Off the Walling 1/30/12

This is a new section that will include random links and news of Astros goings on from around the web.  I chose the name Off the Walling in tribute to the great Denny Walling.  Off the Walling sounds like you are just picking stuff off the wall.

Denny Walling was named hitting coach for the Norfolk Tides of the Baltimore Orioles system.  Walling will always be remembered in my mind as the man who homered in the Mike Scott no hitter of 1986.  Walling is serving under Ron Johnson, who is the father of current Astro Chris Johnson.

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2012-01-26/sports/bal-orioles-announce-minor-league-staffs-20120126_1_coaching-staffs-gulf-coast-orioles-minor-league

  

The Return to Os-walt?

We got some news this week that the Astros may be in on Roy Oswalt.  My first thought was that I may need to bring my Oswalt jersey out of retirement for a few months.  Why would Roy be interested in a return to Houston?

Perhaps he wants the wins record as he sits just one win behind Joe Niekro.  Maybe he is just looking for a nice comfortable place to rebuild his value.  Maybe he really didn't want to leave Houston in the first place.

How will fans feel?

It didn't end well for Roy in Houston the first time around and many fans will hold that against him.  I think that we as fans need to remember that these guys play baseball professionally.  It is their job.

Imagine working a dead end job with an owner that seems disinterested at best.  That must have been how Roy felt.

I think fans in general will get over it.  I can't imagine that the majority of Astros fans would rise in disgust at the return of the Wizard.

What's in it for me?

The number one reason that I would like to see Roy back is that he is one of my favorites to ever wear the Astros uniform.  Who can forget his performance in game six of the 2005 NLCS?  He was masterful. 

I know that he isn't the same pitcher, and a lot has happened since then, but I would like to see one face on this team that reminds me of the good old days.

I am a pitching guy.  My favorite players throughout my baseball fan experience have mostly been pitchers.  I worshipped Mike Scott, Nolan Ryan, as well as many non-Astros pitchers such as Maddux and Eckersley.  Roy is a continuation of my infatuation with pitching.

What's in it for the Astros?

The Astros gain an experienced pitcher on a one year deal that is looking to rebuild his value.  If he gets off to a good start and pitches like the Roy of the past, he could be flipped for prospects again.  The trade might not involve the Phillies for a change.

Why sign veterans when a team is in rebuilding mode?  Veterans allow the Major League club to function while bringing along the kids in the minors.  Roy would allow the Astros to start Lyles and/or Happ in the minors.  They could find their groove and come up midseason after Oswalt is moved.

Zach Duke provides this same sort of opportunity.

The move will also appeal to the casual fan.  They will see that a player that they recognize not named Carlos Lee is returning to the franchise.  This sort of move gives the Crane organization street cred with the casual fan.

I place the odds of an Oswalt return at 90 to 1.  I just don't think the money makes sense.  He is asking for upwards of ten million for one year, and that is not something that the Astros should do.  If they can land him for five million, then I say that they should jump all over it.

What's in a Name?

I was driving with my son to the grocery store when I heard something unexpected.  They were talking at length about the Astros name change possibility on Dallas sports radio (1310 The Ticket).  This is not an anti-Dallas post.  I enjoy living here, and I really enjoy The Ticket.

The Hardline, which is the strongest baseball show on the station, discussed their opinions on the matter.  This post is in response to one premise raised by one of the gentlemen.  His point was that Houston wasn't known for space exploration anymore, and they should go forward with the change.

So that got me to thinking about nicknames throughout sports.  Do nicknames need to reflect something unique about your city?

My answer is a resounding no.

Anyone out there think the Oklahoma City Thunder were named that because of all the bad weather they get in Oklahoma?  Anyone ever been to Pittsburgh and run into a disproportionate number of Pirates or been mauled by a Tiger in Detroit?  Are people in San Francisco all very tall?  

I realize that a few of those teams have been around for many years, but some moved from the east coast to the west coast and still didn't feel the need to change their name.  The Braves have been in three different cities with the same name.

The idea of nicknames being representative of something unique about a locale is an expansion era idea.  It is not a requirement for a team to be a local success.

The Astros name is not linked to the space race era for many of us.  It is linked to a baseball team that we have grown up rooting for.  Richard Justice put it perfectly today.  The name is linked to family memories for many.  For me, I think about my grandmother every time I hear Milo Hamilton's voice.

