AUTHOR: BoStros TITLE: Once Upon A Time - From A 2005 Pennant, To Present Failure DATE: 6:32:00 PM ----- BODY:

Hey everyone, it's John here, and I'll have your Astros news & insight covered. Glad to be with y'all! In the year of 2005, sitting on a comfortable payroll of $76.8 Million, the Houston Astros were on the merge of an unforgettable Cinderella season. We had all we needed; pitching that did more than suffice and an offense strong enough to overwrite the opposition. Where did we go from there? All the wrong directions. Our domination on the mound diminished mostly due to losing Clemens and Pettite, not to mention Lidge losing it. Our payroll has gone way up, and for what? So we could end the season with a W-L record below .500? Is seeing names like Tejada, Lee, & Valverde really worth paying an extra $26.2 million with little to no hope of a future in our farm system? You know what's worse? We, the fans, are paying this money. We'll buy overpriced seats and 5 dollar refreshments and/or food so that they can pay their players to lose? Truth is, they are screwing us, and themselves, over by continuously throwing money around at players they see as fit for our team because of the tickets they might sell and the trophies they might bring home. I'm sick of it. Drop 'em. Be rid of the players that aren't contributing to our success. You want an investment? Invest in a long term team. Find a solid, PERMANENT catcher for our pitchers, find pitchers that can keep us in the game and build an offense that can create enough runs to overpower the opposition. This is what everyone likes to see in their team and though I wish otherwise, with our current management, I don't expect to see it happen anytime soon. It doesn't take so much money to create a strong team. Look at the marlins going .537, paying much less than half of what we did last season. Coincidence? I don't think so. Note to Astros management - Give us a break. Stop spending our money on what we don't need and start investing into what we do need.

----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Ebes DATE:2/14/2010 02:13:00 PM Way to lay it out there.It took a new owner in Cincnnati to invest in a long term team. ----- --------