Purpura, Garner fired

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

According to Ken Rosenthal from FoxSports.com via XM.

UPDATE: Linky.

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/7160596

[MajorMike]

Wow. I can't stand the strobes, but respect Garner as one of the better skippers. Dumb move, imo.

[DOMINATOR]

Wow. I can't stand the strobes, but respect Garner as one of the better skippers. Dumb move, imo.
no he isnt... he makes bad in-game decisions. although i think purpura screwed him over more than anything.
glad cecil cooper gets his shot.

about time purpura was fired... knew it was coming since he was booed loudly yesterday at the bagwell ceremony thing.

[MajorMike]

Dude, people been saying the same thing about La Russa for years - he makes stupid ingame decisions. Hell people prolly still say that about him. Garner is way better than a good number of the guys handing in the card today.

[leemajors]

purpura didn't do a bang up job, but i wonder how much leeway he was given by mclane. hopefully he backs off a bit. garner didn't have a lot to work with, and he probably gave some players too many chances, but the guys respected him a lot.

[Extra Stout]

Garner is a good rah-rah manager for a team of veterans who need a little kick in the behind.

He is not very good as a teaching manager for a team of youngsters. Since that is the direction Houston will have to go, a change was in order. Garner is still a good manager in the right setting, though.

Purpura, on the other hand, was utterly incompetent from his first day on the job, and has left the Astros' front office in a state of utter ruin. It is difficult to think of a single player evaluation of his that was correct. Here was a man who insisted upon keeping Jason Lane on the roster, while arguing against promoting Hunter Pence until he didn't have a choice. He also presided over one of the most one-sided MLB trades in recent memory, that being the Jennings deal, which came to naught for Houston. Purpura has been one of the worst general managers in recent MLB memory.

[sandman]

Garner is a good rah-rah manager for a team of veterans who need a little kick in the behind.

He is not very good as a teaching manager for a team of youngsters. Since that is the direction Houston will have to go, a change was in order. Garner is still a good manager in the right setting, though.

Purpura, on the other hand, was utterly incompetent from his first day on the job, and has left the Astros' front office in a state of utter ruin. It is difficult to think of a single player evaluation of his that was correct. Here was a man who insisted upon keeping Jason Lane on the roster, while arguing against promoting Hunter Pence until he didn't have a choice. He also presided over one of the most one-sided MLB trades in recent memory, that being the Jennings deal, which came to naught for Houston. Purpura has been one of the worst general managers in recent MLB memory.

Spot on about Gar. He does well with a veteran-heavy team. And he is one of the good guys. I hope he lands on his feet.

Poo-Poo-Rah (as Richard Hidalgo called him) was completely inept. He makes a decent Hunsicker look like a freakin' genius.

[leemajors]

Spot on about Gar. He does well with a veteran-heavy team. And he is one of the good guys. I hope he lands on his feet.

Poo-Poo-Rah (as Richard Hidalgo called him) was completely inept. He makes a decent Hunsicker look like a freakin' genius.
hunsicker was a pretty damn good gm. purpura was great in the minors, and now those are in pieces as well. add to that their inability to sign draft picks, it's just a bad situation all around.

[peewee's lovechild]

If the have any semblance of intelligence, they'll go after Joe Girardi.

But, we're talking about the 'Stros here.

[Melmart1]

I hear some guy by the name of Buck Showalter is available.

[peewee's lovechild]

I hear some guy by the name of Buck Showalter is available.

Joe Girardi > Buck Showalter

[Chris]

Dumb move, its the owner McClane who needs to go. Signing Carlos to 100 million when the team needs to rebuild. Since I'm a Rangers fan, I can relate.

[Holt's Cat]

Drayton ran out of ideas once he discovered that Bagwell and Biggio couldn't play until they were 65.

[ATRAIN]

I dont see why it happened now....the season is pretty much done.

[Holt's Cat]

I dont see why it happened now....the season is pretty much done.

