Last night I was, of course, watching the final game of the ALCS. I was very happy that the Astros were able to battle back from a 0-3 deficit, but I wasn’t particularly surprised that their efforts fell short as they dealt with injuries and everything else that was a part of this hellscape we call 2020.
I was legitimately happy for the Rays to move on to the World Series and was about to post a congratulatory tweet when I saw the Rays AAA affiliate Durham Bulls put out a tweet calling the Astros trash. Here I am seeing a ton of Astros fans sincerely congratulating the Rays, and this Rays affiliate seems to be more excited to “trash” the Astros than they are about the fact that their team just advanced to the World Series. Nothing like being a sore winner.
Here’s the deal. I do not now nor have I ever condoned what the Astros did. They stole signs in a manner that was against the rules and it shouldn’t have happened. But it did. At the time, I wrote a post telling the players involved to grow up. Well, guess what? They did. They confessed. They apologized. And they owned it. And, in retrospect, that was the problem. Other teams were cheating in similar fashion around the same time. But they chose to obfuscate and cover up their investigations with the winking consent of Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred. The Yankees have fought to keep sealed a letter regarding their own scandal because it “might harm their reputation.” No confessions. No apologies. And no owning it for them. Just sweeping it under the rug.
I was not proud of what the Astros did, but I am proud of the way the players handled it. They did not deflect blame. They did not hide behind Manfred’s skirts. They owned it. Carlos Correa went from a boy to a man in the blink of an eye and I could not be prouder of him. He became the team leader and franchise spokesman. Bregman ramped up his efforts to help the community during the current crisis. They refuse to let this scandal define them as people or as players.
The fans of other teams view the collective Astros brand as the boogeyman. They do not see the individual players for what they are. And these same people have zero self-awareness. Hey, Rays fans, since the Astros are so evil, please send us Charlie Morton back. He was one of those 2017 Cheating ‘Stros. You must really hate him. And while you’re at it, you can send us back your third base coach (Rodney Linares) and one of your bullpen pitchers (Ryan Thompson) because they were in the Astros system in 2017 and you wouldn’t want to risk being tainted by their Astros stank. And I know you just acquired Brett Phillips, but you do know that he is besties with Lance McCullers and Carlos Correa, right? And worst of all, you have a Special Assistant to the GM (Bobby Heck) that was, gasp, the Scouting Director for the Astros and was instrumental in signing George Springer and Carlos Correa. How do you know that he isn’t trying to corrupt your organization? And it’s not just the Rays. You will be hard-pressed to find an MLB organization with zero connection to this team. The Astros tentacles are everywhere.
This is the reality. Someone on your favorite team may very well be trying to get an edge by stealing signs or by doctoring a baseball or by taking performance-enhancing drugs. Or they may be gambling on baseball. Or they may be going out of their way to intentionally hurt other players with hard slides or beanballs. Or they may be domestic abusers. Or they may be stone-cold cowards who like to date underage girls (I’m looking at you A’s). Or your front office may be trying to steal proprietary information. Or your coaches or managers may be the ones who persuaded players to cheat. Or you may have players on your team who are just lousy human beings. Your team is only as pure and blameless as the worst person in your organization. Go ahead and throw stones, but don’t be surprised when the glass gets broken in your own house.
Oh, and one final word. Since the Astros (booga booga booga) are so horrible and evil, I am assuming that there is not one single fan of another team that will want George Springer in free agency. Who could possibly want “trash” like that? With that said, I am sincerely happy for the Rays and would like to congratulate them on moving on to the World Series.
A LOOK AT THE ASTROS MINOR LEAGUE SYSTEM
Showing posts with label Soapbox. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Soapbox. Show all posts
Sunday, October 18, 2020
Tuesday, January 14, 2020
Astros Soapbox: Time to Grow Up
The Astros shot themselves in the foot … again. The following words are my personal thoughts and opinions on the matter. For background and a great fact-based rant, please read Astros County’s usual excellent contribution.
I feel like I should write something about yesterday’s big news, but I’m not sure what and I’m not sure why. I wasn’t the least bit surprised by the MLB sanctions. They were pretty much what I expected. I was, however, more than a bit surprised that Jim Crane took it all a step further and actually fired A.J. Hinch and Jeff Luhnow, even though I think it was the right thing to do.
I’m also not terribly upset by the news. It is what it is. You get to be my age (which admittedly isn’t ancient but definitely older than most of my readers) and you don’t get all that worked up about those things over which you have no control. You just let them slide. And you don’t get all that worked up about those things that don’t result in loss of life or freedom or home. It’s baseball and I love it dearly, but when something goes wrong in baseball, it’s not war or the fate of the country or death and devastation from floods, wildfires, hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes and blizzards. Sure, I get pissed off when MLB does something dumb, but I generally bitch about it and move on.
Jeff Luhnow is a grown man. If he didn’t know what was going on on his team (which he should have) or he did and looked the other way, it doesn’t really matter. Manfred made it pretty damn clear that the GM and Field Manager would be held responsible if this crap happened again. It did and he was. Luhnow is very personable and charming and he always treated me well personally. But he had squandered every bit of good will he might have had within the industry over the years. Internally (and now externally if they were fired or otherwise left the fold), there are a whole lot of players, scouts, coaches and other staff that had axes to grind with Luhnow over the way he handled his business. (Sorry, you’ll have to take my word for this. You don’t talk to hundreds of people in the Astros system over Luhnow’s entire tenure without getting a good feel for how people really felt about him. Right or wrong, he wasn’t widely beloved by the insiders.) Externally, many writers and pundits hated his scorched earth rebuild and other facets of the Astros model. And Luhnow’s public mishandling of situations going back to the Brady Aiken/Jacob Nix debacle didn’t help endear him to anyone.
Again, it doesn’t matter who was right and who was wrong. At some point, perception becomes reality. The obfuscation over the Osuna signing was the last straw for many of us. First Luhnow declared that Osuna was remorseful, then Osuna’s lawyer comes out and says he’s not remorseful because he didn’t do anything wrong. Then Osuna does a national print interview basically saying ‘just wait until the case is resolved and I’ll clear up everything.’ And then when the case was resolved, he says nothing. And the Astros throw some money at the local domestic violence charity and pretend that they didn’t insult every single fan who is not particularly happy about hiring someone who has received a massive MLB penalty for domestic violence prior to his case even being resolved. Everything was A-OK and female fans, in particular, were ignored and taken for granted. Add the news that he had to be talked out of drafting confessed child molestor Luke Heimlich and Luhnow no longer gets the benefit of a doubt on his intentions from the vast majority. Again, right or wrong, he was never going to come out of this situation in one piece. And he didn’t.
A.J. Hinch’s situation was a little different. Hinch is truly liked throughout the industry. His statements about this whole situation are gobsmacking. First nothing happened. Then on the record, he knew what was happening but he tried to stop it by busting up a monitor or two, but didn’t actually tell anyone to stop it? That’s horseshit. Either he knew and looked the other way or he knew and someone TOLD HIM to look the other way. Either way, he was a weak leader and shouldn’t be in charge. Personally, I think by trying to keep from throwing people under the bus, he just ended up throwing himself under the bus and made himself look foolish in the process. At least his public response looked sincerely remorseful and apologetic. I honestly feel badly for Hinch. It felt to me like he tried to thread the needle too finely and ended up sticking himself in the eye.
As to Jim Crane, I was shockingly touched by his presser yesterday. Crane is not known for handling the media well. But he appeared sincere and very contrite in his statement and the later Q&A. As surprised as I was initially about his decision to fire Hinch and Luhnow, I really couldn’t see how he could move on with them a year from now. If you temporarily award GM and Field Manager to people and they do well in the positions, do you take that away from them after the season? That makes zero sense to me. And do you really need that baggage after everything that's happened? I think you have to move on and I’m glad that he made that decision. I am, however, more than apprehensive about who Crane will pick for these jobs, though, as I remember back to George Postolos's days as President prior to Reid Ryan (who we really, really need right now by the way).
But none of that really bothers me all that much. I’ve come to expect zero, zilch, nada when it comes to character and honesty in the front office of any team, much as I do for corporate offices, governmental entities, etc. When any of them actually DO show character and honesty, I am more than pleasantly surprised, but I am old enough to know that money and power usually trump character and honesty. It’s not right, but it’s real.
But with that said, there is something from this whole debacle that does bother me. I expect better from individuals that I have met in person. Individuals that I have supported and spent my hard-earned (now hard-saved) money visiting and talking with to tell their stories and help promote them in their quest to make the MLB. When reading the report yesterday, my first thought was this …
The report names no players. Honestly, I think it should. Why should they get off? When the news first came out, my sister was almost in tears as she contemplated the idea of Jose Altuve cheating. She and I talked on the phone again last night. She said to me. “I just want to sit down with Altuve face to face and ask him why? They were so good. Why would they need to cheat? Was I giving my money (we were season ticket holders at the time) to a bunch of cheaters?”
I know that “veteran presence” Carlos Beltran was one of the ringleaders, but not one single player was man enough to tell him to cut it out, to tell him that he wasn’t going to participate? Not one? There comes a time in life when you need to man the hell up and do the right thing even when it’s not easy. Peer pressure is no excuse for doing something that you know is wrong.
Every single player who knew what was going on and didn’t do anything to stop it (whether they participated or not) owes me and you and every player they played against a public apology. They need to prove to me that they are capable of owning up to their mistakes. You want to know who got A.J. Hinch fired? It wasn’t Rob Manfred. It wasn’t Jim Crane. It wasn’t even A.J. Hinch himself despite my earlier comments. It was every single immature, irresponsible player (including Mike Fiers) who let it happen and did nothing to stop it at the time. Yeah, guys, you are directly responsible for the fact that the manager you profess to love is no longer your leader. It’s time to grow up, boys.
I feel like I should write something about yesterday’s big news, but I’m not sure what and I’m not sure why. I wasn’t the least bit surprised by the MLB sanctions. They were pretty much what I expected. I was, however, more than a bit surprised that Jim Crane took it all a step further and actually fired A.J. Hinch and Jeff Luhnow, even though I think it was the right thing to do.
I’m also not terribly upset by the news. It is what it is. You get to be my age (which admittedly isn’t ancient but definitely older than most of my readers) and you don’t get all that worked up about those things over which you have no control. You just let them slide. And you don’t get all that worked up about those things that don’t result in loss of life or freedom or home. It’s baseball and I love it dearly, but when something goes wrong in baseball, it’s not war or the fate of the country or death and devastation from floods, wildfires, hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes and blizzards. Sure, I get pissed off when MLB does something dumb, but I generally bitch about it and move on.
Jeff Luhnow is a grown man. If he didn’t know what was going on on his team (which he should have) or he did and looked the other way, it doesn’t really matter. Manfred made it pretty damn clear that the GM and Field Manager would be held responsible if this crap happened again. It did and he was. Luhnow is very personable and charming and he always treated me well personally. But he had squandered every bit of good will he might have had within the industry over the years. Internally (and now externally if they were fired or otherwise left the fold), there are a whole lot of players, scouts, coaches and other staff that had axes to grind with Luhnow over the way he handled his business. (Sorry, you’ll have to take my word for this. You don’t talk to hundreds of people in the Astros system over Luhnow’s entire tenure without getting a good feel for how people really felt about him. Right or wrong, he wasn’t widely beloved by the insiders.) Externally, many writers and pundits hated his scorched earth rebuild and other facets of the Astros model. And Luhnow’s public mishandling of situations going back to the Brady Aiken/Jacob Nix debacle didn’t help endear him to anyone.
Again, it doesn’t matter who was right and who was wrong. At some point, perception becomes reality. The obfuscation over the Osuna signing was the last straw for many of us. First Luhnow declared that Osuna was remorseful, then Osuna’s lawyer comes out and says he’s not remorseful because he didn’t do anything wrong. Then Osuna does a national print interview basically saying ‘just wait until the case is resolved and I’ll clear up everything.’ And then when the case was resolved, he says nothing. And the Astros throw some money at the local domestic violence charity and pretend that they didn’t insult every single fan who is not particularly happy about hiring someone who has received a massive MLB penalty for domestic violence prior to his case even being resolved. Everything was A-OK and female fans, in particular, were ignored and taken for granted. Add the news that he had to be talked out of drafting confessed child molestor Luke Heimlich and Luhnow no longer gets the benefit of a doubt on his intentions from the vast majority. Again, right or wrong, he was never going to come out of this situation in one piece. And he didn’t.
A.J. Hinch’s situation was a little different. Hinch is truly liked throughout the industry. His statements about this whole situation are gobsmacking. First nothing happened. Then on the record, he knew what was happening but he tried to stop it by busting up a monitor or two, but didn’t actually tell anyone to stop it? That’s horseshit. Either he knew and looked the other way or he knew and someone TOLD HIM to look the other way. Either way, he was a weak leader and shouldn’t be in charge. Personally, I think by trying to keep from throwing people under the bus, he just ended up throwing himself under the bus and made himself look foolish in the process. At least his public response looked sincerely remorseful and apologetic. I honestly feel badly for Hinch. It felt to me like he tried to thread the needle too finely and ended up sticking himself in the eye.
As to Jim Crane, I was shockingly touched by his presser yesterday. Crane is not known for handling the media well. But he appeared sincere and very contrite in his statement and the later Q&A. As surprised as I was initially about his decision to fire Hinch and Luhnow, I really couldn’t see how he could move on with them a year from now. If you temporarily award GM and Field Manager to people and they do well in the positions, do you take that away from them after the season? That makes zero sense to me. And do you really need that baggage after everything that's happened? I think you have to move on and I’m glad that he made that decision. I am, however, more than apprehensive about who Crane will pick for these jobs, though, as I remember back to George Postolos's days as President prior to Reid Ryan (who we really, really need right now by the way).
But none of that really bothers me all that much. I’ve come to expect zero, zilch, nada when it comes to character and honesty in the front office of any team, much as I do for corporate offices, governmental entities, etc. When any of them actually DO show character and honesty, I am more than pleasantly surprised, but I am old enough to know that money and power usually trump character and honesty. It’s not right, but it’s real.
But with that said, there is something from this whole debacle that does bother me. I expect better from individuals that I have met in person. Individuals that I have supported and spent my hard-earned (now hard-saved) money visiting and talking with to tell their stories and help promote them in their quest to make the MLB. When reading the report yesterday, my first thought was this …
This is the part that pisses me off the most. Apparently I'm not the judge of character that I thought I was or some of the guys I knew changed a lot after they got to the bigs. "They knew the scheme was wrong ..." but they did it anyway. https://t.co/eeEhlGkOic— Jayne Hansen (@JayneWTHB) January 13, 2020
The report names no players. Honestly, I think it should. Why should they get off? When the news first came out, my sister was almost in tears as she contemplated the idea of Jose Altuve cheating. She and I talked on the phone again last night. She said to me. “I just want to sit down with Altuve face to face and ask him why? They were so good. Why would they need to cheat? Was I giving my money (we were season ticket holders at the time) to a bunch of cheaters?”
