Drayton indicated to MLB.com that Roy Oswalt's offer to restructure his contract in order to make room for a top-line starting pitcher "is a generous thought, but not something that will immediately lead to big spending."
Then Run-DMc goes on to say this:
"With the uncertainty of the economic situation in our country today, we don't know where our revenues will be," McLane said. "Every team is going through the same thing, except the Yankees and Red Sox."
Now this is an interesting statement. Because this is a national economic crisis. And trust me, the greater metropolitan areas of Boston and New York are not shielded from it. In fact, they're probably hit harder than Houston. How is it that Red Sox and Yankees fans have to pay more for coffee, Big Macs, rent, heating oil yet still sell out Fenway and Yankee Stadium?
Every team depends on the same two things: Fans and sponsors. Those fans aren't different than Astros fans, and I personally resent the implication - especially from our owner - that the Yankees and Red Sox play in a different league than the other 28 teams. So it has to be ownership, right?
Forbes listed the Astros worth in April 2008 at $463 million. Just so you know. Keep in mind the Yankees and Red Sox (and Angels, to a lesser extent) had to pay $31 million in a luxury taxes. And where does that money go? To the other teams. So we can thank Hank and Hal and John Henry and Arte for helping us sign those Rule 5 draft picks.
Bottom line is: if you don't give the fans anything to want to pay to see, they're not going to pay to see it. Remember how four months of Roger Clemens "paid for itself?" How does a full season of a Major League product not pay for itself?
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
