The team is desperate for good starting pitching. There is hope for Brown and Lambert, but the rest of the SP is like rolling the dice.
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It seemed unlikely but it wasn’t a scenario that was out of the realm of possibility, considering how much first place was still within reach and how the other teams were doing.
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I actually think that Brown is still in that “rolling the dice” category. Hopefully he can maintain what he did in his last start.
Tear it down to the studs. This organization is in trouble. We have one of the worst farm systems in all of baseball. We have a clueless general manager. The first step would be to fire him and hire someone who actually knows what the hell he is doing.I wish they would say that no one is untouchable and just start over, like they did about 12 or 13 years ago. Sometimes you just need to go back to square one.
People can talk about that all they want, but Crane isn’t going for a tear-down. He did it the first time out of absolute necessity and because the team was dead in the water. This one isn’t, at least from a competitive standpoint.
In the old days, Crane wasn’t spending any money, but he’s committed substantial resources to the roster. I’m sure that he sees the current situation as the result of bad luck (rash of injuries) and some bad management decisions - hopefully he sees his own involvement as part of the problem.
He’ll totally clean house in the front office and rebuild the management structure before he entertains doing offloading franchise players for a truckload of youngsters. The best thing he can do is hire the right people and get out of the way. But a 72 year old competitive rich dude isn’t going to voluntarily throw away close to a decade in the hopes of returning to glory.
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Same thing different day. This SP staff is a bad joke
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Is this the 3rd time he hasn’t made it out of the first inning?
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Whatever. This current team has no leadership, no heart, and no guts. I guess they could win 70 to 80 games for the next year or two, but that’s about all I see. They are soft, mentally and physically.
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Say what you will about Framber Valdez, but you could pretty much pencil him in for a quality start every time. Sure could use that kind of steadiness now. I believe the Astros probably make the playoffs last year if he doesn’t flake out at the end.
They’ve hovered around 2-4 games back for the longest time this season and you feel like with some kind of spark they could make a push but I’m not sure where this would come from. Alvarez is already playing lights out. Pena has been swinging the bat well lately so maybe but then you have games like tonight where Imai just gives you nothing. It’s very frustrating.
Two errors and a HBP in the top of the 9th by the imploding Angels. Not the prettiest but I’ll take it.
You have to think Mike Trout is just going to look back on his career one day and wonder what could have been if he had only gone somewhere more committed to winning.
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That was wild. 
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Wow.
Looks as though the Angels are THE team to reach .500 against.
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I disagree. Dana Brown has been a mixed bag, not a disaster.
I’d argue he clearly won the Verlander, Kikuchi, Graveman, and Paredes/Smith/Wesneski trades, along with a few under-the-radar minor league deals.
His drafts also look promising. Matthews, Neyens, Pecko, Frey, and Ochoa have all given reason for optimism.
His free-agent track record isn’t nearly as bad as it’s often portrayed. This year’s class looks rough with Imai and Burrows, but Hader has been a good addition, while Caratini, Okert, and Taylor Scott were all solid signings. Ben Gamel contributed, Christian Walker has been about average, Hayward was underwhelming, and Salazar was serviceable.
I understand the frustration over the Tucker and Alvarez injury situations and Brown’s media handling of them. But he also inherited a payroll that severely limited his flexibility. He didn’t have the luxury of handing out premium contracts above market value the way Luhnow did with Verlander and Greinke.
Ranking GMs for the Astros is hard because the time the GM is inserted into the position is heavily influenced by existing roster, payroll constraints, and the farm system.
I’ll give you a great example of why comparing GMs is dumb. Can you name any other GM in the history of baseball where two all-star caliber pitchers signed for their hometown team at 50% discounts in the same year?
Andy Pettitte likely could have landed roughly a five-year, $60–65 million deal on the open market, yet signed with Houston for three years and $31.5 million. Roger Clemens came out of retirement for just $5 million in 2004 and $18 million in 2005, despite likely being worth something closer to two years and $35 million on the open market.
