Not sure if you're being serious or not, but we actually beat Japan. We did manage to finish in last place in North America, though, with losses to Canada and Mexico (...and Korea, but they're not in NA).
maybe they should get jessie jackson and quanell x on the situation. look, i dont know anybody in the astros organization, but if they are trying to get rid of preston wilson i seriously doubt its cause hes black. he has been a major dissapointment and why not get some good prospects for him if you can.
It's cute, but not quite accurate. Simply watching this year's baseball all-star game (every year's all-star game) would reveal that minorities have an enormous impact in major league baseball. Most of the best teams in the league have significant minority presence. The inverse cannot necessarily be said of basketball. It is quite unique and special for a non-black player to become a superstar in basketball, if for no other reason than because of the the street-cred and hip-hop culture that is so attached to basketball today. And to qualify it further, I would in fact be quite suspicious of any NBA basketball team that had all-black athletes.
If we can get past the idea of intentional racism or what not, I think there is a good point to be discussed here. Why are the Astros now so terrible at finding minor league talent outside of the US draft? When is the last time we had a really good Latin prospect come up? Part of it is certainly a financial thing, but it's not like only big market teams are getting Latin American talent these days. Since you can get those guys into your system outside of the draft, it seems like a good investment as you can focus on players you want without having to worry whether they will be available when your draft position comes up.
Tongue-in-cheek maybe, but I think you're really a lot closer to being actually correct than you may think.
This is just plain divisive and over-the-top. I'm willing to discuss this objectively and reasonably. If you really want to draw lines in the sand, then my position is "piss on everyone who plays the damn race card when it's obviously not an issue." But I don't want to act like that. So, I'll be nice if you'll be nice. And btw, I'm not your average white guy; my family came from a oft-maligned and ostracized area of Europe. We were the butt of the joke over there, and the butt of the joke over here. Playing the race card over a damn game trivializes the very sad and very real places where racism is really happening. THAT is why discussions like this piss me off and piss me off fast. We're pissing our pants over a damn roster for a damn game when on the other side of the world people are spending their entire lives trying to wipe another people group off the face of the earth. That's why ooh la la's first post pissed me off--he said, "cleansing". Man, if you've if you've *seen* that crap first hand, you don't joke around about it or compare to something as trivial and freaking pointless as a damn game.
So, what exactly are the Yankees offering that we would want? I can't think of who they might have that's available. Besides A-Rod, of course.
You should probably ignore a lot of the garbage posted on this thread because much of it isn't responsive and if anything only feeds your argument because in some ways they either answer with a non-responsive anecdote or analogy or just come up with a trite and corny comeback that does little to actually engage your argument. That being said, I still don't agree with your position. The Astros have had a string of bad luck. Carlos Hernandez had an injury that he'll never recover from. Richard Hidalgo just tanked all of a sudden. Derek Bell went by the wayside as well. Daryle Ward was a bust. Julio Lugo couldn't field a ball worth a damn. (although lately he's gotten better), etc.. etc.. Look the team's minority prospects just haven't worked out lately. That or they got traded in one of the blockbuster deals. (Dotel to the A's in the Beltran trade, Freddy Garcia and Carlos Guillen to the Mariners in the Randy Johnson trade) Believe me, the Astros aren't doing anything to supress minority talent. They've just had some bad luck and some trades that in retrospect look bad but at the time were great moves. Randy Johnson was as great as you could ever get from a starting pitcher during his time here. Beltran was the same. We gave up some great guys (most of whom were minorites) for them but at the time the moves were definitely worth it. Yes there is a perception that the Astros aren't "minority friendly" but it's nothing the Astros have intentionally done. It's just unfortunate luck and some bad scouting but nothing at all specifically racist.
We've traded a ton of our great Latin American prospects. Freddy Garcia and Carlos Guillen got shipped in the Randy Johnson trade. Dotel in the Beltran trade. Johan Santana I believe was also in our farm system at one time. Julio Lugo got the boot as well (although that's debateable whether or not he's a great player) Like I said above, bad luck and moves that in retrospect make us look bad have created this perception
I honestly thought Japan won..Was it Korea ? I only watched the game -Vs_ Mexico where Roger pitched...
Garcia and Guillen were traded 8 years ago. Dotel wasn't ours to begin with - he came up with the Mets and we traded for him. Santana also was at least 7 or 8 years ago. We dumped Lugo 5 years ago, I think? I think JoeJoe is right - Carlos Hernandez being the last big-time Latin prospect that we seem to have had. In the 1990's we had a great Latin America system... It's just in the last 5 years or so, it seems as though we've gotten nothing except fringe players out of the minors in terms of Latin talent (Astacio and Wandy, for example).
I thought race wasn't an issue in baseball anymore. Are people going to start sending death threats again? I think it's a stupid thought and I for one am offended. The race card shouldn't be brought up amongst fans. Why even go there? It's ludicris. Does this mean that the Rockets are racist because all they have are black men and 1 giant Chinese guy? Maybe the Texans are too since they have their token white boy David Carr. Am I the only one who thinks this is rediculous?
Actually didn't astacio come from the wagner trade with Buchholz and Duckworth? Either way, you're right we haven't had great Latin American prospects lately. But I don't think it's because of same racism within the organization but just bad scouting and bad player development. I've had some issues with our minor league system and I think we have gone awry in terms of finding overseas talent when at one time we were tops in the league in doing that. Of course there's no real overt racism in baseball anymore. But this is a broader issue and one that resonates beyond baseball. Just because there are no overt racist issues anymore, doesn't mean that the playing field is equal or that we have nothing left to discuss. African American participation has dramatically declined and while it makes little sense to say that there is some conspiracy in baseball to lock out African Americans, the issue does merit some examination of the topic and an explanation as to why their participation has fallen so quickly. Like I said earlier, its foolish to label the Astros as "racist" for not having enough minorities, but it is equally foolish to dismiss the topic entirely. There are serious structural issues in terms of African American participation in baseball and only know are we starting to talk about it. Discourse and dialogue are a good thing as long as we refrain from throwing out lables and names unnecessarily.
Good job trying to get the thread back on track...since someone kinda derailed it. Dont know what we could get for Wilson though..Maybe a reliever?