It gives Cooper a trial for the last 5 to 6 weeks of the seasons, I guess. Mollifies the fanbase a little, etc.

[T Park]

If Purpura had been allowed to rebuild this offseason as opposed to signing Lee to that redcockulas contract, then things could be different.

At the time, the trade for Jennings was good. Jennings was an all star pitcher, and they need one to replace Pettitte and Clemens.

Phil Garner? Eh, haven't watched enough games to know bad or good, but, I do know that one thing he did stupid this year, was back in early april and bringing in Lidge to a 6-2 game against the Cardinals on a sunday, and then Lidge getting shellacked to the point where he was demoted.

[Holt's Cat]

Given that he had Lidge, I don't think it's that ridiculous, especially in a game like that.

[leemajors]

Lee was probably overpaid a bit, but you have to overpay for free agents. he's having a pretty good season to boot. outside of that, purpura didn't make very many good signings and got fleeced by TB twice. ES broke it down pretty well. You can't blame it all on him, and McClane was certainly at fault for the botched drafts and zero prospects being signed. Hopefully this also signifies a change in McClane's attitude in general, and he doesn't domineer his GM. Jayson Stark had a pretty good column on it today:


But when McLane marched to the podium Monday and spoke of the need for better leadership and new ideas, he forgot to mention that he'd be well-served to take his own advice.

Why? Because he has done nothing lately to disprove the notion that he is as tough to work for as any owner in baseball.

Yes, he cares. And yes, he aims high. Yep, he's always around. And yep, he has spent lots and lots of dollars in the name of winning.

But his last GM, Gerry Hunsicker, up and quit three years ago because he'd had enough of McLane's meddling in the baseball side of the operation. And so little has changed since that day that it's difficult to evaluate Purpura's reign as GM, because we'll never know how many decisions were really made by the general manager.

We do know it was the owner's doing, not the GM's, that the Astros weren't allowed to sign their top two draft picks this year -- because it was the owner who was determined to please his good friend, Bud Selig, and not pay "above slot."

So if that's the philosophy, you lose the right to point fingers at the GM when the farm system starts to thin out. Don't you?

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=2993768

[Holt's Cat]

Yeah, it's hard to peg Lee as a bad signing, at least based on 1st year production. The problem is that once Roger and his boyfriend went back to NY the Astros didn't at least have the hope of being able to make the postseason while scoring 2 runs a game.

[DOMINATOR]

the lack of run production is 85% berkmans fault of not showing up to play until mid-june
lee signing was good but cant really complain about the money when it's not yours and when everyone had to overpay for FA's. i'd take lee over soriano because lee is much more consistent and soriano just had a great year not to mention he has to bat lead-off for some absurd reason.

[MajorMike]

"I'm told Drayton McLane ordered Purpura to trade Brad Lidge. I got this information from an official with another team. I would expect the Astros to deny it."

"Get out of my cookie jar!!"

[T Park]

Yeah, it's hard to peg Lee as a bad signing

in two years when you have to move Berkman to the outfield because Lee is too fat to roam left field, and is getting paid that ascanine amount, thats when it kicks in...

[DOMINATOR]

in two years when you have to move Berkman to the outfield because Lee is too fat to roam left field, and is getting paid that ascanine amount, thats when it kicks in...
which one of the two started the season out of shape?

[monosylab1k]

getting paid that ascanine amount

ascanine?

as canine?

he's getting paid a dog's salary?

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

The fat-ass that's got more doubles and SBs than Berkman? That fat-ass?

[Mister Sinister]

Is it b-ball season yet?

[T Park]

The fat-ass that's got more doubles and SBs than Berkman? That fat-ass?

Good, he can go be a DH in the American league.

Just don't come crying to me when he can't get to line drives and fly balls in the outfield.

[leemajors]

oswalt was dealin! it will be a pity if dude never wins a cy young because he rarely gets support.