Let's take a look at what FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal has for us in his latest edition of Full Count..
- It's expected that C.C. Sabathia will opt out of his deal this offseason, but after that the most coveted pitcher this offseason might not be the Rangers' C.J. Wilson. Rather, some say it could be Japanese hurler Yu Darvish. Darvish is not a free agent, he'll have to be posted by his Japanese club and after that his rights will go to the highest bidder. The process has backfired on MLB teams before, but Darvish is seen as different because he has lived outside of his comfort zone in Japan for virtually all of his life.
- Improbable as it might seen, a rival GM says that there is logic to the Marlins making a run for either Prince Fielder or Albert Pujols this winter. The Fish are moving into a new ballpark but there are still questions about whether they can sustain long-term success. Either slugger would obviously be a major draw in tandem with Mike Stanton and that would surely get fans in the seats.
- If Ozzie Guillen lands with the Marlins and Tony La Russa stays with the Cardinals, the identity of the White Sox's next manager could hinge on the type of team they field in 2012. If they go all in, they'll likely want a veteran manager and if they go with a younger club they'll probably want a younger manager. With Juan Pierre and Mark Buerhle approaching free agency and Carlos Quentin and John Danks as trade candidates, the time is now if the club wants to rebuild.
- Baseball's biggest problem with approving Jim Crane as Astros owner stem from concerns about his past business practices and whether he would make a good long-term owner. Crane's deal with the current owner Drayton McLane expires on November 30th and meanwhile, baseball's labor talks continue. The players are reluctant to go to two additional wild cards unless there are fifteen teams in each league. The easiest way to do that would be to shift the Astros to the American League, but for now the club remains on hold.
darvish is a righty
Darvish is right handed…
Why wouldn’t Bud approve the sale of the Astros? It’s obvious that Crane is overpaying and Drayton has been taking it up the ___ from Bud for years going back to him not letting them close the roof during the world series not to mention the hurricane fiasco where they “had” to play in Milwaukee
I thought it was (effectively) impossible to have 15 teams in each league, because the fifteenth team would either have to be idle every day, or else interleague play would have to last the whole season. Surely the physics of that haven’t changed since the Brewers were moved in the first place, yes?
Darvish has two hands….
I call BS on this.
Well if no one is looking he actually throws with his third hand and fields with his fourth.
yah i still dont see how moving the Astros to the AL is the “easiest” & “best” solution. Move the Brewers back where they were in the first place. Or move the DBacks who have only been in existence for 13 years. Both those teams are built more like an AL team than the Astros, who have been in the NL for 50 years.
Considering that the Astros are built like a AA team, I don’t see how it will matter what league that they play in.
Awesome…
I agree. They’ve been in the NL for a lot longer than many other teams. Why would they be the ones to move?
It wouldn’t be the Diamondbacks, because it makes the most sense to move a team from the NL Central because they currently have six teams. And the natural solution is to move said team to the AL West, which currently has four teams. Now if my geography is correct, Houston is the NL Central team closest to the West. Not to mention, the rivalry it would create by putting them in the same division as Texas.
Move the Dbacks to the AL West. Move the Astros to the NL West.
There. Done.
That would require two changes, whereas moving the Astros to the AL requires only one.
Moving a team within a league to a different division isn’t a big deal and has been done numerous times before.
besides the Astros have been in the NL West before for a long time, so it would only really be one big change
Well assuming no organization is willing to volunteer to move to the AL, I can’t really see the Astros having much leverage over a franchise like Arizona right now.
100% agreed. It makes no sense for the Astros, who have been in the NL their entire 50+ year existence, to move to the AL. Move the Brewers back to the AL. You’d still have a Chicago rival and a new one in Minnesota. Then move the Royals to the West to balance out the divisions.
Reasons for the Astros to be the team to move:
1. Ultimately, a team HAS to come out of the NL Central and into the AL West — that’s the entire point. The Astros are the farthest team west in the division, making them the most logical choice geographically.
2. Moving the Brewers “back to where they were” doesn’t solve the problem, meaning you would need to move another team and be twice as disruptive.
2. They have a built-in geographic rivalry that can develop with the Rangers. By contrast, you’re losing a strong rivalry if you move the Brewers (Chicago-Milwaukee). The Astros don’t really have a strong rivalry in their current division because the geography just doesn’t support it. Nobody’s going to randomly hop in their car and drive down to Houston for a game.
