Astros, worse minor league system????//

[vega51]

Yes, thanks to Purpura and our great owner.

Incredible, thanks to our new GM we have 2 of the top 10 minor leaguers in one trade.

[mikeinsa]

which rating organization has us as the worst. Makes sense that we would be just curious who said it.

[vega51]

BAseball America says they have Astros one of worse and would not be surprise if they are bottom.

[fredthompson = astrobuddy]

The Astros farm system didnt go into the tank in 2 years under Purpura. It was a slow decline that started when the Astros started winning, when you win you dont get the high draft picks and when you sign alot of FA's which they did you lose picks.


Alot of the blame goes to Gerry Hunsicker.

Purpura gets blame, but it didnt just happen in the last 2 seasons. It isnt all his fault.

Drayton shouldnt get any blame for the farm system.

[Coach]

Welcome aboard, Fred.

[sadoug]

Of course drayton gets blame for the farm system....I think when we dont offer arbitration to players we dont get draft picks...is Drayton oblivious to what goes on?...I think letting non baseball people make decisions is a root cause in no farm systems and other problems....the truth is that strong organizations have strong farm systems

[tbone421998]

Glad to have you Fred.

[fredthompson = astrobuddy]

Thank you Crawford and Tbone, Glad to be here. I got here late but I intend to discuss important issues conerning the ballclub and what we can do to move forward in the great tradition of the game.


Doug? Who should they have offered arbitration too that they didnt? Do you take into account the $$$ that go along with arbitration? The long term effect of that on the Franchise?

The Astros farm system is a wreck, I dont dispute that. But it isnt all Draytons fault. No, I dont think Drayton knows what goes on in the farm system. I do agree we need more " baseball" people and less Pam Gardner, alot less. She may be a great marketing person, but I doubt she knows diddle about baseball talent.

[vega51]

Arbitration, Springer, Pettitte, Huff, ect.

We did not sign our first 3 picks last year, that is after we did not pick in first 2 rounds i believe.

This is STUPID.

In the last 2 years, can you tell me ONE good player out of the draft?/

Drayton, not to blame?/// LMAO

He is not investing any money in Venezuela, Dominican Republic or Puerto Rico.

When was the last time we SIGNED a good hispanic player???/

[chandler44]

vega51 said:

We did not sign our first 3 picks last year, that is after we did not pick in first 2 rounds i believe.

As I've pointed out to you before, this is not true.
2007 Drft Picks

We failed to sign our top TWO picks, not top THREE. Our 3rd pick, 5th rounder Collin Delome did sign with Houston.

[fredthompson = astrobuddy]

Race doesnt play a factor and I do not know why you would bring it up. I dont care an neither should you whether a player is hispanic, asian, african american, or white.

Springer based on his 2007 was a mistake, it happens, thats on Tim Purpura.

Huff.. well, I cant even beleive you are bringing him up. Why would you offer him arbitration? Why? He made $7 million in 2006 and would have been given a raise from that, so it was the right move to let him walk. You just dont take the risk of having to pay a guy like Huff $ 9 million. He just isnt worth it.

The Pettitte turned out bad as well. He had a good year. But he was a risk as well.


You cant make players sign contracts. The top 2 picks from what I understand were asking for too much money and they just werent worth it.

Some of you act as if this isnt a business and money doesnt matter. It does. Could Drayton spend more, sure, but he isnt cheap either.

When you guys who b*tch all the time figure out that money matters you will find more peace and be able to enjoy the game more.

It appears Purpura was a bad GM. He is gone and its time to move on and quit crying over spilt milk. Wade seems to be very active and lets see what the roster looks like in April of 2008.

[vega51]

Dude, YOU ARE THE ONE TALKING ABOUT RACE.

I am talking about minor leagues, right???////

Before we were VERY GOOD getting talent from Venezuela.

Now we don't get much talent out of those countries, THATS THE TRUTH.

Now, i would ask YOU not to bring the race sh*t, this has NOTHING to do with race.

Thank you in advance.

And idiot, we are not b*tching, if you care to read, almost all my post have been positive this offseason, can we say the truth??// Our minor league is one of the worse IF NOT THE WORSE.

I think we all know who you really are, change of nick, same old person.

[vega51]

Lets see Huff:

.285 career average, .342 OBP and .477 slugging, this guy really sucks, lmao

He is a lefty (something we lack), good number 5 hitter behind Lee (last year we had Loretta hitting there for many games, yuppppppi) and a run producer.

Plus, he hit well for the Astros in half a season last year.

Ohhhhhh, no arb but gooooooooooood we did the right move, we stuck with Ensberg, lmao

[mikeinsa]

Vega I can tell by your reaction that you think Fred is your old "buddy". Interesting thought but I do not think so.

You brought up race with Fred though by saying we have not signed any good Hispanic players. You could of just said that we have not signed any players worth a damn in over two years and then stated that we are not doing enough scouting in Latin America as a possible cure to this issue. I think everyone would agree with you on that point.

Our long term fix as an organization is to find good talent and draft that talent. Even the Yankees have found good talent and all they are noted for is throwing money at free agents.

[Coach]

mikeinsa said:

Vega I can tell by your reaction that you think Fred is your old "buddy". Interesting thought but I do not think so.

Fredthompson is Astrobuddy. I checked the IP addresses and both addresses that fredthompson used are ones that AB used. I banned the IP addresses today.