Crane pledges to evaluate Astros top to bottom

[Doomsday101]

HOUSTON -- One of Jim Crane's first moves as the new owner of the Astros will be to sit down with president of baseball operations Tal Smith and general manager Ed Wade in the coming days and talk about the future of the ballclub.

Crane promised things would get better at Minute Maid Park during a press conference Thursday, shortly after he flew home from the Owners Meetings in Milwaukee, where his ownership group approved. Crane has a big task ahead of him, trying to win back a fan base that would prefer not to move to the American League.

The Astros lost a club-record 106 games and had their lowest attendance in the 12 years since they moved from the Astrodome, and Crane said he's already reached out personally to some of those who have written letters indicating they're going not going to renew season tickets.

"The fans are key," said Crane, who's expected to officially take control of the team Tuesday when bank transactions are complete. "They're buying the tickets and that's where it really starts. We certainly wanted to own a National League team, and that wasn't going to happen. This was an AL deal and we got an AL deal done. The AL won't be that bad. It does have positives, and we understand the issues with that. We're not trying to look back. We need our fans and we'll create a great experience here."

read more: http://houston.astros.mlb.com/news/...17&content_id=25996628&vkey=news_hou&c_id=hou

 

[Doomsday101]

The positive to going to the AL?

Prospective Astros owner Jim Crane will receive a $70 million discount from his $680 million price tag of buying the club in exchange for moving the team to the American League, the Houston Chronicle reported Tuesday night.

The newspaper, citing a Major League Baseball official with direct knowledge of the negotiations, reported Astros owner Drayton McLane will contribute half of the $70 million, with the rest coming from Major League Baseball.

 

[StylisticS]

As a Rangers fan, I do not like that they are in the AL West now. I kind of liked the fact that Texas had 1 team in the AL and 1 team in the NL. They are trying to force the two into a rivalry. I've been to all the AL west message boards. None of them like the move either.

 

[Doomsday101]

As a Rangers fan, I do not like that they are in the AL West now. I kind of liked the fact that Texas had 1 team in the AL and 1 team in the NL. They are trying to force the two into a rivalry. I've been to all the AL west message boards. None of them like the move either.

I would rather the Astros stay in the NL. MLB seemed fixed on Houston moving to the AL and at least the owner made it worth the trouble for the orgainzation with 70 million off the sale price.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Not an Ed Wade fan.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

As a Rangers fan, I do not like that they are in the AL West now. I kind of liked the fact that Texas had 1 team in the AL and 1 team in the NL. They are trying to force the two into a rivalry. I've been to all the AL west message boards. None of them like the move either.

Heh... They don't like it because that's another 1000+ mile trip they have to take several times a year.

On our end, at least this is a division opponent who's actually in our time zone. Those 9:00 and 9:30 first pitches get really old if you ask me.

The worst thing about this IMO is that now the leagues have an odd number of teams, so interleague play will be a daily occurrence.