Ed Wade, Tim Purpura, Dana Brown, James Click, Gerry Hunsicker, and Jeff Luhnow all were handed different scenarios and different constraints.
If I had to compare DB’s situation I’d liken it to what Tim Purpura walked into but slightly better because there is at least some investment in the farm system.
TL; DR. I’m f*cking tired of people bashing Dana Brown and calling him a complete failure. If you think that, then you haven’t performed five minutes of research to tell you otherwise.
Part of the jam the Astros find themselves in I think is the loss of revenue from the change in TV deal. Previously they were getting about $73 million a year and this is down to $50 million after the creation of Space City network. There may have also been startup costs that would have to be absorbed (although split with the Rockets) They have also only been able to create a streaming service this year due to other commitments. I can’t find if this is making them any money but we are living in a time when people are not exactly looking to pick up a new streaming service.
After having to eat big contracts to both Verlander and LMJ (probably offset to an extent by insurance but still) I can see the desire to give it a shot with pitching on the cheap. Especially since at one time it seemed like there were plenty of these guys available like Garcia, Javier, Urquidy, etc.
Good points about the TV deal. The streaming service is headed in the right direction. I think it would be in SCSN to partner with Hulu, Amazon, or Netflix as add-ons to the existing subscription. That seems more intriguing of a model than being an independent streaming service.
It’s hard for me to view the Astros or the GM as in any kind of “jam” when they have a payroll just outside the top 5.
They don’t suffer a lack of resources.
They’ve lost most of the personnel that used to develop minor league talent.
They’ve lost their training staff infrastructure and leadership.
They’ve abandoned their approach to smart signings and have made a series of bad choices over the last several years (this is on Crane). Firing Click was an all-time bad decision.
They haven’t recovered from lost draft picks and trading away organizational depth.
They’ve lost significant player leadership that hasn’t been replaced.
But I have a feeling that Crane is done with DB after this season. He wasn’t hired to produce progressively worse seasons, and that’s where it’s headed absent a huge turnaround.
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The jam is how to get back into serious contention before Crane sells. There is no telling what the new owner will do or what Crane’s timeline is.
The gap between the Astros at 8 on the payroll chart and the Dodgers at 1 ($160 million) is about the same as the gap between the Astros and the Marlins at 30. There are definitely tiers to MLB payrolls and the Astros aren’t in the first or second tier. We are fortunate that they are one of the clubs that is at least trying to compete.
Mistakes have been made and fixing those mistakes will take money. A new GM is not likely to bring instant results without a significant outlay in free agency and even that is risky. I don’t see a scenario where a new GM comes in and wheels and deals his way to contention in the offseason. The current roster is too top-heavy for that and there are too many dinged-up arms. Part of this is the organizational and league decision to chase spin rates and velocity. The farm system is pretty bare although if folks like Pollard are to be believed (and I don’t see any reason why I wouldn’t), it sounds like there are some bright spots down in A ball. Results might not show up on the field for years.
So, calling for accountability is fine and great but what is the plan? I don’t really care about pointing fingers.
edit - I’ll also point out that Crane bought the Astros for $680 million and Forbes has them valued at $3.2 billion. 4.7X
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I think it’s time for Dezenzo, Smith, Loperfido, *Matthews (shows promise) & Whitcomb to produce.
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Has he put the team on the market?
His oldest son is the SVP of Executive Operations for the Astros and CEO of Crane Worldwide Logistics. Doubtful that Jim is looking to sell anytime soon, but I guess you never know.
I’ve been critical of Crane’s increased involvement in player decisions, but he’s one of the best sports franchise owners the city of Houston has ever had. When he took over the Astros Foundation in 2011, it was worth about $50K - it’s now worth about $25MM and is a huge local contributor. He bought out the Houston Open and kept it from leaving town back in 2018-ish. And he spends money on the Astros instead of hoarding it like the previous owner.
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