Yes, this post looks more Rangers-centric than a post has any business being on this website. However, it irked me in a very important way. See, the article breaks down Nelson Cruz's rise to prominence with this Rangers team. His was a very curvy line to stardom filled with a lot of false starts.
↵One of those came when Texas sent him to the minors, outrighting him off the roster and passing him through waivers. That happened back in 2008 and meant that every team in the majors had a chance to claim him. Including the Astros.Who were in the middle of a rebuildin...er, well, I'm not sure what they were doing.
↵I do know that Houston should have been rebuilding in 2008. Instead, they traded away players for Miguel Tejada and went for the postseason for the last time under Ed Wade. Two years later, Wade blew things up and traded away Lance Berkman and Roy Oswalt, finally starting the process of, you know, making this team better for the long-term.
↵The interesting thing about Cruz is he brings the one thing Houston lacks right now: power. Where would he have played? That's a harder question, but if the Astros had decided to rebuild starting then, they could have traded Lance Berkman and moved Carlos Lee to first, opening left field for Cruz. Would an Astros team with Cruz be any better than it was with Berkman? Maybe not, but it would have been a move in the right direction earlier.
↵Houston isn't going to win any pennants soon, so they need to collect assets. Because they hadn't figured out they needed to rebuild in 2008, they missed a chance at grabbing an asset in Cruz. That annoys me and is why I'm ready for a new owner and a new front office.
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