I know that “veteran presence” Carlos Beltran was one of the ringleaders, but not one single player was man enough to tell him to cut it out, to tell him that he wasn’t going to participate? Not one? There comes a time in life when you need to man the hell up and do the right thing even when it’s not easy. Peer pressure is no excuse for doing something that you know is wrong.
Every single player who knew what was going on and didn’t do anything to stop it (whether they participated or not) owes me and you and every player they played against a public apology. They need to prove to me that they are capable of owning up to their mistakes. You want to know who got A.J. Hinch fired? It wasn’t Rob Manfred. It wasn’t Jim Crane. It wasn’t even A.J. Hinch himself despite my earlier comments. It was every single immature, irresponsible player (including Mike Fiers) who let it happen and did nothing to stop it at the time. Yeah, guys, you are directly responsible for the fact that the manager you profess to love is no longer your leader. It’s time to grow up, boys.
Friday, August 3, 2018
The Roberto Osuna Trade: A Soapbox
Don't expect much of anything new as I weigh in on the Roberto Osuna trade. Just about every good and bad take has already been made by someone, somewhere. I started to write an open letter, but decided to bag it after Jexas posted her moving and heartfelt thoughts about the situation over at Astros County. But I feel that I have to say something lest my readers get the impression that I approve of what has transpired.
I, like others, was shocked when the trade was announced. The Astros that won the World Series last season made Houston feel good about itself. Yeah, yeah, I know. The Astros are in the business of making money, not the business of making the fans happy. Although I will argue that running a sports franchise isn't exactly the same as running a business that makes widgets since generations of fans form a personal connection to a team that transcends a mere preference for this brand of widget over that brand.
As a whole, the 2017 Astros were a team that Houston could be proud of, a team that embraced the community after Harvey and who the community embraced back in a major way. Sure, there were a couple players who likely rubbed people the wrong way when their confidence and cockiness was construed to be arrogance. And Yuli definitely pissed off a lot of people with his racist gesture in the postseason. And, let's face it, Ken Giles just seemed to not really fit in; he never seemed happy with himself or anything else. But aside from that, I am hard-pressed to think of anything really negative about the 2017 team, but I can think of tons of positives. It was a team that fans were happy and proud to support because they seemed like such good guys.
Coming from that mindset, adding a player who has been charged with domestic violence to that mix is disturbing, jarring and upsetting to many of the fans. Making things worse is that the case is still pending and that no one really knows what happened, leaving people to either believe the worst (as will be the case with a lot of women, in particular, since we are more likely to have been victims of domestic violence) or the best (for those who don't wish to feel conflicted about their favorite sports teams).
Trading for Osuna before the case was even settled was, to use a fitting metaphor, a slap in the face to the fans who care about the way women are treated in our society. And announcing the trade by saying that Osuna was "remorseful" for his actions, a statement that was immediately walked back by Osuna's attorney who claims his client to be innocent was ham-handed and amateurish at best. Questions abound. Did he really say that he was remorseful? If he did say that and he's innocent, what is he remorseful for exactly? When the unprecedented due diligence was conducted, did anyone actually talk to the victim or her family or her friends? What happens if the case doesn't settle as expected?
For better or worse, trading for Osuna is also complicated by the current political and societal environment. People are finally realizing the extent of what women have been going through in a supposedly civilized society. Ask the women in your life if they've ever been the victim of domestic violence or sexual assault or childhood sexual abuse. These things are unfortunately commonplace. It feels as though the Astros front office decided to dump gasoline on a what is already a highly-charged situation.
I do not believe that the Astros picked up Osuna because they believe in second chances. They picked him up because he is a very talented, controllable baseball player that could be acquired for far less than he would be worth had he not been considered damaged goods. And they would not have made the trade if they thought they would suffer any lasting repercussions from the fans over it. And they probably will not.
Because, according to my understanding, Canada doesn't release information about domestic violence cases in order to protect the victim, we will never know exactly what happened. We will never see a photograph of a battered face or whatever injuries are out there. The fans will start to think, well, maybe it wasn't so bad after all (particularly if the case settles as expected). That mentality seems to already be growing with a large percentage of the fan base. But that's human nature. We try to find ways to rationalize. The Astros are undoubtedly relying on that.
But, personally, I have a really big problem with that particular rationalization. If Osuna was charged by the authorities, which he was and if MLB handed down a substantial suspension, which they did, I have a hard time believing that there is no fire to go with the smoke. If the Astros had waited until the case was resolved, addressed the concerns of the fans, and donated heavily to organizations that help the victims of domestic violence, I might have cut them a little slack. But they couldn't even do that. I might be more willing to accept the "second chances" perspective if the front office said or did anything to indicate that they actually care about domestic violence victims.
Like I said, I haven't really covered anything new in this post. The new part is figuring out what I'm going to do about it. All of this has been swirling around in my head for the last few days because I have to live with myself over this and I have to live with my own moral convictions. I have to weigh my decades-long fandom and the fact that I have devoted the last seven years of my life becoming immersed in the Astros minor league system with my palpable disdain and disgust for how the Osuna trade was handled and the allegations against him.
Throughout my time covering the Astros minor league system, I have gotten to know hundreds and hundreds of players. I may only have a superficial knowledge of the majority of those players, but I have really gotten to know quite a few players on a more substantive basis. Over the years, I have become less a fan of the Astros than I have become of those individual players. The postseason last year was an exception because it was the culmination of a lifetime of fandom, but overall, I'm happy to see a former Astros player I like succeed even if his success comes at the expense of my hometown team.
So it occurred to me that I don't have to be an Astros fan anymore. I don't have to root, root, root for the home team. And I'm not going to be a fan as long as Osuna is on the club. My fandom is now officially reserved for the individual players that I really like, regardless of team. I'm going to become a free agent. I will support individual players, but I can no longer fully support the team as a whole (meaning not only Osuna, but the front office).
My sister and I have decided not to renew our mini-season tickets for next year and we will be giving the Astros a lot less of our cash. We will still take in an occasional game, but we'll stick to cheap weekday seats on StubHub. I know it's not much, but not going to baseball games at all any more would be punishing me a lot more than it would be the Astros. But at least they'll be getting less of my cash to pay Osuna's contract with. That is, I suppose, my personal rationalization as to how to handle this situation and I know it is imperfect and somewhat hypocritical. But I refuse to let one bad apple destroy my decades-long love of the game.
Then there's the blog. I will definitely be continuing with the blog through the end of the season. The players that I cover in the minors have nothing to do with this front office debacle. I have several interviews coming out and have the contact info on many more players for later interviews. After the season is over, I'll be considering how to move forward since I don't really feel like giving the Astros free publicity any more. I've long been toying with the idea of branching out and talking to players in other systems or starting up a blog about women in baseball. I still plan to write next season, but it may very well not be completely Astros-centric anymore. I need to think on that one a little bit more.
My final thought it this. I really wish that the Astros would at least attempt to work with women's groups, particularly those who help the victims of domestic violence. If you recall, the Astros withdrew their backing of the Astros Wives Organization back in 2013, effectively putting an end to the Wives Gala, an event that benefited the Houston Area Women's Center. A renewed affiliation with HAWC would at least tell fans that the Astros aren't being completely dismissive of their concerns. But I'm not going to hold my breath. If you would like to contribute to the HAWC (as I will be doing once I sort out my post-vacation finances), you can do so here.
Everyone will handle this situation differently and that's OK as long as you take domestic violence seriously. Please do not shrug off any allegations against Osuna or anyone else just because that person is good at sports. The victim of domestic violence should always be the first consideration. And how good a player is and how controllable should be the last.
I, like others, was shocked when the trade was announced. The Astros that won the World Series last season made Houston feel good about itself. Yeah, yeah, I know. The Astros are in the business of making money, not the business of making the fans happy. Although I will argue that running a sports franchise isn't exactly the same as running a business that makes widgets since generations of fans form a personal connection to a team that transcends a mere preference for this brand of widget over that brand.
As a whole, the 2017 Astros were a team that Houston could be proud of, a team that embraced the community after Harvey and who the community embraced back in a major way. Sure, there were a couple players who likely rubbed people the wrong way when their confidence and cockiness was construed to be arrogance. And Yuli definitely pissed off a lot of people with his racist gesture in the postseason. And, let's face it, Ken Giles just seemed to not really fit in; he never seemed happy with himself or anything else. But aside from that, I am hard-pressed to think of anything really negative about the 2017 team, but I can think of tons of positives. It was a team that fans were happy and proud to support because they seemed like such good guys.
Coming from that mindset, adding a player who has been charged with domestic violence to that mix is disturbing, jarring and upsetting to many of the fans. Making things worse is that the case is still pending and that no one really knows what happened, leaving people to either believe the worst (as will be the case with a lot of women, in particular, since we are more likely to have been victims of domestic violence) or the best (for those who don't wish to feel conflicted about their favorite sports teams).
Trading for Osuna before the case was even settled was, to use a fitting metaphor, a slap in the face to the fans who care about the way women are treated in our society. And announcing the trade by saying that Osuna was "remorseful" for his actions, a statement that was immediately walked back by Osuna's attorney who claims his client to be innocent was ham-handed and amateurish at best. Questions abound. Did he really say that he was remorseful? If he did say that and he's innocent, what is he remorseful for exactly? When the unprecedented due diligence was conducted, did anyone actually talk to the victim or her family or her friends? What happens if the case doesn't settle as expected?
For better or worse, trading for Osuna is also complicated by the current political and societal environment. People are finally realizing the extent of what women have been going through in a supposedly civilized society. Ask the women in your life if they've ever been the victim of domestic violence or sexual assault or childhood sexual abuse. These things are unfortunately commonplace. It feels as though the Astros front office decided to dump gasoline on a what is already a highly-charged situation.
I do not believe that the Astros picked up Osuna because they believe in second chances. They picked him up because he is a very talented, controllable baseball player that could be acquired for far less than he would be worth had he not been considered damaged goods. And they would not have made the trade if they thought they would suffer any lasting repercussions from the fans over it. And they probably will not.
Because, according to my understanding, Canada doesn't release information about domestic violence cases in order to protect the victim, we will never know exactly what happened. We will never see a photograph of a battered face or whatever injuries are out there. The fans will start to think, well, maybe it wasn't so bad after all (particularly if the case settles as expected). That mentality seems to already be growing with a large percentage of the fan base. But that's human nature. We try to find ways to rationalize. The Astros are undoubtedly relying on that.
But, personally, I have a really big problem with that particular rationalization. If Osuna was charged by the authorities, which he was and if MLB handed down a substantial suspension, which they did, I have a hard time believing that there is no fire to go with the smoke. If the Astros had waited until the case was resolved, addressed the concerns of the fans, and donated heavily to organizations that help the victims of domestic violence, I might have cut them a little slack. But they couldn't even do that. I might be more willing to accept the "second chances" perspective if the front office said or did anything to indicate that they actually care about domestic violence victims.
Like I said, I haven't really covered anything new in this post. The new part is figuring out what I'm going to do about it. All of this has been swirling around in my head for the last few days because I have to live with myself over this and I have to live with my own moral convictions. I have to weigh my decades-long fandom and the fact that I have devoted the last seven years of my life becoming immersed in the Astros minor league system with my palpable disdain and disgust for how the Osuna trade was handled and the allegations against him.
Throughout my time covering the Astros minor league system, I have gotten to know hundreds and hundreds of players. I may only have a superficial knowledge of the majority of those players, but I have really gotten to know quite a few players on a more substantive basis. Over the years, I have become less a fan of the Astros than I have become of those individual players. The postseason last year was an exception because it was the culmination of a lifetime of fandom, but overall, I'm happy to see a former Astros player I like succeed even if his success comes at the expense of my hometown team.
So it occurred to me that I don't have to be an Astros fan anymore. I don't have to root, root, root for the home team. And I'm not going to be a fan as long as Osuna is on the club. My fandom is now officially reserved for the individual players that I really like, regardless of team. I'm going to become a free agent. I will support individual players, but I can no longer fully support the team as a whole (meaning not only Osuna, but the front office).
My sister and I have decided not to renew our mini-season tickets for next year and we will be giving the Astros a lot less of our cash. We will still take in an occasional game, but we'll stick to cheap weekday seats on StubHub. I know it's not much, but not going to baseball games at all any more would be punishing me a lot more than it would be the Astros. But at least they'll be getting less of my cash to pay Osuna's contract with. That is, I suppose, my personal rationalization as to how to handle this situation and I know it is imperfect and somewhat hypocritical. But I refuse to let one bad apple destroy my decades-long love of the game.
Then there's the blog. I will definitely be continuing with the blog through the end of the season. The players that I cover in the minors have nothing to do with this front office debacle. I have several interviews coming out and have the contact info on many more players for later interviews. After the season is over, I'll be considering how to move forward since I don't really feel like giving the Astros free publicity any more. I've long been toying with the idea of branching out and talking to players in other systems or starting up a blog about women in baseball. I still plan to write next season, but it may very well not be completely Astros-centric anymore. I need to think on that one a little bit more.
My final thought it this. I really wish that the Astros would at least attempt to work with women's groups, particularly those who help the victims of domestic violence. If you recall, the Astros withdrew their backing of the Astros Wives Organization back in 2013, effectively putting an end to the Wives Gala, an event that benefited the Houston Area Women's Center. A renewed affiliation with HAWC would at least tell fans that the Astros aren't being completely dismissive of their concerns. But I'm not going to hold my breath. If you would like to contribute to the HAWC (as I will be doing once I sort out my post-vacation finances), you can do so here.
Everyone will handle this situation differently and that's OK as long as you take domestic violence seriously. Please do not shrug off any allegations against Osuna or anyone else just because that person is good at sports. The victim of domestic violence should always be the first consideration. And how good a player is and how controllable should be the last.
Monday, March 19, 2018
Astros Farm Report: 3-19
Catching you up on the latest Astros MiLB news ...
WISHING A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO
3-22: RHP Joe Smith (34)
3-23: OF Patrick Mathis (22)
3-23: LHP Julio Robaina (17)
3-24: RHP Jacob Dorris (25)
ROSTER MOVES/TRANSACTIONS
Another quiet week on the transaction front ...
