Well, along w/ Randy Johnson, I really hate it that management made stupid moves to give up on former Astros players (Finley, Schilling, etc.). And now, those players are just making us look stupid by becoming All-Stars and Cy Young winners.... You can go through any team in baseball and find just as many "potential stars" out there that teams missed on.
Exactly, several teams outside of the Astros gave up on Schilling. Few thought he would be successful as a starter with his repertoire of pitches (basically just two). And even when he was tried out as a starter, he didn't really impress all that much. He was a late bloomer, to be sure. Same with Luis Gonzalez.
You act as though the 53 and the 36 are comparable. You have to look at what was being offered PER YEAR. 13.25M a year to 12M a year. Did AZ offer more? Yep...but it wasn't overpowering. the fact is that our offer was 1 YEAR less. Anybody but a deaf, mute 3 year old knows that the Unit would have saught an even bigger contract (and gotten it) after year 3 had he stayed here. When all else fails bash Drayton I guess. I'm not so willing to expect Drayton to go NEARLY as deep into debt as Colangelo did in order to assemble that team. In case you missed it they are HUNDREDS of millions of dollars in debt...like you said...not chump change. I dont care what anyone is trying to sell me.....that is NOT a comparative offer. A comparative offer would mean giving up more money with less years not vice versa. 99.999999999 percent of all ballplayers would of walked out on Houstons offer. And you cant simply say, well we would of renegotiated the deal after the 3rd year. NO player is going to take that risk. 12 million a year for 3 years is not the same as 13 million a year for 4 years. Ask yourself this, which one would you of RAN to?
For the love of all that is good and holy, can we PLEASE drop the Randy Johnson thing? He was NOT, NOT, NOT, NOT going to play in Houston, or Seattle, or New York or anywhere else not in the state of Arizona. He wanted to live with his family during the season. He made this perfectly clear to the Mariners, and to the Astros before we traded for him, and this little nugget has been reported repeatedly.
That is a perfect answer for the question. The goal is to win the World Series, not to get to the playoffs and lose in the first round every year. Jimy has the capibility to improve the Astros alot next year.
The main reason why we aren't going to the playoffs, is because we failed to bring in any players who could help. Hidalgo and Ward are a below average duo at LF and RF. Our lineup just sucks. We have no power at 3B, and average sticks at SS and 2B. I guess you could say that Ausmus is an above average hitting catcher. After Bagwell and Berkman, we have no offensive threats.
The main reason why we aren't going to the playoffs, is because we failed to bring in any players who could help. Hidalgo and Ward are a below average duo at LF and RF. Our lineup just sucks. We have no power at 3B, and average sticks at SS and 2B. I guess you could say that Ausmus is an above average hitting catcher. After Bagwell and Berkman, we have no offensive threats. Even given all that, our offense is the 2nd best in the national league behind Arizona this year. The reason we're not likely to make the playoffs is that we started the season off horribly. Since about July 1st, we've been about as good as any team in the NL.
Our offense has been VERY inconsistent, despite what the stats tell you. This is reason #1320984328094 why stats don't tell the full truth. One game we score 12 runs, the next we score 2. That comes out to 7 runs per game in those 2 games, that's good right? Very rarely do we ever beat great pitchers. If we are a good team, then we must have SOME success against the best pitchers. This team was nowhere as good as people thought it would be. My prediction of 85-90 wins before the year seems to be about right. Provided that we didn't improve upon our roster from last year, when we won like 93? or so games.
Anytime there's a thread stating anything bad about Scrooge McLane, refman is on that thread like flies around poop. In this case, flies=refman, poop=McLane.
Our offense has been VERY inconsistent, despite what the stats tell you. This is reason #1320984328094 why stats don't tell the full truth. One game we score 12 runs, the next we score 2. That comes out to 7 runs per game in those 2 games, that's good right? Except this isn't true either. A simple quick measure is times we've scored 10 runs. We've done it 3 times; STL has done it 6 times (we've scored the same number of total runs as they have). If you look at the standard deviation of runs scored, I bet you'll find that the Astros have one of the more consistent offenses in baseball. This was very much a problem in previous years though when our offense wasn't balanced (all righty/power guys). This year, the mix of LH/RH, power/avg guys has really stabilized the offfense. Very rarely do we ever beat great pitchers. If we are a good team, then we must have SOME success against the best pitchers. This team was nowhere as good as people thought it would be. This isn't true either. We've actually struggled more with bad pitchers. We've won games started by Prior, Wood, Beckett, Astacio, Burnett, Schilling, Leiter, Millwood, etc. We've actually hit most of the "big-name" pitchers relatively well. We've been shut down by random scrubs though quite often.
