SportsJustice

February 09, 2010

The Sports Update: Longhorns basketball on downward spiral

Posted by Richard at 12:38 PM in Sports Update | Comments (0)
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February 07, 2010

Super Bowl is over. Meet me in Kissimmee. First a rant about the Astros.

Richard, I'm glad you're excited. Can you dig up some info for me. Can you give us an update on all the draft prospects that we failed to sign and see if their are really any young stars in the bunch. You see I had this argument the other day with my baseball buddy and I say the demise of our farm system has everything to do with who we had in charge of assessing available talent and he he says its that we were too cheap. I based my opinion of players we passed over. I know it has changed and it seams for the better but I don't seam to be able to get the real skinny. thanks

You had to do it, didn't you? I turned on my laptop this morning to watch the Letterman and Google Super Bowl commercials. I was going for a morning run along the water, then leaving for the airport. I was in a very nice mood. I had Diet Cokes on ice and one last package of Drake Cakes. In other words, the day was off to a perfect start.

Now it's ruined because you had to remind me of the worst summer the Astros have ever had from the viewpoint of organizational stupidity. I'd like to tell you that this summer was so embarrassing that it led to changes, but I'm not sure that's true.

I still don't think Drayton gets it, and some of the people involved are still employed. What a joke. Just thinking about it makes me mad all over again.

Three factors contributed to the decline of the farm system. First, there were scouts making bad decisions. Chris Burke is an example. Scouts told Gerry Hunsicker he could play shortstop in the big leagues. He couldn't.

He made a contribution to the big league club, but never really got a chance because he was stuck behind Craig Biggio, whose quest for 3,000 became the organization's top priority. David Wright was taken 28 picks after Burke that year.

Burke did deliver maybe the single most imortant hit in franchise history, so it would be a stretch to call him a bust. When he did finally get a shot to play the outfield, Hunter Pence soared right past him.

Between 1999 and 2007, the Astros got contributions from two of their nine top picks—Hunter Pence and Chris Burke. If you're looking for why this franchise has fallen from the top of the standings to the bottom, begin here.

Then there was Max Sapp. Another first-round pick. Scouts thought he would be a big league catcher. So far, he has been a bust. And Brian Bogusevic. Another first-round pick. Scouts said he would be a big-league pitcher. He won't be. He may make it as an outfielder, but the point is that what the Astros drafted him to do he won't be doing.

Three huge mistakes. Three big signing bonuses.

Now we come to the summer of 2007 when the Astros didn't sign their top two picks and three of their top six. Check out RHP at Arkansas, RHP Chad Bettis at Texas Tech and SS Derek Dietrich at Georgia Tech. One has a chance to be a starting SS in the big leagues, the other two possibly middle-of-the-rotation starters.

It's a bad deal those guys aren't going to be in Corpus Christi or Round Rock this summer. Scouts did great jobs, but the front office dragged its feet about getting them signed. I think Drayton McLane didn't want to be out in front because he didn't want to offend MLB. I'm sure there were others to blame, but it came down to absolute incompetence top to bottom.

(The Astros did sign their fifth, sixth and seventh round picks that year, and may have whiffed on all three. OF Collin DeLome had 141 strikeouts at Corpus Christi last year. OF Russell Dixon has hit .238 in three minor league seasons. RHP David Dinelli has a career ERA of 7.26. At least they got them in uniform and had a chance to find out.)

There was also the Drew Stubbs thing. He's in the big leagues with the Cincinnati Reds. He'd agreed to a $900,000 deal with the Astros out of high school, but when MLB complained about the Astros paying over the slot price, Drayton ordered his people to pull the offer.

He went on to help the University of Texas win a national championship and soared through the minor leagues with Cincinnati. I have no idea if he's going to be a star, or even a good player.

But good organizations are built by stockpiling as many good prospects as possible. Some of them will be stars. Some of them will be busts. Some of them will be something in-between.

Organizations fall apart when scouts miss on certain guys, when ownership pulls the money on certain guys, and when idiots don't let good scouts do their jobs. Hopefully, those days are over. The Astros appear to have had two solid drafts in a row and seem to be on their way back.