With the the latest reassignments to the minor league camp, there are currently33 32 (with A.J. Reed optioned today) players with the big league camp, including the rehabbing Jandel Gustave and Brady Rodgers and the lone remaining non-roster invitee, C Tim Federowicz.
You can check the cumulative Astros offseason transaction list here to see if you've missed any of the posted moves this offseason.
SPRING TRAINING MINOR LEAGUE STANDOUTS
Minor league pitchers aren't getting many innings in Spring Training as the season opener gets closer, but most of those who have can be proud! In the last week, Jacob Dorris provided two scoreless outings and Nick Hernandez, Chris Nunn and Brendan McCurry each put up zeroes in their individual outings as well. And Rogelio Armenteros converted a 3-inning save opportunity on Friday, allowing one hit, one walk and no runs while striking out five.
As far as position players go, the same trio keeps rising to the top week after week: Kyle Tucker (4-for-8 for the last week: 4G 3RBI 2R SO), Jon Kemmer (3-for-7 for the last week: 4G 2B R SO) and Jack Mayfield (3-for-7 for the last week: 4G RBI SO). For the spring, they are:
Tucker: .410/.429/.795 in 17 games
Mayfield: .333/.400/.556 in 18 games
Kemmer: .320/.433/.600 in 16 games
And, although they haven't gotten a ton of at-bats this spring, a couple of other minor leaguers made their marks this week -- Alex DeGoti with a 2-run home run on Tuesday and Anibal Sierra with a grand slam on Saturday.
In case you were wondering, I've just been featuring players who have yet to make their MLB debut in these "Spring Training Standouts" posts, but I'm sure you're aware that there is a major league battle to see who will start the season at first base for the Astros as they await the return of Yuli Gurriel from his DL stint and suspension. Through Sunday's game, here are how the three contenders are faring:
J.D. Davis: 16G .333/.378/.619 3-2B 3HR 3BB:11SO
A.J. Reed: 19G .298/.365/.511 4-2B 2HR 4BB:15SO (optioned today)
Tyler White: 17G .242/.378/.515 3-2B 2HR 7BB:9SO
NEWS AND LINKS
Unfortunately, the first thing I saw on twitter when I woke up this morning was this ...
I'll save my full-blown soapbox for another day, but the cost of giving each minor league player in the Astros system an extra $1000 per month from early March through early September would cost approximately $1,440,000 per year. I know that isn't cheap, but it's less than the signing bonus for one top prospect and would make a huge difference in the lives of 240 minor league players, many of whom signed for a pittance. Paying players an hourly wage may not make sense due to the nature of the business, but increasing their pay to a fair salaried wage does. I honestly wish the Astros would do that, not because they have to or because it's the law, but because it's the right thing to do. Here is the full story.
That, on top of the ridiculous extra inning and other rules for the minors, makes me like this Commish less and less. And, since mound visits in which a "injury or potential injury to the pitcher" isn't counted as a visit, I'm anticipating a lot of soccer-type "injuries" to occur. (As someone who has done extensive acting over my lifetime, I will be happy to sign up as the Astros injury acting coach for a small fee.)
via GIPHY
I forgot to post this last week. And I'm happy to add this story to the mix. Yes, we're coming to take your jobs, boys! One note on the second story -- Tiedemann is replacing the retiring Keith Elkins. Elkins was my contact with the Lexington Legends in my very first credentialed minor league trip. He made it an incredible experience for me and certainly contributed to my confidence going forward. I will always have a special place in my heart for Keith.
Saturday night was the ring ceremony for the Midwest League Champion Quad Cities River Bandits. Steve Batterson has the story. Troy Sieber showed us his ring and I drooled.
In case you missed it, here is my Astros Consensus Top 32 Prospect Rankings, incorporating rankings from Baseball America, MLB Pipeline, Baseball Prospectus and FanGraphs.
Also, in case you missed it, I've been rolling out a "Beyond the Top 30" series, looking at both those Astros players who are considered Top 30 prospects and others at each position who may not be top talents (or may grow to be), but will be interesting to watch nonetheless. So far we've looked at ...
Shortstops
Second Basemen
First Basemen
Third Basemen
Center Field
Right Field
Left Field
Catchers
Utility Players
Left-Handed Pitchers
Right-Handed Relievers - Coming this week
WISHING A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO
Jacob Dorris - April 2017
Photo by Jayne Hansen
3-22: RHP Joe Smith (34)
3-23: OF Patrick Mathis (22)
3-23: LHP Julio Robaina (17)
3-24: RHP Jacob Dorris (25)
ROSTER MOVES/TRANSACTIONS
Another quiet week on the transaction front ...
With the the latest reassignments to the minor league camp, there are currently
You can check the cumulative Astros offseason transaction list here to see if you've missed any of the posted moves this offseason.
SPRING TRAINING MINOR LEAGUE STANDOUTS
Minor league pitchers aren't getting many innings in Spring Training as the season opener gets closer, but most of those who have can be proud! In the last week, Jacob Dorris provided two scoreless outings and Nick Hernandez, Chris Nunn and Brendan McCurry each put up zeroes in their individual outings as well. And Rogelio Armenteros converted a 3-inning save opportunity on Friday, allowing one hit, one walk and no runs while striking out five.
As far as position players go, the same trio keeps rising to the top week after week: Kyle Tucker (4-for-8 for the last week: 4G 3RBI 2R SO), Jon Kemmer (3-for-7 for the last week: 4G 2B R SO) and Jack Mayfield (3-for-7 for the last week: 4G RBI SO). For the spring, they are:
Tucker: .410/.429/.795 in 17 games
Mayfield: .333/.400/.556 in 18 games
Kemmer: .320/.433/.600 in 16 games
And, although they haven't gotten a ton of at-bats this spring, a couple of other minor leaguers made their marks this week -- Alex DeGoti with a 2-run home run on Tuesday and Anibal Sierra with a grand slam on Saturday.
In case you were wondering, I've just been featuring players who have yet to make their MLB debut in these "Spring Training Standouts" posts, but I'm sure you're aware that there is a major league battle to see who will start the season at first base for the Astros as they await the return of Yuli Gurriel from his DL stint and suspension. Through Sunday's game, here are how the three contenders are faring:
J.D. Davis: 16G .333/.378/.619 3-2B 3HR 3BB:11SO
A.J. Reed: 19G .298/.365/.511 4-2B 2HR 4BB:15SO (optioned today)
Tyler White: 17G .242/.378/.515 3-2B 2HR 7BB:9SO
NEWS AND LINKS
Unfortunately, the first thing I saw on twitter when I woke up this morning was this ...
Oh, fantastic. https://t.co/rF1vpIP7o5 pic.twitter.com/gI7uQvnyE9— Lindsey Adler (@lindseyadler) March 19, 2018
I'll save my full-blown soapbox for another day, but the cost of giving each minor league player in the Astros system an extra $1000 per month from early March through early September would cost approximately $1,440,000 per year. I know that isn't cheap, but it's less than the signing bonus for one top prospect and would make a huge difference in the lives of 240 minor league players, many of whom signed for a pittance. Paying players an hourly wage may not make sense due to the nature of the business, but increasing their pay to a fair salaried wage does. I honestly wish the Astros would do that, not because they have to or because it's the law, but because it's the right thing to do. Here is the full story.
That, on top of the ridiculous extra inning and other rules for the minors, makes me like this Commish less and less. And, since mound visits in which a "injury or potential injury to the pitcher" isn't counted as a visit, I'm anticipating a lot of soccer-type "injuries" to occur. (As someone who has done extensive acting over my lifetime, I will be happy to sign up as the Astros injury acting coach for a small fee.)
I forgot to post this last week. And I'm happy to add this story to the mix. Yes, we're coming to take your jobs, boys! One note on the second story -- Tiedemann is replacing the retiring Keith Elkins. Elkins was my contact with the Lexington Legends in my very first credentialed minor league trip. He made it an incredible experience for me and certainly contributed to my confidence going forward. I will always have a special place in my heart for Keith.
Saturday night was the ring ceremony for the Midwest League Champion Quad Cities River Bandits. Steve Batterson has the story. Troy Sieber showed us his ring and I drooled.
MiLB with stories on Kyle Tucker and one of my favorite catching prospects, Chuckie Robinson.MWL Champ 💍 pic.twitter.com/by1K1knvcA— Troy Sieber (@Tsieb22) March 18, 2018
In case you missed it, here is my Astros Consensus Top 32 Prospect Rankings, incorporating rankings from Baseball America, MLB Pipeline, Baseball Prospectus and FanGraphs.
Also, in case you missed it, I've been rolling out a "Beyond the Top 30" series, looking at both those Astros players who are considered Top 30 prospects and others at each position who may not be top talents (or may grow to be), but will be interesting to watch nonetheless. So far we've looked at ...
Shortstops
Second Basemen
First Basemen
Third Basemen
Center Field
Right Field
Left Field
Catchers
Utility Players
Left-Handed Pitchers
Right-Handed Relievers - Coming this week
Friday, August 11, 2017
Jeff Luhnow is Trying to Ruin Your Life: A Satire
As you may or may not know, I have been privy to some Astros insider info from time to time. I generally keep that information to myself because I've found that the front office is more likely to help me out with interview requests and the like if I'm somewhat circumspect in my use of information obtained from my vast network of spies contacts. But I've come across a bombshell of epic proportions that I feel I must share with you, so share I will.
You see, I have found out that Jeff Luhnow, the General Manager of the Houston Astros, wants to ruin your life. Yes, you. Personally. He's been listening to you bitch and moan and second-guess him for years now and he's fed up with it. So he decided to take it out on you. Yes, you. Personally. And he decided to do it in the year that Sports Illustrated predicted that the Astros would be World Series bound.
His plan was diabolical. He built a team of super stars, rising stars and upcoming stars and let them loose on the baseball world. He planned for the team to get to 50 wins at the fastest pace in franchise history, just to let you get your hopes up. Then he decided to pull the rug out from under you!!! Yes, you. Personally.
His first nefarious plan was to pick up a couple extra voodoo dolls. (He'd already tried one out on one of his pitchers before the season started, but the team was still winning.) So he pulled out another one and stuck a pin in the neck of the doll, but it didn't significantly slow down the team. So then he went with a pin to the back of the third one. OK, that slowed things down a bit, but not enough. So he demanded that all players slide head first into home plate. That took care of one star. And then he conspired with the grounds keeping crew to help trip up another star. Diabolical fiend!!! And all so that he can make your life a living hell. Yes, you. Personally.
But he was concerned that the team was still a little bit too hot. So he pulled out the big guns. At the trade deadline, he let everyone think that he was nearing a deal for the Orioles Zach Britton, but the deal fell apart at the last minute. The truth is that Luhnow NEVER had a deal in place; he just wanted to torment you. Yes, you. Personally. He wanted you to get your hopes up, only to dash them. He's good ... at being evil.
The bonus for Luhnow in not picking up another top of the rotation pitcher is that some of his players are a little on the dis- side of gruntled which has him clapping his hands in glee .... that demon, that spawn of darkness!!! Plus those players who aren't among the walking wounded are starting to put extra stress on themselves to pick up the weight. And Luhnow absolutely loves seeing the Astros "fans" turn on their own players when they struggle. Keep them demoralized, he thinks.
But in the back of his mind, Luhnow is still worried. He compiled too much talent. Yeah, there are injuries, but not season-ending ones so those players are already starting to work their way back. And a couple wins in a row can lift the players spirits. Before you know it, they may all be back to peak performance and enjoying baseball and, gasp, winning. I don't know what he'll do then. But rest assured, he will be pulling out all the stops to thwart them because JEFF LUHNOW WANTS TO RUIN YOUR LIFE!!! YES, YOU. PERSONALLY.
You see, I have found out that Jeff Luhnow, the General Manager of the Houston Astros, wants to ruin your life. Yes, you. Personally. He's been listening to you bitch and moan and second-guess him for years now and he's fed up with it. So he decided to take it out on you. Yes, you. Personally. And he decided to do it in the year that Sports Illustrated predicted that the Astros would be World Series bound.
His plan was diabolical. He built a team of super stars, rising stars and upcoming stars and let them loose on the baseball world. He planned for the team to get to 50 wins at the fastest pace in franchise history, just to let you get your hopes up. Then he decided to pull the rug out from under you!!! Yes, you. Personally.
His first nefarious plan was to pick up a couple extra voodoo dolls. (He'd already tried one out on one of his pitchers before the season started, but the team was still winning.) So he pulled out another one and stuck a pin in the neck of the doll, but it didn't significantly slow down the team. So then he went with a pin to the back of the third one. OK, that slowed things down a bit, but not enough. So he demanded that all players slide head first into home plate. That took care of one star. And then he conspired with the grounds keeping crew to help trip up another star. Diabolical fiend!!! And all so that he can make your life a living hell. Yes, you. Personally.
But he was concerned that the team was still a little bit too hot. So he pulled out the big guns. At the trade deadline, he let everyone think that he was nearing a deal for the Orioles Zach Britton, but the deal fell apart at the last minute. The truth is that Luhnow NEVER had a deal in place; he just wanted to torment you. Yes, you. Personally. He wanted you to get your hopes up, only to dash them. He's good ... at being evil.
The bonus for Luhnow in not picking up another top of the rotation pitcher is that some of his players are a little on the dis- side of gruntled which has him clapping his hands in glee .... that demon, that spawn of darkness!!! Plus those players who aren't among the walking wounded are starting to put extra stress on themselves to pick up the weight. And Luhnow absolutely loves seeing the Astros "fans" turn on their own players when they struggle. Keep them demoralized, he thinks.
But in the back of his mind, Luhnow is still worried. He compiled too much talent. Yeah, there are injuries, but not season-ending ones so those players are already starting to work their way back. And a couple wins in a row can lift the players spirits. Before you know it, they may all be back to peak performance and enjoying baseball and, gasp, winning. I don't know what he'll do then. But rest assured, he will be pulling out all the stops to thwart them because JEFF LUHNOW WANTS TO RUIN YOUR LIFE!!! YES, YOU. PERSONALLY.
>>>>><<<<<
To those of my readers who are not on social media, the above is in response to Astros fans on Twitter who are FREAKING OUT about a team that still has the second best record in baseball because they aren't playing their best right this minute. Well, odds are that they will still manage to make the playoffs. They may go all the way. They may not. And if they don't have a good postseason run, I will be disappointed. But I will shrug my shoulders and say, "Next year." Because this system is poised to be making postseason runs for the next few years.Friday, December 16, 2016
A Football Soapbox
I have had issues with the football mentality for a long time. I grew up in northeast Texas where football was king. I remember vividly when our band was practicing a competition routine at a JV game half time. Apparently, we took a little too long with our routine and the coach sent the team out to the field as we were finishing our routine. The team actually ran through our formation, pummeling a few individual band members. The bell of my french horn came between me and any serious injury. And, of course, nothing was done to the players who basically assaulted us or to the coaches who told them to.
