I was looking at the 90’s Astros, and it’s sad that Drayton McLane was handed a dynasty and he botched it. He quickly went out and signed Gregg Swindel and Doug Drabek. And as those two didn’t pan out the way he wanted to, he got gun shy with contracts for guys who would eventually become all star greats for other teams. Bagwell, Biggio, Caminiti, Finley, Luis Gonzalez, Scott Servais had the makings of a dynamite roster with offense and defense. And if they’d of gone with their gut and taken Jeter in the draft like many in the organization wanted to. That would have been a legendary team. On pitching they had Kile, Reynolds, Mark Portugal. So there was enough to build around. I liked Derek Bell, he was a good player, but he was simply slightly above average. He was no Superstar player. I am happy the Astros have gotten a dynamic team going, with Altuve leading the way. But had the Astros wanted to back then, the 90’s would have been the era of the Astros.
....Scott Servais? If Finley,Gonzo and Caminiti would have gotten on the juice earlier we might have had something. The guys we had in Houston were not superstars, quality players sure, but not the players they would magically become in their 30's. The mid 90's salary dump is overhyped as to what the available information we had on the 3 was, hell Gonzo even came back. Letting Lofton get away was they tough one. A top 3 of Lofton, Biggio, Bagwell...soooooo many runs.
All those guys started juicing and turned into monsters in their 30s. Touch to predict that happening. Steve Finley, as a 29 year old, had 32 extra base hits for the Astros in 417 plate appearances. Two years later he had 84 extra base hits in 700 plate appearances for SD. He had 37 homers in his first 6 years in the majors, then hit 153 in 6 years in Arizona. Luis González was even easier to spot as a steroid user. Went from looking like Mauricio Dubon size to freakin Glenn Braggs in two years.
It was far better than anything we had before. 1969 First 500 season 1972 First above 500 season 1980 First playoff series 2004 Won a playoff series on their 8th try. 2005 First World Series 2017 Won first World Series
I blame McLane for what happened that led to the sale of the team and the refusal to sign players drafted...but that was well into the 21st century. The farm system was absolutely bare. The 90's teams had enough pieces to win...they just fell short in the playoffs. The 1998 Astros were the best offensive team of their era. They just couldn't stop leaving runners on base...a particular Astros trait historically in the playoffs. They had more than enough in 1998 and 1999 to advance and win. Particularly in 1998, when they traded for Randy Johnson. They just didn't and, as Biggio would say, "that's baseball."
Even had things gone differently there were enough other teams in that era that were stacked that the Astros still probably wouldn’t have won a World Series. But it is safe to say the Crane-run Astros are achieving more than the Astros ever did under the last owner.
There were better rosters on other teams. Braves, Yankees, Giants, Cleveland, Cards, and Mariners. The one year the Astros should have done damage was 1998 (with Randy Johnson) but were shut down by Padres pitching (Kevin Brown). The biggest problem is that they could not beat the Braves and that pitching staff. Lost 3 times to the Braves in the playoffs between 97-2001. Finally beat them in 2004, only to lose to the Cards.
Biggio and Bagwell couldn’t hit in the playoffs AT ALL. that really is a huge reason that we sucked so hard in the playoffs. That and the Braves strike zone.
Thats right, I forgot about Kenny Lofton. He would have been the perfect CF for the team. Finley could have played right field. Gonzo could have handled the LF. I seem to remember that an Astros scout Hal Newhouser quit because he wanted Jeter at #1 but the Astros went with Phil Nevin. Oh, what could have been???
Also, Servais was mostly a back up catcher to Eddie Taubensee in those days. Then Eusebio was there. I don’t think there were ever big expectations for Servais.
Also Eric Anthony was outright given right field and the cleanup spot and he floundered. That was a kick in our collective nuts.
A lineup of: Lofton Biggio Jeter Bagwell Caminiti Finley Gonzalez Servais Wow…. I think that lineup would have figured out the Braves pitching quite well. But like some of y’all said, there were some other real good teams in that era. Nonetheless, I think that Astros lineup scores a ton of runs and picks up a few WS rings.
https://www.vintagedetroit.com/hall...newhouser-found-second-career-baseball-scout/ Hence, getting Jeter was within grasp of the Astros brass. I have to hand it to Newhouser for bolting if he was going to be ignored. Yankees fans are probably very relieved that the Astros ignored Newhouser.
