Drayton Fires 2 Again
The boos came raining down hard on Jeff Bagwell night and word is that Drayton McLane couldn't take it. As someone whose main goal is to take care of the customer, McLane knew he had to do something. So hours later, he fired both GM Tim Purpura and MGR Phil Garner.
Both were warranted. Each to a certain degree. Garner was never the best manager to begin with. Sure he led Houston to its first World Series but I could have too with Clemens, Pettitte and Oswalt as my starters. His moves this year have been unorthodox to say the least. It's almost as if tries to go out of his way to do the opposite of the norm.
As for Purpura, well, no one can really grade the job he did. Whose call was the Jennings deal? The Lee Deal? And for the matter the Clemens/Pettitte deal? Was it truly Purpura or was McLane and/or President (and interim GM) Tal Smith involved? Either way, the public opinion was so against him that Uncle Drayton had to do something.
But now where should the team go? First, McLane and his crew need to reevaluate the organization. I think they should hire someone from the Moneyball way of thinking to be the GM or Assistant GM. McLane needs to also let loose of the reins a bit. He can take a page from the Les Alexander school and get involved only on big decisions, and even then let your people do most of the decision making.
The team needs to refocus its scouting/farm system and try and get back to it's glory days of the 90's. Not having one single pick before the 5th round won't cut it. As mentioned before, the Astros were the last team in MLB to have a high A ball team. If anything, invest in more teams, not less. One thing that they finally started to do this year was bring up their top prospects much sooner. In years past Hunter Pence would have been stuck at AAA for a couple years. Ditto for Troy Patton. I'm not advicating rushing anyone and everyone but if the case warrants it, by all means don't shy away from it like in years past.
The manager post really doesn't matter next year. A spot in the wild card race would be the best one could hope for. McLane should hire interim skipper Cecil Cooper full time, if nothing else, because he's black. There have been too many racial undertones the last few years regarding this Houston team. This would go a long way towards erasing some of them.
Applaud Drayton for at least having the guts to make a change. Another season would have been a throwaway. Now it's time for Drayton to make another change and that's to let his new GM actually run the organization this time around.
Both were warranted. Each to a certain degree. Garner was never the best manager to begin with. Sure he led Houston to its first World Series but I could have too with Clemens, Pettitte and Oswalt as my starters. His moves this year have been unorthodox to say the least. It's almost as if tries to go out of his way to do the opposite of the norm.
As for Purpura, well, no one can really grade the job he did. Whose call was the Jennings deal? The Lee Deal? And for the matter the Clemens/Pettitte deal? Was it truly Purpura or was McLane and/or President (and interim GM) Tal Smith involved? Either way, the public opinion was so against him that Uncle Drayton had to do something.
But now where should the team go? First, McLane and his crew need to reevaluate the organization. I think they should hire someone from the Moneyball way of thinking to be the GM or Assistant GM. McLane needs to also let loose of the reins a bit. He can take a page from the Les Alexander school and get involved only on big decisions, and even then let your people do most of the decision making.
The team needs to refocus its scouting/farm system and try and get back to it's glory days of the 90's. Not having one single pick before the 5th round won't cut it. As mentioned before, the Astros were the last team in MLB to have a high A ball team. If anything, invest in more teams, not less. One thing that they finally started to do this year was bring up their top prospects much sooner. In years past Hunter Pence would have been stuck at AAA for a couple years. Ditto for Troy Patton. I'm not advicating rushing anyone and everyone but if the case warrants it, by all means don't shy away from it like in years past.
The manager post really doesn't matter next year. A spot in the wild card race would be the best one could hope for. McLane should hire interim skipper Cecil Cooper full time, if nothing else, because he's black. There have been too many racial undertones the last few years regarding this Houston team. This would go a long way towards erasing some of them.
Applaud Drayton for at least having the guts to make a change. Another season would have been a throwaway. Now it's time for Drayton to make another change and that's to let his new GM actually run the organization this time around.
posted by christopher at 2:26 PM
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