Official word is expected today regarding news that Astros fans have awaited for months — that MLB has approved the sale of the Astros to Jim Crane.
The lengthy process has been long-delayed and controversial, and the news doesn’t get any cleaner with the report that MLB would not approve the sale unless Crane agreed to move the Astros to the AL in 2013.
It’s bad enough that MLB would participate in that kind of extortion, refusing to approve the sale based not on questions about the owner or about his ability to run a financially sound club, but based on them refusing to approve the sale until they got what they wanted. It’s bad enough that the Astros were put in this position because Milwaukee was moved to the NL when it never should have been and that this is happening to Houston for no reason other than the time of the sale and the leverage that sale gave the MLB.
But what’s really troubling about this deal is that there was a myriad of issues surrounding Crane that actually should have given the league pause. The issues were reported, though not widely or prominently, allowing Crane’s scandals to somehow escape serious scrutiny. MLB had said that the sale was put on hold while the scandals were investigated, but this latest report would seem to indicate what many have suspected all along — that the real delay was coming because they were trying to negotiate a move to the AL.
It’s shocking that, even with the bad press MLB has gotten this year because of Fred Wilpon and Frank McCourt, that proper vetting of its owners still does not seem to be priority one. That the very real concerns MLB should have about Crane seem to have taken a back seat to their desire to get a balanced 15-and-15 league speaks to Major League Baseball’s very slow learning curve. Far more important right now than the structure of the two leagues should be a desire to avoid more controversy, to avoid getting more egg on its face, to ensure that the owners they’re approving won’t run a team into the ground or humiliate the league.
The issues surrounding Crane deserved serious consideration and should not have been as easy to cast aside as letting it go once he agreed to move the Astros to the AL like they wanted him to.
And none of that even considers how many ways this is bad for the Astros. They lose familiar rivals in exchange for the prayer that a rivalry based on nothing more than geography will blossom with the Rangers (really — how likely is it that a team that has gone to back-to-back World Series will have a rivalry with the worst team in the league any time soon?) The Astros now have to make frequent trips across two time zones to the west coast, playing 9:00 PM games that will hurt television revenues. According to Richard Justice, that’s actually how the $70 million figure was arrived at, as “financial compensation for possible damage to the franchise in terms of lower TV ratings.”
Nolan Ryan had also indicated that playing so many late games on the west coast hurt the Rangers’ television ratings, which makes the same-time-zone Astros a very welcome AL West addition for his club.
The only way this isn’t bad for the Astros is that they’re no longer stuck in limbo regarding their ownership. Other than that, this is a pretty big losing deal for Houston. Again, things that don’t seem to have been taken into consideration at meetings that seem to have been solely dedicated to getting the Astros to change leagues.
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Well Crane, because you are a sell out and did not look out for the fans and let Bud “I’m an Idiot” push you around, have lost at least 1000 fans that I know of. We do not like AL baseball and will not support a sell out owner that forsed it on us. Good luck trying to keep the team from going bankrupt cause you just pissed off your revenue streams….the fans.
1001………wonder why the Congress doesn’t get involved and do another report…….my then they will find that is sure seems like a conflict of interest that bud has interest in the Brewers.
You have some legitimate concerns and I can understand why any ‘Stros fan would not want them to change leagues. As a Red Sox fan, I would be furious if Uncle Bud told me that my team was switching to the NL. The only argument I don’t buy at all is that the switch to the west division is going to hurt them because the games start later. Sure, it kinda sucks, but they still play 81 home games. All in all, they only play 36 games on the road in the AL west. That’s unfortunate, but not really that big a deal. At least it’s only a 2 hour time difference. The AL east plays 16 games in the AL west in 2012 which is a three hour time change (10pm starts).
The Rangers have to do the same thing, and it clearly isn’t hurting them too much. If the Astros start winning, nobody is going to care what time the games start.
The article from ESPN that I posted removed a comment it originally had from Nolan Ryan on that issue, so here’s a link to the Houston Chronicle:
“We’re at a disadvantage in our division that way because so many of our games start at 9 o’clock, and it hurts our TV ratings.”
Being in a state where I’m able to see some Rangers games, I can tell you the late start does matter. A quarter of their games will end after midnight local time. That’s awfully inconvenient from the perspective both of a fan and a blogger. I’m not saying that it’s an enormous deal or something that should have scuttled the move. I’m just saying that there’s not really any good to be had here for the Astros, aside from the fact that they’re not in limbo anymore. The main takeaway I really wanted is that the MLB isn’t prioritizing correctly with this sale. The thing that should have been primary issue (Crane’s finances and controversies) took back seat to the league switch. That’s wrong.
Austin,
I had actually read that last night as well. I think that teams are going to say that regardless. And clearly it is inconvenient to to have games start at 9:00 and end after midnight. All I’m saying is every east coast team, in both the AL and NL have been dealing with a three hour time change for about 16 games per season for a long time. I agree that it’s not ideal, but I don’t buy it as a huge problem for the Astros or Rangers. People will turn the game on at 9, and if the game sucks, they just won’t finish watching.
Sorry, I don’t mean to be a thread troll here. I do want to be very clear that I think this switch sucks for you as an Astros fan, and I am very sympathetic. I would be pissed if my team switched leagues, espcially if the did it becuase Bud Selig held them hostage.
No worries, all opinions always welcome!
(so long as they’re clean and non-threatening)
Selig’s favoritism towards Milwaukee is disgusting. He caused this mess by trying to relive the braves days and now is completely disrespecting our fan base.
They are in the central time zone and I think moving them seems a little fairer to Seattle. The trip to both Texas clubs is fairly lengthy for the mariners, a flight to Milwaukee is about 500 miles shorter than one to Houston.