But those mistakes were some of the reason for the huge gaping hole. Instead of admitting the donut was there, the front office went out and shelled out money on free agents, on Carlos Lee and Kaz Matsui and Woody Williams and on and on. They thought they could fill in the hole with free agency.

In a sense, they're still doing that, but at least help appears to be on the way. The Astros aren't going to be really good until there are good players pushing for spots on the big league roster, and that could be two years away.

I was in such a good mood thinking about spring training. I was ready to get down to the real business. There's nothing I enjoy more than Milo taking me to dinner at the Kissimmee Steak House. He tells me about Pie Traynor, and I tell him about Pig Pen Dwyer. He tells me about Bill Dickey, and I tell him about Sugar Bear Rayford. He tells me about Honus Wagner, and I tell him about John Stefaro.

We have so much fun I don't understand why Ed Wade always says he's having his teeth cleaned when we invite him to dinner. I mean, Ed has clean teeth, but how many times can a guy get his teeth cleaned in one spring training.

We got so bored one spring that we invited McTaggart to join us. To say we won't make that mistake again is an understatement.

Anyway, I'm a good mind to drive up to Kissimmee tomorrow morning and wait for Brad Mills to roll in. I sure hope he likes me. I want to get along with the manager. I had some serious issues with the last guy.

I have no idea how the Astros are going to do in 2010, but I believe in my heart of hearts they're headed in the right direction.

Not that it matters. It's baseball. It's the perfect game. Oh sure, there aren't cheerleaders or concussions or secret game plans, but it's a pretty good game anyway.

We've got two big events coming up next week. One is the NBA trading deadline. It'll be fascinating to see what, if anything, Daryl Morey will do. And then, it's baseball season.

I love it when Drayton shows up and says he has never been so excited about a season. As soon as he says it this year, I'll remind him how much money he's paying Puma, Roy O and El Caballo. If that doesn't put him in a sour mood, nothing will.

Some of the front office types invited me to a place in downtown Kissimmee called Three Sisters or Eight Cousins or something like that last year. I had a great time. Wings and beer and me holding court.

I've mentioned a couple of times that it'll be great to go back this spring, and when I do, the people that were there, shuffle their feet, clear their throat and look at the floor.

I swear they're about to say they're all going to have their teeth cleaned. That's fine. If they're busy, they're busy. Milo and I have plenty to discuss.

Posted by Richard at 11:16 PM in Astros | Comments (24)
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Sitting at the Super Bowl, reflecting on the season, or something

Well here we are. Looks like we're going to finish another one. This is my 17th Super Bowl. I think I've been to 17 of the last 21, but the memories get foggier and foggier. My first was a terrible Joe Montana beating of the Broncos in New Orleans. The 49ers were a cold, efficient machine.

Confident bunch, too. When the Giants showed up in Tampa for a Super Bowl after beating the 49ers in the NFC Championship Game, they found the 49ers—a franchise that defined extravagance in the DeBartolo years—were thinking big. They'd ordered extra telephone lines for the room that would serve as their corporate office, and there was a box of engraved invitations to the post-game party.

If you're wondering about my seat at Sun Life Stadium, here you go...

My best and worst Super Bowl week was in the Twin Cities when my Redskins finished a 17-2 season by beating the Bills. I was the only newspaper reporter in the team hotel that week. I remember working like a dog, but at least I had access no one else did.

A big story developed late in the week when QB Mark Rypien sprained an ankle in the Thursday practice. I later found out that the hitting that day had been so fierce that coaches called off practice early for fear of someone getting hurt. When one of the PR guys asked assistant coach Emmitt Thomas if he was confident, he whispered, ''I wouldn't want to play us this week.''

It was the Redskins' second straight Super Bowl in which they had to shorten practice because the players were so ready to play. The best part of the week was Saturday night when the team left for the hide-away hotel, leaving me and the PR guys there with the wives.

I can't reveal everything that happened, but let's just say a whole lot of Redskins' wives learned a whole lot about Earl Weaver that night. I think the players were so confident they thought the game was going to be an old-fashioned ass-kicking—and it was.

