As long as these guys are running the show, they will fail. Both of these clowns are done rising the coattails of Hunsicker. Purpura absolutely stinks at finding talent, negotiating and just being a GM. He has done NOTNING to better this team since Hunsicker left. He can't make a splash in the offseason or at the trading deadline to save his life. What has he done? How has HE made this team better? He was b*tch slapped by Boris and Beltran to start his successful career as the Astros GM and had nothing since. Oh yeah...Clemens is here because Clemens wanted to be here...nothing to do with Purpura. His only signing was Wilson...who has moved on to a better team and hurt the Astros with a homer last week. His other signings have been journymen...nobody of any true value. He left Lane on the big league roster to kill this lineup and has stuck with inept hitters like Ausmus and Everett all year. He stinks and I don't think he has the balls to be a big league GM. Purpura has more money to work with this offseason than he has in a long time...he better do something and sign a big bat or two. Garner's already run his course if you ask me. So Lane is on the roster...doesn't mean you have to play him. Scott is successful...but doesn't start as much as he should. His decisions to go with Lidge has been a killer..epsecially when Lidge was so inept that it cost the Astros valuable games. He's a motivator...but not a very good manager. Yes, Purpura gives him crap to work with...but the managers are supposed to make it work. He has not. Give him one more year...and then kick him to the curb. This is all my opinion of course..so be nice.
It may be your opinion but, IMO your opinion is right on the money. Purpura is a bum. He gives us countless excuses on why he didnt do anything substantial. "Well we analyze all possible scenarios and see how best we can improve our ballclub but we dont want to weaken our team for the sake of strengthening another." Huh? Newsflash ... I heard Thome's contract cost the ChiSux 5 Million this year, whereas Preston's cost 4 million. Hmmm ... who got the better end of that deal? Does anyone think a lineup with Thome at 1B, Lance in RF, Huff 3B, Scott LF ... etc. Gee, that lineup could've done some damage . Huh! What I am so pissed off about is we (the fans) knew what the 'Stros needed to do to get better. Get younger and transition to the next generation and or find some substantial veteran talent that would actually produce. We got Preston Wilson. Strikeout king extraordinaire! Highly inconsistent but lots of potential. Damn. And surprise, this year this offense sucks with a super capital S. Teams finally got smart and started batting around Lance because the rest of this lineup pretty much is a choke job looking to happen. If Purpura doesnt deliver a Carlos Lee or Soriano or someone who isnt a stiff in FA market, then Uncle Drayton needs to kick his ass out the door. Because he has been pathetic at his job.
When you dish it out nasty, you can expect someone to boomarang it back at you.... I agree somewhat, more so with Purpura. Beltran/Boras was a no-win situation, since he was going to a NY team no matter what, but it'd be a PR disaster if we didn't make a heavy effort. Honestly, I think we did all we could. When you get down to it, few managers in baseball truely make their teams better. More typically, a good manager keeps a team playing to their talent and a bad manager screws it all up. Garner's doing a much better job than Jimy did. Yes, he's riding the talent, but look around the league. Almost two-thirds of his profession are housekeepers. Better point - how many managers are available that could do a significantly better job? Is Garner the reason we aren't a 90+ win team? Or is it the roster flaws? I personally put a bit of blame on McLane for this year. It was crystal clear when we lost both Kent and Beltran two winters ago that we were in dire need of bats. They never came. McLane opened up the payroll budget and we got to the World Series. But this past winter, knowing that the Clemens/Pettite window was closing and we were one strong bat away from truely contending for the title, Drayton opted not to make a one-year all-out push and drew a line in the budget (partly because of the Bagwell situation). Hopefully we re-load this year, starting with Carlos Lee. But I have a feeling we're back to the second tier in the NL. Evan
I disagree, I think the team tried to hang on too long to last year's success and the players let them down. Roger Clemens' body can not take the pounding anymore - though he is great for a good portion of the year. Andy Pettite is damaged goods Morgan Ensberg & Jason Lane struggled mightily - last year a fluke? Adam Everett and Brad Ausmus can not hit. Biggio is declining rapidly, and Burke should be playing 2B every day. And the organization waited too long to bring up players like Luke Scott and House etc to fill holes created by struggling veterans. This team aged a TON in only 1 year. Let Clemens go, see if Pettite can pitch again, build around Roy, Berkman, Scott, Taveras, & Burke and reload for next year. DD PS. Carr still sucks
Next year is the last year of Garner's contract, there has been no talk of extension so I am thinking he will be on a short leash next year, regardless of the roster. If he gts to around the 1/4 point of the season and he is making these boneheaded decisions, I am thinking we will have a new manager. Maybe in the short-term Cecil Cooper will move over to the manager job. But I am alost thinking that Art Howe being a public part of the organization might be more than coicendence.
What I don't understand is why there aren't more September callups? Batting Humberto Quintero last night was inexcusible. I know they want Round Rock to win the PCL but isn't it more important for the Astros to win. It could have had been Brooks Conrad, Eric Munson, Joe McEwing, Hunter Pence, Josh Anderson, or anybody else and they would have had a better chance than Quintero. And Gar, please stop starting Wandy. Even though he is lefty, doesn't mean he could get lefties out. You have a guy named Chris Sampson who has a ERA in the low 3's.
You can't fire Garner and Purpura one year after going to the World Series. But next year both of them should be on the hot seat. Garner does not deserve an extension. I like the way he controls the clubhouse and makes his own decisions but when it comes to managers, he's obviously not the sharpest tool in the shed. IMO, I think both of them are out of here next year. Pulling the plug this year is too reactionary.
