Hey, that's what everyone keeps saying. Drayton needs to spend more money to bring in free agents. That's what Hicks does. So wouldn't Astros fans (at least the ones who clamor for higher payroll) be wishing that Tom Hicks would sell the Rangers and buy the Astros?
bleh, free spending is only good if its done wisely. Hicks spends freely, but he spent so many years as the personal bank account for Scott Boras(including a 600k bonus to a player who couldn't hit college fastballs), that he seriously damaged his team and his farm system. I wish McClane opened up the purse strings a little more, but spending big money on risks like Williams, or Clemens or Hampton isn't what I had in mind.
Amen. This point is looming larger and larger in MLB as teams like the A's, Twins, and Angels compete by being wise with their money. Reminds me of the New England Patriots (wrong sport, comparable analogy, though). Still, if the Astros don't spend wisely (on... oh, say, Hidalgo and Lima), the offending contracts will cripple them. I'm glad the Astros have a great GM in Hunsicker who gets the best bang for his buck, but with a frugal owner, there's really no margin of error for him. Imagine Hunsicker on a free-spending team like the Rangers. Yikes. If money was no object, he'd put together a winner in a hurry. Sometimes, you gotta take risks in signing players. Granted, it's hard to do so with a frugal owner (the whole "margin of error" thing I brought up before), but the payoffs can be enormous (in the playoffs as well as the regular season). One such player is Jose Mesa, who was left for dead after the 2000 season. He bounced back nicely with the Phillies. The Mike Hampton trade is a certain gamble for Atlanta, but I think it'll work out for them in the end, too. Look at the late Darryl Kile in St. Louis. Heck, add Woody Williams to the list, too. Sure, you'll get your occasional John Rocker (or "whammy" from "Press Your Luck" lore), but I'd rather take the gamble and win a championship then play conservative and continually lose in the first round of the playoffs. Although the Astros are not woefully inept in the starting pitching department, we could use some veteran leadership. I was never expecting to snag Glavine, Maddox, or Clemens (pipe dreams), but c'mon, Woody Williams is out of our league now? This certainly doesn't bode well for the future.
EDIT: Nevermind. You're all right. Drayton is evil and cheap and needs to go. Bring in the first Tom Hicks-like person who comes by and they'll win a World Series because all it takes for the Astros is more money.
mrpaige, you make some good arguments, but realize that in order for Drayton to make money on his team (that's what it's all about, right?), he has to sell it to the general population. We took a bold gamble in 1998 by "renting" Randy Johnson. Sure, in the end, we lost to the Padres in the postseason, but the risk that Hunsicker/McClane took on in that deal worked out, regardless. Johnson ripped off 10 wins in 11 starts for us and energized a Houston fan base. Read this article to see what I mean. Houston was averaging only 27,000 fans per game until Johnson showed up on our doorstep. At the end of the season, the Astros averaged 30,351 fans per game. Johnson may not have been the sole reason for the spike in attendance (playoff hunt and a good team also helped greatly), but he certainly put them over the edge. For the first time in a while, Astros fans felt they had a real chance to do damage in the playoffs. Hell, I bought a Randy Johnson Astros cap, I was so excited, and I had never bought any Astros clothing in a long while. Regardless of the outcome, management finally decided to do something to put us over the top and project an image of actually trying to build off a division winner, rather than remain with the status quo and hope our luck changed in the playoffs (which it didn't ). Risk was everything there, and, yes, the Astros did get a little burned (by losing talent in the trade). But not at the gate and certainly not with the fan base. Granted, we're the not the (damn) Yankees, but all the good teams at least try to get better. Why are we so dead set on the status quo? Hell, even the Cubs have made some moves, at least generating a small buzz with their hopeless fans. I'm not talking about trading Biggio or Bagwell, which is pure idiocy. We have a need for veteran pitching; there's some available in the free agent market. Why not make an attempt to chase a free agent? At least show the fans they care about improving the team. I'm not looking for a Tom Hicks/Mark Cuban approach. We have a great GM for a reason. Just give him a little slack on his short leash and let him make a trade or two and assume some risk, rather than stay conservative. That's all I ask.
