He wholeheartedly believes that the Astros are going to do well this season.

So Drayton changed his name to Jim Crane?

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He wholeheartedly believes that the Astros are going to do well this season.

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Another banner year at the box office, where the Astros lead MLB in profits?

No doubt the Astros will do well financially.

After $26M in payroll last year, he has bumped up his game to $39M with the signing of Scott Feldman ($12M/yr).

If they made $99M in profits in 2013... the extra $13M spent could cut that profit to like $80M.

At that pace, he'll have that team paid off without ever having to spend a dime.

you think he would tell you if he thought they would suck?

This team is building in the right way, I really don't care what we do in free agency.

We are going to be a good team in 2016. Not a year before that.

They do have one of the top farm systems in the league.

"crane"

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This team is building in the right way, I really don't care what we do in free agency.

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Well said. It's funny when the team is rebuilding and you hear idiots talking about how they haven't signed any old/veteran big money free agents. What good would that do? If you're going to rebuild from the bottom then you do it through the minors.

[This message has been edited by Ronnie Gardocki (edited 1/28/2014 12:04p).]

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We are going to be a good team in 2016. Not a year before that.

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the royals have been telling themselves that for 3 decades

http://blog.chron.com/ultimateastros/2014/01/28/espn-rates-astros-farm-system-no-1-a-day-after-porter-says-future-is-mighty-bright/

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This team is building in the right way, I really don't care what we do in free agency.

We are going to be a good team in 2016. Not a year before that.

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I remember hearing/saying that with the Mariners for years starting in 2009....

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We are going to be a good team in 2016. Not a year before that.

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the royals have been telling themselves that for 3 decades

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Don't believe these two situations are the same imo. Luhnow has brought a serious culture change and a st Louis type beginning here

Everyone wants to bring up the Royals and Mariners (whom routinely give retarded contracts) but always fail to bring up the Rangers, Orioles, Rays etc

In the case of the Orioles, it was about 15 years between winning seasons. They're hardly a success story to fill one with confidence.

They, like the Rangers, never really went down the track the Astros have gone, though.

The Rays have shown what you can do with shrewd money management. Still, its no secret their sudden one season jump from a perennial 65 win team to a 90+ win team between 2007 and 2008 corresponded with their going out, doubling to tripling their payroll by signing veteran free agents that would turn out to be the team leaders (see Carlos Pena).

The Rays operate how they do out of necessity. The Astros have seemingly clung to the cellar out of shear desire to keep a good profit.

More power to them, you'll all say they are just being appropriately frugal, but its just strange to then see them go drop $30 million on Scooter Feldman???

So... more specifically... what the Rays did back then, was get guys on 1-2 year contracts... then trade those players for draft picks OR they'd get Type-A or Type-B draft compensation.

The Rays had a great deal going on. They'd concentrate on talent to get good for 3-4 years and hope they could flip it for ridiculous prospects. Those days are over.

I like what Houston is doing... other than the fact they have gone a step further in having only 1 player above league minimum... they literally mailed in the past couple seasons.

If they can keep their players playing at a lower level than they should... they'll improve and gain confidence. THEN... without burning Arb or Serf years when they aren't quite ready... they can bring them up to maximize their cheap years... and then trade them off as the next wave comes.

This works, but it does require discipline... AND... you have to hit on the prospects. The problem KC has is... they haven't done a great job in drafting or trading. They haven't developed a tradition of winning among their players, so that they are killers when they get to the bigs. They are also one of the only teams that seems to be unable to trade emerging stars at their peak for the maximum talent in the minors.

That is also the problem Seattle has had. There may still be hope for Smoak... but I never thought he was going to be a success, and I'm surprised he fooled so many for so long.

The Rangers have been successful because they've done well bringing in players from LATAM, and they've done well drafting. They were able to get some great slots to draft... They've also done well with signing 1year deals and trading talent. Teixeira didn't hurt the talent infusion either.

dallas nailed it

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Everyone wants to bring up the Royals and Mariners (whom routinely give retarded contracts) but always fail to bring up the Rangers, Orioles, Rays etc

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What bad contracts did the Mariners have from 2009-2013? Chone Figgens who not one person would have predicted his drop is the only one I can think of.

And Canos contract is going to be turrrible. And although not terrible I don't believe you're going to get great value out of King felixs deal

The later years of Cano won't be good. Felix looks like a bargain with this years pitcher contracts.

Neither of those matter when talking about the farm and rebuilding compared to the Astros. I'm not saying the Astros won't be competitive in three years. Just easy to have one or two misses and everything is messed up. Smoak and Montero were both top 5 prospects and look to be replacement level at best.

Smoak was extremely surprising to me. I worked for the rough riders when he was there and the guy looked like the next Big Tex. Crazy how badly he's struggled

Token - You are making me blush, again.

Bond - What you missed was his age.

Compare Smoak, Davis and Moreland in terms of age, where they played at that age, and what success they had!

I would have a tough time believing anything that comes out of Crane's mouth

Sounds like they'll get some consulting hours from Nolan down there in Houston. I wouldn't discount that as being helpful.

GIG 'EM - Class of '93

Drayton Crane and his large band of investors are looking to up their positions on the billionaire list.