I can’t take credit for this idea, but someone said move the Brewers back to the AL central and then the Royals to the AL west. That seems a lot more fair to me.
But personally, I loathe interleague play so the idea of 2 15 team leagues infuriates me. They go on and on about the All Star Game and World Series losing their luster, well guess why! Interleague play. Who cares that the Yankees are playing the cardinals, that happens every year.
To wrap it up, I’m cancelling my MLB package on directv. If I wanna watch the games ill find them online or something but Bud gets no more of my.money for his attempts to destroy my favorite team.
I think that move makes a lot more sense, and that’s the move I’ve been advocating the entire time. Still difficult with the Royals playing all those west coast games, but honestly — they have a more natural rivalry with Oakland than the Astros do with the Rangers. The Royals and A’s hate each other, the Chiefs and Raiders hate each other, those two cities just don’t get along. KC is a much more natural fit in the AL West than Houston is, and Milwaukee is a more natural fit in the AL Central (with all of those northern teams, Chicago, Minnesota, Detroit, Cleveland) than they are in the NL Central. The whole thing just doesn’t make sense. And that’s why I say that this is only about timing. Starting from scratch, those are the logical moves you’d make. They’re ONLY making this move because they had leverage against the Astros. That’s a lousy way to do realignment.
Don’t get me wrong because I hate this move and I love our rivalries with the Cardinals and Cubs but this might improve our attendence in 2013 with the Red Sox, Yankees, and other teams coming into town. But with this move the Astros hurt a lot of die hard stros fans which is going to cost them a lot more than just picking up some bandwagon fans that are just going to come to the juicebox to see the Yankees, Red Sox, etc. Maybe instead of congress going after steroids they should do an investigation on how MLB and Selig basically black mailed Jim Crane.
yeah the yanks and sox coming into town will increase attendance, but most of that will be people coming in to root for these two teams as they no longer will have to travel to arlington to see them.
OK.. I am a long time ASTROS fan and I am loyal. Dissapointed as I may be with the powers above, our future IS as an AL team. You can tell me if I’m incorrect on that manner. The first thing as an owner of this team that needs to be done and I say FIRST is to terminate TAL. He is ultimately responsible for the mess we are in, NOT Wade nor Mills. His responsibility as Operations manager is to make sure the path we take is the correct one. He has failed epically!! Bring in an intelligent baseball man. We should have beat the cubs to the punch on Theo. He would head us in the correct direction, especially in the AL. That was a true blunder on the Crane group! But it’s not to late to right the ship. He can evaluate the talent from the GM down and make adjustments as need be. Lets back our ASTROS! they are a young group who need support and will strive harder with the seats full i betcha!! GO ASTROS!!
Agree that Tal Smith needs to go, but I don’t think he’s to blame instead of Wade and Mills. He’s to blame along with Wade and Mills. And Pupura. And McLane. They have all wrecked the Astros. But I can’t blame Tal alone because he was there when Hunsicker was, and they were good. Mills didn’t really wreck the Astros because that’s not really his call, but he is a bad manager. Talent level aside, his in-game decisions make no sense. But I do agree that Tal Smith needs to go, just like McLane did and Ed Wade does.
I have to disagree on Theo, though. The Astros never would have gotten him. Would it have been nice to see them court him? Yes. But I don’t think it would have mattered much. But they do need to focus on getting someone smart in that position.
Do you seriously think Crane would *ever* go for Theo Epstein ? He’d have to fork out a pile of money to get him and based on his wanting the Astros payroll cut to $60m ala Jeff Loria style. I just don’t see it happening at all.
As for the Astros’ proposed move to the AL…on the “other” Astros board which I frequent more often is overwhelming and VEHEMENTLY against the AL move. And I share their opinion. The DH will always remain a travesty in the game of baseball.
Most of all I’d love to see Selig and MLB sued and stripped of their anti-trust exemption.
Now that I know Nolan Ryan was involved in the push to have the Astros moved to the AL (instead of Milwaukee..which rightfully should have gone back to the AL instead of the Astros, but they’re Selig’s pet team) I’m glad the Rangers choked in the last two World Series. I hope they NEVER win the World Series….EVER.
With TLR gone, St. Louis actually looks pretty attractive as a team to root for, or Philadelphia as another option once the Astros depart for the AL.
I will NOT root for an AL team.
Eric
Overwhelmingly and vehemently against the move here, too. And I agree the DH is a travesty. I called it an abomination in a previous post. I actually saw someone make the case that the Brewers should have the right to stay in the NL because they were here first as the Milwaukee Braves decades ago. I had to laugh about that. They haven’t even had a continuous presence in major league baseball, but based on the fact that they were in the NL originally before the Astros existed, a team that was once in the AL for some reason has greater dibs on the NL than a team that has ALWAYS been in this league. That was the most hilariously ridiculous logic I’ve seen for this move yet.
I think that move makes a lot more sense, and that’s the move I’ve been advocating the entire time. Still difficult with the Royals playing all those west coast games, but honestly — they have a more natural rivalry with Oakland than the Astros do with the Rangers. The Royals and A’s hate each other, the Chiefs and Raiders hate each other, those two cities just don’t get along. KC is a much more natural fit in the AL West than Houston is, and Milwaukee is a more natural fit in the AL Central (with all of those northern teams, Chicago, Minnesota, Detroit, Cleveland) than they are in the NL Central. The whole thing just doesn’t make sense. And that’s why I say that this is only about timing. Starting from scratch, those are the logical moves you’d make. They’re ONLY making this move because they had leverage against the Astros. That’s a lousy way to do realignment.
+1