When a team wins 90 games a year but doesn't advance in the playoffs (or misses them one year) it's really easy to blame that all on the owner. If we don't win the World Series each year it's because the owner didn't spend enough money. That's your argument, right? Name me a team other than the Yankees who have more postseason berths than the Astros since 1996. You can't. But the owner gets no credit for that success. Yet it's all his fault because we're not winning championships. It's really unfortunate you don't understand baseball. EDIT: Your little analogy about me just makes you look like an idiot.
If you want to talk about poop, kidrock, perhaps you should mention the unfounded **** slinging you do towards McClane every chance you get. You always make baseless accusations of him and his methods and posters like Major and others always prove you wrong logically and without insulting. You then proceed to ignore them or insult them and wait until the next Astros thread pops up and the cycle starts all over again. Instead of comparing other posters to insects, perhaps you could just stick to the facts like we are trying to do.
kidrock...one question you never never never answer is this: if you think an owner deserves blame for not winning championships... then why does that same owner not deserve some credit for winning 4 division titles in 5 years???? you've stated a few times before that the division titles are to the credit of Gerry Hunsicker...ummmm...who hired Hunsicker again?? who continues to pay the man??? just curious...
Regardless of what anyone thinks of McLane, here are some positive undisputed facts that are directly related to him: 1. The Astros are in Houston for a long time to come. 2. The Astros have one of the finest stadiums in the league. 3. The Astros are a team with players of high character. 4. The Astros are a perennial playoff contender. 5. The Astros have one of the the best player development systems and minor league systems. 6. The Astros are acknowledged to have the best baseball academy in South America that has produced a number of quality players. 7. The Astros front office is among the best in baseball. 8. He did not allow Biggio and Bagwell to leave. Some may think this is a bad thing, but McLane does reward loyalty. Down the road, those sigining will help with Berkman, Oswalt and Miller. ------------------- The only negative thing (baseball related) that can be said about McLane is that he has not signed the high priced players in a long time. That being said, there is no tangible proof that signing or resigning high priced free agents would have propelled the Astros to any additional playoff wins. Exactly how many playoff games has Alex Rodriguez helped the Rangers win? How about McGriff and Alou for the Cubs? Griffey for the Reds? Brown and Green for the Dodgers?
ok...name me a team that has more postseason berths than the astros since 1996 besides atlanta and new york...who by the way play a totally different game than the rest of the league thanks to superstations and gigantic media markets
Why 1996? Drayton bought the team in 92. If my math is right the Indians won 6 division titles from 1995 to 2001 and they actually made it out of the first round a few times. *gasp*
Ah, but if we get to move the date around, why not look at the situation these teams are in now as well as post season trips? The Indians have serious financial problems. They probably won't be winning their division anytime soon. The Astros, however, are in terrific shape mostly due to their policy of having an outstanding farm system and not just throwing money at big name FAs. For that reason, the Astros will be competitive a LOT longer than the Indians have been. That, as well, can be attributed to McClane.
Well let's move the date around to 1992 when Drayton bought the team then, that's fine with me. How many teams do you think have 4 playoff appearances since then and how many teams have gotten past the first round? Braves, Cardinals, Indians, Mariners, and Yankees all fit that criteria and that's without even looking to check out teams like the White Sox, Rangers, Orioles, and Dodgers. As for the Astros being in terrific shape because of their farm system, well I dunno about that. Their farm system isn't as good as it was and the Cubs farm system is probably the best in baseball right now. The Indians took on a lot of talented players with their trades this year and that recent article from ESPN said that Drayton plans to keep payroll right about where it is now. We'll see if we're winning any divisions from here on out.
