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Houston Astros off-season thread

Wulaw Horn

By Wulaw Horn
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Txslnghrns
Txslnghrns

Hey. Fuk you and fuk the astros.

Txslnghrns
Txslnghrns

Nope. Need help finding your pennant?

Txslnghrns
Txslnghrns

No. I think I’m on the right thread. Your off-season begins……now

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WBT

WBT 20736

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5 hours ago, HtownHorn said:

She is a Rangers' fan 1st and foremost. Why was she ever hired?

"Journalists" aren't supposed to be fans.

But they're also supposed to be impartial.  Drellich had an obvious axe to grind.  I actually agreed with Rome more often than not, especially with his criticisms of Dusty but he was such a smarmy passive-aggressive twat about it.

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Cunt can sit and spin for all I care,.

Don't talk about killing yourself in your grief.  If you were really sorry, you would have already acted upon it.

Grandstanding bitch all the way around.

 

There's an easy way to walk it back, but where are the clicks in that?

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Macklemore

Macklemore 2881

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8 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:


chron.com and houston chronicle are not the same company 

That’s not true. Chron.com was the original website for the paper and then within the past decade they made houstonchronicle.com a separate paywall site for newspaper content and Chron.com was turned into a clickbait, ad infested quasi-news related site. They are both owned by Hearst and now Chron.com has its own editorial staff and writers for the crap they peddle. 

Edited by Macklemore
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Wulaw Horn

Wulaw Horn 19236

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7 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:


 

 

That’s a terribly written tweet. Are the astros “losing” 73M as in- used to make 123M and now will make 50M, or are they “Losing” 73M and replacing it with 50M, for a net loss of 23M? I’m pretty sure it’s the second and not the first. 

Just found an article from fangraphs in 2020 that had the Astros local deal as worth 70M a year- so I was right and it’s the second. Ole Jimbo is taking a 23M hit (maybe) on the local side, but who knows if it’s even actually a hit overall as the national money is seemingly going up, and they are making the mlb package more robust and national and projecting more money coming in. 
 

at any rate, it furthers my point that everyone who think ala carte is good for sports fans literally doesn’t understand the economics of the system and that we should all thank God for bundling as sports fans, as we are the biggest free riders out there. It’s basically a Ponzi scheme as we severely overestimate how many people really care about sports- it’s something like 15% of the population. 
 

America (and the world) has become incredibly atomized as everyone has more access to content basically designed completely for them (I’m not complaining- I have an astros podcast!  Listened to by scores of people even! And they seem to actually like it which makes me happy as a creator- that someone- anyone- enjoys the same thing as me and that I can brighten their day a little bit by creating content), which means it is like pulling on a fray- eventually you lose the entire mosaic. Sports is still the number 1 United in this country- a hell of a lot more people watch then than, say, CSI Pflugerville, but as everything becomes atomized and mono culture disappears it’s a matter of being the tallest midget. 


So, when people decided that they were only going to pay for “what they watched” they ignored the fact that most people want no part of wanting to watch what they want and at the same time they want it. Content companies thought they could “grow their way out of it” and if you have unlimited money like Bezos or apple sure, maybe you can, but places that run actual businesses that watch the actual bottom line noped their way out as quickly as possible and here we have it- Jim crane has a reason to not sign Hader or Pederson to fix our one actual hole on the roster. 
the good news?  The Rangers will get hit worse. The Bad news? Dodgers and Yankees are better situated in that respect than anyone else. 

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Wulaw Horn

Wulaw Horn 19236

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10 minutes ago, HtownHorn said:

That would be better off if they had worked on getting streaming done within the first few months of launch, but that network is run by idiots who think streaming is "We have an option to watch it online if you already pay for it through your cable provider."

I think the economics are such that there is no right answer because the price point is fucked up, but I’m doing a deep dive on this today and we are going to pod on it tonight. Might writes a series of articles about how it works. 

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Dutchrudder

Dutchrudder 11159

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From that link:

 

Quote

Which way Astros?

The Astros continue to explore the addition of a free-agent reliever, pondering a reunion with Hector Neris and touching base on Jordan Hicks, according to sources briefed on their discussions.

The team, however, currently is just over the initial $237 million luxury-tax threshold, according to Fangraphs’ calculations. One agent in contact with the Astros says club officials are signaling that money is an issue. Under owner Jim Crane, the team has exceeded the threshold only once.

 

Trading left-hander Framber Valdez, who is projected to earn $12.1 million in the second of his three years of arbitration, would create flexibility under the threshold. But it remains unclear whether the Astros will pursue such a course.

 

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texashorne

texashorne 1178

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1 hour ago, tx 3 putt said:

Time for crane to cash out on a wonderful investment. Go out on a remarkable run, bought for $630mil ish, sell for $2bil+ 

we need an owner with deeper pockets 

Unless that guy is Steve Cohen, guys with 2Billion all know how to run a business, and will thus run this organization like a business. Our best bet is to do what has given us success in the past.. A good farm and international program. 

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uoftorange

uoftorange 1388

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I keep seeing people suggesting Crane has made "billions" over the last 7 years on the Astros.  I mean yes, the team is probably worth 1.4 billion more than when he bought it, so if that's part of the equation sure.  But he's made a few hundred million over these last 7 years.  He's also massively invested in the stadium and facilities in general.  We've been a top 5-7 payroll for a while now and makes half the money the Yankees and Dodgers did and went to 7 straight ALCS's, and 4 WS's.  Something they haven't done.  I don't think Crane gets 1/10th the respect he deserves for what's been done here.  Almost like people forgot McClane and McMullen.  McMullen once let Nolan Ryan leave to the Rangers over a pay cut that was idiotic for God's sake.  McClane's FA stroke was Carlos Lee.  Crane is the best owner in Houston sports history, and it's not close.  

