A couple notes regarding the Astros and Cubs, residents of the NL Central (for now).
- MLB commissioner Bud Selig has already asked prospective Astros owner Jim Crane to move the team to the AL West if he's approved as owner, a source tells Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. Crane's purchase of the Astros could still be approved even if he doesn't consent to the league switch, according to the source.
- Houston second-year manager Brad Mills wants to remain with the Astros to see their young players mature and lead the team back to relevance, writes McTaggart. "When you have such a change like we've had, you'd like to see that through," Mills said. The Astros picked up Mills' 2012 option last season, and they hold an option on him for 2013.
- The Cubs GM vacancy is a hot topic these days, so Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune has written up a power rankings of potential candidates. Leading the way is Andrew Friedman of the Rays.
Kind of lame to see Sullivan list four guys that are long shots as the top four. Personally I’d like to see either Ben Cherrington, Rock Hahn or John Copolella. All three are young and have been integral parts of producing good competitive ball clubs. Interesting to see Sullivan list Oneri Fleita and Tim Wilken. I thought Wilken had a shot to begin with, just haven’t heard his name mentioned before.
As if the past few Astros seasons weren’t tough enough on the fans. As if the long long road to relevance isn’t daunting. We are now being asked to move to the AL? That would be the final nail in my long tenured Astros support. I can get excited about prospects, and I can enjoy the bright spots on a team with not much left to play for. But I will not support the DH. Thanks for the memories Astros, I’m sorry it may end like this.
I think there’s an NFL game on.
Why do you care about the DH? Its better than having almost a sure out in the 9 slot.
Obviously he doesn’t agree.
It’s actually worse than even that: a move to the AL West means (unless a fully balanced schedule is envisioned) a lot more games taking place 2 hours later in the evening for the Central time zone Houston fans. I expect many won’t bother to even start watching that late.
Moving san diego to the AL west makes as much sense.
Billy Beene is the guy that I want to see as the next cubs GM. I am glad to see wilken mentioned for the job also. Beene ,Cherington and Hahn are still my top 3 candidates and Friedman Cashman and Epstein wont be leaving their jobs to join the cubs so want in 1 hand and well you know what to do in the other hand they are not switching teams.
I agree that Epstein, Cashmant and Friedman won’t be leaving there job. A name I want to throw out for discussion is Paul DePodesta. He worked under Billy Beane. He is currently the New York Mets VP for Player Development. His name was mentioned by some writers prior to Ricketts taking ownership as a possible GM.