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That Wretched Smell Wafting Up from the Gulf? The 2005 Houston (dis)Astros
The Houston Astros fought back from the middle of the pack last summer to finish with their best August-September run in franchise history and make a run deep into the National League playoffs, inspiring the Bayou City during the dog days of summer. Roger Clemens, after years of grandstanding and hemming and hawing about wanting to be closer to family, had finally come home and, on his way to his seventh Cy Young Award, sold out Minute Maid Park practically each time he took the mound.
Astros stalwarts, and future hall of famers, Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell had come as close as they ever had in their careers to tasting the NL Pennant bubbly. Mid-summer signee Carlo Beltran had turned into superman during the playoffs, proving to be the five-tool superstar many had known he could become. His performance in the playoffs was a bit of a double-edged sword, however. There would be a bidding war and owner Drayton McLane would have to play his hand right or risk ruining his team for the years to come. But, the future was McLane’s to build . Attendance and fan interest both peaked at record highs to end the season. The question was, “Where would we go from here?” The answer would leave many a fan heartbroken.
Unfortunately, McLane did almost everything wrong. He put all of his chips in the Carlos Beltran basket last winter and sat around with his fingers crossed in hopes of winning the best player on the free agent market, and long-time Astros fans began to get nervous. While McLane sat in his mansion waiting for Beltran to pick Houston over his other suitors, other free agents inked deals with various clubs around the league. McLane did not bat an eyelash. He let the most productive second baseman of a year ago, Jeff Kent, leave Houston for the sunny skies of Los Angeles to play for the Dodgers. The Astros refused their nine million dollar option on Kent, and then McLane turned around and offered Kent a two-year deal, which could have potentially been more lucrative than the one-year deal he nixed. Huh? Fortunately, the eternally young Biggio has put together another all-star caliber season thus far. But had Kent stayed, Biggio would have remained in the outfield, leaving one of the offensively anemic youngsters to sit the bench for one more year. And while McLane sat waiting for Beltran to sign with Houston, an eventuality almost everyone in baseball doubted, free agent outfielders ( and former Astros ) Steve Finley and Moises Alou signed with other clubs, leaving slim pickings after the dust settled on the free agent market.
With arguably the best starting rotation in the National League, including Hall of Famer Clemens; third place finisher in last year’s Cy Young Race, Roy Oswalt; and all-time post season games winner Andy Pettitte; not to mention the NL’s best closer in Brad Lidge, this was not the time for the Astros to cut corners on the offensive side of things. But that is exactly what McLane did. As he sat twiddling his thumbs and counting the insane amount of money still pouring in from last year, top free agents scattered across the league and the golden goose, Carlos Beltran, left the Astros empty-handed.
The old adage in baseball is that defense and pitching win championships. I don’t think that saying applies when you have the Major League version of The Bad News Bears at the plate.
McLane had an immeasurable amount of goodwill in the bank after last year’s historic run deep into the playoffs. Instead of keeping some of his best bats from last year and bringing in a new player or two, McLane hamstrung his new general manager Tim Purpura and went with his youth movement. It was a clever rouse all along. He tried to feed the fans Alpo and convince them it was caviar. There was no way a real baseball mind could, in good conscience, allow a team with such promise to have its lineup of the previous season completely decimated. Then again, Drayton McLane does not possess a good mind for baseball. Business, yes? Baseball, no? And that is the biggest part of the Astros’ ongoing problems. McLane insists on making decisions which he would be best served leaving to his actual baseball people: the general manager, the manager and coaches.
Shame on Drayton McLane for flushing the hopes of Astros’ fans down the toilet. Because he could never decide whether to crap or get off the pot with Carlos Beltran, he has left fans with one of the worst teams in Astros history. To wit, they have won only 2 of their first 22 games on the road this year; only four other teams since 1900 have performed so poorly on the road to start a season. Thanks, Drayton.
Our suggestion, get rid of Drayton and bring back the rainbow unis (or maybe Jeff Van Gundy). Do you know of anything that could help this season’s cellar-dwellers?