Up in the front office, they weren't so confident. Charley Casserly told me, ''(The Bills have) five or six great players—Jim Kelly, Bruce Smith, Cornelius Bennett, Thurman Thomas, etc. If those guys all make plays, we're not going to win.''

The thing about that Redskins team is that it didn't have a single superstar. They had a nearly unstoppable receiver named Gary Clark and a star linebacker named Wilber Marshall, and that was about it.

But they were an unstoppable team because the coaches were brilliant at mixing and matching packages, putting role players in position to succeed. They went 14-2 in the regular season, losing the last game when they pulled the starters against the Eagles before one of Buddy Ryan's idiots landed a cheap that took the guy out of the Super Bowl.

They opened the playoffs against an idiot named Jerry Glanville. I heard he was a pretty good assistant coach at one time, but by the time he became an NFL head coach, he was an obnoxious jerk that basically couldn't coach a fish to swim. How he has continued to get jobs speaks volumes about something.

My baby daughter, Lizzie, was born the morning the Falcons and Redskins played at RFK Stadium. She arrived at around 6 am, and by noon, I was in my seat on a cold, muddy day. Fans were given seat cushions as they entered the stadium, and to celebrate the victory, they threw them onto the field late in the contest.

Hard to believe it has been 18 years. I've told Lizzie about the seat cushions—and looked for photos—and don't think she has ever quite gotten it. Or cared.

Then they played the Detroit Lions for the NFC championship. I think of that Detroit team when people tell me about Yates High School running up the score on teams. The Redskins and Lions played early in the regular season, and when the score got out of hand, Joe Gibbs had his quarterback take a knee without scoring another touchdown.

The Lions went nuts, screaming and cursing from the sideline. They vowed to get revenue in the NFC Title Game. Instead, they got their asses kicked again.

The Redskins were honored on the National Mall after the Super Bowl, and a few weeks later, President Bush 41 held a barbecue for them at the White House. It was a surreal night in that we got the run of the place, with George and Barbara playing host.

I wasn't supposed to attend the party. Tony Kornheiser was the Wash Post representative that was asked to come, but he refused, saying if only one of us was going, it had to be me.

(That story tells you the kind of person Tony is and how his co-workers viewed him. We called him the ''conscience'' of our department. If we thought management was mistreating us, we would go to Tony because (a) he would fight for you and (b) management would listen.)

The pep rally on the National Mall was spectacular. It was a cold day in Washington, but there were tens of thousands there. Seeing those players and coaches—and these were good people—amid those fans that cared so deeply and being surrounded by the symbols of our freedom was a site I'll never forget. Absolutely spectacular.

There's a weird dynamic that comes with winning a Super Bowl. By Wednesday of the following week, it was like the Super Bowl had never happened. Coaches, scouts, front-office types were back at work, and because of the Super Bowl, felt they were behind.

Casserly was preparing for free agency, Gibbs was trying to keep his coachng staff together and there was a sense of urgency that said, ''We're in trouble.'' I guess that's how good organizations react to everything, and under Jack Kent Cooke, the Redskins were as good as any franchise ever assembled.

Other Super Bowls? I remember the one in Tampa with snipers on the roof of the press box. I remember the Cowboys playing maybe the best game any Super Bowl team has ever played in beating Buffalo in the Rose Bowl. I remember the Packers' players milling around the field before one Super Bowl on their cell phones. Bad sign. Bad loss.

I remember how happy everyone was to get Super Bowl 36 over with. That one occurred a few months after September 11, and we were nervous as hell about security and whether we were really safe or not.

I began this entry planning on writing about this football season, about the ups and downs of the Texans, about the weird stuff at Texas Tech and the mixed season at Texas A&M, about the Texas run to the national championship game. I was going to write about Klein Collins and The Woodlands and Katy, about all the stuff I was lucky enough to experience this year.

We'll get to that another time. This one got in brain and had to come out. Stuff happens.

