i could not agree more. it was sweet to read richard justice FINALLY say the same thing this offseason. question all you want...but the results have been very, very good. we'll hear what an amazing owner alexander is...but he does it all in a league with a salary cap and significant revenue sharing...and his team's recent record leaves a lot to be desired...particularly in a league where more teams make the playoffs than don't. yeah, i know...homer...good 'ol baylor line...myopic...blind. go 'stros!
No crap, what a great point. The MLB allows the FEWEST teams into the playoffs yet somehow the Astros and their broken system continue to make the playoffs and even improve.
I voted 'next off season'. We are currently hamstrung with Baggys contract. We can't afford to take on another huge deal and we have to hold on to our young talent to cover the bases if Bags can't play. Another full season for the young guns should let us know if they are the future or not anyway and if they break out, it gives better leverage to take on big names and trading good players with small salaries to small market teams. I'd love Tejada but you have something to get something. And I don't want to hear how we are "saving" all that Clemons money. Rocket makes his own salary in tickets and merchandise. If he isn't playing that's revenue lost not saved. But I still think he will pitch the second half of the season.
This has been stated several times before, but everything the Astros have done in the past was with Gerry Hunsicker at the helm. Purpura has done nothing since becoming GM except sign players we already had. He has gravy trained on the success of the team that Hunsicker built. If he continues to not do anything while we lose players like Clemens we will not have the same success that we had in the past. Moves have to be made and teams have to adapt. Especially teams like the Astros with a limited payroll. That's how we have remained competative over the last 10 years with Hunsicker running the show.
Where did he say that trade talks had cooled off? I can't find it on any other Astros board, so I was curious what the source was. I don't know what to believe anymore. I had my hopes up when we were pursuing Nomar... had my hopes up when Drayton said this team had to add more offense... etc. Of course, I also had my hopes up last offseason after losing Beltran (Burnitz, Cruz, etc.) and at the deadline, and nothing happened either time. I don't think this is about money. Remember, we offered close to $6 mil plus incentives for Nomar. I think this is about Purpura. You can have far, far too much faith in the system and that's what I'm afraid is the case here. I think he'd make a move for Tejada or another big name, but we don't have the prospects to make a deal for one of those and it's unlikely one falls on our lap. Faith isn't always a bad quality, but I'm afraid it is in this case. It's one thing to stick with Roy Oswalt and Wade Miller type arms (what Hun did)... it's another to have blind loyalty to mediocre OF prospects at best (Burke, Scott) and mediocre SP prospects at best (Wandy, Zeke). Yes, I hope Scott/Burke will make a good platoon and I hope Wandy/Zeke will be decent pitchers. But, it's very iffy and not something you should pin the hopes of a championship team on. That's why you go out and sign the mid-level free agents... sign a Rondell White or Reggie Sanders... sign a veteran starting pitcher... etc. Have another plan if Burke and Scott have .650 quality OPS numbers again. My concern is that Purpura seems to have this all or nothing mentality... that is, if he can't make the big splash, it's better to do nothing and do everything in house. imo, that's wrong. There are ways to potentially upgrade this team without getting Bobby Abreu or Miguel Tejada and I'm afraid those avenues aren't being seriously considered.
I heard straight from the horses mouth last week on 610 am. Purpura said that most of the trade discussion has cooled off now.
"I think the big gripe that soccer fans have is that people go out of their way to bash it. If you don't like it, that's fine. Just don't come into threads like this or go on the radio and say "soccer is boring" for no reason at all..." Well, smart guy, I'll give you 3 guesses who wrote that.
GO LOOK AT THE SOCCER THREAD YOU GOT THAT QUOTE FROM AND SEE THE IDIOTS WHO CONTINUED TO MAKE THE SAME IGNORANT COMMENTS I MADE HERE IN THIS THREAD. JUST A TASTE OF THE IGNORANCE SOME PEOPLE HERE HAVE.
Did you even read our posts? It is Drayton that is holding the purse strings and keeping moves from being made more then anyone. Our team is in a financial bind it is because of a deal that HUNSICKER made, there is no room to sign anyone because of Bagwell's contract... you can't blame Purpura for not making a move when he has no money to do it with. We also have no clue if Bagwell is even going to be able to play, so trading Lamb or Lane isn't an option. Could Drayton sign more players and still turn a profit? You bet your ass he could but he isn't that type of owner, he places money in sure-bets not might be's. Drayton has stated many times that he won't spend 100 million a season, but to sign any of the "big names" this off season would have put us over 100 million WITHOUT Clemens... and with Clemens it would push upwards of $120 million! Yes, but they Astros aren't going to go sign a guy for 12 million and THEN try and make a play for Clemen's after May 1st for a $115 million plus payroll... it is either they try for Clemens or they let him go and get someone else, they aren't going to pay for two pitchers so that 22 million is really still on the books.
Would you feel better if I brought you some orange slices and a Capri Sun? CAPS or no caps... soccer still sucks.
Would you feel better if I brought you some stereoid shots and a pack of chewing tobacco? Last I checked world class athletes don't eat orange slices and drink capri sun at games. That's an american thing that they do when kids are under 12. I never played little league (thank God) but they probably have similar routines.