That's not to say he's perfect, but Steve Cohen just did what everyone thinks Crane should do, and he's worth 10 times as much and the Mets fell apart half a season in.  

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HtownHorn

HtownHorn 14916

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I will give Crane the benefit of the doubt for right now, that benefit is extremely short. He could just be leveraged because of buying up the area around MMP to build out the entertainment district like the Braves have done, but I also know from friends that have bought corporate ads in MMP that Crane is making millions a year on those alone. I think the entertainment district will help lessen the burden from the TV deal by adding millions in revenue especially with the ability to host more concerts and other events year round.

My biggest fear is Crane turns into Jerry Jones and last year was a signal towards that when severely hampered his future payroll with two idiotic signings. Hopefully, he has enough sense to acknowledge he fucked up and will stay out the GM job moving forward. 

If the Astros and Rockets are serious about the local TV network working, they need to have a fucking streaming service ready to go by the end of 2024.

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HtownHorn

HtownHorn 14916

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57 minutes ago, uoftorange said:

McClane's FA stroke was Carlos Lee.  Crane is the best owner in Houston sports history, and it's not close.  

Never mind Dough Drabek, Greg Swindell, Roger Clemens, and Andy Pettitte. Crane is now tied with former Rockets owner, Leslie Alexander. At least Les was smart enough not to try his hand at GMing for an off-season.

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The local rights deal is so fucking great that MLB has one of the most fucked up business models in sports for determining 'local' viewers.

Fuck em.

Figure it out and make your product reasonably accessible to fans.  I have money to give you, motherfuckers... but not if I cannot watch my team.  No way i am the only one.

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texashorne

texashorne 1178

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38 minutes ago, HtownHorn said:

I will give Crane the benefit of the doubt for right now, that benefit is extremely short. He could just be leveraged because of buying up the area around MMP to build out the entertainment district like the Braves have done, but I also know from friends that have bought corporate ads in MMP that Crane is making millions a year on those alone. I think the entertainment district will help lessen the burden from the TV deal by adding millions in revenue especially with the ability to host more concerts and other events year round.

My biggest fear is Crane turns into Jerry Jones and last year was a signal towards that when severely hampered his future payroll with two idiotic signings. Hopefully, he has enough sense to acknowledge he fucked up and will stay out the GM job moving forward. 

If the Astros and Rockets are serious about the local TV network working, they need to have a fucking streaming service ready to go by the end of 2024.

Montero and Abreu? Are those the idiotic signings? Montero was bad, not idiotic.. It completed a bullpen that was instrumental in bring home the 2022 Championship. And Abreu was championed by EVERYONE when it happened. 

 

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Wulaw Horn

Wulaw Horn 19236

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2 hours ago, texashorne said:

Montero and Abreu? Are those the idiotic signings? Montero was bad, not idiotic.. It completed a bullpen that was instrumental in bring home the 2022 Championship. And Abreu was championed by EVERYONE when it happened. 

 

Montero was idiotic and I almost had a stroke at the time. Abreu was worth it for his playoff impact alone. He was hurt. That shouldn’t be confused with a bad signing. Also, Dusty did him zero favors by trotting him out every day hurt. 

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uoftorange

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3 hours ago, HtownHorn said:

Never mind Dough Drabek, Greg Swindell, Roger Clemens, and Andy Pettitte. Crane is now tied with former Rockets owner, Leslie Alexander. At least Les was smart enough not to try his hand at GMing for an off-season.

I will admit, terribly, that I did forget about Les.  Which is horrific, because he was an outstanding owner that only gave a shit about winning.  My sincere apologies to a guy that is massively underrated.  

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uoftorange

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4 hours ago, HtownHorn said:

Never mind Dough Drabek, Greg Swindell, Roger Clemens, and Andy Pettitte. Crane is now tied with former Rockets owner, Leslie Alexander. At least Les was smart enough not to try his hand at GMing for an off-season.

I will never mind Drabek and Swindel. Doug was fine, Greg was garbage.  Neither put the Astros over the top.  Drabek had one AS appearance and was pretty mid as an Astro, even though I really like the guy.  Clemens and Pettite were great for sure, and I probably sold him short.  Also had those guys straight fall in his lap and he lost them because he wouldn't go past that to have some hitting too.

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HtownHorn

HtownHorn 14916

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10 minutes ago, uoftorange said:

I will never mind Drabek and Swindel. Doug was fine, Greg was garbage.  Neither put the Astros over the top.  Drabek had one AS appearance and was pretty mid as an Astro, even though I really like the guy.  Clemens and Pettite were great for sure, and I probably sold him short.  Also had those guys straight fall in his lap and he lost them because he wouldn't go past that to have some hitting too.

You were making the point that McLane was cheap, when he actually wasn't. He got burned with Drabek and Swindell, but took another swing with Clemens and Pettitte and also opened up the bank to keep Biggio and Bagwell career Astros. To say he only signed Carlos Lee is disingenuous. 

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texashorne

texashorne 1178

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1 hour ago, Wulaw Horn said:

Montero was idiotic and I almost had a stroke at the time. Abreu was worth it for his playoff impact alone. He was hurt. That shouldn’t be confused with a bad signing. Also, Dusty did him zero favors by trotting him out every day hurt. 

That was probably an overaction then to Montero. Rendon, Choo, Hamilton.. those contracts come to mind as being idiotic.. 

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