Then there was the quarterback at my junior college in Mississippi who was allowed to start a game on a Saturday night two days after he broke into a gun store in the adjacent town on Thursday night. He never spent any time in jail, but yours truly got into trouble with the Dean of the college for making a few disparaging remarks at the football game (no curse words, just word words criticizing the college for allowing him to play) within earshot of the Dean at that game.
Was it a coincidence that I ended up spending my last two years at a college in Mississippi that didn't even have a football team, just baseball and basketball? And was it a coincidence that I enjoyed that final two years massively? Maybe. Maybe not.
There were many, many episodes that I saw in high school and junior college that left a bad taste in my mouth for football. I was always a baseball gal. I didn't hate football, but I knew that the mentality that I saw from that quarter didn't make me particularly comfortable.
Fast forward to football in 2016. Things haven't really changed that much. There are a ton of great men playing the game, but the lackluster reaction of the powers that be to reining in those who aren't good men, who are in fact evil men, is beyond disappointing. It is unconscionable.
The two latest episodes in college football are the Baylor football program, a supposedly Christian university, covering up and quashing evidence of sexual assault against women; and Joe Mixon, a cretin who felt comfortable delivering a roundhouse knockout punch to a woman likely weighing in at half his girth, being allowed to continue playing for Oklahoma University. These are only two of the latest examples of violence against women being condoned in the name of almighty football.
And that's not all. Those who have looked the other way while so many players have either died or taken their own lives from the effects of CTE are effectively advocating for a game that kills people. I have been so incredibly disturbed by the seeming indifference to those who condone what amounts to bloodlust as sport.
Not all, thankfully, and it is my sincere hope that public opinion is changing in that regard ...
And that's what we should be able to expect from college and professional football when it comes to the treatment of women by players and the health of the players when it comes to CTE ... fix the problems because it's the right thing to do. And get rid of those who don't understand why you should.
And, as a final note, I do realize that the MLB and it's players aren't 100% blameless when it comes to addressing violence against women, but they have made some strides and I hope that they continue to evolve and improve their response to these issues as well.
Then there was the quarterback at my junior college in Mississippi who was allowed to start a game on a Saturday night two days after he broke into a gun store in the adjacent town on Thursday night. He never spent any time in jail, but yours truly got into trouble with the Dean of the college for making a few disparaging remarks at the football game (no curse words, just word words criticizing the college for allowing him to play) within earshot of the Dean at that game.
Was it a coincidence that I ended up spending my last two years at a college in Mississippi that didn't even have a football team, just baseball and basketball? And was it a coincidence that I enjoyed that final two years massively? Maybe. Maybe not.
There were many, many episodes that I saw in high school and junior college that left a bad taste in my mouth for football. I was always a baseball gal. I didn't hate football, but I knew that the mentality that I saw from that quarter didn't make me particularly comfortable.
Fast forward to football in 2016. Things haven't really changed that much. There are a ton of great men playing the game, but the lackluster reaction of the powers that be to reining in those who aren't good men, who are in fact evil men, is beyond disappointing. It is unconscionable.
The two latest episodes in college football are the Baylor football program, a supposedly Christian university, covering up and quashing evidence of sexual assault against women; and Joe Mixon, a cretin who felt comfortable delivering a roundhouse knockout punch to a woman likely weighing in at half his girth, being allowed to continue playing for Oklahoma University. These are only two of the latest examples of violence against women being condoned in the name of almighty football.
And that's not all. Those who have looked the other way while so many players have either died or taken their own lives from the effects of CTE are effectively advocating for a game that kills people. I have been so incredibly disturbed by the seeming indifference to those who condone what amounts to bloodlust as sport.
Not all, thankfully, and it is my sincere hope that public opinion is changing in that regard ...
But that seems to be the way that professional sports are tailored. Money is always more important than the players, the fans or anything else. The times when I am most appalled with baseball is when they don't treat their own properly. The MiLB pay situation is abhorrent and embarrassing and makes me very uncomfortable with those in charge. Honestly, it would take very little effort on the part of MLB to make things just a little bit more palatable for the players who don't get the big draft paydays. I would like to see someone do that because it's the right thing to do rather than because they are forced to do so by a lawsuit.I love football, and I love watching it, but my gut tells me that it's killing young men and that's not right. I don't know how to fix it.— John Wessling (@johnwessling) November 29, 2016
And that's what we should be able to expect from college and professional football when it comes to the treatment of women by players and the health of the players when it comes to CTE ... fix the problems because it's the right thing to do. And get rid of those who don't understand why you should.
And, as a final note, I do realize that the MLB and it's players aren't 100% blameless when it comes to addressing violence against women, but they have made some strides and I hope that they continue to evolve and improve their response to these issues as well.
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
A Reprise from April 2014
After seeing the comments tonight on twitter following the Astros loss to the Rangers, I was reminded of something I wrote in a soapbox in April of last year ...
No matter how good a team is, and the Astros certainly cannot be categorized as a good team of late, they are going to have almost shockingly bad games from time to time. But as Astros fans, we have been conditioned over the last three seasons to expect those shockingly bad games. And we have been conditioned to respond, "Here we go again," when they happen. No longer do we think, "Oh, that's just a blip on the radar screen." We think that a flaming Hindenburg is going to crash onto the deck of a sinking Titanic and the whole fiery mess is going to be swept up by a Category 5 hurricane and deposited at the corner of Crawford and Texas.
Even when the Astros do start playing well, every stunningly bad game that they have will provoke this response in Astros fans as surely as Pavlov's dogs looking for dinner. I've been in bad relationships before. It can take a long, long time to put your heart out there and make yourself vulnerable again. My relationship with the Astros is really no different. Will the team evolve into a keeper, or are you going to regret wasting your time because they never live up to their promise?My, how things have changed since April 2014. I think fans can now say, "Oh, that's just a blip on the radar screen." The Astros are better. Heck, they're still in first place in the division! So, take a deep, cleansing breath and shrug off this series. It's OK to put your heart back out there and be vulnerable again, even if you get a little hurt from time to time.
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Arizona Fall-Star Faux Pas: A Soapbox from Wallee Wright
The list of Fall League All-Stars came out yesterday and our intrepid Arizona correspondent was not amused. The good news is that Astros RHP Tyson Perez got the nod. The bad news? Well, let's hear from Wallee Wright about that as he borrows my soapbox for the day.
The Arizona Fall League rosters for their Fall Star game were named today on MLB.com, and frankly folks, monkeys at the San Diego Zoo could have made better choices slinging dung at poster board rosters. It’s a shame the folks that make these selections have chosen to include young men who have not performed up to their billing because it lessens the honor for those who truly deserve the recognition … and Tyson Perez is one of those who has earned this recognition.
A little harsh, you say? Try this on for size … the list includes MLB Top-100 prospect number 86, Kansas City’s Hunter Dozier, who is rocking a .184/.298/.327 slash with 17 strikeouts in forty-nine at bats, but does not include the Yankees Greg Bird, slashing .343/.375/.672 with a league leading 6 home runs and sixteen strikeouts in sixty-seven at bats.
Had to get a certain number of players from each team, you say? Puzzle me this then, Batman … how does the roster include Minnesota Twin outfielder and MLB Top-100 Number One, Byron Buxton, who is stroking a modest.264/.316/.302 yet exclude Minnesota Twin outfielder/2B Eddie Rosario who is the second leading hitter in the entire league at .429/.436/.449?
But it’s the pitching staff that I’m sure those monkeys played a part in selecting … check these out – the Blue Jays Roberto Osuna made the squad with a 12.27 ERA and 2.59 WHIP in seven and one-third innings of work, walking four and striking out seven; and Tayron Guerrero of the monkey’s home town Padres made the squad with an astounding 21.60 ERA and 3.30 WHIP in three and one-third innings of work.
Not making the Falling Stars roster was our own Mark Appel, with a league high seventeen innings of work at a 1.59 ERA, 0.76 WHIP and four bases on balls to go with his fourteen strikeouts … nor did the Pirates Joely Rodriguez, with a 3-0 record in thirteen and one-third innings and a 1.35 ERA with a 1.05 WHIP and three walks against 13 strikeouts. But looking forward to ‘play(ing) the best, and beat(ing) the best’ is Arizona’s Archie Bradley with his 0-2 record and 6.55 ERA with a 2.18 WHIP while walking seven and striking out eight.
This screed is not an indictment of the players selected and mentioned … it is not their fault. These young men are all superior athletes, with extraordinary skills that folks like myself could have never dreamed of possessing, and it troubles me not just a little to write something like this piece. But an All Star game should include only those whose performance warranted selection and should not be based upon the number of winter visitors from a certain area, or the location of the game, or the ranking of the players by MLB.com, which is apparently what was employed this year … unless, of course, the San Diego Zoo is missing some monkeys.
>>>>>>><<<<<<<
The Arizona Fall League rosters for their Fall Star game were named today on MLB.com, and frankly folks, monkeys at the San Diego Zoo could have made better choices slinging dung at poster board rosters. It’s a shame the folks that make these selections have chosen to include young men who have not performed up to their billing because it lessens the honor for those who truly deserve the recognition … and Tyson Perez is one of those who has earned this recognition.
A little harsh, you say? Try this on for size … the list includes MLB Top-100 prospect number 86, Kansas City’s Hunter Dozier, who is rocking a .184/.298/.327 slash with 17 strikeouts in forty-nine at bats, but does not include the Yankees Greg Bird, slashing .343/.375/.672 with a league leading 6 home runs and sixteen strikeouts in sixty-seven at bats.
Had to get a certain number of players from each team, you say? Puzzle me this then, Batman … how does the roster include Minnesota Twin outfielder and MLB Top-100 Number One, Byron Buxton, who is stroking a modest.264/.316/.302 yet exclude Minnesota Twin outfielder/2B Eddie Rosario who is the second leading hitter in the entire league at .429/.436/.449?
But it’s the pitching staff that I’m sure those monkeys played a part in selecting … check these out – the Blue Jays Roberto Osuna made the squad with a 12.27 ERA and 2.59 WHIP in seven and one-third innings of work, walking four and striking out seven; and Tayron Guerrero of the monkey’s home town Padres made the squad with an astounding 21.60 ERA and 3.30 WHIP in three and one-third innings of work.
Not making the Falling Stars roster was our own Mark Appel, with a league high seventeen innings of work at a 1.59 ERA, 0.76 WHIP and four bases on balls to go with his fourteen strikeouts … nor did the Pirates Joely Rodriguez, with a 3-0 record in thirteen and one-third innings and a 1.35 ERA with a 1.05 WHIP and three walks against 13 strikeouts. But looking forward to ‘play(ing) the best, and beat(ing) the best’ is Arizona’s Archie Bradley with his 0-2 record and 6.55 ERA with a 2.18 WHIP while walking seven and striking out eight.
This screed is not an indictment of the players selected and mentioned … it is not their fault. These young men are all superior athletes, with extraordinary skills that folks like myself could have never dreamed of possessing, and it troubles me not just a little to write something like this piece. But an All Star game should include only those whose performance warranted selection and should not be based upon the number of winter visitors from a certain area, or the location of the game, or the ranking of the players by MLB.com, which is apparently what was employed this year … unless, of course, the San Diego Zoo is missing some monkeys.
~ Wallee Wright ~
Monday, July 28, 2014
My Two Cents' Worth on Astros County Two Cents' Worth
I was gathering my thoughts on the ridiculousness which happened yesterday and I was going to write something about it, but thanks to Astros County's excellent take on the latest manufactured Astros crisis, I do not have to do that. (Thank you, James, since I'm trying to enjoy my vacation.)
I will, however, add two thoughts. These are REAL unwritten baseball rules.
And I will offer some unsolicited advice to players as well. Reporters are not your friends, particularly the ones whose sole purpose in life appears to be to stir up trouble.
I will, however, add two thoughts. These are REAL unwritten baseball rules.
- As a player, don't worry about the things you can't control. Just take care of the things that you can control.
- If you have a problem with a fellow player, coach, manager or GM, keep it in the clubhouse.
And I will offer some unsolicited advice to players as well. Reporters are not your friends, particularly the ones whose sole purpose in life appears to be to stir up trouble.
Friday, July 18, 2014
A Disappointing Setback
I will admit that I am upset that the Astros failed to sign Brady Aiken, Jacob Nix and Mac Marshall. I understand it, but that doesn't make it any better. The reality is that I feel certain that the Astros would have signed Jacob Nix and Mac Marshall if they could have done so without the horrendous penalty they would have incurred by signing them without first signing Brady Aiken. They just simply couldn't have taken that hit, potentially losing the first and second round picks next year.
Which leads me to believe that there was legitimate concern about Aiken's UCL. It doesn't make sense that the Astros wouldn't have simply signed him at the previously agreed upon $6.5 million figure if that elbow wasn't a legitimate concern, particularly knowing that they wouldn't be able to sign any of these three elite players. At some point, Jeff Luhnow and company would have had to blink. And they didn't blink.
The good news (if there is any) is that all three of those players were high school players. They weren't going to be helping the Astros out at the major league level in the next couple of years. There is a pipeline of excellent pitching coming up through the ranks right now that will be likely to help the team just as soon, if not sooner, than the trio that was lost to this unfortunate chain of events. But, more bad news, losing those three is likely to put a bit of a hiccup in that pipeline of talent. It may be a setback, but that is why you need a deep farm system. And the Astros have a deep and very talented system. It is insulting to those players currently in the system to say that the Astros are DOOMED because these three young men weren't signed.
Jeff Luhnow worked the draft system beautifully in 2012, netting him three first round talents in Carlos Correa, Lance McCullers and Rio Ruiz. He tried the same thing in 2014 and it just didn't work. If you thought he was a genius in 2012 and you think he's an imbecile now, that's a bit disingenuous. Similarly, for those FREAKING OUT about Mark Appel, he also didn't go from being a dominant pitcher to a terrible pitcher in the blink of an eye. It just doesn't happen that way. Likely, the problems he's had this season have gotten in his head and his struggles have been exacerbated by that. He can and will be a successful pitcher.
