The Death Of a Franchise..My Diagnosis on the Fall Of the 'Stros

[Tedc]

The Astros losses this year have not really been surprising to me as to some of the fans. The Astros do not have a fifth starter ad we all knew this going in. The bullpen was suspect last year and very few moves were made to shore it up. Most importantly, the Astros did not pursue Jeff Kent and came up short in the Carlos Beltran sweepstakes. A case could be made that the latter was our demise.

Gerry Hunsicker has always been a shoot from the hip GM and a crafty one at that. He has had success in his major league career and was on his way of getting the Astros where they needed to be. The fact that Gerry retired is the underlying problem here. Why would Gerry leave such a good situation unless he knew something we didn't? It is a known fact that Gerry wasn't allowed to deal with the large contracts under Drayton's ownership. Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio were locked up in long contracts against Gerry's wishes.

Drayton Mclain is an owner that really wants a winner and one that has taken the reins from his GM at a moments notice. When dealing with the Jeff Kent/ Carlos Beltran situation last year, Mclain made it clear he was the point man in the negotiations. He was to make the decisions that would eventually doom our team. Gerry Hunsiker knew it was time to get out.

Drayton Mclain, due to his micro-management, is the person responsible for this mess and is the only one who can pull the trigger on a fix. Without a good GM like Gerry, don't look for it to happen. Roger will be gone this year and we can thank our wonderful owner for the flushing of the Astros.

Thanks, Uncle Drayton, for the death of the 'Stros.

[Steak]

I still think the Astros can turn it around.

The loss of Gerry Hunsicker was a disgrace. He is one of the best GMs in baseball. In fact, he is so underrated as a GM. Terry Ryan gets more publicity than Gerry for crying out loud. I am still shocked he left and I am pretty sure the Mets are too that he left too late. As good as Omar Minaya has done, had the Wilpons had the inkling that Gerry would left, Mets would have pursued Gerry Hunsicker over Minaya.

As for Drayton, I think he has done a good job fielding a great product. He wants to win. He is just going about it the wrong way though. He needs to have faith in his GM. Here's hoping he lets Tim Prupura do his job.