Did We Bury the Astros Too Early

If they are not going to make a play for Ben Sheets in free agency who grew up in Louisiana and has an aunt that lives out in Katy then I say they should rebuild. Hopefully some of the guys with no trade clauses will waive them to go to a contender. I can see Roy waving it, but I don't know about Carlos and I think Berkman will stick it out no matter what since he's from New Braunfels and his wife is from Houston.
 
Why do we see these calls for busting up the team?

Teams that dump players do so less to try for a quick turnaround (because that doesn't work), rather they do so to dump salary and tend the bottom line.

Dumping players now would only depress attendance, and the 'stros aren't likely to lose money this year anyway.

Trading Roy would be idiotic. You don't get frontline starters like him just anywhere, and the chances that one team has another potential frontline starter they're willing to trade us is just about zero. The guys with a good chance to come up and be the next young hot shot aren't traded very often.

Lee and Tejada simply won't get value at this point.

Berkman is another untouchable. All the goodwill in building a winner for a decade will take a big hit if the face of the franchise is sent packing.

No one else will bring in anything worth talking about.

We simply need to stand pat, and draft better. Our period of success up til recently was built on a strong farm system, and doing a good job of targeting free agents for key positions (Clemens, Pettitte, Kent).
 
If Uncle Drayton wants a payroll of over $100M, he can go after Sheets. The payroll now is at $89M, and the only major salary that goes away after this season is the $6.5M Woody Williams is getting. However, Carlos Lee makes $6.5M more in '09 than '08, so that erases any possible salary space in the budget. The Astros have a ton of money already spent in 2009 and all on hitters (Berkman, Lee, Tejada, Matsui) except for Oswalt. Oh, I almost forgot the $1.6M guaranteed to Oscar Villarreal next year also. Sheesh. In 2010 Tejada will be gone and hopefully the team then can sign a free agent pitcher while maybe a couple of farm guys will be ready to contribute by then. One thing's for sure - 2009 will more than likely be as ugly as 2008.

As for Drayton, he makes $20M/year on the team so if you're him why make drastic changes? His business model is still working despite the terrible W-L record, and Houston is still a couple of years away from not going to Astros games to show their frustration. Let's be honest - just adding Ben Sheets won't make this team a contender. But Drayton could try to sign him if he thinks it'll keep up his profits and "shows" he cares about winning. So the main question is will he get a sufficient financial return on the move? Will he really make the $12-14M back that he'd spend for Sheets in '09?
 
I was surprised to see this post of mine again.
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I have buried them.
I have stopped watching them on tv. I just couldn't stand it any more.
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Not that I am brilliant or anything, but the pitching's now awful and the bats no longer produce seven runs a night.

It's going to take time for them to get back, but that's never been Drayton's business model.
 
I've buried them. I'll still go watch their rotted corpse play the Mets in August though. I'm more excited about watching the Dynamo play Red Bull this year.
 
Nationals 10
Stros 0

is there anyone still standing around their grave this year?


it will be at least 5 years before we see the Stros field another competitive team.
 
I don't understand why people think it would be that easy to unload salaries.

Berkman-full no trade clause
Lee-full no trade clause
Oswalt-full no trade clause but has indicated willingness to waive it

There's no one else on the team with a high salary that would be attractive (frankly, I don't think Lee would bring anything--that was a bad signing the day it was made--he's not a bad player but that contract is crap).

Not only that, but from a fan's perspective, why do I give a **** if the payroll is $100 million or $10 million? I just want them to win.

The problems with the Astros have been years in the making (extending into Hunsicker's tenure). They're simply going to be bad for awhile. Also, I don't think McLane or decision maker's have adjusted to the new reality that minor league potential has become almost as valuable as major league performance (though there are signs they get it better, as exemplified by offering arbitration to Loretta and Miller last year and the rededication to signing draft picks).
 
I sometimes wonder if any of you know anything about baseball.
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We just got to the All-Star Break. Anything can happen over the next 67 games. Winning this series was a good way to get some optimism back in that clubhouse.

It's going to take a significant amount of improvement, though. If any of you watched the Stros in May you know the ability is there; if you saw most of June you'd wonder where it went.
 
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