Jim Crane continues to defraud the people of Houston & MLB

[Warner2BruceTD]

http://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2013/11/astros-owner-sues-drayton-mclane-comcast-and-nbc-claiming-fraud/

Crane has a long history of getting in bed with people, then suing them. He's at it again.

MLB really needs to do something about the Astros. Crane's new excuse for not fielding anything close to a competitive team is that nobody will pay the exorbitant fees to air CSN Houston (which he owns 46% of), which has the rights to Astros games, therefore he can't afford a competitive payroll.

The idea that Crane did not know that CSN Houston had clearance issues before he purchased his share (along with the Astros) is laughable. EVERYBODY in Texas knew what was up with CSN Houston.

Anyway, as i've said all along, this is all a cover as the Astros game the system by unethically running their franchise, and hoard the profits. Crane will either pocket the money (likely), or spend it all later (what the fans are being sold). Funny how the Rockets, who CSN Houston also owns the TV rights to, are able to afford an expensive payroll. Crane, Luhnow, Ryan, all of them should be investigated by MLB. They won't. Crane got a sweetheart deal from McLane & MLB for accepting a move to the AL. Saved him almost $100M. Now he wants to run his team like the A's in a gigantic market, and use excuses to do so as he pockets millions.

[NAHSTE]

Luhnow da best

[Woy]

No one will be bitching about this in 2015 when the Astros win 110 games and the World Series.

[NAHSTE]

Gotta save money to extend Rodon, Appel, DDJ and Johnny Singleton.

#COREFOUR
#2015inMinuteMaid
#Luhneus
#Luhnowthat'swhatIcallmusic

[Guest]

No one will be bitching about this in 2015 when the Astros win 110 games and the World Series.

But what about in 2016 when the firesale occurs

[Woy]

But what about in 2016 when the firesale occurs

All of Luhnow's 'spects will still be under team control. They're gonna dominate for a while.

[Warner2BruceTD]

It's all dirty and unethical, and calls for the need of a salary floor. You should not be allowed to run out the team that they've run out there for three years.

It's not only trying to game the CBA & game the system, which is bad enough, but it's dirty business, it's fucking over your business partners such as your sponsors, concessions, people who own the parking lots, etc, and most importantly, it's terrible for the fans & the city.

What needs to happen, is the geeks they are counting on need to bust. That would be best for all involved, otherwise other teams will try to do this. You can't have teams intentionally losing 100+ games for a half decade, while they hoard draft picks & the owner pockets revenue sharing money. This isn't the fucking NBA, put a real team out there.

[GangstaE]

It's all dirty and unethical, and calls for the need of a salary floor. You should not be allowed to run out the team that they've run out there for three years.

It's not only trying to game the CBA & game the system, which is bad enough, but it's dirty business, it's fucking over your business partners such as your sponsors, concessions, people who own the parking lots, etc, and most importantly, it's terrible for the fans & the city.

What needs to happen, is the geeks they are counting on need to bust. That would be best for all involved, otherwise other teams will try to do this. You can't have teams intentionally losing 100+ games for a half decade, while they hoard draft picks & the owner pockets revenue sharing money. This isn't the fucking NBA, put a real team out there.

:yes:

cant comment but its true, he is also trying to cut cheaper deals. They took retail in house this past season and cut the merch in half.

[Guest]

It's all dirty and unethical, and calls for the need of a salary floor. You should not be allowed to run out the team that they've run out there for three years.

It's not only trying to game the CBA & game the system, which is bad enough, but it's dirty business, it's fucking over your business partners such as your sponsors, concessions, people who own the parking lots, etc, and most importantly, it's terrible for the fans & the city.

What needs to happen, is the geeks they are counting on need to bust. That would be best for all involved, otherwise other teams will try to do this. You can't have teams intentionally losing 100+ games for a half decade, while they hoard draft picks & the owner pockets revenue sharing money. This isn't the fucking NBA, put a real team out there.

At least with the Orioles, they at least made an attempt. Money spent on Albert Belle failed, Angelos got gun-shy. Spent an off-season bringing in Miguel Tejada, Javy Lopez, and bringing back Palmeiro and Ponson. It didn't work out as anticipated, but at least he tried.

I agree 110% on a salary floor. The NHL knew some teams would try that, so they instituted it, even though teams can still get around it because its a "cap" floor not "paid salary" floor. It's also best for competition. You can't tell me some things would have changed had the Astros gotten even 15 more wins.

[Guest]

All of Luhnow's 'spects will still be under team control. They're gonna dominate for a while.

It was part joke, but also serious. What do they do when their six years of service are up? They're going to do the same exact thing again. As Warner said, the best thing to happen is for their spects to come up as busts.

