Astros around the Web

The Houston Astros have been getting a lot of attention the past few days with Jim Crane taking over as owner of the franchise. With that comes good and bad publicity and thought I might share some of the better articles out there right now.

What went wrong with the Astros

ESPN’s Dave Schoenfield does a great job of summing up why the Astros are in the position they are in by looking at the organization the past 13 years or so. Can’t say I disagree with much he has to say but I do have a problem with analysts looking at who the organization could take at a specific spot as drafting in baseball is as much about luck as it is about skill. It is a very hit and miss process and hindsight is always 20/20.

Astros face a long, tough climb back to respectability

The Houston Chronicle’s Richard Justice gives some advice to Jim Crane on how to bring the Astros back from the NL Central cellar. This article, along with Schoenfield’s, basically have the same message and that signing older free agents is not going to build you a championship team, but rather building through the draft and building up a farm system. I agree with Richard Justice 100%, even though it is a long process, it is generally proven the best results and allows your team to be good for an extended period of time.

Purchase of Astros will rely heavily on debt

This was an issue brought up by Astros Fan in the comment section a few days ago and it is something that needs mentioning again. However, I feel the author paints a gloomier picture than reality. He mentions the declining the attendance over the past five years but he fails to mention that was the year after the Astros went to the World Series and McLane kept his check book pretty tightly closed for the past few years. If Crane provides a better product on the field, the fans in Houston will return their support.