The Astros are a lost cause.
If you want to know why they are a lost cause then you need look no further than the top of the organization, no...higher. That's right, Drayton McLane and Tal Smith. Those are the black-hats in the Western drama that has become the Astros organization of late. Those two men have done more to wreck the organization from within than anyone else, more than Tim Puprua, more than Scrap Iron and certainly more than Cecil Cooper, whose recent firing is similar to trying to solve the grafitti problem by punishing the victim.
I'm not suggesting that Coop was blameless, he certainly didn't have the tools to be a major league manager. The problem was that he shouldn't have been put in that position in the first place. Yes, he didn't have a quality car in the race, I give you that, but he shouldn't have been racing in this circuit to begin with.
Then we have the writer of wrongs who feels that a love for the game and Brad Ausmus is all the Astros need. Nevermind pitching, defense, someway out from under the bloated contract of Carlos Lee, etc. The Astros could resurrect Casey Stengal and he couldn't even get this collection of misfits over .500 (something that Cooper was at least able to do last year.)
Did he lose the players? Obviously, especially if they were wearing "really?" T-shirts under their uniforms and texting reporters (Justice among others) every time Cooper made a decision they didn't like. The thing is, no quality manager is going to want to go into a clubhouse full of spoiled children, no matter what the terms of the contract are.
What all of this probably means is that the Astros are going to end up hiring Dave Clark, who (we're told) has the respect of the clubhouse. (despite the team losing two straight since he took over, in blowout fashion) Next year we'll be told that the Astros are "competing for a championship and they'll bring in some wheezing wind-bag of a .500 career pitcher (Is Kenny Rodgers available?) some spit and bailing wire and tell us the Astros are ready to contend. They'll do this because Drayton McLane wants to turn a profit, while convincing anyone who will still listen to his schtick that he's all about winning a championship.
He's not, of course, but he is about selling tickets and concessions, something that the Astros have done fairly well up until this year. In Drayton (and Tal's) mind a rebuilding year means lost revenue, lost concessions sales and is unacceptable. It's something that's probably not even brought up in Astros board meetings. Which is too bad, because it's what desperately needs to be done.
Were the Astros serious about winning that is. Which, of course, they're not, otherwise you'd have seen Oswalt, Berkman and Tejada on the trading block before the deadline, having provided Ed Wade with a list of teams for which they'd waive their no-trade clauses.
You won't see that though, because that's not something that "makes you a champion today". You know, sort of like Tal's Hill and putting a flag pole in the field of play.
Oh, and raising beer prices.