[Guest]

Deadline day did not work out for the Houston Astros, who failed to sign the No. 1 overall pick in the draft -- left-handed pitcher Brady Aiken -- who by all accounts is a fine young man as well as an extremely talented pitching prospect. They also failed to sign two more prized picks in right-hander Jacob Nix and left-hander Mac Marshall.

And it wasn't a good day for Aiken, either, who was said by all involved to be excited to begin his professional career upon originally agreeing to a $6.5-million deal. Now he will instead have to take the tougher road to riches through the college ranks, presuming the NCAA allows him to keep his UCLA scholarship even if he had a deal and was in Houston for a press conference that never came off.

Nor was it an especially good day for Nix, who thought he had a $1.5 million deal with the Astros, and passed his medical test with Astros doctors with flying colors only to have it pulled out from under him because someone else's physical (namely his friend Aiken) wasn't deemed to be perfect.

Not that the Astros didn't try to recover Friday, trying last-ditch efforts to save the day. While Aiken's adviser Casey Close had previously revealed that the team knocked its offer down to $3.1 million after finding an alleged flaw in the physical, the Astros made three separate offers Friday, with the second one coming with 30 minutes to go and the third one, said to be for $5 million, with five minutes left.

Aiken's side (with adviser Close also happening to be the adviser for Nix, which unavoidably adds some stickiness to the situation), is said to have responded with nothing beyond a “no” to all three offers Friday. There was not one counteroffer, according to people familiar with the talks. Not even for the original $6.5 million, they say.

Close just said nothing, at least as far as the negotiations were concerned. On other scores, however, he apparently had plenty to say, giving Astros GM Jeff Luhnow an earful over the phone about the unfortunate situation.

People who heard about Close's conversations with Luhnow said Close berated Luhnow for various perceived transgressions, accusing him of leaking the medical findings regarding Aiken that derailed the deal (he is said to have an issue with his left ulnar collateral ligament) and suggesting to him that players don't or won't want to deal with them because of the way they handle things.

Luhnow declined to confirm the content of their “conversations,” and Close didn't respond to texts.

Tonight, the players union left little doubt where it placed the blame. Union chief Tony Clark issued a statement saying, “Today, two young men should be one step closer to realizing their dreams of becoming Major League ballplayers. Because of the actions of the Houston Astros, they are not. The MLBPA, the players and their advisers are exploring all legal options.”

Clark said at the All-Star gathering they believed the Astros “manipulated” the system, harsh words that may be the start of the new union's chief's first real fight. He wasn't in charge when these draft rules were installed, but he seems pretty sure this wasn't what the union had in mind. Clark, it seems, may be looking to fight here. Union people declined further comment, citing legal reasons. And that may be a sign they are aiming to press legal buttons. Perhaps they shoot for free agency for both players via grievance.

A case certainly could be made that the Aiken situation should have been handled more diplomatically, with the team coming with the $5 million offer (which is still more than the $4.8-million offer they made No. 1 overall pick Carlos Correa two years ago) soon after the medical findings, rather that dropping his offer to $3.1 million, which is the bare minimum they could offer to prevent Aiken from becoming a free agent. But ultimately, it may be difficult to say one way or another whether Aiken's allegedly small ligament adversely affects his chances of becoming a star, or should cause his bonus to be lowered.

Player bonuses have been dropped before due to medical findings, such as R.A. Dickey, whose agreed-upon $810,000 Rangers bonus was cut to a mere $75K after a team exam revealed he had no ulnar collateral ligament whatsoever. (He took it.)

The most obvious victim here though would appear to be Nix, who is said to have had no medical issues and yet winds up unsigned over the difference of opinion the Astros and Aiken had over Aiken's medical exam (Aiken's side said he is fine, pointing out he threw 97 mph in his final high school game and saw three leading doctors after the Astros' who attest to that).

A reasonable case could be made that the Astros are obligated to sign Nix since the presumption when he came for his own physical was that if he passed it they had a deal. Houston has been accused by Clark of manipulation, but perhaps they simnply didn't maneuver properly. The under-slot signings should be done first, a rival GM pointed out. But this may also be up to their adviser to navigate; maybe Nix simply shouldn't have been advised to go for a physical before Aiken's deal was official.

Luhnow declined comment on the Nix situation. But other people familiar with the Astros' thinking on this suggest that Nix's side should have understood that he wasn't going to get $1.5 million, or $1.2 million above slot for a fifth-round pick, without the pool money that was to come from the consummation of an Aiken deal. Maybe so, but it's also hard to recall a player losing his deal because of another player's physical, which is what happened here. And Nix himself certainly wouldn't have any reason to think he'd become the first.

