assume if a reasonable trade came along, they'd deal Oswalt as soon as they could. That being said, it is not unusual for teams to tweak rotations or lineups in order to accomplish a significant milestone at home. If the Astros were in a pennant race, it would be questionable to do so, but since they aren't, nothing wrong with this move.
flip flop flip flop drayton is certainly worthy of criticism...but Justice's newest conclusion-jump: that the Astros think firing Berry and hiring Bagwell will solve all their problems is the real joke. i doubt seriously anyone thinks their problems are solved by this. it ignores the fact they seem to be trying to rebuild a decimated farm system. that takes time. This article is waaaayyyyy too personal, it seems. Methinks Justice loved him some Sean Berry and he wrote this out of anger.
A Justice article from 2009 as to who the Astros next manager should be. http://blogs.chron.com/sportsjustice/archives/2009/06/what_im_looking.html
haha! by all accounts, sean is a great guy. it's tough to see guys like that get the axe. i understand the frustration...but rj needs a dose of objectivity, here.
I think Drayton has always had "bad owner" tendencies, and the Astros runs were due to Hunsicker imposing his will and calling the shots over Drayton's wishes. Once Hunsicker had enough of Drayton's meddling, Drayton made sure to only hire people who listened him and did what he said. Then all hell broke loose, and we all saw who was really responsible for the Astros success. Hunsicker is a Morey-esque genious, just look what he did with the Rays.
Methinks that Sean Berry was a nice guy and probably would give Dick interviews and would talk to him. Meanwhile, Bagwell seems like the type to freeze Justice out because he doesn't feel like putting up with the guys seesawing horse****. While I agree with some of Justice's points in this article, I have this nagging idea that he's flipping his lid for less than sincere reasons.
If a joke of a sportswriter calls someone or something else a joke, do you believe him? Can a joke call something else a joke?
You agree that the Berry firing is a big deal? Sean Berry may or may not be a good hitting coach. But the team isn't hitting. If Bagwell is worse, we'll still suck - it doesn't matter. If he's better, then maybe we find a new long-term idea. There's no value in keeping Berry with the current team, so who cares if he's here or not? The team didn't blame him for their problems - they are just trying something new. That's exactly what seasons like this are best used for: experimenting.
"Has Sean Berry done a great job? Who the heck knows? If anyone thinks Jeff Bagwell is going to make Carlos Lee productive, if anyone thinks he's going to make Hunter Pence coachable, if anyone thinks he's going to change anything of substance, they're fooling themselves." So is Pence uncoachable?
If Justice is correct about the Astros being a joke, I would use the cliche...it takes one to know one.
No, I agree that the Astros are a joke and will continue to be a joke as long as Drayton owns the team. The Berry firing doesn't bother me.