If you're wondering about the best journalism done this Super Bowl week, here it is hands down. And virtually all the reporting was done in one day. Detroit Free Press

Posted by Richard at 02:39 PM in | Comments (4)
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There's not a single Houston Texan in this article, and that's a good thing

I'm taking the morning off and turning this space over to Dan Le Batard of the Miami Herald. He wrote the Super Bowl story to end all Super Bowl stories. He didn't write the feel-good stuff. He didn't write about how the NFL comes into a city and builds houses and visits schools and reads to kids and makes everyone feel great that this violent game really does have a heart even though a large number of players leave it broke and barely able to walk. How did I get off on this tangent anyway? Save me, Le Batard. Tell what happens at the Super Bowl when people like me are in our rooms watching Seinfeld reruns.

If you like that one, check out this NY Times piece on how William Faulkner's hometown is going straight to hell.

Posted by Richard at 11:19 AM in Texans | Comments (3)
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February 06, 2010

Joey Dorsey? Who saw that one coming? Rockets suddenly have a different look.

Let's just say Joey hadn't gotten the greatest reviews from teammates, coaches and front office types in his two seasons with the Rockets. Couldn't shoot. Couldn't pass. Couldn't play in Rick Adelman's pass-oriented offense.

Daryl Morey drafted him because Dorsey has an NBA center's body (6-8, 268), at least a prototype of what NBA centers may look like in the future. On draft day, I remembering thinking, ''Uh oh, that's it for the Chuck Wagon.'' That's about the eighth or ninth time some of us have said, ''Uh oh, that's it for the Chuck Wagon.''

Rick Adelman just never trusted Dorsey enough to put him on the floor last season, and even though he worked harder last summer, even though there was hope and available minutes because of Yao Ming's absence, Dorsey didn't do enough to get a chance.

Now with the Rockets struggling, with Adelman desperate for a low-post presence, with Dorsey having worked hard, he finally got a chance. He responded Friday night with one of those games that gives everyone hope he might yet be a contributor.

One game is one game is one game. Maybe this is the only moment Joey Dorsey is going to have in the NBA. Or maybe, like a lot of young guys, it has taken him awhile to catch one, and maybe when he does catch on, he's going to take off.

All he know for certain is that he helped the Rockets win a game they needed to win, a 101-83 victory at Memphis. He played a career-high 19 minutes and had 7 points, 12 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal and 4 fouls.

The Rockets have been in free-fall for a variety of reasons. Perhaps the biggest has been defense. There have been problems on the other end, but what the Rockets do begins with defense and rebounding. Dorsey gives them both.

Adelman is prepared to play Jermaine Taylor as well when the opportunity presents itself. Who knows how it's going to work out? Morey hasn't made many (any?) personnel mistakes, and if Taylor and Chase Budinger become turn out to be contributors, it gives the franchise an interesting look going forward.

It'll be fascinating to see what Morey does before the February 19th trading deadline. Once upon a time, his goal was to play his cards this summer in making a run at Chris Bosh or Joe Johnson.

Now, there's a growing feeling that neither will leave their teams for a variety of reasons, including the fact that both teams are playing well and changing teams would cost them around $20 million or more.

So should Morey play his cards now and acquire a lesser impact player while having to give up at least one of his core players? Andre Iguodala has four years and $56 million remaining on his contract; Samuel Dalembert has one year and $12 million remaining on his. If you'd like to do some scouting, both will be at Toyota Center tonight. As for Washington's Caron Butler, he has one year at $10.6 million. There's no right answer, only the confidence that Morey will do the right thing.

But things changed Friday in Memphis. It feels like the Rockets have another guy that can help, and hopefully, Taylor will get a chance at some point as well. Suddenly, it seems the Rockets still have a fighting chance to make the playoffs.

Is Peyton Manning just another tortured genius? Stefan Fatsis

Michael Irvin may have hustled me Thursday afternoon. But I really don't know. I don't think he did. I hope he didn't. Jason Whitlock

Posted by Richard at 09:03 AM in Rockets | Comments (11)
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February 05, 2010

Astros under Drayton: smart, efficient, successful — for a while

For an entire decade, between 1990 and 1999, the Astros were the best-run team in major league baseball. That's a span that includes two owners, John McMullen (1990-1993) and Drayton McLane (1993-1999) and three different general managers, Bill Wood (1990-93), Bob Watson (1994-95), Gerry Hunsicker (1996-99).