Larry Dierker also had the best collection of talent this team has EVER had... and he couldn't do anything substantial with it. Seriously... check out the guys he had, in their primes, during his tenure: Bagwell - HOF level Biggio - HOF level Alou - MVP level in 98, All-star level the other years Bell - All-star level 97, 98. Berkman - All-star level Hidalgo - HOF level (for just one year) Carl Everett - All-star level Spiers - Best utility man in baseball Reynolds - All-star level Wagner - All-star/HOF level Hampton - Cy young candidate level Lima - Cy young candidate level (haha... but seriously, he was). Randy Johnson - half a year of Cy Young level. Roy Oswalt - 1 year of ROY/Cy Young level. The fact that this team never did better than a couple of playoff victories is pretty sad... I understand that a lot of that is on the players themesleves (just as it was for Garner this year), but his decision making in 2001 deservedly cost him his job. In addition, several players (Ausmus, Biggio, Bagwell) openely criticized him both before and after he left... frankly, in inner circles, Dierker's "managerial" expertise was widely questioned, and the only thing preventing him from getting fired sooner was his regular season success (mostly due to a great assortment of players). Then, you also have to think why other teams weren't pounding down Dierker's door to manage after he "resigned"... sure, he got some consideration for jobs, but that "insider talk" that had been floating around about his true lack of managerial strategy/instincts was very well known amongst other teams with coaching vacancies.
I agree with all of that. And you didn't even mention DK, who was awesome in Dierker's 1st season as manager. Or Elarton, who was an awesome setup man and a good starter before the injury. I do think that Dierk had a way of bringing out the best in starting pitchers.
Yea... I knew I'd forget a couple of pretty important guys. Dierker had a good run with some pitchers who were VERY good, and went on to continue to be good despite not having him around. Maybe he got a little more out of them than other managers (by letting them pitch through their problems), but that also could have contributed to some injuries. Elarton was overused by Dierker... big time. Pretty much any game that wasn't started by one of his above average pitchers, was an Elarton game (meaning, he could come in at any time, and be expected to eat up tons of innings).
The Marlin's are ranked 30th in salary ($14.3mil) with Willis making the most ($4.3mil). Cabrera is there only legitimate hitter with a BA .341, 25 HR & 110 RBI. Their Manager, Joe Girardi, had NO managing experience before this season has his team within 3 games of the Wild Card and a game over .500. How?
yeah the marlins definitely piss me off. the law of averages states that the more money you spend, the greater your team will be. it's even in the Bible look "The money money thy spends on thy team, the greater thy team will be" - Gamecube 21:41 (yes, they added the Book of Gamecube to the Bible)
I really don't see how anyone can justify getting rid of Purpura with such a small sample size. I buy the argument that he was riding off the talent Hunsicker brought in...thus even more of a reason to see what he can do as a GM this season, which will be his true test. There were hardly any big FAs last season and I think everyone thought at the time Preston Wilson was a modest and respectable signing that would help to improve the offense in some capacity. Easy to bash the move now since he didn't produce, but honestly that was a low-risk signing since it was only for one year with a team-option. And don't forget Purp brought Huff over for next-to-nothing, and I know pretty everybody applauded that trade. And now we can be in good position to sign him. He's a decent bat that hopefully finds a groove at MMP. He also tried to get Tejada but couldn't largely because of that joke of an organization in Baltimore. I think he's done a pretty good job. And so has Garner; he's one damn year removed from the WS! He's managed for 2 1/2 years and took this team deep into the playoffs for two of those seasons. And if the bullpen issues hadn't be so suspect (I'm not just talking about Lidge but everyone outside of say Nieve and Wheeler) this team would be right back in the playoffs. Say what you want about the moves both of these guys have made...but at what point do you actually start to look at the players and hold them accountable. Because for me, this season rests on them.
Incredible luck. Lottery winner type luck. They hit with most of their prospects. That doesn't happen in baseball. There are usually mostly misses with these guys, but look what Johnson, Uggla, Ramirez, Willingham etc. have done this season.
i don't have a big problem with purpura. we went to the world series last season and i can understand trying to ride that talent/luck one more year. our payroll is also the highest in team history and i'm sure he's been limited in what more he can do. this offseason will be big for him because there's no question this team needs help from outside the organization, ahem, carlos lee. garner has me completely puzzled this season. his guesses that all seemed to work out over the last two years, have for the most part, failed miserably this season. he won't be fired and maybe he shouldn't be one season removed from the world series, but his ass is on the hot seat next year.
Clicked on the thread title to see if it was a joke. Read one line; won't read the rest. Guaranteed to be stupid drivel.
Purpura needs to go. I agree on that much. I don't agree with your opinions at all when it comes to Garner. Garner is a very good manager and needs to stay. Lane is talented and is having a bad year. With limited playing time it's quite hard to play yourself out of a slump. I hope you are dogging Ensberg & Biggio as well if your gonna dog Lane and Lidge.
Good arguements all around, but I believe Garner should do a better job as some of his decisions are crazy...The manager's job is to make these guys believe they can win, with or without injuries, talent, etc... As for Timmy, its hard to say that some of his downfall is the owner vs. his inability to make something happen... We may b*tch and whine, but unless we get a big bat next season, we'll be mediocre...What a shame given RoyO and Berkman hitting their prime...
