I don't, for one simple reason....when his numbers are average at best, I want to see him get flamed by the NY media for not putting up numbers worthy of that contract. It will also make Boras look that much more of a punk.
I don't understand all the hatred from Beltran. When he was here, he was the perfect Astro - playing 100% every game. He ended his season carrying the team to its greatest level ever. However, he never made a commitment to us, and we didn't ask it of him. We brought him on for a half a season, and if he had sucked, we wouldn't have tried to resign him. He didn't suck, and he earned the right to get the most money possible. Sure, we heard lots of things about the negotiations, but every bit of it was speculation. We never heard Beltran or his agent say he was staying. They may have used a bidding war to get more money, but that's an agent's job. We all hear Drayton's side of things and say he screwed us - but why? Why do we believe him and not Beltran's side of things? He's not the first player who's disagreed with how the Astros have presented things - the Astros made Clemens look bad in '98 or '99 when they brought out his $25 MM demand (which he denied). Bagwell and Kile both said the Astros treated Kile badly in negotiations. The reality is we have no idea what happened behind the seasons, and Beltran has said nothing but good things about the Astros organization since he's been gone. We traded for a half season of Beltran in the hopes of miraculously resurrecting our season, and that's exactly what we got. Now that we didn't get more, or that he didn't take some kind of discount for us, we're upset with him?
First post back and he's making waves!!!! The reason I'm happy that he's not doing that well is because it simply makes his leaving a lot easier to take. If he was hitting .350 with 15 hrs, 50 rbi and 20 sb, we'd all be sick right now.
Major -- 1. I think it's natural for fans to feel upset when a player leaves...especially a good one who they really liked! 2. The fans have listened to McLane's version...but they've also listened to other journalists here, as well, who've given a similar account. Justice, for example...is not my favorite. But he said that Beltran told him over and over again that "it would be different with him." That he'd be different from other Boras clients where money seemed to be the ONLY factor driving negotiations. And he says that Beltran was telling everyone who would listen how much he and his wife loved Houston. In retrospect...given the way things went...its possible to conclude that we were being played the whole time. I think MOST people around baseball feel that way. Is that on Boras or Beltran?? Well..depends on who you ask. 3. I don't hate Beltran. But I find myself rooting against him.
Bottom line is the guy doesn't owe the Astros anything. He was traded here, he was only here half of a season. He was a free agent, he went where he wanted to go.
I don't disagree with that. But this is sports...with fans...with real life and emotions. Most people don't view sports with that sort of clinical viewpoint. For most sports fans there's "us" and "them."
Max, I agree with #1 - I think that's the biggest thing. I just don't remember things like that happening with Randy Johnson, who I think was in virtually the same boat. #2 - I just find it suspicious that everything we heard was second hand. I would totally agree with it all if we heard it from Beltran's mouth or Boras' mouth, but everything we heard from them was noncommital. So it seems like now we're upset because we believed the 2nd hand stuff over the firsthand stuff, which is our own fault. #3 - yeah, I enjoy the fact that he's sucked so far too, just because it makes the pain from losing him less... but I do want to see him do well in the longrun. Everything we saw from him while he was here (and now in NY) was the type of player/person I would like to see succeed. On the field, I think he plays the right way, and off the field, you haven't seen him get a big head or obsessed with how great he is or what not.
If it actually went down like many of us believe, while he may not owe us anything, he didn't have to contribute to the ruining of our offseason. He could've flat out told the Astros that he wasn't going to resign. In this theory, by using the Astros to raise the price, he in turn, screwed them over big time.
I think there were two reasons for this. One, we got blown out in the playoffs. After that, no one really expected him to comeback. Also, I think the fact that RJ left for his hometown had a lot to do with the fans' ho-hum attitude toward him leaving.
and I think the difference is very telling of the situation and why fans feel the way they do. RJ was pretty clear he wasn't coming back. The situation was different with Beltran. Major, I agree. Everything I heard about Beltran from guys who actually knew him was positive. Everything.
And the last thing I'm going to do is feel sorry for poor billionaire businessman Drayton possibly getting screwed in a negotiation.
The point is regardless of who's fault it is, that is on Drayton. You can't blame Beltran for ruining the Astro's offseason. And as Major said, we really don't even know what happened. The Astros at least knew they weren't the only team in the running, that fact alone should have caused them to have a better contingency plan. I've never heard of this situation happening to any other team but the Astros.
I get it, you can't respond. Astros' fans blaming Beltran for their organization being unprepared is weak.
I think there's blame to go around. If Beltran knew (again this is just a theory) that he wasn't going to sign with the Astros, you don't think he deserves a little bit of blame for the way the offseason went? Drayton's supposed to be able to read minds now? I am upset at Drayton for going after him in the first place, but hindsight is definitely 20/20 in that aspect. You cannot deny that he made a very competitive offer to a guy who at the time appeared to be heading towards being a top-3 player in the league. How that makes him an idiot and how some fans can't at least respect the effort is beyond me. However, to be honest with you, the only two players that we were even rumored to be interested in that we could've gotten had we stopped our pursuit of Beltran who have done much of anything were Glaus and Burnitz. Had he stopped the Beltran pursuit and signed Steve Finley, Alou, or J.D. Drew, you'd be b****ing about how he was stupid for not going after Beltran. He can do no right in so many people's eyes.
I think the Astros did what they had to do. They thought they had a shot at (what was believed to be) one of the best players in the game. They saw a chance to make another run at the WS. They had a fan base that was as excited as ever. They would have had a super-marketable star as the centerpiece of their team for the next 7 years, and one that fits right along the mold of Biggio and Bagwell in terms of character and all that. I don't think the Astros had any choice but to go after him with everything they had. They lost - so be it. That's how it is in free agency. If they had given up earlier, everyone would be b****ing that we should have tried harder to sign Beltran (remember Kile?). The Astros got stuck in a bad situation, but I don't have any regrets that they tried their best. Given how this season has turned, does anyone really think having one more good-but-not-great player would have taken us from nearly-worst-team-in-baseball to legit playoff contender? If you're gonna suck, you might as well go all out and find out what your young players have or don't have. We've been in contention for so long that we've been dragging our feet in letting players really get a chance here (Lane, Ensberg, Ward, etc) because we didn't have that luxury - if they didn't perform immediately, we had to get someone who did. So now we can finally find out ... In the end, it's probably better that we have a season like this and find out our future strengths and weaknesses rather than be middle-of-the-pack and miss the playoffs. Sure, the latter would be more fun as a fan (contending for the wild-card), but this will be better in the long-term.
Major, I agree I really don't think Beltran would help the Astros this season. I really didn't want the Astros to offer him much more than $14MM in year in the first place. I really don't hate Drayton. I really don't think that he is cheap. My only problem with Drayton is that he has contracts to keep players on this team that he should probably let go. Drayton claims he doesn't have enough money to spend like a big market team but he has $43MM tied up in three players this season in Bagwell, Clemens, and Pettitte. You can't operate like that. If you're going to not spend like the big market clubs, then you have spend your money more wisely. Honestly, if he would have signed Beltran he would have had over $50MM tied up in 3 players and he would have tried to cut corners everywhere on the team. The cutting corners on the team to keep his strong draws at the gate caught up with him big time this season. If he is going to operate like a middle market team he is going to have to make tougher baseball decisions.
1. what contingency plan? what would you have done differently?? remembering the timeline...what would you have done differently? 2. you haven't?? you haven't heard of teams getting raped by sports agents?? really???? happens every year..and usually to more than one team...in nearly every sport.