In terms of evaluating individual general managers, only Kevin Malone (Dodgers and Expos) ranks ahead of Hunsicker in the decade. These numbers won't come as a surprise to you. Nor do you have to be reminded that Drayton McLane's single worst mistake as owner was his spat with Hunsicker that resulted in Gerry leaving after the 2004 season.

As for single-season performances, Hunsicker ranks third (1998), seventh (1997) and eighth (1999) in the decades Top 10.

So Gerry Hunsicker was pretty good at his job. That's the bottom line here. And the Astros went straight to hell about a year after he was out the door. From Jason Jennings and Woody Williams to Carlos Lee and Kaz Matsui, Hunsicker was replaced The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight.

The Astros appear to be on the road back, and the farm system was going to suffer whether Hunsicker had stayed or not. But his departure is a killer. What has followed hasn't been pretty.

I believe the Astros are on the right road again. I think Ed Wade and Bobby Heck are on their way to rebuilding the farm system, and that Drayton McLane may now understand that no deal is better than a dumb deal.

I know none of this will shock you. It comes up because a reader, Bill Stinneford, sent me reams of data from Baseball Prospectus that evaluates baseball's general managers. You'll have to pony up for a subscription to read the entire piece and its accompanying data.

It evalutes GMs with a complex set of criteria: each team's unique revenue-earning potential; something called marginal revenue curve (Nate Silver argues in Baseball Between the Numbers that wins aren't created equal and taht going from 88 to 92 is more valuable than going from 64 to 68; revenues; earning potential.

Why does this evaluation tend to favor small- to mid-market general managers. One possibility could be that they have to be smarter, so they hire smarter evaluators, more stat-smart guys. They also have to use every avenue to improve. Brewers GM Doug Melvin has added 11 players to his 40-man roster this winter and done it with free agency, trades, waiver claims, Rule 5 picks, etc.

He can't bid for the big boys, so he has to hire smart scouts and trust them to make good decisions. We've seen some of that with Ed Wade, who has used all those same avenues. He hasn't gotten the results yet, but he appears to be on the right road.

I'll be talking Super Bowl tonight on Countdown with Keith Olbermann. Please watch. Ask your friends and neighbors to watch. If you see my kids, ask them to watch. I promise it'll be good.

Posted by Richard at 06:17 AM in Astros | Comments (29)
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Sports Update: Cheer the Saints

Posted by Richard at 06:10 AM in Sports Update | Comments (1)
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February 04, 2010

If Indy & New Orleans can play in Super Bowl, why can't KC and Pittsburgh play in World Series?

I'm glad you asked that question. Just to be fair, I'm stealing this idea from Jayson Stark, who did it over at ESPN.com a few days ago. This is the first time in 18 years we've got a Super Bowl featuring two cities that don't have major league baseball.

New Orleans has always been a football town, even before the Saints arrived. Indianapolis was in the heart of basketball country, but the Colts have been so good and done so many things right that Indiana is now football country, too. It's reflected, not just in those sellouts at Colts home games, but all the way down to participation at the high school and youth level.

Now to baseball. The 2002 labor agreement gave small-market teams a better chance of contending. Big-market teams fought the transfer of wealth, and some big-market owners are still unhappy with the arrangement.

When Drayton McLane recently argued for a greater transfer of wealth (he's not a socialist in in his politics, only when it helps him stuff his pockets with cash), he had to know that Red Sox owner John Henry was arguing for less revenue sharing.

That's why the Marlins recently agreed to raise their payroll. The revenue-sharing money they were receiving from the Yankees and Red Sox wasn't going for players. It was going to pad the profit margin.

I've argued that the Royals, Pirates, etc., now have a chance to contend. If you look at those two franchises in particular, you'll see they made a smorgasboard of mistakes in free agency and the draft. Yes, they have a smaller window and less margin for error, but they can contend if they're smart with their money.

Look at the Rays. While they were losing year after year, they were drafting smartly, and now they're loaded. Ever hear of Wade Davis? You will before this season is over.

That said, if Carl Crawford leaves the Rays for the Yankees next off-season, it would be a devastating blow to the Rays as a franchise and to the sport as a whole.