The person I feel sorriest for in this whole convoluted mess is Jacob Nix. He was the unfortunate victim of the slotting system and money pool that is currently in place for the draft. It wasn't his fault that Aiken wouldn't sign for the adjusted price that the Astros offered him. It wasn't his fault that the Astros got cold feet over Aiken's UCL. It wasn't his fault that the Astros couldn't sign him without jeopardizing their first and second round picks. But nonetheless, Nix was the one who was left out in the cold.
One final note. I am disappointed in how the Astros front office handled this whole debacle. It's one thing to be closemouthed about negotiations, but it was absurd that a press release wasn't available at 4:01 p.m. stating that none of the three had been signed. I would have had Reid Ryan front and center trying to smooth things over because he's superbly good at that. A reassuring voice sure would be nice right about now.
Which leads me to believe that there was legitimate concern about Aiken's UCL. It doesn't make sense that the Astros wouldn't have simply signed him at the previously agreed upon $6.5 million figure if that elbow wasn't a legitimate concern, particularly knowing that they wouldn't be able to sign any of these three elite players. At some point, Jeff Luhnow and company would have had to blink. And they didn't blink.
The good news (if there is any) is that all three of those players were high school players. They weren't going to be helping the Astros out at the major league level in the next couple of years. There is a pipeline of excellent pitching coming up through the ranks right now that will be likely to help the team just as soon, if not sooner, than the trio that was lost to this unfortunate chain of events. But, more bad news, losing those three is likely to put a bit of a hiccup in that pipeline of talent. It may be a setback, but that is why you need a deep farm system. And the Astros have a deep and very talented system. It is insulting to those players currently in the system to say that the Astros are DOOMED because these three young men weren't signed.
Jeff Luhnow worked the draft system beautifully in 2012, netting him three first round talents in Carlos Correa, Lance McCullers and Rio Ruiz. He tried the same thing in 2014 and it just didn't work. If you thought he was a genius in 2012 and you think he's an imbecile now, that's a bit disingenuous. Similarly, for those FREAKING OUT about Mark Appel, he also didn't go from being a dominant pitcher to a terrible pitcher in the blink of an eye. It just doesn't happen that way. Likely, the problems he's had this season have gotten in his head and his struggles have been exacerbated by that. He can and will be a successful pitcher.
The person I feel sorriest for in this whole convoluted mess is Jacob Nix. He was the unfortunate victim of the slotting system and money pool that is currently in place for the draft. It wasn't his fault that Aiken wouldn't sign for the adjusted price that the Astros offered him. It wasn't his fault that the Astros got cold feet over Aiken's UCL. It wasn't his fault that the Astros couldn't sign him without jeopardizing their first and second round picks. But nonetheless, Nix was the one who was left out in the cold.
One final note. I am disappointed in how the Astros front office handled this whole debacle. It's one thing to be closemouthed about negotiations, but it was absurd that a press release wasn't available at 4:01 p.m. stating that none of the three had been signed. I would have had Reid Ryan front and center trying to smooth things over because he's superbly good at that. A reassuring voice sure would be nice right about now.
Sunday, June 22, 2014
Carlos Correa and Why I Sometimes Hate Twitter
I enjoy Twitter. I have made many new friends on Twitter through the three or so years that I have been there. But one thing I cannot abide is seeing unconfirmed, sensationalized information thrown out there by supposed professionals in the interest of getting ReTweets and Follows. And that is precisely what happened late last night in regards to the injury of Carlos Correa.
Here are the FACTS as we know them right now. Correa was injured on a slide into third base in last night's Lancaster game. The injury APPEARED to be his ankle or lower leg. Correa appeared to be in a good deal of pain and was carried off the field, indicating that he was unable to put weight on the leg. I have not seen any official announcements that tell us anything more than that. I will wait until then to post anything further about the severity of the injury.
The other thing I hate about Twitter is watching grown men make total fools of themselves. People who say that women are overly emotional and irrational have never seen male sports fans carry on over something over which they have no control and which ultimately will not affect their day-to-day lives, relationships and health. Without even knowing the extent of the injury to Correa, some of these "men" seem prepared to commit ritual harakiri. Man up, guys.
I sincerely hope that Correa's injury isn't serious, but I will keep in mind that he is only 19 years old, he has the drive and desire and work ethic to overcome virtually any obstacle in his way, and he will likely be just fine even if his recovery may take time. And I think most Astros fans will overcome this horrible ordeal as well (yes, I'm being extremely sarcastic).
As for the "me first, BREAKING NEWS, yellow journalism" aspect of Twitter, I will just say be careful whose information you trust.
I will try to post an update on Correa when OFFICIAL information is released, but I am going to be tied up with real life things this morning as I will be spending some time with my brother.
Here are the FACTS as we know them right now. Correa was injured on a slide into third base in last night's Lancaster game. The injury APPEARED to be his ankle or lower leg. Correa appeared to be in a good deal of pain and was carried off the field, indicating that he was unable to put weight on the leg. I have not seen any official announcements that tell us anything more than that. I will wait until then to post anything further about the severity of the injury.
The other thing I hate about Twitter is watching grown men make total fools of themselves. People who say that women are overly emotional and irrational have never seen male sports fans carry on over something over which they have no control and which ultimately will not affect their day-to-day lives, relationships and health. Without even knowing the extent of the injury to Correa, some of these "men" seem prepared to commit ritual harakiri. Man up, guys.
I sincerely hope that Correa's injury isn't serious, but I will keep in mind that he is only 19 years old, he has the drive and desire and work ethic to overcome virtually any obstacle in his way, and he will likely be just fine even if his recovery may take time. And I think most Astros fans will overcome this horrible ordeal as well (yes, I'm being extremely sarcastic).
As for the "me first, BREAKING NEWS, yellow journalism" aspect of Twitter, I will just say be careful whose information you trust.
I will try to post an update on Correa when OFFICIAL information is released, but I am going to be tied up with real life things this morning as I will be spending some time with my brother.
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Astros Spring Training Roster Moves and a Mini-Soapbox
The news came this morning that OF George Springer, RHP Mike Foltynewicz (read this great piece from Evan Drellich re: Folty's four-seamer), OF Delino DeShields, 1B Jon Singleton, SS Carlos Correa (who is thankfully negative for a fracture after being hit in the hand by a pitch last night) and RHP Mark Appel have been re-assigned to minor league camp. 38 players remain in big league camp. They are:
PITCHERS
RHP Matt Albers
RHP Anthony Bass
LHP Kevin Chapman
RHP Jarred Cosart
RHP Jesse Crain
LHP Darin Downs
RHP Scott Feldman
RHP Josh Fields
RHP Lucas Harrell
LHP Dallas Keuchel
RHP Peter Moylan
LHP Brett Oberholtzer
RHP Brad Peacock
RHP Chad Qualls
LHP Raul Valdes
RHP Alex White
RHP Jerome Williams
RHP Asher Wojciechowski
RHP Josh Zeid
CATCHERS
Jason Castro
Carlos Corporan
Rene Garcia
Carlos Perez
INFIELDERS
Jose Altuve
Japhet Amador
Chris Carter
Matt Dominguez
Marwin Gonzalez
Jesus Guzman
Cesar Izturis
Marc Kraus (IF/OF)
Gregorio Petit
Jonathan Villar
OUTFIELDERS
Adron Chambers
Dexter Fowler
Robbie Grossman
L.J. Hoes
J.D. Martinez
Moving George Springer to minor league camp on the heels of yesterday's post from Ken Rosenthal has a lot of Astros fans wailing and gnashing teeth. While it is frustrating that Springer will not break camp with the Astros, it is not the end of the world.
Before the story came out that the Astros had offered Springer $23 million to lock him up for seven years, most of us assumed that he would not make the team out of Spring Training because of player control issues. That is still the case.
Jim Crane and Company are running a business. He has a fiduciary duty to the ownership group to get the most bang for the buck, particularly with the CSNHouston debacle dragging on and on and on and ....well, you get my point. It was perfectly reasonable for the Astros to make Springer an offer. And it was equally reasonable for Springer to decline that offer.
As Rosenthal himself points out:
PITCHERS
RHP Matt Albers
RHP Anthony Bass
LHP Kevin Chapman
RHP Jarred Cosart
RHP Jesse Crain
LHP Darin Downs
RHP Scott Feldman
RHP Josh Fields
RHP Lucas Harrell
LHP Dallas Keuchel
RHP Peter Moylan
LHP Brett Oberholtzer
RHP Brad Peacock
RHP Chad Qualls
LHP Raul Valdes
RHP Alex White
RHP Jerome Williams
RHP Asher Wojciechowski
RHP Josh Zeid
CATCHERS
Jason Castro
Carlos Corporan
Rene Garcia
Carlos Perez
INFIELDERS
Jose Altuve
Japhet Amador
Chris Carter
Matt Dominguez
Marwin Gonzalez
Jesus Guzman
Cesar Izturis
Marc Kraus (IF/OF)
Gregorio Petit
Jonathan Villar
OUTFIELDERS
Adron Chambers
Dexter Fowler
Robbie Grossman
L.J. Hoes
J.D. Martinez
Moving George Springer to minor league camp on the heels of yesterday's post from Ken Rosenthal has a lot of Astros fans wailing and gnashing teeth. While it is frustrating that Springer will not break camp with the Astros, it is not the end of the world.
Before the story came out that the Astros had offered Springer $23 million to lock him up for seven years, most of us assumed that he would not make the team out of Spring Training because of player control issues. That is still the case.
Jim Crane and Company are running a business. He has a fiduciary duty to the ownership group to get the most bang for the buck, particularly with the CSNHouston debacle dragging on and on and on and ....well, you get my point. It was perfectly reasonable for the Astros to make Springer an offer. And it was equally reasonable for Springer to decline that offer.
As Rosenthal himself points out:
The current system, however, discourages budget-conscious teams, in particular, from advancing their best young talent. The Astros, by delaying Springer's arrival, are acting no differently than most clubs do.Everyone games the system to their best advantage. No one seemed to have a particular problem with the way GM Jeff Luhnow gamed the draft system in 2012 when he passed on presumptive number one overall pick Mark Appel in order to sign Carlos Correa, Lance McCullers and Rio Ruiz and still ended up drafting Appel in 2013.
The system is what the system is. Owners will try to get the best deal at the expense of the players and players will try to get the best deal at the expense of the owners. At the end of the day, I'm personally just thankful that the front office is not looking for quick fixes, but is concentrating on long-term viability.
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Angst in Astros Land
And there was great wailing and gnashing of teeth and rending of garments far and wide across Astros land today. And for the life of me, I cannot figure out why.
The Astros did not sign Masahiro Tanaka. The Astros were never going to be able to sign Masahiro Tanaka, not with the free agent market running as wildly as it has this winter. Didn't this signing have New York Yankees written all over it even before the deal was announced?
So, $155 million for 7 years and that doesn't even include the $20 million posting fee. For a pitcher who hasn't thrown an MLB pitch yet. Yes, he has astonishing numbers in Japan. He may very well turn out to be the love child of Walter Johnson and Cy Young, or his arm may have been cloned in a Petri dish from Roger Clemens' DNA. Or his arm may fall off next year. Either way, it is a $175,000,000.00 gamble.
And it is a gamble. Even though Tanaka is young and presumably healthy, that is still a lot of coin. But some Astros fans are livid that Jim Crane didn't put $175,000,000.00 on red and wait for the ball to finish bouncing.
Crane is reported to have offered in excess of $100,000,000.00. Let's say for grins that he offered around $115 to $120 million which I find highly likely from some of the reports I've read. Add into that around $13,000,000+ that Tanaka would have saved in state income tax by playing in Texas and you're looking at around $128 to $133 million. That was a competitive bid. And Crane took The Rocket himself along for the ride to try to sweet talk Tanaka. But when all was said and done, Tanaka wanted to be a Yankee. Like it or not, the Yankees are a storied franchise and many will be seduced by that siren song. Even with a lucrative television deal, Crane would have been hard-pressed to get past that obstacle.
But I'm hearing Astros fans out there accuse Crane of just putting on a show, bidding just enough to get the good publicity with no intention of getting a deal done, perpetuating the "Jim Crane won't spend any money" meme. The problem is, I don't believe that ... at all.
When Crane first purchased the team, he made a number of missteps. He seemed to think that owning a baseball team was just like owning any other business. I don't think that he understood initially that a baseball team is really owned by the city and the fans who support that team. A good team owner is someone who understands that he is first and foremost the custodian of a sacred trust. Sacred. I mean that. A 50+ year old franchise becomes a part of the heart and soul of the community and the fans whose lives and personal histories become intertwined with the team's history. We remember when children were born based on what the Astros did that year. But I digress.
One year ago, I had my doubts about the direction of the team on the business side. A lot of them. But Crane seemed to realize that things weren't going well and he took steps to address the problem. Starting with the hiring of Reid Ryan, the problems started to go away. The fans felt like someone was listening, really listening, to them again. The tone changed completely. There were still issues on the field and off the field, but they started getting addressed. Just recently with the news that the left fieldeyesore signage is being moved and that the front office is working diligently with MLB to get games back on the air, one can see that things really are changing for the better. And with Jeff Luhnow's direction, the play on the field will be getting better as well and I believe that Jim Crane will pay to make that a reality. I think he has earned that benefit of a doubt with what he has done over this last year.
Call me Pollyanna if you wish, say I'm wearing rose-colored glasses, but I do believe that Crane's bid for Tanaka was a serious bid. If Tanaka wanted, in his heart of hearts, to be a Yankee, there was not much that could be done about that. But there is one thing I don't want to see. I DO NOT WANT CRANE TO SPEND MONEY JUST TO SPEND MONEY. That is how the Astros ended up spending far too much money on rapidly dwindling returns for Carlos Lee's contract. Teams such as the Yankees, Angels, Mariners and others may pay in the long run for their "must win today at any cost" strategy in paying free agents.
I do believe that Crane will spend money, but I don't think that he will ever do so recklessly, thoughtlessly or carelessly, and I'm OK with that.
Besides, five of the Astros Top 10 prospects from the just released Baseball America list are right-handed pitchers. Just think, one of those pitchers could be as good or better than Masahiro Tanaka over an entire career. One of those guys could be turning down $155,000,000 from the Yankees one of these days because, in his heart of hearts, he wants to be an Astro.
My soapbox is now being stored away for the time being. Thanks for hearing me out even if you disagree with me, especially if you disagree with me.
The Astros did not sign Masahiro Tanaka. The Astros were never going to be able to sign Masahiro Tanaka, not with the free agent market running as wildly as it has this winter. Didn't this signing have New York Yankees written all over it even before the deal was announced?
