Saturday, March 15, 2014

Drayton asks judge to throw out lawsuit

Former owner Drayton McLane asked a federal judge to throw out Jim Crane's lawsuit accusing McLane of fraud and conspiracy related to the CSN Houston debacle, and then took a shot at Crane, noting "back to back 100-loss seasons."

No plausible reading of the purchase and sale agreement would call for (McLane) to guarantee the network’s success on television when the performance of the team on the field is abysmal.

 Oho! That's all well and good, but let's not forget that the first time the Astros lost 100 games was in 2011 when Drayton was still owner, selling the team to Crane.

Let's also not forget that it was Drayton who approved the signings of Carlos Lee and Woody Williams, forfeiting the Astros first two draft picks in 2007. And let's not forget that Drayton didn't want to spend the money to sign Derek Dietrich (3rd Round) or Brett Eibner (4th Round), meaning that the first Astros pick to actually sign was the 171st overall pick Collin DeLome.

Let's also not forget that it was Drayton's refusal to even mention the word "Rebuild" after 2005. Let's not forget that it was Drayton who ran off Gerry Hunsicker, leading to the tenures of Tim Purpura and Ed Wade. Let's not forget that Drayton approved the trades of Roy Oswalt, Lance Berkman, Hunter Pence, and Michael Bourn, beginning the rebuild himself.

I can get on board with Drayton trying to get a fraud lawsuit dismissed. I can't get on board with Drayton acting as though he had no part in the current state of the franchise.