Garner and PooPoora are history!

[texiban001]

Alright Astros fans! 610KILT has reported that there will be a press conference held at 2:00PM for Drayton McLane to announce the firings of BOTH Tim Pupura and Phil Garner.

This move will enable me to TRY to become an Astros fan once again. This is long overdue. Both of these idiots should have been gone before the All-Star break. PooPoora has singlehandedly dismantled the farm system with is ignorant trades and Scrap Heap has no business managing a major league club. He does not know how to use a pitching staff or use the available talent to at least be competitive in the worst division in MLB.

So long Tim & Phil! Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out! ;D

[jbarron]

Garner made mistakes but Drayton and Purpura are to blame for this mess. Purpura should have been fired. Garner didn't have the material to win this year thanks to MacLane and Purpura. I''m watching the press conference and I haven't heard old Draytie shoulder any of the blame.

[ikedilligas]

jbarron said:

Garner made mistakes but Drayton and Purpura are to blame for this mess. Purpura should have been fired. Garner didn't have the material to win this year thanks to MacLane and Purpura. I''m watching the press conference and I haven't heard old Draytie shoulder any of the blame.

I couldn't agree more

[jbarron]

To further illustrate the total ignorance of Drayton MacLane, he says that hitting is the major problem with this team. It's a problem but not nearly as big of a problem as PITCHING.

[lamearmjr]

Wow living up here in Fort Worth I just heard the news. Finally, the fire both these bums.Now we can ask who should be some of the canidates for both these jobs. Mgr names that come to mind would be, Coop of course, Bogar, Girardi, Jackie Moore, Tony Pena and Art Howe ( a mistake letting him go in the first place). Lets not talk about Buck Showalter, Bobby Valentine, and Jim Fargosi. As for GM Stay away from John Hart and Randy Smith please. Personally I would like to have either Coop or Pena as mgr with Jackie Moore as bench coach and see if we can get Billy Spires to cancel a hunting trip and get him involved in the Astros organization at the field level.

[gracie]

I am glad to see the pasty white hedgehog gone as GM but I am not so sure about the Garner firing. I certainly didn't agree with some of his moves but you can only do so much with talent pool you are given to manage. I didn't agree with the Jennings trade during the off season. IMHO we gave up way to much for him. That was before we found out he was damaged goods. Also, the addition of Lee still wasn't enough to compensate for Ausmus, Biggio and Everett's bats. Drayton should have never let Hunsicker go. Too bad he couldn't stay out of the day to day business and just let Hun do his job.

[vega51]

FINALLY.

I've been saying this for 2 years now.

[jbarron]

Don't be surprised to see one or both of Drayton's boys.....Biggio and Bagwell.....figure into the picture.

PLEASE don't let Tal name his boy Randy as the GM. He's worse than Purpura. I'd like to see an experienced GM and possibly name Biggio to be assistant GM.

[pgastros22]

Thank God i don't think garner was that bad of a manager but he couldn't get any production out the guys and purpura hurt him more than helped him that was obvious time to open a new chapter in Astros baseball and im excited

[garyfan]

This was needed. Purpura wasn't cutting it and Garner's moves have been always been so formulaic and predictable.

I will be interested to see how Coop does.

BTW, In McTaggart's story in the Chronicle, Tal specifically said his boy Randy wouldn't be considered for the GM job.

[jbarron]

I'd like to see Cooper get more than the rest of the season to prove himself as a manager. Give him some talent to see what he can do. Drayton said he's looking for "leadership". Well, let's see this old fool lead by giving up the money to get some players. Then,a nd only then, can he judge Cooper's ability as a manager. Letting him manage this bunch of utility players and pitching retreads for 30 days won't prove anything.

[mikeinsa]

Personally I would like to see Joe Girardi. He has a little fire in his belly. Pena would be my second choice.

[jamesa46]

mikeinsa said:

Personally I would like to see Joe Girardi. He has a little fire in his belly. Pena would be my second choice.

JB-
I was all for Pena until he walked away from that KC job. That indicates to me he felt he was in way over his head. Although, I wouldn't be all that disappointed if the Astros did hire Pena.

Cecil Cooper would probably be another safe choice for skipper but I have an idea that McLane and Tal will probably want to start over with a clean slate.

I have no idea whom McLane and Smith would have in mind for the GM position. Randy Smith will not be considered for the job - Tal has already made that clear.

Personally, Tal Smith should simply handle the GM position himself. He was the one who built that 1980 team back in the late 1970's as GM and helped to maintain a winning franchise until Purpura took over as GM and began screwing things up.

Much blame for this team's demise has been placed on Purpura and rightly so but I also think Garner deserves some blame too. Garner simply is out of his league managing in the National League. Many times he was out-managed by the opposing team's manager simply because Garner just didn't have the mindset of the nuances and maneuverings NL managers are required to do over American League managers where little or no game maneuvering is required.

Also, I think not accepting the fact that this teams better days were already behind them and not facing up to the fact that a complete rebuild was in order really has hurt this teams ability to return as a winning franchise in the long term.

Looks like Hunsicker was a helluva lot more important to this team than most realized.

[jbarron]

Drayton was asked if bringing Hunsicker back was being considered and he answered quickly....NO! MacLane should shoulder the blame for most of this. I don't think I'd give Pena a job at this point. Let Cooper have a real chance to see if he is the man for the job.

OH yes, am I the only one that's sick of MacLane using this "make us a champion" bullsh*t while meddling into things he knows nothing about? He's to blame for this team being terrible.

[hembo36]

Its a start for sure...garner is a moron...poopoo is even worse