Close can berate Luhnow if he likes, but a case could be made that the adviser might have been better off getting their own doctor to examine Aiken first, or perhaps even getting the Astros to sign off on a doctor of their choosing. If Close finds the Astros so sketchy, as he seems to from his “conversation” with Luhnow, the question may be asked whether he should have trusted the exam to the team, where anything could happen to lower the pre-arranged $6.5 million deal. Close is an experienced and respected negotiator with several $100 million deals on his resume, but if he really doesn't trust the Astros, why did he trust them in this case?

The union seems to believe there is a case, and for Nix, a hard-throwing righty who like Aiken is from southern California, in particular there may be one. It's hard to see him as anything but an innocent bystander, and a fair recourse might be to make him a free agent. The promising lefty Marshall, too, became a victim of Houston's inability to sign Aiken, though there hasn't been public word that he had an agreement that was killed by the failure of the Aiken negotiations

Of course the union might have been better served in the first place not to accede to this draft playing field in the first place, where bonuses have severe limits and one player's status can be affected by another one's physical condition.

As things stand, they are pretty sticky. Nix still would have had his deal had Aiken taken the $5 million that was offered, meaning the decision of one of Close's clients affected another's. Perhaps Aiken was too annoyed with the Astros to accept any deal (after all, Close didn't even counter at all, even by repeating the $6.5 million original offer, sources say), but nonetheless, his decision inadvertently affected Nix.

Aiken and Nix presumably can commiserate at UCLA and reapply for the draft in three years (a club person said their eligibility shouldn't be affected since players are allowed 48-hour tryouts at team sites) or they can go the junior college route and try for next year. Either way, even if Aiken's arm is completely sound, there's no guarantee he'd still get the $5 million he was offered.

The Astros, who brilliantly maneuvered the new draft two years ago, are an obvious loser here. They effectively used the draft in the past, adding above-slot talents like Lance McCullers Jr. and Rio Ruiz after saving a few bucks on Correa two years ago. But the plan blew up on them Friday.

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/writer/...eal-with-picks

Couldn't happen to a better group of guys

[Guest]

The Houston Astros just became the first team in decades to fail to sign the number one overall pick in the June draft (Brady Aiken), and they also failed to sign fifth-round selection Jacob Nix and 21st rounder Mac Marshall. Now, the MLB Players Association has filed a grievance against the club for manipulating the draft system, per multiple reports (Murray Chass, Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich).

The claim of manipulation involves the three aforementioned players and there's a bit of a trickle down effect from Aiken's situation.

With the draft's current setup, each club has a total pool of money to be used on draft picks in the first 10 rounds, with each individual pick having a "slot value." If a club can sign a player for less than the slot value, they're able to spend more money to lock up other draftees. This is where things happened with regards to the Houston draft.

The slot value for the top overall pick was just shy of $8 million. Once the Astros reportedly reached a verbal agreement with Aiken at a reported $6.5 million, it meant they could afford to go over slot for Nix -- who was valued higher than he were picked, but fell in the draft since he had already announced his intention to attend college rather than sign. With the planned savings on the Aiken signing, though, the Astros reportedly went far over slot value with Nix to reach a reported agreement.

But once concerns about Aiken's elbow arose -- it's not a torn ligament issue, but instead some sort of abnormality that concerned the Astros -- everything pretty much fell apart. The Astros offered just about $5 million to Aiken at the last minute and he didn't agree. Without the savings from the first-round slot -- if a player doesn't sign, the pool just acts like there was no pick and, hence, no slot money -- the Astros couldn't afford to go over slot for Nix without going over their pool for the first 10 rounds. Apparently the MLBPA believes Marshall was affected here, too.

In sifting through all available reports, Astros GM Jeff Luhnow, MLBPA director Tony Clark and Aiken's advisor, agent Casey Close, are only offering up silence or a "no comment" at this point. So for now, this is just about all we know.

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-...tros-for-draft

I find it hard to believe any agent wants to deal with Houston at this point, and it will only get worse. I have no idea how they plan to attract free agents to their club at this point.

[ryne candy]

I don't even think they want FA. FA will want top $ and that is something they can't give, even if they were willing (they aren't). I can't remember the last big name FA that went to the Astros. They are doing poorly financially because their product can't be seen by most Houstonians. There was an article either last year or this year that said they were making a profit but many stations were stating how it wasn't accurate. Can the teams give prospects physicals/research medical files before spending a pick on them? Aiken and last years pick, Appel, have both have injuries (or potential of easily being injured. Appel is not doing so well in the Minors.