The entire purpose of News You Can Use is to attempt to understand why the Astros do what they do. Trying to follow the Astros and their decision making process is complicated by the fact that few in the Houston media are concerned with the Astros.
Most are trying to increase their audience, solicit audience interaction, increase their own visibility or find an easy way to fill column inches. So, the trick is to go through the material we have, supplemented greatly by more competent reporting in other cities, and glean what the Astros say about themselves.
In the past, The Hunsicker Era to be precise, it was easy to understand what the Astros were going to do. Gerry says he doesn’t care about offense at shortstop; Adam Everett stays put. He says he wants a left handed bat in the lineup, Dierker doesn’t play Ward, Hunsicker and Dierker tell you why.
However, recently, and especially with the randomness and panic that occurred last season, it’s difficult to tell whether the Astros mean what they say or they don’t have confidence in their decisions and so change their minds when they hit the least resistance. Lets look at the situation with J.R. Towles for instance. Here are relevant quotes, in chronological order, concerning the Astros decisions and philosophy that affected Towles,
9/20/2007
Replacing talent of that caliber is extremely difficult, if not impossible, but a team that has the strong pitching, speed and defense foundation to fall back on can make the inevitable rebuilding periods less painful to endure.
In Houston, a re-emphasis on the big three is the focus these days, and McLane believes Wade and Smith and their combined 80-plus years in baseball have the mental wherewithal to turn things around by getting back to pitching, speed and defense first.
“We’ve kind of gotten away from that,” McLane said. “We want to refocus more on that and [Wade] had the same philosophy that has made us successful in the past and we want to refocus on that.” Link
10/30/2007
said Wade. “We’re very pleased to have (Ausmus) back for 2008. We know that he can make a significant contribution on the field, and we know the impact he has in our clubhouse. Additionally, he can help mentor a young catcher like J.R. Towles, which will make both J.R. and the Astros better.” Link
1/4/2008
“J.R. does have experience at big league level, and he has Ausmus to bounce things off and work with,” Wade said. “[Towles will ] learn the league and make adjustments. He has tools that indicate he can play at this level for some time.” Link
3/30/2008
“Speed and defense were elements we needed to address first and foremost,” Wade said.
“We had not had the offense we should have had for four or five years, and we needed to change that,” McLane said. “And so I said to Ed, ‘I think that’s the No. 1 area we need to address,’ and I think he’s done an amazing job.” Link
5/12/2008
(Footer conveying her sense of the Astros intentions) the Astros aren’t planning to take either Bourn or J.R. Towles out of the lineup anytime soon. As long as the rest of the lineup is producing, which it is, they see no reason to make a change with some of the struggling hitters. Link
5/15/2008
“Look, I need you to just focus on playing your game and doing what you do and bring your defensive effort every day, every day,” Cooper says he tells his players. “And when you put the bat down, as Jackie likes to say it, ‘When you put the bat down, pick up your glove.’ Don’t carry the bat with the glove kind of deal. When you do that then everything is going to be fine.
“That’s what you kind of encourage them to do. I think I’ve had more one-on-ones with the two of them (J.R. Towles and Michael Bourn) and Hunter (Pence) probably than anybody else because they’re young guys and they need it. They need the encouragement, need the support.” Link
5/15/2008
“If we had signs or a sense or a feel that (Towles) was giving up on himself, then we might be concerned, but I don’t sense that,” Wade said via phone from San Antonio. “In cases of both he and Michael, we have to be patient. As long as they continue to be receptive and exhibit the work ethic that they’ve shown, we know they’ll be fine.”
Link
6/3/2008
“Give him three days, just relax a little bit, work on his hitting,” manager Cecil Cooper said. “Hopefully, that’ll get him going again.” Link
6/5/2008
“It wasn’t about his catching, game-calling,” Cooper said. “It was more about his offense. The last game he played, he looked like he was frustrated. We’d seen signs that he was going to come out, and he went back a little bit.
“I know the first game in Milwaukee, he swung it really good and we said, ‘Here he comes.’ The next day he went back a little bit. He needs to go play and get his confidence back a little bit. He’ll do that. He took it well.” Link