So, $155 million for 7 years and that doesn't even include the $20 million posting fee. For a pitcher who hasn't thrown an MLB pitch yet. Yes, he has astonishing numbers in Japan. He may very well turn out to be the love child of Walter Johnson and Cy Young, or his arm may have been cloned in a Petri dish from Roger Clemens' DNA. Or his arm may fall off next year. Either way, it is a $175,000,000.00 gamble.
And it is a gamble. Even though Tanaka is young and presumably healthy, that is still a lot of coin. But some Astros fans are livid that Jim Crane didn't put $175,000,000.00 on red and wait for the ball to finish bouncing.
Crane is reported to have offered in excess of $100,000,000.00. Let's say for grins that he offered around $115 to $120 million which I find highly likely from some of the reports I've read. Add into that around $13,000,000+ that Tanaka would have saved in state income tax by playing in Texas and you're looking at around $128 to $133 million. That was a competitive bid. And Crane took The Rocket himself along for the ride to try to sweet talk Tanaka. But when all was said and done, Tanaka wanted to be a Yankee. Like it or not, the Yankees are a storied franchise and many will be seduced by that siren song. Even with a lucrative television deal, Crane would have been hard-pressed to get past that obstacle.
But I'm hearing Astros fans out there accuse Crane of just putting on a show, bidding just enough to get the good publicity with no intention of getting a deal done, perpetuating the "Jim Crane won't spend any money" meme. The problem is, I don't believe that ... at all.
When Crane first purchased the team, he made a number of missteps. He seemed to think that owning a baseball team was just like owning any other business. I don't think that he understood initially that a baseball team is really owned by the city and the fans who support that team. A good team owner is someone who understands that he is first and foremost the custodian of a sacred trust. Sacred. I mean that. A 50+ year old franchise becomes a part of the heart and soul of the community and the fans whose lives and personal histories become intertwined with the team's history. We remember when children were born based on what the Astros did that year. But I digress.
One year ago, I had my doubts about the direction of the team on the business side. A lot of them. But Crane seemed to realize that things weren't going well and he took steps to address the problem. Starting with the hiring of Reid Ryan, the problems started to go away. The fans felt like someone was listening, really listening, to them again. The tone changed completely. There were still issues on the field and off the field, but they started getting addressed. Just recently with the news that the left field
Call me Pollyanna if you wish, say I'm wearing rose-colored glasses, but I do believe that Crane's bid for Tanaka was a serious bid. If Tanaka wanted, in his heart of hearts, to be a Yankee, there was not much that could be done about that. But there is one thing I don't want to see. I DO NOT WANT CRANE TO SPEND MONEY JUST TO SPEND MONEY. That is how the Astros ended up spending far too much money on rapidly dwindling returns for Carlos Lee's contract. Teams such as the Yankees, Angels, Mariners and others may pay in the long run for their "must win today at any cost" strategy in paying free agents.
I do believe that Crane will spend money, but I don't think that he will ever do so recklessly, thoughtlessly or carelessly, and I'm OK with that.
Besides, five of the Astros Top 10 prospects from the just released Baseball America list are right-handed pitchers. Just think, one of those pitchers could be as good or better than Masahiro Tanaka over an entire career. One of those guys could be turning down $155,000,000 from the Yankees one of these days because, in his heart of hearts, he wants to be an Astro.
My soapbox is now being stored away for the time being. Thanks for hearing me out even if you disagree with me, especially if you disagree with me.
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Let The Kids Play!
When Astros GM Jeff Luhnow started picking up fringy starters like Phillip Humber and Erik Bedard in the off-season, I wasn't a fan of the moves, but I kept my mouth shut in hopes that he could find lightning in a bottle. But it is becoming increasingly apparent that the 30-year old Humber and the 34-year old Bedard are not upgrades over the Astros home-grown talent.
Could the team have a better record with the likes of Paul Clemens (25), Dallas Keuchel (25), Jose Cisnero (24), Brett Oberholtzer (23), Jarred Cosart (22) and Jordan Lyles (22) in the rotation? Maybe, maybe not. But why not find out? I would much rather see these guys get on-the-job major league training than to see Bedard and Humber, players who are widely acknowledged not to be a part of the future, spin their wheels.
Keuchel already has better numbers at the major league level than either Bedard or Humber have put up so far this season. Why is he in OKC? Lyles had one truly awful start for the RedHawks, but it was sandwiched by two very good ones and he has significant major league experience that he can build on. Oberholtzer may not have the best numbers right now, but he can eat innings unlike the delicate flower Bedard. I actually like Cisnero as a bullpen arm more than as a starter so at least he's getting experience in that right now. Paul Clemens may eventually be a bullpen arm as well, but he is certainly as capable of starting for the Astros as Bedard and Humber are. Cosart may not be ready for prime time yet, but would he do worse?
What would happen if a couple of these guys were given the opportunity to start in lieu of Humber and Bedard? They would have some success and, at times, they would fail spectacularly. Clemens, in particular, with his aggressive style would be poised to have an outing here or there that would be cringe-worthy. You would see ups and downs similar to what we've seen from the 25-year old Brad Peacock thus far this season. But these players would get the valuable experience that they need under their belts. They would have the opportunity to make adjustments and get better. Some of them will ultimately succeed and some of them will ultimately fail, but now is the time to figure out that part of the puzzle. These players are potentially a part of the Astros future. Humber and Bedard are not.
And for those who think that a player can be broken by failure? Horse crap. Ask Clemens if he's afraid of failure. Ask Cosart. Ask Lyles. Ask Oberholtzer. Ask any of them. They will tell you one thing. BRING. IT. ON. If you can't deal with failure, then you are not cut out to be a major league baseball player.
This may sound harsh. I have nothing against Humber and Bedard personally, but they simply are not part of the future plans. So I am imploring Jeff Luhnow, please Let The Kids Play. At 7-17, they can't do much worse. And they may surprise us.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Dear Average Astros Fan
Dear Average Astros Fan ~
I'm not really sure how to break this to you, so I'll just say it. I'm just not that into you. You're all about bringing your kids to the games and trying not to break your budget so you buy cheap tickets and bring in your own food and you just don't spend nearly enough. And I can't count on you for anything. This occasional ticket buying thing is just not cutting it. Surely you can scrape together enough to buy season tickets for the whole family. Just cut down on things like food and rent ... I'm sure you can find the cash.
But if you insist on buying tickets just every now and then, one game at a time, I'm afraid I'm going to have to establish some new rules for our relationship. Sure, you can bring in your own food if you insist, but I'm going to have to double the ticket prices for opening day and if you can't afford that, well then I guess that's just the way the cookie crumbles now, isn't it? You should have thought about that before you paid that doctor's bill. So you've been to opening day every year for the last 30 years. So what? You can always watch the game on ESPN. Of course, it will be the last one you'll see since you insist on having that crappy Dish thing. Because if you think we're going to cut a CSN Houston deal just to make the fans happy, you may want to lay off the 'shrooms because that ain't happening.
Yeah, so the Astros lost way over 100 games each of the last two years. So what? You get to come to a beautiful park and look at the lovely scenery.
Yours truly,
George
I'm not really sure how to break this to you, so I'll just say it. I'm just not that into you. You're all about bringing your kids to the games and trying not to break your budget so you buy cheap tickets and bring in your own food and you just don't spend nearly enough. And I can't count on you for anything. This occasional ticket buying thing is just not cutting it. Surely you can scrape together enough to buy season tickets for the whole family. Just cut down on things like food and rent ... I'm sure you can find the cash.
But if you insist on buying tickets just every now and then, one game at a time, I'm afraid I'm going to have to establish some new rules for our relationship. Sure, you can bring in your own food if you insist, but I'm going to have to double the ticket prices for opening day and if you can't afford that, well then I guess that's just the way the cookie crumbles now, isn't it? You should have thought about that before you paid that doctor's bill. So you've been to opening day every year for the last 30 years. So what? You can always watch the game on ESPN. Of course, it will be the last one you'll see since you insist on having that crappy Dish thing. Because if you think we're going to cut a CSN Houston deal just to make the fans happy, you may want to lay off the 'shrooms because that ain't happening.
Yeah, so the Astros lost way over 100 games each of the last two years. So what? You get to come to a beautiful park and look at the lovely scenery.
You can sample the cuisine, like the fairly priced (really!) nachos that bear no resemblance to anything found in a Mexican restaurant (or in nature for that matter), but I have it on good authority that heavily processed foods are fantastic for you. You can watch the fireworks on Friday nights that are in NO WAY BLOCKED by the aforesaid lovely scenery (don't believe what anyone tells you). And your kids are going to love the train. There. Right there! Behind the lovely freaking scenery!!! What are you, blind? You just don't appreciate any of the nice things I do for you!
Now, where was I? Oh, yeah. So you came to 15 games last year and spent the least possible money. We just can't have that. So, any game that you are even possibly interested in coming to? You're going to have to pay. Angels? Extra. Tigers? Extra. Weekend Rangers games? Puhleeze. Did I just fall off the turnip truck? My good friends from Dallas are going to come in and spend a lot more money than you (and they appreciate over-processed foods way more than you do). Red Sox? Extra (plus we're bringing back Pam Gardner for the series to make the Red Sox fans feel right at home). Yankees? Are you kidding me? It's going to be nothing but Yankee fans anyway. You don't really want be there. So, you've been to every closing day for the last 30 years ... It's the freaking Yankees. Of course we're charging more. Jeez, what's with this needy sense of entitlement?
I will, however, be happy to get you non-dynamic priced tickets to select games. I believe that there is a Wednesday game in May against the Royals and a Wednesday day game in September against the Twins that are what we call "right-priced" just for you. Your kids will be in school? Seriously, is there anything that you don't whine and complain about? Just take them out of school for the day. It's the Twins. We may be in a race for worst record in the majors about then. That is history in the making, people!
I'm sorry that I'm being forced to do this, but it's for your own good. If you'd just pony up enough cash to buy season tickets, I'd treat you soooo special. I promise you, baby. And if you really wanted to make me happy, you'd give me enough so that I could put your name right there, right on the lovely scenery with my other special friends.
What? You're not interested in spending extra money to see a team projected to lose over 100 games yet again play in the American League? What about me? What about my needs? You and your stinking family. Let them eat nachos!
Yours truly,
George
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Some Thoughts on the CSN Houston Deal
Let me preface this by giving my belated stamp of approval to the Astros front office for hiring Alan Ashby to replace Jim Deshaies on the Astros TV broadcasts. No one can truly replace JD, but having someone with vast experience in broadcasting who also has a history with the team will at least alleviate some of the heartache. The news that Geoff Blum will be in the mix too as Bill Brown scales back his schedule is, in my opinion, gravy. Blummer's sense of humor will be a welcome addition.
With that said, I'm afraid I'm going to have to take the Astros' business office to the proverbial woodshed ... again. It really seems that for every positive move the business side has made, they have taken two giant leaps backward in other ways.
Today, Brian Smith of the Houston Chronicle tweeted out a link to this piece from David Barron, also of the Chronicle. I'm well aware that the new Astros/Rockets regional sports network, CSN Houston, is not available to 60% of Houston viewing households since I am a DirecTV subscriber. What galls me about the article is the characterization by CSN President Matt Hutchings and Astros President George Postolos that DirecTV (and by implication, Dish Network and U-Verse) is being unreasonable and that CSN Houston only wants what is fair.
Let's look at a few facts. First of all, this Reuters article gives us an idea of what some of the monthly subscriber fees are which are currently being charged by various regional sports networks. Keep in mind that CSN Houston is asking for $3.40 per month per subscriber and is requiring that the network be placed on the basic level tier. It was reported that the previous fee charged by FSN Houston was estimated at $2.50 per subscriber per month.
Next, let's look at ratings information.
It is unfortunate for Jim Crane that he purchased the Astros at a time when the team (and its viewership) has reached such a low point. In a better year, he would have much more leverage in these negotiations. In any event, I really cannot see how DirecTV is being unreasonable unless they are making other demands of which I am unaware. DirecTV most likely fails to see the value in charging ALL of its subscribers almost a dollar a month more than it did for FSN Houston so that 1092 average households can watch a Sunday game in September. I simply do not see how $3.40 per month, which would be one of the highest fees charged for an RSN, constitutes fair market value, and apparently DirecTV agrees with me.
Crane is responsible to his ownership group to get the best offer he can get with the holdouts. I understand that and I can respect that. But he cannot allow the situation to continue into the season. It is difficult enough to be an Astros fan right now. The Astros front office is threatening to make it more difficult. In addition to the threat of no televised games to 60% of Houston households, there is still no radio team in place with only 34 days to go until the first Spring Training game.
If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around, will it make a sound? If a game is broadcast to no one, will there be anyone left to hear it when it is finally broadcast to someone?
With that said, I'm afraid I'm going to have to take the Astros' business office to the proverbial woodshed ... again. It really seems that for every positive move the business side has made, they have taken two giant leaps backward in other ways.
Today, Brian Smith of the Houston Chronicle tweeted out a link to this piece from David Barron, also of the Chronicle. I'm well aware that the new Astros/Rockets regional sports network, CSN Houston, is not available to 60% of Houston viewing households since I am a DirecTV subscriber. What galls me about the article is the characterization by CSN President Matt Hutchings and Astros President George Postolos that DirecTV (and by implication, Dish Network and U-Verse) is being unreasonable and that CSN Houston only wants what is fair.
Let's look at a few facts. First of all, this Reuters article gives us an idea of what some of the monthly subscriber fees are which are currently being charged by various regional sports networks. Keep in mind that CSN Houston is asking for $3.40 per month per subscriber and is requiring that the network be placed on the basic level tier. It was reported that the previous fee charged by FSN Houston was estimated at $2.50 per subscriber per month.
- YES Network (Yankees and Nets) - $2.99 per month
- Time Warner Sportsnet (Lakers and Galaxy) - $3.95 per month for some subscribers/reportedly $3.40 for DirecTV
- Fox Sports North (Vikings, Twins, Timberwolves, Wild, Gophers and Lynx) - $3.68 per month (the most expensive of all the Fox regional sports networks)
Next, let's look at ratings information.
- The Yes Network, currently $2.99 per month for subscribers, has been the most watched RSN for 10 straight years.
- Time Warner Sportsnet, currently reported to be $3.40 per month for DirecTV subscribers, features the top TV draw in the NBA as the Laker's ratings from last year show.
- Fox Sports North has the highest subscription rate of all, but includes football, hockey, the WNBA and college sports in addition to baseball and basketball. I wasn't able to find specific ratings information, but the above link shows that the Timberwolves had one of the fastest growing viewerships last season.