Because Drayton thinks that we all want to see Bagwell and Biggio stay with the team forever. You notice in interviews when he is asked about going after free agents, he always points to locking up Bags and Bidge. The man got burned when he signed Drabek and Swindell to big deals, and now is weary of signing players. Also, the man has little to no baseball knowledge, its just a business to him. He forgets that baseball teams are expensive toys, and turning a high profit is very rare.
I guess since I live in the Metroplex and watch the Rangers' moves, I see how chasing free agents can end up meaning a whole lot of diddily squat. And heck, the Rangers chase just about every free agent who comes along and can't sign a great deal of them (even when they make high offers. The forementioned Randy Johnson comes to mind. The Rangers wined and dined him, and were reportedly willing to pay whatever price to get him. Johnson still went to Arizona, something that was probably going to happen regardless of the Rangers.... or the Astros..... offer. But even resigning Todd Stottlemyre ...and others.... has proved impossible). I just see through the Rangers that chasing free agents becomes consuming in that if you don't add someone, fans feel like you're being cheap or conservative or whatever, so ownership/management makes it a point to get any free agent so long as it's someone new. The Rangers are in worse need of pitching than the Astros, but every time they do add a free agent pitcher, they get worse. They end up signing guys like Chan Ho Park or Hidecki Irabu (though Irabu was not much of a risk since he signed a small deal) just because the fans insist that the Rangers go after pitching (that seems to be the most asked question about the Rangers. When are they finally going to go after some pitching?...as if they haven't been trying). And because teams are so desperate for the limited pool of free agent pitching, teams often overpay (and a good many players underperform) and you end up having to pay top dollar for mid-range (or worse) talent. Maybe breaking the bank to sign Woody Williams at $7.5 million per works out. Though you're just as likely (if not moreso) to see it not work out and have the deal cripple the team for a few years and prevent them from being able to take a better risk (Chan Ho Park, who has lower career ERA than Williams, by the way, has not worked out for the Rangers, though he did win as many games as Williams last season. So that's $7 million that the Rangers don't have to spend elsewhere on a player who could be decent). If there was a real opportunity to get a Randy Johnson-type, then take that risk at big money. You break the bank for those guys. But this Woody Williams deal is not one of those deals. I guess that's my problem with the complaining here. Woody Williams is not the guy you go into debt to get. And I can't imagine signing Woody Williams would mean increased gate or merchandise sales or whatever.... at all... to make up for the losses that signing him would cause (not to mention the headaches when Williams underperforms and Drayton gets lashed at for signing him instead of spending that $7.5 million... or more, really.... on someone else). Getting a Randy Johnson can create hope. But just signing any old free agent isn't going to get that, especially if you sacrifice the long-term health of the franchise to do it (see again, the Texas Rangers. Other than signing the big-name ARod, which resulted in a temporary uptick in attendance, Rangers fans aren't going out of their way to buy Rangers tickets even though the team laid out $11 million for Juando and $7 million for Chan Ho Park and $7.5 million for Kenny Rogers and $8.6 million for Carl Everett and $2.5 million for John Rocker. As a matter of fact, some of the more popular players are the locally grown folks or the cheaper players who work hard and contribute. There are likely more folks looking at buying tickets to see Hank Blalock and Mark Texeira than there are to see Chan Ho Park).
I got you beat. I live in New York, home to the perpetual rally cry of "Rebuilding?!?! We don't need no stinking rebuilding!!" Ah, but Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and Roger Clemens are available, and the Astros are not even thinking about picking up the phone to talk to their agents. I fear any talk to Clemens' agent is merely out of courtesy. You break the bank for those guys. They're big-name draws, and they have a reliable track record. Will they break down? Eventually. But that's the risk you take. Like I said before, you have to assume some risk if you want to win. Agreed. I was pointing out what free agents can do to revitalize our ballclub and fanbase. We did give up a lot to get the Big Unit; don't think I forget that. Woody Williams would not have given us reason alone to chant "World Series 2003!" However, seeing him stay with a division rival is a bit demoralizing. Give us hope, Drayton!
