I think you guys are ignoring the whole marketing aspect of FOTF. Keppinger, Blum, Myers, etc... are all good ballplayers, but they either aren't regulars or aren't longtime Astros. Pence and Bourn are about it, and they are the ones getting pushed. And this is only Bourn's third season with the club.
Actually, I haven't been ignoring it at all. I just think that the perfect combination would be a marketing of a player who also happens to be respected by their teammates. Which is more important? My opinion, the marketing is secondary to players. It is, however, very much primary with the business side of the house. The Astros, at one time under Gerry Hunsicker, had a very clear separation between "business side" and "baseball side". Under Purpura, the two sides became more close. So close in fact that business had equal pull with the owner as baseball... on baseball moves. It was a gang of five who had to decide who to hire as the manager for the Astros at one time and that included McLane and Bob McLaren (business side). That kind of irked Hunsicker, and Tal Smith just kind of accepted it. If I remember correctly, the swing vote became Pam Garner and thus Jimy Williams was hired. Hunsicker wanted to give the job to someone else, but decided that Williams was not a bad choice if that is what the "committee" decided. But it was the beginning of the end for the Hun, who didn't get along with business people. In fact, he was pretty irritable towards them. And that led to McLane putting pressure on Hun to shape up to which Gerry decided he had had enough.
So after Purpura and the co-existence of "business" and "baseball", the marketing was taking a very prominent voice around the team. Who can blame them, the 2005 season with players such as Clemens, Pettitte, Berkman, Bagwell, Oswalt and Biggio and the World Series run was a huge marketing fun time. Before 2005, marketing wanted McLane to go after Beltran because he would sell. He was going to pay for himself in terms of marketing at least (and oh by the way, he was seen as a fit in the team as a marquee player... although Berkman and Bagwell laughed at the idea that Beltran even wanted to be here... and if your teammates know you don't want to be there, then why spend that sort of money on the guy?).
Now the team has taken a sort of shift more towards allowing baseball men do their job more than taking a sort of backseat to marketing and business. Pence was brought up prematurely (at the dismay of Purpura at the time) because marketing needed him and his magic bat and the do no wrong rookie kid (except for that little DUI in Arizona, but that could be excused easily). Who was running this club/organization any way? Well, now baseball men seem to be back in the front seat firmly at the wheel. If marketing wants a marquee player, let them have one... most players won't care.
They'll just follow the lead of a Myers or Keppinger well before Pence. Okay, so folks think he may change and mature and stuff. But half of Pence's success is due to his own devil-may-care attitude. He's not a huge student of the game like Bagwell, nor an intense competitor like Biggio... he's Gunther Pants for goodnessakes! Market him, but don't call him a clubhouse leader.
