RJ weighs in with a blog post telling us that the Astros don't have to be terrible in 2010. Let's point out a contradiction of his, right off the bat: in his last blog post, he noted that fans don't care about the Astros anymore. Friday though, he noted that:
People here care about this baseball team. They care deeply.
Ok, well nobody ever said Dickie was known for being consistent. Let's go on, shall we?
Astros fans will be OK with younger players as long as they see that the organization is committed to a larger picture. Besides that, whether the team is good or bad, there still aren't many better ways to spend a few hours than to sit inside Minute Maid Park and watch a baseball game.
Point to Mr. Justice. Indeed, a climate controlled environment, $8.50 beers, a downtown that is being improved upon seemingly by the week, and a city that loves sports. All factors that enable MMP to draw fans even when Humberto Quintero, Kaz Matsui, and Jason Michaels make up 1/3 of the Astros' lineup. Onward, I say!:
Also, don't go writing off Bud Norris, Tommy Manzella or Chris Johnson after just a month or even after a season. Remember how bad Michael Bourn was last year? Could you have ever imagined he would be the Astros MVP in 2009?
Damn you, Tricky Ricky! Making another point I can't readily disparage.
Weren't you a little embarrassed when the Astros made a big deal of Pudge Rodriguez becoming the all-time leader in games caught? Pudge meant nothing to most Astros fans. He got here when he was in decline, and at a time when the organization was sliding backwards.
....I don't know if embarrassed is the word I would use. Maybe it is.I'm so confused at this point. Agreeing with Justice this much is like a life long Republican nodding his head with a President Obama State of the Union address. It's just not right.
Install Tommy Manzella at short and Edwin Maysonet at second and come up with a plan to give Brian Bogusevic regular playing time in the outfield.
Chris Johnson? He should have every chance to win the third-base job. Same with Jason Castro behind the plate.
Echoing our own DQ? Stop it right now, Richard! He caps it all off with a push to sign pitching:
Among the free agents: Justin Duchscherer, Rich Harden, John Lackey, Carl Pavano, Brad Penny, Joel Pineiro, Kiko Calero, Fernando Rodney, Billy Wagner and Jamie Walker.
An interesting post, to be sure. Food for thought this weekend too.
This one is for you, 'ol Pete: the Seattle Pilots are having a player reunion this weekend, celebrating their one year of existence. The who?? Some may ask. They were Seattle's first major league franchise, playing the 1969 season before a used-car dealer from Milwaukee named Allan Selig spearheaded an effort to move Seattle's young franchise to his hometown. The Pilots would henceforth be known as the Milwaukee Brewers, so give thanks 'ol Pete, your town got a baseball team roughly forty years ago.
For those who don't know, my family is from Milwaukee (I was actually born there) and I have heard stories about the old Milwaukee Braves moving to Atlanta, and how the city was distraught after losing the team. My grandfather would watch games at County Stadium in the cold, and enjoyed every second of it. After his Braves left though, he never could embrace the Brewers fully. After much of our family moved to Texas in the early 1990s he saw the light and became an Astros' fan, following the club closer than he ever did the Brew Crew. To me, it was always funny how he bemoaned losing his Braves, but he's never mentioned how Milwaukee pried away the Pilots from Seattle. I think on a basic level, the team you grew up with is going to have that pull on your heartstrings for life. Right or wrong, good or bad, most fans have their allegiances and will until the day they die. Times change, teams do too, but those memories from your youth are eternal. Sports is beautiful sometimes, ya know? A lot of people in Seattle lost a team, but tons of little guys and gals in Milwaukee gained a sports following that has lasted a lifetime.
The worst part of the Pilots saga was that it would foreshadow the city of Seattle eventually losing their beloved Sonics, and almost losing the Mariners in the early 1990s, before Ken Griffey, Jr. and crew saved the day, Seattle has had a bumpy sports history despite fielding competitive teams in all three of the major US sports. Hell, the Seattle Sounders soccer club are wowing folks in Washington, and drawing big crowds to boot. You win some, you lose some. You lose a piece of your town, and gain a new piece. Such is life, such is sports.
0 recs | 11 comments
I went to college in Milwaukee in the late 80s
After growing up in Houston. I really enjoyed going to County Stadium. Outdoor baseball was novel and fun and the Brewers’ Fan Appreciation Night was the best. Plus, I was there at the height of Molitor and Yount’s careers. Talking about allegiances…after returning to Texas, the Brewers were my favorite American League team for several years. That allegiance faded once they moved to the NL and the Astros division. I still follow and root for the Marquette basketball team even though it is rare for them to come anywhere near Texas. They weren’t very good when I was there, but I was hooked by the Marquette Warriors experience.
farm_stros - September 5, 2009
nooooooo wayyyy
My mom went to MU, (c/o ’82, I believe), my grandpa went to undergrad and law school at MU.
In 2003, when MU made it to the final four, they were in the opposite bracket as UT, and I was praying that somehow both would win their final four games and play each other in the final…sadly that did not happen.
Regardless…two Astro related bloggers with Marquette ties…small world, eh?