Names may start out being representative of something unique, but they change as time goes on.  No one really cares where the name Yankees came from or even if there are a ton of Cardinals flying around Saint Louis.  The fans of those teams care about the memories built while investing time and emotion into those teams.

My second thought is that we are still space city until further notice.  The space race helped build Houston into what it is, and that is enough for me to say that the name Astros is still relevant to what we are about.  

Oil obvioiusly played a major role as well, but I don't think that we are going to change to the Oilers for obvious reasons.

I don't believe a name change is going to happen or that it is even seriously being considered, and I know Astros fans have been beat over the head with the topic for the last couple of days.  Sorry that I wrote about this for two days in a row and perpetuated this thing further, but the Astros name is important to me, and I didn't really think much about that until I was asked to.

A Team By Any Other Name

I have had some time to reflect on some of the changes that Mr. Crane has put into place.  I have a lot more positive than negative feelings, so lets sort this thing out.

I would like to see a change in the uniform, but I am not in favor of a return to the rainbow jerseys. The rainbows represent a singular era, and they belong in the 1980s.  I do want a return to the orange and navy color scheme.

I wouldn't be opposed to a new design using the same colors, but it would not be my first choice.  I would like to see a redesign of the original Astros uniforms.  We need something that can be consistent.  What do the Tigers, Red Sox, Cardinals, Yankees, Mets, Cubs, etc have in common?  They haven't had major changes to their uniform.

We have not only had changes, but we have completely changed our color scheme twice.  I say a redesign of the original Astros uniform gives us brand recognition.

As for the hat, I think that a return to the star and the H is a given.  That is Astros baseball, and I am not sure why it ever went away.  The symbol is synonymous with Houston at least it should be.

Bringing food into the ballpark is a big win for me.   I live in Dallas and attend several games at in Arlington every year, and I am allowed to bring in food.  It is really one of the things that was a pleasant suprise upon attending my first games out there.

I have a family of four, and I don't have the kind of job that pays a huge amount of money.  We sit high, park cheap, and bring a picnic to the park.  It really is a great thing.  The people with the disposable income to spend still buy food.  The concession lines are still packed, and Jim Crane knows this.

I have no comment on ticket prices, because I only come down for one or two games a year.  Most of my Astros watching happens when they play the Rangers or on TV.

The name change idea is one that I am completely opposed to.  I was angry after the move to the AL was made official, but not mad enough to jump ship.  If the team I grew up rooting for essentially dissappears, I don't know what I would do.  It would be tough.  I do belive that I will never face this situation, because Mr. Crane has to understand the consequences to rebranding.

I am at a stage with this team where I am pulling for this team solely for the names on the front.  I haven't built an attachment to any of the players that are currently on the roster.  I was, and remain, a big Pence fan.  Changing the name on the front in a time such as this would test the bounds of my loyalty.

Like I said earlier, I don't think Mr. Crane will go forward with a name change, but I do see uniform changes coming.  All I know is that I am excited about the direction that the club is going.

Patience

Jack Cust is hardly the savior of the Astros franchise.  He isn't the guy that springs us to contention, and he is not intended to be that guy.  Judging from Twitter reaction yesterday, people were seeming to believe that we had signed a starting outfielder.  Clearly Luhnow had lost his mind.  I have come to this conclusion.  Astros fans have very little experience with truly rebuilding.  I was born in 1980, so I don't have much to draw on before that time.  The Astros teams of the eighties were never terrible. They were always within shouting distance of .500.  They finished about .500 every year but 1987, 1984, and 1982 with the worst record coming in 1987 with a record of 76-86.  Notice that the losing was spread out, and there were no terrible years.

Let's look at the nineties.  There were only two losing season in the nineties, and those seasons were 1990 at 75-87 and 1991 at 65-97.  That is hardly rock bottom rebuilding considering that we had a young core already in place with a young Craig Biggio and the 1991 Rookie of the Year, Jeff Bagwell.  We had three division titles during the nineties and battled during the middle of the decade.  Who knows what would have happened in 1994 when we were 0.5 games back win the strike happened.  Again, there was not sustained rebuilding going on at this time.

The 2000s brought some of the most special Astros moments with a World Series appearance and the construction of Minute Maid Park.  The first season at then Enron Field was a tough one.  It was clear that the team was still build for the dome, because our pitchers were getting knocked all over the place.  We rallied in 2001 with young pitching to win the division again.  We wouldn't win another division title, but we saw two wild card seasons that lead to some of our finest moments.  We would only have two sub .500 seasons in the decade in 2007 and 2009.  

