Jayson Stark's new Rumblings & Grumblings column:
One long-time friend of Drayton McLane says he thinks McLane's final act as the Astros' owner will be to convince GM Ed Wade not to trade one of his favorite players, Hunter Pence, on McLane's watch
If this is true - then Ed Wade truly is in a ridiculous position. If Crane is inclined to keep Pence, and Drayton is trying to convince Wade to keep him, but Wade wants to trade him, there's nothing he can do. It's career suicide if he pulls the trigger and trades Pence. He's probably going to get fired, anyway, so why not try to keep both bosses happy?
But if Crane wants to trade Pence, and Drayton is pressuring him to keep him, then Drayton is clearly overstepping his bounds, and it makes me want to punch a wall. For all intents and purposes, McLane is no longer in charge of the Astros, and shouldn't try to influence his General Manager either way. On anything. If Drayton wanted to continue to wield influence, he should have held on to the team.
The fact that Selig has dragged his feet on approving this ownership change until mid-August is like Santa not showing up until January 12.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
