Wade built the back to back NL champs...I wouldn't call that cringe worthy. Wade was fired in Philly based on 88 wins every year not being enough, period. He's made some f'd up moves, no doubt, but you can't say he's AWFUL at finding talent. His #1 issue seems to be giving players past their primes big dollars.
I've read otherwise. If there's a knock on Wade, it's the trades he made while with the Phillies and his FA acquisitions. The Phillies drafted a lot of future MLB players under his management, such as: Pat Burrell Jason Michaels Nick Punto Ryan Madson Jorge Padilla Geoff Geary Brett Myers Joe Saunders Marlon Byrd Kameron Loe Chase Utley Taylor Buccholz Ryan Howard Gavin Floyd Cole Hamels Michael Bourn Kyle Kendrick J.A. Happ
Yup. Traded Schilling. Gave David Bell big money. (to a certain degree)...when it comes to talent at the amateur level, Wade isn't too shabby.
He made a pretty good trade for Billy Wagner. Also, here is a piece from Justice from February that includes the following: "The bottom line is that Ed Wade has done a very solid job. He arrived two off-seasons ago to find an organization terrible at the big league level and even worse at the minor league level." The blog is titled: "Ed Wade has done a good job with Astros, and I don't mean maybe" http://blogs.chron.com/sportsjustice/archives/2010/02/ed_wade_has_don.html
Here's another interesting little nugget I found about Ed Wade--after he was fired by the Phillies following the 2005 season, he took a job as a scouting the East Coast for the Padres. Who did the Padres draft that year in the 11th round out of Coconut Creek HS in Florida? Mat Latos.
Justice flip-flopped and wrote a scathing, sarcasm-laden piece of drivel? Hopefully no one here is surprised. Justice is an incompetent dumbass. /thread
This is why we need a reply-in-reply box on this forum. Sorry you took so long to write something that I basically agree with.
Ed Wade is a beast when it comes to drafting players, am already excited about Delino Deshields Jr. (Just hope they sign him), Jordan Lyles, Mier, and am sure there's more talent , just give it some time, Oswalt, Lee, Berkman's contracts end soon and we'll have enough money for top free agents
3.5 games out of first place at the end of the season means that you seriously contended for a division title. Ask most baseball people if they would like to go into the last week of the season 3 games out. They would tell you that you have a chance to go to the playoffs.
There is evidence to support that. The Astros lineup is littered with guys who have not been batting for the stats that are on the back of their baseball card. Is that Drayton's fault too?
I don't think anyone should get too surprised by this now and I think he does it on purpose. Look back to when the Texans replaced their Strength & Conditioning coach a couple of seasons ago. He had some strong words over that decision. Who knows, perhaps Berry was a good source of information for Justice and now he's pissed that source has dried up. Probably very few Astros care to give him the time of day. The Sport's Justice Blog -- A Tool's tool.
I think that many of you are having revisionist history. We were not nearly as good as the 2008 record indicated and many people were saying that then. It isn't like I'm saying this now. If I cared enough and had the time, I could go find posts from that year where there were people like me that said we were not as good as our record and the over performance was going to negatively effect our team because Drayton would continue to spouting off bull**** that we were\are close to being a championship team. They should have blown the team up way back then. We should have been rebuilding years ago. Of course none of that happened and look where we are. We are a terrible team with a terrible farm system. I don't understand why so many of you are Drayton\Astros organization apologists. They are terrible. There is no glimmer of hope in the future. They brought all of this on themselves and Drayton is the primary reason.
Since when is pointing out flaws in your logic equivalent to being an apologist? You were simply wrong when you said they sucked and weren't contenders in 2006. You made up a bizarre rationale that the early 2000's don't count when evaluating Drayton because "he's changed" - but at the same time, you argued that the Astros will never be good because of Drayton (he can only change once?) Your logic defending your positions doesn't make any sense. That's why you're getting the responses you're getting.
I'll give you 2006. Since then we have been in a downward spiral and we are horrible with no end in sight. Lots of people have seen the writing on the wall and are tired of listening to the ridiculousness of management\ownership.
