Posted by Johnnymac 10:17 AM


Someone here at work just brought up a very good point that I want to share about the Astros and Carlos Beltran.

Two words: Randy Johnson

Now, it was 6+ years ago and I was just getting to be an Astros fan and my memory may be fuzzy, but I don't remember there being nearly as much bad feeling about his short stint with the team and subsequent departure. Randy Johnson was honest. He said, "I like the fans and I appreciate the welcome I have received, but I don't want to play here permanently."

Certainly, if the Astros had offered him enough money he might have reconsidered, and thus on those grounds maybe the fans had a little room to grumble that the team was not willing to pay enough to attract star players, but no one was misled or duped. Everyone knew where everyone else stood and it might not have been fun, but it was reality and both sides moved on after the season.

Contrast this with Carlos Beltran, who, on the other hand, seemed to genuinely want to play for the team and seemed to enjoy his experience here. He publicaly said that he would like to continue his career in Houston and the fans lapped it up that he might possibly become a permanent addition to the team and not just be the next all-star player to earn himself a big contract from New York.

Now it's beginning to look like there really was no chance that Beltran was going to resign with the Astros unless they offered the biggest contract, and that really all of the "I like Houston" crap was just a negotiating ploy to get one of the New York teams to pay as much as possible, which, by definition is always going to be more than than the Astros can afford to offer. This is why I think Astros fans are more upset about this situation than they were about Randy Johnson - Beltran and Mr Evil apparently were negotiating in bad faith all along. Why shouldn't Astros fans be just a little bit upset?

Like I said in my last post, I can't necessarily blame him for taking the money, but now that some of the details of the negotiation are coming to light - and I believe Drayton's side more than Mr Evil's, who already has a reputation for this type of thing - perhaps it might be appropriate to note than one can be a good businessman and not an asshole.

I am already planning on getting tickets for the weekend of Friday, July 29, when the Mets make their annual visit to Houston, and I think I'll pay just about anything to get them.

0 Comment(s):

Post a Comment