It is unfortunate for Jim Crane that he purchased the Astros at a time when the team (and its viewership) has reached such a low point. In a better year, he would have much more leverage in these negotiations. In any event, I really cannot see how DirecTV is being unreasonable unless they are making other demands of which I am unaware. DirecTV most likely fails to see the value in charging ALL of its subscribers almost a dollar a month more than it did for FSN Houston so that 1092 average households can watch a Sunday game in September. I simply do not see how $3.40 per month, which would be one of the highest fees charged for an RSN, constitutes fair market value, and apparently DirecTV agrees with me.
Crane is responsible to his ownership group to get the best offer he can get with the holdouts. I understand that and I can respect that. But he cannot allow the situation to continue into the season. It is difficult enough to be an Astros fan right now. The Astros front office is threatening to make it more difficult. In addition to the threat of no televised games to 60% of Houston households, there is still no radio team in place with only 34 days to go until the first Spring Training game.
If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around, will it make a sound? If a game is broadcast to no one, will there be anyone left to hear it when it is finally broadcast to someone?
Monday, December 3, 2012
New Owner Checklist
2011 Attendance - 2,067,016
_____ Start major rebuild
_____ Announce move to American League
_____ Suggest a name change
_____ Erect hideously ugly sign that everyone hates
2012 Attendance - 1,607,733 (22% decline)
2012 FSN Houston Viewers, according to Neilsen - 1046 households on 9/9/12
_____ Fire radio team and allude to their fantastic replacements
(Two months later *crickets*)
_____ Start up a fancy new regional sports network that 60% of Houston doesn't get
_____ Don't re-sign Jim Deshaies to a long-term contract, again alluding to great replacement
_____ Continue rebuilding
_____ Move to the American League
_____ 9:00 West Coast games
_____Pretend you care how this all affects the fans
2013 Estimated Attendance - 1,559,680 or lower (the lowest in 2012 was 1,559,681 - I think we can beat that easily)
I want to get excited about the Astros again, but frankly I'm just numb at this point. For the first time ever, I can honestly say that I don't care if I miss a bunch of games next year because they won't be available on my provider. I'll have more time to watch the minor leagues on my computer. And if I'm saying that, if I'm feeling that way, you have a serious PR problem.
_____ Start major rebuild
_____ Announce move to American League
_____ Suggest a name change
_____ Erect hideously ugly sign that everyone hates
2012 Attendance - 1,607,733 (22% decline)
2012 FSN Houston Viewers, according to Neilsen - 1046 households on 9/9/12
_____ Fire radio team and allude to their fantastic replacements
(Two months later *crickets*)
_____ Start up a fancy new regional sports network that 60% of Houston doesn't get
_____ Don't re-sign Jim Deshaies to a long-term contract, again alluding to great replacement
_____ Continue rebuilding
_____ Move to the American League
_____ 9:00 West Coast games
_____
2013 Estimated Attendance - 1,559,680 or lower (the lowest in 2012 was 1,559,681 - I think we can beat that easily)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Seriously, I love what Luhnow is doing on the baseball side, but Crane needs to start getting some good PR and he needs to start getting it soon. Other than the uniforms, it's been the drip, drip, drip of Chinese water torture on Astros fans. Get a couple of former players in the radio and TV broadcast booth that people can get excited about and do it soon for the love of Milo and all that's holy!I want to get excited about the Astros again, but frankly I'm just numb at this point. For the first time ever, I can honestly say that I don't care if I miss a bunch of games next year because they won't be available on my provider. I'll have more time to watch the minor leagues on my computer. And if I'm saying that, if I'm feeling that way, you have a serious PR problem.
Friday, October 5, 2012
Change Is Good?
Change is good. At least that's what they keep telling us. And this is, after all, Houston. A city that has reinvented itself many times over. A city where buildings that are thirty years old or older should automatically get historical designations. A city where, it has seemed at times in years past, no one is actually from. We have very little sense of history in this city.
So I suppose it was natural that Allan Huber "Bud" Selig crammed the Astros move to the American League down our throats with the ownership change. Who cares? It's just Houston. Never mind the 50+ years of history with the National League which, quite frankly, is the equivalent of 100+ years in a city with so little stability. But water under the bridge. No use crying over spilled milk. What's done is done. Pick your platitude.
Enter Jim Crane. Long-time Astros fans (and, yes, there are still many of us) were still reeling from the impending move to the American League. What does Crane do? He casually drops a bombshell that he's thinking of changing the name of the Astros. It was a completely tone deaf move that generated enormous pushback as well as enormous angst by the fans.
What ensued were more and more changes, some good, some bad. Despite conducting focus groups and surveying people to death on many, many topics, Crane throws up hideously ugly advertising signage (you can call it community leaders all day long, but it's still advertising) in left field with nary a word ... on taxpayer owned property. Yes, Houstonians are allowing our view to be spoiled by this blight even though we actually own Minute Maid Park. When does the billboard go up in my backyard? This would be an example of a bad change. As was dismantling the terrific social media presence that Alyson Footer had established.
On the baseball side, the Astros cleaned house, dumping all of the big contracts and trading for a good number of high upside prospects. This would be an example of a good change. The Astros have also done a good job of giving season ticket holders a little more bang for their buck with season ticket holder events and access to front office staff.
But what about the average fan? Not someone that lives and breathes this stuff everyday like me. Not even someone like my sister who has partial season tickets and knows just enough to be dangerous. What about the fan that goes to five to ten games a year, doesn't read the newspaper beyond an occasional boxscore and definitely doesn't read any of the blogs. You know, the person who turns a 13,000 attendance figure into a 30,000 figure. What is that person seeing?
Mr. or Ms. Average Fan saw yet another record losing season. They saw 50 different players wearing an Astros uniform, most of whom they don't know from Adam. They saw the same old tired in-game promotions from last year. They saw an ugly sign go up in left field to block their view of downtown and the fireworks show. They saw a new manager take over. And a new first base coach. And a new hitting coach.
Next year, they're going to wonder why we're playing Oakland so much and when the next Cardinals series will be. And who is Bo Porter? And who are all those new coaches? They're going to turn on their televisions and they may or may not see Jim Deshaies and Bill Brown. No one will say definitively yet, but it doesn't sound good for Bill Brown. And they'll turn on their radio and wonder whatever happened to Dave Raymond and Brett Dolan and Milo. And what happened to the train? Didn't there used to be a hill out in centerfield? It's a wholesale dismantling of everything that Mr. or Ms. Average Fan find familiar and comfortable. There is not even a hint of continuity for them.
Some of these changes will ultimately prove to be good and some ultimately bad, but I am hard pressed to think of one single change thus far that an average fan would wholeheartedly like other than being able to bring in food and drink.
The latest of these changes happened last night when it was announced that the contracts of Brett Dolan and Dave Raymond would not be renewed. Yes, the long-suffering duo who have propped up Milo Hamilton for the last several seasons won't get a chance to see what life without Milo might be like.
I'll be honest. I didn't like Brett and Dave at first, mostly because they had no history with the team. But after seven years with the team, they had built that history and they had built a following. And Dave, in particular, was incredibly generous in his interactions with Astros fans which made the broadcasts even more fun for many of us who follow him on twitter.
But at this point, I was still trying to keep the move in perspective. I know that not everyone liked their style. Perhaps the Astros front office is bringing back Larry Dierker or Alan Ashby, announcers who truly were popular with almost everyone. And then I saw this on twitter:
Seriously?!? You don't already have someone in place? So we could end up right back where we started seven years ago with an inexperienced tandem with no knowledge of the team? And you want our ideas about replacing them, but you didn't ask for our input about whether or not they needed to be replaced in the first place? This boggles the mind. At least it boggles my feeble little noggin. Again, it just seems so completely tone deaf.
Ultimately, the Astros may hire new broadcasters who will be beloved by all for the next 20 years. Ultimately, the Astros will start winning again. I am hopeful that the new uniforms will hearken back to incorporate the Astros history. I hope for the same when it comes to changes to the mascot and the ballpark. I hope that Bo Porter is a good manager. I hope that Porter puts together a good staff. I hope that we don't lose 100+ games again next season. I hope that the Astros keep Jim Deshaies and Bill Brown together. I hope that Astros social media becomes fun and interactive (and accurate) again. I hope that all these changes we're seeing right now will fade into the past and ultimately the good will outweigh the bad. But right now, all I'm seeing is an all out concerted effort on the part of the front office to alienate and drive away Mr. or Ms. Average Fan. Change just for the sake of change? Not good.
Owning a baseball team isn't like owning just any other business. I'm not going to get terribly worked up if Sears quits selling Kenmore washers and dryers or if Kentucky Fried Chicken changes its brand to KFC. Baseball is a business that resonates with people. A business with a history that becomes intertwined with family histories. Entire relationships are built around and defined by baseball. I don't know what my father and I would have talked about in his final years had it not been for baseball. And I know that I am not alone in saying that.
Jim Crane may think that he can run the Astros as a nameless, faceless, soulless business. But, if he does, there is one thing that he doesn't understand. He doesn't actually own the Astros. The people of Houston do. We're just letting him rent the team for a while. The sooner he realizes that, the better. And, by the way, get that damn sign off my property.
So I suppose it was natural that Allan Huber "Bud" Selig crammed the Astros move to the American League down our throats with the ownership change. Who cares? It's just Houston. Never mind the 50+ years of history with the National League which, quite frankly, is the equivalent of 100+ years in a city with so little stability. But water under the bridge. No use crying over spilled milk. What's done is done. Pick your platitude.
Enter Jim Crane. Long-time Astros fans (and, yes, there are still many of us) were still reeling from the impending move to the American League. What does Crane do? He casually drops a bombshell that he's thinking of changing the name of the Astros. It was a completely tone deaf move that generated enormous pushback as well as enormous angst by the fans.
What ensued were more and more changes, some good, some bad. Despite conducting focus groups and surveying people to death on many, many topics, Crane throws up hideously ugly advertising signage (you can call it community leaders all day long, but it's still advertising) in left field with nary a word ... on taxpayer owned property. Yes, Houstonians are allowing our view to be spoiled by this blight even though we actually own Minute Maid Park. When does the billboard go up in my backyard? This would be an example of a bad change. As was dismantling the terrific social media presence that Alyson Footer had established.
On the baseball side, the Astros cleaned house, dumping all of the big contracts and trading for a good number of high upside prospects. This would be an example of a good change. The Astros have also done a good job of giving season ticket holders a little more bang for their buck with season ticket holder events and access to front office staff.
But what about the average fan? Not someone that lives and breathes this stuff everyday like me. Not even someone like my sister who has partial season tickets and knows just enough to be dangerous. What about the fan that goes to five to ten games a year, doesn't read the newspaper beyond an occasional boxscore and definitely doesn't read any of the blogs. You know, the person who turns a 13,000 attendance figure into a 30,000 figure. What is that person seeing?
Mr. or Ms. Average Fan saw yet another record losing season. They saw 50 different players wearing an Astros uniform, most of whom they don't know from Adam. They saw the same old tired in-game promotions from last year. They saw an ugly sign go up in left field to block their view of downtown and the fireworks show. They saw a new manager take over. And a new first base coach. And a new hitting coach.
Next year, they're going to wonder why we're playing Oakland so much and when the next Cardinals series will be. And who is Bo Porter? And who are all those new coaches? They're going to turn on their televisions and they may or may not see Jim Deshaies and Bill Brown. No one will say definitively yet, but it doesn't sound good for Bill Brown. And they'll turn on their radio and wonder whatever happened to Dave Raymond and Brett Dolan and Milo. And what happened to the train? Didn't there used to be a hill out in centerfield? It's a wholesale dismantling of everything that Mr. or Ms. Average Fan find familiar and comfortable. There is not even a hint of continuity for them.
Some of these changes will ultimately prove to be good and some ultimately bad, but I am hard pressed to think of one single change thus far that an average fan would wholeheartedly like other than being able to bring in food and drink.
The latest of these changes happened last night when it was announced that the contracts of Brett Dolan and Dave Raymond would not be renewed. Yes, the long-suffering duo who have propped up Milo Hamilton for the last several seasons won't get a chance to see what life without Milo might be like.
I'll be honest. I didn't like Brett and Dave at first, mostly because they had no history with the team. But after seven years with the team, they had built that history and they had built a following. And Dave, in particular, was incredibly generous in his interactions with Astros fans which made the broadcasts even more fun for many of us who follow him on twitter.
But at this point, I was still trying to keep the move in perspective. I know that not everyone liked their style. Perhaps the Astros front office is bringing back Larry Dierker or Alan Ashby, announcers who truly were popular with almost everyone. And then I saw this on twitter:
We wish Dave and Brett well. We look forward to finding someone to fill Milo's big shoes (or it is his voice). We want to hear your ideas.
Seriously?!? You don't already have someone in place? So we could end up right back where we started seven years ago with an inexperienced tandem with no knowledge of the team? And you want our ideas about replacing them, but you didn't ask for our input about whether or not they needed to be replaced in the first place? This boggles the mind. At least it boggles my feeble little noggin. Again, it just seems so completely tone deaf.
Ultimately, the Astros may hire new broadcasters who will be beloved by all for the next 20 years. Ultimately, the Astros will start winning again. I am hopeful that the new uniforms will hearken back to incorporate the Astros history. I hope for the same when it comes to changes to the mascot and the ballpark. I hope that Bo Porter is a good manager. I hope that Porter puts together a good staff. I hope that we don't lose 100+ games again next season. I hope that the Astros keep Jim Deshaies and Bill Brown together. I hope that Astros social media becomes fun and interactive (and accurate) again. I hope that all these changes we're seeing right now will fade into the past and ultimately the good will outweigh the bad. But right now, all I'm seeing is an all out concerted effort on the part of the front office to alienate and drive away Mr. or Ms. Average Fan. Change just for the sake of change? Not good.
Owning a baseball team isn't like owning just any other business. I'm not going to get terribly worked up if Sears quits selling Kenmore washers and dryers or if Kentucky Fried Chicken changes its brand to KFC. Baseball is a business that resonates with people. A business with a history that becomes intertwined with family histories. Entire relationships are built around and defined by baseball. I don't know what my father and I would have talked about in his final years had it not been for baseball. And I know that I am not alone in saying that.
Jim Crane may think that he can run the Astros as a nameless, faceless, soulless business. But, if he does, there is one thing that he doesn't understand. He doesn't actually own the Astros. The people of Houston do. We're just letting him rent the team for a while. The sooner he realizes that, the better. And, by the way, get that damn sign off my property.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Astros Season Ticket Holder Townhall
On Sunday, the Astros had a couple of events for season ticket holders before the game and after the game. The first event was their annual Photo Day which has become a favorite of mine as you can meet the players and get pictures of them or with them, but more on that at a later date. The second event was a Townhall Meeting for season ticket holders with George Postolos and Jeff Luhnow after the game. There was no real news broken, but I thought my readers might be interested in a couple of topics that were discussed.
