In 2006 we had Clemens, Andy and Oz and we nearly took out the eventual champs so that team, while underachieving, had the makeup to contend if we had gotten to the playoffs. 2008, IMO, was a facade but we were in playoff contention till the last weekend of the season so again contending or not WE DID NOT SUCK.
Except the problem is that he didn't get the premise right. The Astros aren't putting the blame on Berry, so his whole point goes away.
Except the two are correlated. Winning games is what brings people to the park which is what makes him money. So unless you're saying he's a bad businessperson (and all evidence is to the contrary), he's either committed to both or neither.
I guarantee the Astros will never win a World Series ring before Drayton McLane expires. In the biblical sense.
How so? What, specifically, has changed with Drayton? If he changed over the last 10 years, why do you assume he can't or won't change again?
Please enchant us with your wisdom and tell us why Sean Berry was fired. Maybe I'm ignorant, but it seems he was fired because Astros uppers believe he is to blame for the team's offensive futility.
Because they wanted to do something. Berry was an unproven coach. The offense has sucked since before he even got here. He'd now been coaching under 4 different managers. So he's actually been here a while. The offense this year has been historically bad, including the vast majority of the roster underperforming career norms. There was no harm in letting Berry go. It is likely what Wade said. He is a victim of circumstance. Was he why the offense sucks? No. Was he helping the hitters improve? Didn't appear that way.
Ain't no "maybe" 'bout it. You are, as your Gerry Hunsicker fellating posts prove. You've bit on the hook jackholes like Justice have baited over the course of the last six years since The Hun left Houston. The same dimwits who routinely bash the best baseball owner this city has ever known as cheap and meddlesome are the same ones who laud Gerry Hunsicker while lamenting the halcyon days when the Astros had a strong minor league system. Here's a truth toothpick for you to chew on, kid--GERRY HUNSICKER IS LARGELY RESPONSIBLE!!!! Do all of us a favor and stop posting about the Astros until you've bothered to look up the Astros drafts from, oh, 1999-2004. It stands to reason that if Hunsicker hadn't completely shat the bed on the amateur draft for that half decade, this team wouldn't be in the shape it's in right now. But in JoeHicksvilleTown, it's all Drayton McLane's fault because he generally prefers to not go over slot and Gerry Hunsicker left and now the Rays are good. Or something.
So what happened with the 2005-07 drafts, which are regarded as some of the worst in baseball through the last decade. Do you blame Gerry, if Drayton gives him a crappy budget and he has to work with it? Under Gerry's watch we became the best farm system in MLB and after he left the worst. Was Gerry at fault sure, but please stop excusing Drayton for being dumb with his money, when it comes to MLB. He isn't cheap by any means, just ill-advised in his cash management which actually looks to be a lot better over the last year.
Drayton and Pupura are both at fault as well. Drayton isn't perfect, but he isn't as bad as people like Justice make him out to be. And Hunsicker is not the God of GMs some treat him as.
I don't think anyone will deny that the current farm system is one of the worst, if not the worst in the league. That being said, if the farm system was so good under Hunsicker, where are all those players? Shouldn't they be hitting their prime in the big leagues right now if the farm system was so good 5-7 years ago? With the exception of Zobrist and Pence, can you name another farm hand or two that was developed under Hunsicker's watch that is contributing at the major league level? Based on all of the prospects that were dealt for Tejada, ValVerde and Jennings that didn't pan out, would it be fair to say the Astros farm system was overrated under Hunsicker?
Paulino? Unfortunately injuries cost Carlos Hernandez and Wade Miller. It weird how many players started great for us, but ended up out of baseball. The Venezuelan academy is why we once had the best rated system. We were the only team there. Nobody to compete against.
Under Hunsicker we developed Berkman, Wandy, Roy, W. Miller, Morgan Ensberg, Richard Hidalgo, Willy T, Hunter Pence, John Buck, Carlos Gullien, Freddy Garcia..etc I could go on and on but its pointless, Hunsicker did a tremendous job with the farm system until the last few years of his tenure. Not saying his isn't at fault but how badly was he hamstrung by Drayton, we may never know.
The poster I was responding to alluded to the fact that the Astros farm system became one of the worst after Hunsicker left and was one of the best while he was here. Huncisker left after the 2004 season. Where are all the prospects that would have been in the minors in the early 2000s (under Hunsicker's watch) that have developed into contributing MLB players? Also, should McLane and Wade be given some credit for the relatively new Dominican academy they started as well as signing a 16 year old from that academy to a 2+ million dollar contract?
You are missing my point. Where are the prospects that were in the minor leagues in the early 2000s? Wasn't the Astros farm system still considered in good shape in the early 2000s?
Wrong. The farm system began to go to ****e under his watch. The reason this organization had a good farm system early on with Hunsicker was mostly because the Astros were the first team to mine the Venezuelan pipeline. The team did not have to worry as much about drafting US-born players from the high school and college ranks when they could just throw some money at a bunch of 16-yr-old Venezuelans and see who developed and who didn't, which is how they got guys like Hidalgo, Abreu, Guillen, and Santana. Once other teams caught on and started scouting there the organization lost its edge and never really adapted. Gerry Hunsicker gets credit (much of it deserved) for the Astros success in the 90's, but the mythology of the Hun is way over the top. Solid farm systems aren't built overnight, but by the same token it takes a prolonged stretch of crappy drafting and player development to take a system rich with talent like the Astros had and running it into the ground. The scouting department under Hunsicker drafted a whole bunch of nobodies during that time period. Mike Rosamond? Jay Perez? Derek Grigsby? And as much as I love Chris Burke for his One Big Moment, that guy was a big flop. He was never equipped to play SS at the major-league level, and Hunsicker wasted the highest pick the team had enjoyed since the Phil Nevin disaster to take a college player with a noodle arm, thinking he'd be the shortstop of the future. Terrible, terrible move. And don't even get me started on the Rule 5 losses...
Okay in he early 2000's our farm system had names like...Roy, Wade Miller, Scott Elarton, Tim Redding, Carlos Hernandez, Daryl Ward etc... Not all these names ending up being stars but most either were good to above avg guys.
You must have missed Nevin's years in SD and all the names I mentioned below. Again Gerry did have a hand in it but come on he drafted plenty of US born guys that have succeeded.