However, 2010 and 2011 would prove to be two of our worst seasons, and the writing was on the wall.  The Astros were going to need to undertake their first major rebuilding project in my lifetime.  From 2009 to 2011 was the first time in my lifetime that the Astros had a losing record in three consecutive years. 

I didn't realize how good we have had it until I started looking at the records over the years.  We really do have a lot to hang out hats on.  However, patience may not be our best attribute.  We aren't used to waiting long periods of time for a turnaround.  A five year wait feels like an eternity to me, but we will emerge again and continue our tradition of consistant winning records.

Carlos Lee Chatter

It was reported today that the Rays have inquired about Carlos Lee.  If that is the case, the Astros will need to eat a large amount of his contract.  There is a joke in there somewhere about Lee's offseason conditioning habits.  With one year remaining on his contract, it would be unwise not to eat the necessary amount of money to get this done in the offseason.  Here is why.

Carlos has shown a trend over the last couple of years of starting slow.  This year will likely be no different.  If he starts slow, his trade value decreases.  But, you may say, what if he starts fast?  Is that a risk you are willing to take?

What good does it do the club to keep him around?  We are talking about a guy being paid 19.000,000 for an oWAR of 2.5 in 2011 and -0.5 in 2010. Oh, and he can't play defense.  Next year we lose him for nothing.  It is better to pay him to play somewhere else for a year and get a few pieces back in return.

The Rays are the perfect place for Carlos.  He would DH every day, and never even have to pack a glove.  Its a great clubhouse with a manager that gets the most out of each player.  Carlos could blossom in this environment.

I have heard names floated around on twitter from various sources.   These names include guys like Brignac and Davis.  I would love either or both, but the Astros brass has to pony up the cash first.  Hopefully I will be writing a reaction piece soon.

Loyalty: A Response to Maury Brown

Maury Brown is a respected business of sports writer, and I am one of those that respects him.  This past week he went trolling for angry Astros fans on twitter and succeeded in this quest.  He said something that has stuck with me.  It included the term "blind loyalty", and he nearly repeated the exact line to Astros County.  I have spent time trying to figure out what he means by this.  He certainly isn't using it in a positive way.

What is blind loyalty?  It implies that one is following another unconditionally without regard to the actions of the leader.  The problem that I have is that this is baseball that we are talking about.  We aren't talking about following a potential dictator who will surely bring on World War III.  I am well aware of Mr. Crane's past business issues and so was MLB.  They deemed him to be a worthy candidate.  We all know that this was a matter of convenience with the push for the Astros to move to the AL.  I don't speak for all Astros fans, but Mr. Crane was not my first choice to own the club, but he is the man that we are stuck with.

We were here first.  The fans were here before he was.  We already have years of devotion invested in this team.  So, I am supposed to switch my allegiance that I have maintained for 30 years?  No.  I was here first.  This is where I feel slighted by MLB more than anywhere else.  Crane was not good enough to be approved for the Rangers, but he was good enough for us, because it was convenient for MLB.  So, we are stuck with the guy that couldn't be approved for any other team.  It is not my fault that this happened, and I won't switch allegiances, because Bud and his cronies stuck us with this.  Read my first ever blog post to find out how deep my Astros roots run.

Is it really blind loyalty?  The answer is yes, but it is only yes, because we can't tell the future.  Loyalty has to be blind until we see the plan taking shape.  This leads me to my shocking revelation.  The Maury Brown that interviewed with Astros County is from the future.  He must be.  That's the only way he would be able to judge us for "blind loyalty".

Another point from Brown is one that I completely agree with.  In fact, I have always believed that sports franchises belong to the city first.  Owning a franchise is far different from running a freight company.  Many fans, including myself, are displaced and remain loyal to the home town teams of their youth.  It is a connection to where they are from.  It reminds them of their childhood in many cases.  Mr. Crane isn't just an owner.  He is a steward and protector of a city institution.

I am still not 100% sure what Maury Brown was implying in his statements, but I do understand what loyalty is.  My loyalty is to Houston, and the Astros are an institution of the city, therefore I must have faith in the new keepers of the franchise until they show me that I shouldn't.  I might be blind, but so be it.