Drayton McLane deserves some kudos for sticking with the team and adding players when he was being laughed at and poor-mouthed. He believed in the team when virtually everybody else had written them off.

About the time he added players , Braves dumped payers. Braves had a patheitc finish, Astros excited us.

The Hurricane Ike fiasco is partially his fault and I would not allowed the team to play so soon after the hurricane (anywhere) (I don’t think), but his faith in the team seems real and not just empty statements to keep fans coming to the park (as many surmised) .

few things to take away from the discussion, but the caveat is obviously that it doesn’t matter what is said barely two days after the end of the season. a lot is going to happen in the offseason that could change any current stances.

that being said, here are some bullet points:

- he said Bourn is still pencilled as the starting CF in his mind, but he’s got to go play winter ball and work on his game, and if an opportunity arose to upgrade that position or any other, they’d obviously consider alternatives.

- he sounds like he’s going to do everything in his power to re-sign Wolf. i’m sure it would have driven some here crazy, but he said something along the lines of “the Wolf trade was a turning point in our season”, but also that even if they had not traded for him, he would have been looking at signing him this offseason and people would have been excited about that, or something. i didn’t really understand that.

- when first asked about the rotation, he said that he was lucky to have Roy as a true #1, that he thought Wandy, despite some injuries, had a really nice season, then the stuff about Wolf, and that you can’t ignore what Moehler did and since he did it for an entire season, you can’t consider it an aberation. beyond that, he said there were a lot of question marks going into next season (ahem-Backe). later though, he said that Backe was probably going to be in their plans for next season and that he thought Backe pitched a few games that were the best pitched games of the Astros season, so the talent is there, but Brandon needs to find some consistency. he mentioned that Backe was still not very far removed from his surgery, yada, yada. i’d expect to see Backe around and competing for a rotation spot, but i’m guessing there are no guarantees there.

- he likes where the bullpen is at and said that getting Brocail and Hawkins back were high priorities. he mentioned Geary is going to have minor groin surgery, but looks forward to having him back. he also praised Byrdak, Wright, and Sampson. i’d expect only minor bullpen tinkering, and hopefully that means that the rotation will be priority #1.

- he said they still like Towles, but that he’s going to need to play some winter ball and will have to earn his spot next season. talked about how it was a tough spot for JR, and that they weren’t the only team that had high expectations for him; that other clubs were asking about him last offseason. but it did almost sound to me like they would be open to getting a new catcher. i can’t imagine that earning his spot means it’s just him and Q fighting for playing time. there’s not much else in the system.

- as i was pulling into the parking garage at work, he was saying something about Newhan and Loretta, and how a lot of fans will be expecting turnover and fresh blood, but they can’t ignore guys that were significant contributors to this year’s team. he also went on about how professional a hitter Loretta is and how his attitude rubs off on the guys in the clubhouse. i’m not sure what conclusions can be drawn from all that.

in the end, it was a lot of GM-speak. not too much to infer, but I figured i’d share it anyway.

this will be a big offseason, but i’m figuring on MUCH fewer moves. hopefully there will be at least one move in the rotation and maybe something to address the catching position, but i wouldn’t expect too much beyond that. we’ll see.

First let me thank you guys for a great season here in the Boxes. You’ve done a hell of a lot of work and I’ve had a hell of a good time dropping in. I’ve been an Astro fan from the start and it’s good be able to spend some time with my own.

This was a frustrating team. There were streaks where they played way over their heads and streaks where they positively sucked. And they did it as a group, like girls in the dorm all getting their periods at once. I don’t know whether to credit this to the manager, team chemistry, or whims of the baseball gods. But it was a roller coaster ride from the start. And the big finish could only make you wonder what if things had not dropped so far earlier on.

I was glad to see Bergman come back strong this year — could have been MVP on a winner. And Oswalt finally got healthy and came back to form. Wiggy, Tejada, and Matsui were a quite decent infield and Carlos Lee probably earned his pay. I was very happy with Erstadt, but Loretta and Blum were less consistent. I had some qualms about Villareal, but he proved me wrong.

We all agree catcher and centerfield are problems. Bourne looks to be Willie Taveras with a worse OBP. He did not seem make good contact. Towles was clearly not ready for prime time and without more production from the OF, the team can’t afford a weak hitting catcher like Ausmus. I would keep Bourne for one more year to use as a pinch runner and defensive replacement just to see if he can raise his average the 50 points he needs to be a starter. My top priority for the offseason would be to shop around for a good young catcher, starting in Arlington where they have more than they know what to do with. The Ranger front office is so inept, you can probably get Taylor Teagarden for Doug Brocail.

Pitching, pitching, pitching. Yes, we need another ace, but I’m not convinced that Sheets is our guy. I’m inclined to take a shot on an old guy like Glavine, Smoltz, Pettit, or even Randy Johnson. At least you get your next AAA pitching coach out of the deal. Used to be we’d get a mob of wannabes in spring training and a few of them would be good enough to fill the middle bullpen slots. This year, we just didn’t catch much in the net.

But the top priority for the team is to restock the farm system. Down there we are totally depleted. We need to be scouring the world for young players, and we need to do better at developing what we have. In the mean time, I’d look for a couple of rule 5 players and put everyone on the block except Bergman.

So I have rambled enough. In the offseason, I’d like to follow our players in the winter leagues, hear all the juicy rumors, and get some indepth stats on this season. I hope this will be the place for that.

Ed Wade could get from the Rangers, Mets, or Brewers for the bullpen? Like, the whole thing.

I mean, Ed Wade has shown himself to be pretty good at building the thing. If you pick up some of the cast-off players from other teams and anchor the pen with one or two really good pitchers, you’ve got one of the best relief corps in the majors. Wade was willing to take chances on guys like Hawkins, and it paid off.

So you go to one of the many teams that has a crappy bullpen, give them one of the best, and in return you get a good number of that team’s top offensive prospects.

Maybe I’m missing something here, but it seems that a team could make quite a profit if they pulled this move every couple years. It’s just a matter of finding the decent relievers that teams like the Yankees have given up on.

both defensively and offensively. He might not perform that well in the future. Or perhaps he’s comfortable and happy.

Bourn was a guy who seemed pretty good from watching him. I’d hear you guys complaining about him and finally looked up his splits. He did hit pretty well against the Brewers and the other games I saw were mostly on WGN and he hit the Cubs okay as well. Next year maybe you’ll have a CF who is better but hits the Brewers poorly.