I was thinking about Jim Crane as I read an article on the Rockets’ upcoming offseason.
I know that Fertitta came in and told Daryl Morey to do everything he could to get under the luxury tax. (This was a request Les Alexander never made.) Doing so meant letting go of the team’s best role players like Trevor Ariza. I have no doubt it’s a good business decision, but it’s not what you do to go all-out for a championship.
Crane, on the other hand, appears perfectly willing to cut the checks to Luhnow and then stay out of the way. When it push came to shove on the Verlander deal, Crane wasn’t letting $4M stand in the way. That was the difference between a division flag and a World Series flag.
When Marwin and Keuchel came up in another thread, go back to when Crane said “We want to keep them here.” I have no doubt that’s true. Crane trusted his GM to make an honest assessment about whether paying them what they wanted would make the team better in the long run.
All of this to say - there was a certain amount of rending of garments when Jim Crane bought the team. Turns out we couldn’t ask for much more in an owner.
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