I loved the guy when he was here, so its hard for me to talk bad about him just yet. Carlos seemed like a guy who was best suited for a smaller market team and going to NY may prove to be a costly mistake for both parties. Its still awfully early to be hard on the guy becuase even A-Rod had a problem adjusting to the NY spotlight. The 1 thing that I am happy about is that we didnt take on that huge contract, becuase no matter how good anyone is the knock will always be that he isnt worth the money. I love A-Rod but no way one player is worth that much money
How foolish. Who is to say how Beltran would have performed in Houston -- a smaller market with less intense media scrutiny -- with the benefit of playing in Minute Maid and batting in front of Berkman? Drayton completely botched the negotiating process, and Beltran's performance this season has nothing to do with that. As a result of Drayton botching the process, we were left with no Plan B and as a result, we are in desperate need of a bat today. Remind me, what am I apologizing for again? Uh, thanks.
We are also in first place in the wild card standings today. I'm sorry that you cannot be happy about how the plan B has worked out instead of harping on the botched negotiations of a player who has a OBP lower than Brad Ausmus. I'm actually quite positive that you are not even an Astros fan. Just a troll.
To add to the above points, has anyone noticed how crappy the year has been for potential Plan B targets Moises Alou and Steve Finley? Yes, the Astros need another big stick in the line-up, but I doubt any of those guys would have made a big difference.
Who is to say that the Astros would be in playoff contention today had they not had the "disastrous" offseason? All things considered, I'd rather have THIS team 2 games in the WC lead than had them sign a player or two in the offseason - no telling where they'd be - perhaps in first, perhaps in last. Regardless of how you spin it, according to you the Astros had a "disastrous" off-season. That has NOT changed. They have still had that "disastrous" off-season, yet here they are, in the midst of another playoff run.
Since you continually blame McLane for "botching the Beltran negotiations", does McLane get any credit for signing Berkman to a long term deal?
I think it's cute that people think a no-trade clause scuttled a nine-figure deal. Like Beltran is some sort of magical faerie who needed his precious no-trade clause or else he wouldn't sign.
If the offers were otherwise equal in someone's mind, then little things like no-trade clauses can be a deciding factor. If they weren't, then no team would ever give a player one, since it would never be the deciding factor in a contract and only hurts the team. If a player wants stability in life and doesn't want to get stuck spending three year's in a random dump of a city, then a no-trade clause can definitely be extremely important.
i can't believe you bit!!! i personally give Drayton the highest marks for having the amazing baseball foresight to know that Beltran was to be overpaid by the Mets.....and to know that Taveras would be outperforming him as a rookie.
I would give Drayton credit for Beltran, but there is no way he had any idea how well Taveras would do. I'm sure he crossed every finger and said every prayer he had, hoping that Taveras would pan out.
Not only is Beltran stealing money, he's now resorted to hurting his own teammates. RIP Mike Cameron's cheekbones
i agree, and i'm joking. i don't hold these guys accountable for not having a crystal ball. baseball is way too hard to predict. having said that...i've heard some say that given the option of Taveras with this club, they should never have wasted their time with Beltran like that in the offseason.
Knowing what we know now, we wasted our time with Beltran, but after he kicked ass in the playoffs, he looked like a sure thing to be great.
i agree. i would be a hypocrite if i said otherwise, because i was all about re-signing beltran and was disappointed when it didn't work out. now i'm glad i was wrong.
Beltran was never going to sign here. The only person in his group and advisors who wanted to him to sign here was his wife and apparently she did not have the pull. His agent raked the Astros over the coals to get the biggest deal possible. That in itself is his job but to flat out lie to Drayton and the Astros is not doing business fairly. There was a news report about a month before the deadline that Borass told the Astros that they were out of the running. Drayton wanted to have a joint press conference saying that but Borass said ...oh wait we can still work it out. I guess Borass did not want the ONLY suitor for Beltran's services to go by the wayside. Until the Mutts came into the picture late in the game, nobody...I repeat, nobody had made an offer but the Astros. Beltran wanted the Yankees. The Yankees, having dealt with Borass before, said "don't call us we'll call you". If there is a deal breaker in any negotiations, you do not bring it up in the 11th hour along with 10 other demands that were never even discussed before if you are serious about signing.