If Carl leaves because he simply is ready to go elsewhere, that's one thing. If he leaves because the Yankees offer $160 million and the Rays only can offer $80 million, that's something else.

The system isn't going to work if the Rays are a farm system for the Yankees and Red Sox. That's also true of the Twins. They've got a new ballpark, and it should provide the revenues for them to keep Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau. They're never going to have the revenues the Yankees have, but they'll have enough to compete because their front office is smarter.

Then again, let's not kid ourselves about the disparity. The Yankees had $375 million in revenues in 2008. The Marlins had $139 million that year. I would imagine Yankee revenues soared past $400 million in the first season at the new Yankee Stadium.

If the Yankees do things right, they're going to be in contention every single year. The same is true for the Red Sox. Other teams in that division—Orioles, Rays, Blue Jays—are going to have to be perfect and lucky to contend.

The Astros are lucky. The Cubs have about 25 percent more revenues than the Astros, but the Astros either have more money or about the same money as every other team in the division.

The Astros didn't fall from contention because of money. They fell from contention because they spent their money unwisely. Still, baseball has a problem. I hate salary caps, don't think they work, think they discourage clubs from growing their revenues.

Besides, it's not going to happen. The Yankees had to be crawled dragging and screaming into the 2002 agreement, and they're not going to give up another dime without a huge fight.

So if you're a fan of the Pirates or Royals or Brewers, you've got a fighting chance to contend, but as for Commissioner Selig's mantra that every team should have faith and hope on opening day, we're a long way from that.

Posted by Richard at 07:55 AM in Astros | Comments (24)
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February 02, 2010

Now let's take questions from the audience

I love it when you write and ask me questions. I like it because it assumes I have an answer worth hearing. I also like it because I just love the sound of my own words.

I'm a little dry in the idea department right now, so I'd like to write a blog entry or two in which I answer your questions.

I asked one of my bosses the other day if I could do one of those chat things like The General does. He said maybe I could do one closer to baseball season. I wanted to tell him I'd covered three NBA teams, two NFL teams and just one baseball team.

But I've learned a couple of things through the years, and one is that the best way to handle an editor is to let them pretend they know what they're talking about. So I've decided to set up my own little chat here since it's not baseball season yet when I actually know enough to host a chat.

Fire away. Oh, wait, we have one now. Go ahead, sir.

Will Will Muschamp ever be head coach at Texas?—Jeff

I think there's a better chance he'll be the next head coach at Georgia. I know that Mack Brown has talked about leaving, and one time was completely sincere about his intention to retire.

But I think he has no plans to quit anytime soon. I believe some talks with Darrell Royal have forced him to take another look at things, and to try and understand that maybe being the head coach at Texas is the thing he ought to be as long as he can.

He has another great recruiting class coming in, and is fired up about leading the Longhorns in the post-Colt McCoy era. He could surprise me, but I don't see him leave anytime soon.

Since I can't remember ever seeing a post of his on this blog but they seem to be on every other blog, are you really COWBOY?—Martin Vela

No, I'm not COWBOY. He posts on here frequently, but I seldom publish his work. He's the neglected kid who gets his only kicks by taunting others. His whole life seems to have meaning because he once met Don Perkins. He seems like a person crying for help.

Jason Castro is the only top 50 prospect, according to MLB.com. Do you think the Astros' farm system is improving? (The Rangers and Red Sox had 4 apiece).

Absolutely, it's improving. But it had to improve. It couldn't get much worse. The question that's impossible to answer is how much it has improved. We won't know that until the players begin to have an impact on the major league team.

ESPN.com had them rated 28th, which is an improvement of two spots over this time last year, and Jason Castro, Jordan Lyles and Jiovanni Mier were among the top 100 prospects.

The Astros are excited about a bunch of other kids, but it'll be a couple of years before he really know how good they'll be. Some of those gets will get to Double-A Corpus Christi this season, and it'll be interesting to see how they do. Scouting director Bobby Heck appears to have two good drafts since arriving, and he'll have three of the top 34 picks in 2010.

The Astros can't contend consistently until the minor league pipeline is flowing again. Hopefully, they're a couple of years away from that happening. It has been a long dry spell.

Posted by Richard at 05:28 PM in | Comments (51)
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