It's especially "staggering" when one ignores: The amount of talent the Astros *brought in* during the same time period; The amount of talent *every* team--even the Yankees--lets walk every year.
to be fair, I think he is referring to a group over a long period of time. Thing is, if one goes back 15 years, he can accrue a "staggering" list from *every* franchise. Why is it so generally difficult to look at the big picture?
Finley & Caminiti are really the only ones that come to mind as being purely financial, but remember that at the time of that trade Bagwell had just signed a huge contract, attendance was absolutely dismal in the Dome & the franchise's viability in Houston was questionable.
Still that was a trade, and those guys weren't exactly great when the were here, aside from what was a very good 1994 for Caminiti.
Right, I was just thinking of moves that were purely financial from the Astros perspective, without any outside complications (Hampton/Beltran/Andy & Roger/Unit/etc...)
They tried to resign Beltran, he wanted to go to the Mets. Hampton got ridiculous money that he never lived up to. Unit wanted to sign in Arizona, and he did. Nothing the Stros could have done about Beltran or RJ, and I'm glad they didn't sign Hampton for the mountain of cash he got from Colorado.
Technically we traded Hampton to the Mets, then he got the big contract from Colorado the season following. We got Dotel from the Mets, and of course he later helped land Beltran. Darryl Kile might be an example. He left as a FA to Colorado. We could have had a rotation of Johnson/Kile/Hampton/Lima in 1998.
I also agree that Drayton gets an unfair rap at times for being "cheap". I remember when we didn't re-sign Darryl Kile, Drayton took a lot of heat from that one. IIRC, Bagwell ripped management for that decision.
Uh, yeah, those are exactly the "outside complications" I was referring to. Sorry for the muddled phrasing.
DK wasn't going to sign here, as he was embittered by the arbitration process (as was Hunsicker and the Astros, evidently, considering the number of years they went without even one case going to arbitration).
From what I recall, he was seriously pissed at management about how things went down in his previous arbitration hearing (the offseason before his great 1997, he had been a mediocre pitcher before), felt seriously disrespected, & was almost dead-set on leaving. I had forgotten about that one.
Thats why I had to put the "might" in there. In the days before I had regular internet access its hard for me to know how things went down. Obviously don't get much Astros coverage living in GA. Plenty of stinkin Braves coverage though. Nice to learn why he left though. I can remember he was my starting pitcher in Clutch Hitter for Game Gear. I dominated at that game. :grin:
Daryl Kile had the best curveball I ever saw, that pitch was truly un-hittable. I never quite understood, beside his early death, why he never became a top of the line guy minues a few seasons sprinkled in.
Indeed. no one can ever fault Drayton for his willingness to spend on the major league level, even if one disagrees with the type of players he brought in. But I still can't forgive him for how he literally destroyed our minor league system because of his cheapness in the area. I never understood his logic for that, especially because almost every team's success, even the Yankees in the 90s, were due mostly to home-grown talent.
Bad luck there for Myers. That was so poorly hit that it ended up being good. Hopefully he gets out of the inning unscathed. He continues to exceed all expectations.
Tragic. Just tragic. He was so dominant and induced what would've been the 3rd out 98% of the time. That was one of the most painful moments of a long, painful season. Myers has been awesome.