3. The Astros are being sold. That gives MLB leverage.
4. The Astros are bad, and likely to be bad for a few more years at least. This makes it far less disruptive for them when the decision ultimately comes down, especially if it comes late in the offseason. Contrast it with somebody like the Diamondbacks who are poised to be division champions and should at least contend next year. For a team with a serious chance of competition, they need to know FAST whether or not they need to come up with a solution at DH. If you told the Astros the day before the season they’d just drop in whoever and say “meh, done.” (Or in all probability they’d drop Carlos Lee there and say “oh thank god.”) In fact, the Astros could use the years they’re not likely to be good no matter what as time to plan for whatever changes they may need to be an AL team.
I don’t see how a team MUST come from nl central to the al west. i mean it obviously makes sense to, but still it doesn’t HAVE to be. you’re uprooting 50 years tradition. you can’t disregard their importance just because the current team is bad. that’s just stupid to say the astros can move easiest and “drop anyone in at dh” and play in the AL, because they can’t. astro teams have historically been constructed to compliment the nl style of play, with pitching and defense. and who’s to say they’re not going to contend? i mean it’s not likely at all considering they’re rebuilding, but honestly, who expected arizona to win the nl west this season, or even finish above .500? i don’t understand how people think it’s the “easiest” solution to force the astros to switch, it’s equally inconvenient for every single team. why should they bullied into the al west just because the ownership situation and they’re a rebuilding team? the geography doesn’t make any sense, from a time zone perspective. leave it as it is, make the rangers suffer playing 10:05 away games in LA and oakland. and rivalries aren’t just based on geography, astros-cubs, astros-cards, and astros-braves are all a lot bigger rivalries than astros-rangers. minute maid is always packed when those clubs come to town. forcing a rivalry with the rangers just because they’re close is stupid. we already play 6 games against the rangers as it is, and the rivalry is practically non-existent. they should just keep the leagues and wildcards as they are, that’s what makes the most sense.
I can’t believe Jim Crane hasn’t given Bud Selig the finger and withdrawn his offer. MLB has done nothing but dump on him and cheapen the franchise he is trying to buy while allowing him to be painted as a racist, sexist, war profiteering pimp. Would YOU want to belong to a group that treated you like that? Switching to the AL will sink the franchise financially.
It looks like Nolan Ryan owns both Texas teams.
I’m not a fan of the extra wild card team or the moving of any team to the AL. That would mean that there would be an inter-league game every night and less inter-division games played. If that does happen, then the wild card winner should only get 2 home games in the following series. I understand that the current system needs a change, but the moving of the NL team to the AL only benefits the owners and the TV networks, it actually short changes the fans and the players.
With you 100%. How about just cutting out the circus side show, better known as inter league play and get back to playing teams AT LEAST in the same league, then can try and fix the other problem..Playing teams in the same division that baseball has also messed up in it’s never ending quest to let other markets get a share of some big market teams to fill half empty stadiums elsewhere.
Teams should be playing others withing their own division/conference 2-3 times as much as any other, like it used to be. Part of the reason good old fashioned rivalries are gone and all done for $$$, as wrote above to fill (in many cases) teams that cannot put people in the seats, so big ticket draws like Philly, NYY, Boston and a few others are used as “poster childs” to get people to buy tickets.
Wouldn’t want to move the Astros. Their storied 50 years of existence would be wiped out. How could you replace the Pittsburgh / Houston rivalries that have dominated the NL Central over the years?
You have to move a team from the NL Central.
You have to move a team into the AL West.
You are trying to have the least amount of impact on the rest of the league.
With those three goals + the change in ownership (which gives the league more leverage) this is by far the best solution. Texas and Houston would have a natural rivalry. The other AL West teams that swing through Arlington can continue on to Houston with minimal impact on travel.
I guess the Brewers are the other favorite to move. Last check though Houston makes about a million times more sense logistically than Milwaukee.
Any other option would involve moving 2 or more teams. That just doesn’t make much sense to me when there is an easy solution with Houston.
There’s a Pittsburgh/Houston rivalry?
yep
aw, image fail. missed my chance
I would like to see Joey Cora manage the White Sox or even Don Cooper.
I’m fascinated by the depth of emotion and interest in what amounts to the sidebar aspect of this story — though I also get it: there’d be a lot of upheaval if a team were to switch leagues, and the schedule would be the first casualty. But, meanwhile, the lead story here is whether the Yankees will let CJ Wilson get away, the way they did Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee, or if this is the guy around whom they want to build a future. Wilson, I think, has Yankee-ace kind of stuff, and he’s young. A Sabathia-Wilson top of the rotation, with Montero and company spraying the outfield seats with baseballs, would be a pretty sight for those of us who know which team to root for. 😉