Evan Hochschild - September 5, 2009
we are marquette
I was class of ‘91. The Final Four year was pretty great until the game against Kansas started. A few years back, when they lost to Stanford in the second round, I was all ready to buy tickets for the Regionals at Reliant Stadium…Houston. Alas, they didn’t make it.
farm_stros - September 5, 2009
i remember that game
the lopez twins did them in. marquette is developing a not great history of losing close games in the tourney.
Evan Hochschild - September 5, 2009
Want a break from reading articles about how bad the Astros are?
Like to read articles about how bad the Cubs are?
Well, here is an article about the Cubs’ big season this year.
clack - September 5, 2009
RJ – He really is amazingly contradictory a lot. I was kind of struck a while back by the contrast between his Chron column and his national column. He’s a regular guest on the radio here talking both football and baseball.
MB – Was he really what could be called bad last year? I know his weaknesses grated on the denizens of TCB and probably general Astros fandom, but he was still a nice defensive CF and did okay at the plate.
2010 – My impression here is that most don’t want to blow things up. Will they be able to compete for and in the playoffs? I’d say it’ll be pretty tough, but I’m looking at it through brewers blue glasses. Its a hot topic for fans here. Usually the complaint is general unhappiness, most focused on Melvin and his job at getting pitching. When the limited choices are pointed out, the usual refrain is something like “no excuses” – get the job done or get out. When the conversation goes forward you eventually get to the point where there are a fair number of people who want to trade the prospects and go for it. You may not know this, but many prospects don’t work out! If it means going for it and then doing a rebuild, many say, go for it.
One thing to consider is the financial part. Doing a rebuild means some empty seats and lower all around revenues which makes it harder to rebuild.
Is my view of the Astros uninformed and/or distorted by allegiance?
ol Pete - September 5, 2009
I think there are a variety of opinons among Astros’ fans. Obviously there was some debate among fans about trading guys like Tejada, Valverde, and Hawkins before the trade deadline. The team was too close to contention for the front office to consider that option at the time. Beyond that decision point, I don’t think the Astros have a lot of choices.
“Blowing it up” would usually mean trading Oswalt, Berkman, and Lee. Beyond the fact that many fans (and Drayton, himself) would balk at trading their favorite star, those players have no trade clauses and salaries which makes it very hard to blow it up. Beyond that, the Astros are very limited in their ability to rebuild. The Astros don’t have a lot of veteran ML value to trade off nor do they have the talent level in the upper ranks of the minors to pull it off. Fans who say “play the kids” may not realize that the only kids who are available to play next year are marginal prospects (like Manzella).
So, as a matter of necessity, I think we are looking at a continuation of the 08/09 strategy of trying to piece together a ML team which is competitive if things go well, and waiting for talent from the lower minor levels to advance. If McLane is willing to spend some money for an additional pitcher or two, I think the odds that the team will be competitive become more reasonable. I don’t think Justice’s proposal (mainly centered on adding free agent pitching and piecing the lineup together with marginal prospects and existing position players) is a bad one. But I don’t know if McLane would be willing to go along with it, financially.
clack - September 5, 2009
Pieces we could move
It might (maybe) be possible to trade Oswalt and Berkman for some value, although it would be difficult given their fading production this year. And of course that hinges on them waving the NTC, but they might be willing to do it. Maybe if they perform better next year leading up to the trade deadline?
Much as I hate to say it, Wandy and Pence would bring a ton of value into the system as well. Wandy will be getting into his mid-30s by the time prospects like Lyles and Seaton even make it to the big leagues let alone settle in as MLB pitchers. He might bring more long term value as a trade. We have a good number of solid prospects who could play corner outfield in the future, and Pence has been pretty average for his position anyway.
Sadly, that’s about it. Lee would not waive his NTC even if somebody would take on his awful salary. We should hold onto Bourn as he is young and it would be difficult to find anyone as capable. Nobody else has any major value as of yet.
OremLK - September 5, 2009
if you want to keep any of the remaining fans in the stands, berkman and pence are both untouchable. Pence is a huge fan favorite and trading him would piss most fans off. Same with Berkman. Wandy is one of the top number 2 starters in the league and could be a number 1 on some bad teams. With the uncertainty of Roy playing past his contract, i feel we need to keep Wandy. If we want Roy and Lance to play past their contracts, we have to keep both Wandy and Pence to prove to them that the front office wants to win.
Subber10 - September 5, 2009
I think they have to keep Pence for PR reasons.
He’s going to be the franchise face after Berkman and Roy disappear into the distance.
I don’t think they’ll get particularly good value out of Lance or Roy unless they’re paying for a part of their contracts, and of course, I don’t think Lance is going out of Texas (Rangers are a bad fit with David and Smoak about to come up), and I’m not sure about Roy (his trade value’s probably diminished a little after this year).
I think they can afford to deal Wandy and get a good haul out of it. He’s a #2 guy, not an ace, but still only 30, he’s got bendy strikeout stuff which really means he can net a pretty good haul to rebuild the system.
jonthefon - September 5, 2009
In other news
Colorado Rockies released Russ Ortiz after three poor appearances in AAA.
Joe in Birmingham - September 5, 2009
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