Postolos started with some prepared remarks and talked a little about the managerial search, the improvements to the farm system, what the front office was doing to improve the season ticket holder experience, the new regional sports network, etc. And then he got to the elephant in the room, or should I say the elephant in left field. Postolos admitted that he had done a poor job explaining the Community Leaders Program which he then addressed in great detail. I personally felt that he did a good job of explaining that part of it, but more or less glossed over the actual signage itself which is what many, many fans find objectionable.
During the Q&A, one long-time season ticket holder summed things up very nicely, indicating that he understood the need for the corporate partners, but thought the signage itself looked like something that was rigged up out of plywood and chicken wire. He then asked with some exasperation, "Can't it be aesthetically pleasing?" His question was greeted with widespread applause. The critique was noted but not specifically addressed.
Luhnow also delivered a few prepared remarks, focusing on the improvements to the farm system, changes in field and front office staff and the move to the AL. Of the managerial search, he said, "We're going to find a rising star manager to help us manage our rising stars." In answer to a question about Roger Clemens, Luhnow indicated that he would welcome having Clemens "impart some of his wisdom and work ethic to some of our players" and emphasized that he was reaching out to many Astros alumni to become more involved with the team.
Another question of interest was the final one about bringing back Jim Deshaies and Bill Brown to announce next year. (As you may or may not know, "Brownie" recently made some comments that sounded as though he might be contemplating retirement.) Postolos said that he thought they were both terrific and that it would be addressed in the off-season. Again, not really news but I know it's important to those of us who have counted on J.D. and Brownie to make the last two seasons bearable to watch.
There was one other thing that Postolos said in his prepared remarks that I wanted to pass on. "Everything that goes into making the Houston Astros a great organization has to be first class for us to get to that position." I agree with that. And I agree that Jeff Luhnow is working well towards that goal on the baseball side.
But as others have pointed out, there have been some questionable moves on the business side as of late. The Astros had arguably the best social media experience in MLB under Alyson Footer's direction, but that has degenerated badly since she went back to work for MLB.com. There is no face to Astros social media now, no one that the average fan can relate to. And the Astros should not underestimate the power of social media to bring in fans. I can't tell you how many extra games I went to this season just because some of my Astros tweeps were going. There is nothing first class about the social media operation right now. Oh, and having the players sell tickets on their personal twitter accounts? That's definitely not first class. It's tacky.
And then there's that plywood and chicken wire structure out in left field. No one described it more aptly than Stephen did in this blog post. The money quote (emphasis is mine):
Yes, I understand that good will come of the community partnerships in helping Houston area kids get the facilities they need and that good will come of it in helping to keep the team solvent until the Astros are good again. But first class teams have terrific views of riverfronts, bays, downtown skylines, an iconic arch, not plywood and chicken wire advertising. Yes, outfield advertising in the game goes back as far as I can remember, but it needs to be incorporated into the structure in a much more aesthetically pleasing manner. There's no reason it can't be.
The new ownership group has done a lot of things right, from hiring Jeff Luhnow to committing to the rebuild of the farm system to something as simple as letting people bring in their own food and water. But they still have a ways to go if they truly want to be a first class operation and maintain long-term success. They must realize that the average fan experience is more important than any corporate sponsorship when it comes to the long-term success of the franchise. If they can simply provide a good fan experience year in and year out, the profits will come and those will be first class.
Postolos started with some prepared remarks and talked a little about the managerial search, the improvements to the farm system, what the front office was doing to improve the season ticket holder experience, the new regional sports network, etc. And then he got to the elephant in the room, or should I say the elephant in left field. Postolos admitted that he had done a poor job explaining the Community Leaders Program which he then addressed in great detail. I personally felt that he did a good job of explaining that part of it, but more or less glossed over the actual signage itself which is what many, many fans find objectionable.
During the Q&A, one long-time season ticket holder summed things up very nicely, indicating that he understood the need for the corporate partners, but thought the signage itself looked like something that was rigged up out of plywood and chicken wire. He then asked with some exasperation, "Can't it be aesthetically pleasing?" His question was greeted with widespread applause. The critique was noted but not specifically addressed.
Luhnow also delivered a few prepared remarks, focusing on the improvements to the farm system, changes in field and front office staff and the move to the AL. Of the managerial search, he said, "We're going to find a rising star manager to help us manage our rising stars." In answer to a question about Roger Clemens, Luhnow indicated that he would welcome having Clemens "impart some of his wisdom and work ethic to some of our players" and emphasized that he was reaching out to many Astros alumni to become more involved with the team.
Another question of interest was the final one about bringing back Jim Deshaies and Bill Brown to announce next year. (As you may or may not know, "Brownie" recently made some comments that sounded as though he might be contemplating retirement.) Postolos said that he thought they were both terrific and that it would be addressed in the off-season. Again, not really news but I know it's important to those of us who have counted on J.D. and Brownie to make the last two seasons bearable to watch.
There was one other thing that Postolos said in his prepared remarks that I wanted to pass on. "Everything that goes into making the Houston Astros a great organization has to be first class for us to get to that position." I agree with that. And I agree that Jeff Luhnow is working well towards that goal on the baseball side.
But as others have pointed out, there have been some questionable moves on the business side as of late. The Astros had arguably the best social media experience in MLB under Alyson Footer's direction, but that has degenerated badly since she went back to work for MLB.com. There is no face to Astros social media now, no one that the average fan can relate to. And the Astros should not underestimate the power of social media to bring in fans. I can't tell you how many extra games I went to this season just because some of my Astros tweeps were going. There is nothing first class about the social media operation right now. Oh, and having the players sell tickets on their personal twitter accounts? That's definitely not first class. It's tacky.
And then there's that plywood and chicken wire structure out in left field. No one described it more aptly than Stephen did in this blog post. The money quote (emphasis is mine):
What. The. Hell. Is that thing in LF? Astro optimists, pessimists, and realists alike can all agree that THAT is the most offensive thing the ball club has done this season. I know I am writing for a blog that is run by Mr. Luhnow’s bff, and I myself have praised Crane, Luhnow, and co. for a job well done so far……but that craptastic money grab is offensive. You bought the club and reserve the right to make some extra money, but why put a gigantic yearbook sponsor page in front of the most beautiful part of our stadium? I’d rather see that plump, poor man’s Captain Kangaroo driving Thomas the train across left field than be accosted by that monument to commercialism.I think what bothers me most about the structure, other than it being ugly, blocking the view, interfering with the enjoyment of fireworks and in no way enhancing the ballpark experience is that the front office knows all that and won't admit it. They knew everyone would hate it. Why else would they focus group everything else to death, yet put up the Community Partners signage with nary a word until it was up and presumably too late for fans to have a say?
Yes, I understand that good will come of the community partnerships in helping Houston area kids get the facilities they need and that good will come of it in helping to keep the team solvent until the Astros are good again. But first class teams have terrific views of riverfronts, bays, downtown skylines, an iconic arch, not plywood and chicken wire advertising. Yes, outfield advertising in the game goes back as far as I can remember, but it needs to be incorporated into the structure in a much more aesthetically pleasing manner. There's no reason it can't be.
The new ownership group has done a lot of things right, from hiring Jeff Luhnow to committing to the rebuild of the farm system to something as simple as letting people bring in their own food and water. But they still have a ways to go if they truly want to be a first class operation and maintain long-term success. They must realize that the average fan experience is more important than any corporate sponsorship when it comes to the long-term success of the franchise. If they can simply provide a good fan experience year in and year out, the profits will come and those will be first class.
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Some Thoughts on Jim Crane & Roger Clemens
Back in January I got up on my soapbox to give Jim Crane a little warning friendly advice about trifling with the Houston fanbase. I'm sure he never read it, but it made me feel better. Since then, I have mostly left him to his devices, both good and bad. As much as I hate that thing in left center, I understand why it's there as I look around at all the empty seats. Until the Astros are competitive again, Crane needs to make money somehow.
But I left him alone because it appeared that he was committed to re-building the team the right way, from the bottom up. He has spent wisely, focusing the Astros dollars on the farm system rather than quick-fix free agents. He has hired, in Jeff Luhnow, a General Manager who has publicly stated that he has no interest in making moves that would risk mortgaging the future.
Yes, the current Astros team is doing badly by any definition of the word. Some of the current players will be a part of the future and are slowly adjusting to the major league level. Some players are, to put it bluntly, placeholders until younger players are ready to stake their claim. Re-building is not for the faint of heart. But it appeared that Jim Crane and company were committed to the philosophy at hand.
Then the Roger Clemens circus came to town. I have no ax to grind with Roger Clemens. Leaving the unproven steroid allegations completely out of it, there have been other issues over the years that have kept me from really liking Clemens as a person. Whether it's fair or unfair, I'll admit it. BUT I can put that aside, and I will be the first to acknowledge that he is one of the greatest pitchers to have ever played the game. Hands down. And I will never forget the sight of him warming up in the bullpen to pitch the 16th, 17th and 18th innings for the win in the 2005 NLDS. It still gives me chills.
With that said, it appears I am in the minority when I say that Jim Crane should not sign Roger Clemens to pitch for the Houston Astros. It is a bad idea on several different levels. As a matter of fact, I think even Jim Crane knows it's a bad idea. In this article, Crane goes out of his way several times in saying that Clemens wouldn't be a part of the long-term plans. Then why do it? If it admittedly doesn't advance the long-term plans of the organization, what is the reason for doing it?
He would be doing it for money, pure and simple. Crane may protest that he will give most of the money to charity, but so many people would come to see Roger Clemens pitch that there would be a lot of extra cash coming in the door via concessions and the $250 specialty jerseys that I feel certain would be made available.
So what's wrong with that, you may ask? What are you, a communist or something? No, but I am a purist. Bringing in someone who in no way advances your long-term goals (or even short-term goals for that matter) just to bring people in cheapens the game of baseball, the Astros franchise and the efforts of those players who are working their tails off to be a part of the team moving forward. There is no shame in losing. There is, however, shame in bringing in an Eddie Gaedell or a Herb Washington or a Roger Clemens just to put butts in seats.
Another reason I am against the idea is that Clemens would, by necessity, take up a 40-man roster spot. I was presented with a whole list of individuals who some think could easily be removed from the 40-man roster to make room for him. That may or may not be true but it misses the point entirely. Here is just a short list of pitchers who should at least be considered for a September call-up and a 40-man roster spot over Roger Clemens:
Brett Oberholtzer
Jason Stoffel
Kevin Chapman
Jarred Cosart
Jose Cisnero
Ross Seaton
Every one of those pitchers has the potential for being a part of the Astros' future. Roger Clemens does not. He should not be taking developmental innings away from any pitcher in this organization.
Roger Clemens can make a difference for the Astros and he can contribute to the Astros' long-term development, but not as a player. He can be coach, consultant, mentor or cheerleader under the personal services contract that is already in place and I would love to see that happen.
I'm sure that there are other teams that are in need of his services as a pitcher now. We are not one of them. Let another team deal with the circus atmosphere that would accompany a Roger Clemens comeback. Please. Let the Astros retain at least a shred of dignity.
I know there are many who won't agree with me, but I just wanted to let you know my reasons.
But I left him alone because it appeared that he was committed to re-building the team the right way, from the bottom up. He has spent wisely, focusing the Astros dollars on the farm system rather than quick-fix free agents. He has hired, in Jeff Luhnow, a General Manager who has publicly stated that he has no interest in making moves that would risk mortgaging the future.
Yes, the current Astros team is doing badly by any definition of the word. Some of the current players will be a part of the future and are slowly adjusting to the major league level. Some players are, to put it bluntly, placeholders until younger players are ready to stake their claim. Re-building is not for the faint of heart. But it appeared that Jim Crane and company were committed to the philosophy at hand.
Then the Roger Clemens circus came to town. I have no ax to grind with Roger Clemens. Leaving the unproven steroid allegations completely out of it, there have been other issues over the years that have kept me from really liking Clemens as a person. Whether it's fair or unfair, I'll admit it. BUT I can put that aside, and I will be the first to acknowledge that he is one of the greatest pitchers to have ever played the game. Hands down. And I will never forget the sight of him warming up in the bullpen to pitch the 16th, 17th and 18th innings for the win in the 2005 NLDS. It still gives me chills.
With that said, it appears I am in the minority when I say that Jim Crane should not sign Roger Clemens to pitch for the Houston Astros. It is a bad idea on several different levels. As a matter of fact, I think even Jim Crane knows it's a bad idea. In this article, Crane goes out of his way several times in saying that Clemens wouldn't be a part of the long-term plans. Then why do it? If it admittedly doesn't advance the long-term plans of the organization, what is the reason for doing it?
He would be doing it for money, pure and simple. Crane may protest that he will give most of the money to charity, but so many people would come to see Roger Clemens pitch that there would be a lot of extra cash coming in the door via concessions and the $250 specialty jerseys that I feel certain would be made available.
So what's wrong with that, you may ask? What are you, a communist or something? No, but I am a purist. Bringing in someone who in no way advances your long-term goals (or even short-term goals for that matter) just to bring people in cheapens the game of baseball, the Astros franchise and the efforts of those players who are working their tails off to be a part of the team moving forward. There is no shame in losing. There is, however, shame in bringing in an Eddie Gaedell or a Herb Washington or a Roger Clemens just to put butts in seats.
Another reason I am against the idea is that Clemens would, by necessity, take up a 40-man roster spot. I was presented with a whole list of individuals who some think could easily be removed from the 40-man roster to make room for him. That may or may not be true but it misses the point entirely. Here is just a short list of pitchers who should at least be considered for a September call-up and a 40-man roster spot over Roger Clemens:
Brett Oberholtzer
Jason Stoffel
Kevin Chapman
Jarred Cosart
Jose Cisnero
Ross Seaton
Every one of those pitchers has the potential for being a part of the Astros' future. Roger Clemens does not. He should not be taking developmental innings away from any pitcher in this organization.
Roger Clemens can make a difference for the Astros and he can contribute to the Astros' long-term development, but not as a player. He can be coach, consultant, mentor or cheerleader under the personal services contract that is already in place and I would love to see that happen.
I'm sure that there are other teams that are in need of his services as a pitcher now. We are not one of them. Let another team deal with the circus atmosphere that would accompany a Roger Clemens comeback. Please. Let the Astros retain at least a shred of dignity.
I know there are many who won't agree with me, but I just wanted to let you know my reasons.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)