Astros get 0.00 television rating...

[texasdave]

What if they held a baseball game and nobody watched? It just happened. On Houston televisions anyway.

http://mlb.si.com/2014/04/09/houston-astros-get-0-0-television-rating/

I can't believe Bud Selig is allowing this travesty to go on. Some folks might disagree but I have yet to meet an Astros fan that was cool with what is going down. Throwing away seasons, IMO, is a disgrace.

[WVRed]

What if they held a baseball game and nobody watched? It just happened. On Houston televisions anyway.

http://mlb.si.com/2014/04/09/houston-astros-get-0-0-television-rating/

I can't believe Bud Selig is allowing this travesty to go on. Some folks might disagree but I have yet to meet an Astros fan that was cool with what is going down. Throwing away seasons, IMO, is a disgrace.

At least the Astros have a plan. Short term it might not be profitable, but they could be the Marlins.

[Slyder]

What if they held a baseball game and nobody watched? It just happened. On Houston televisions anyway.

http://mlb.si.com/2014/04/09/houston-astros-get-0-0-television-rating/

I can't believe Bud Selig is allowing this travesty to go on. Some folks might disagree but I have yet to meet an Astros fan that was cool with what is going down. Throwing away seasons, IMO, is a disgrace.

Marlins are a much bigger zit on the face of the MLB than the Astros. At least the Astros can point to a plan, they had to rebuild after years of poor drafting. Marlins are just ass clowns stuffing their pockets with as much money as they can.

[Boston Red]

The Marlins have Jose Fernandez. Advantage Marlins.

[Roy Tucker]

Didn't this happen to them last year too?

[WVRed]

The Marlins have Jose Fernandez. Advantage Marlins.

They also hired a big name manager, signed some big name players, and then after one season dumped the manager and traded the players they signed, completely alienating what little fans they had left.

What the Astros are doing takes guts, but at least there is a vision. They are in a division where they could compete a lot quicker than the NL Central when that talent starts to arrive and gel.

[cumberlandreds]

The Marlins have Jose Fernandez. Advantage Marlins.

They also have Stanton. The Astros have Altuve and Fowler. Marlins trump them in exciting players. When you lose over 100 games a few seasons in a row there will be no interest. It's going to take a long tome to build that fanbase back up. I can't see it happening anytime soon either.

[bucksfan2]

They also hired a big name manager, signed some big name players, and then after one season dumped the manager and traded the players they signed, completely alienating what little fans they had left.

What the Astros are doing takes guts, but at least there is a vision. They are in a division where they could compete a lot quicker than the NL Central when that talent starts to arrive and gel.

The Astros have lost 100+ games for three seasons in a row. The Astros were touting 2014 as the season they "may" not lose 100 games. They have played 3 years with one average MLB player on their roster all along collecting massive paychecks from MLB. Its even more egregious when you consider Houston is the 3rd or 4th largest market in America. Its an embarrassment and black eye for baseball.

Baseball should never have allowed Loria to get another team. But the Marlins have won 2 WS during his tenure and have had a stable full of stars come through their organization. What he did with the new stadium was criminal, but it appears as if they have another exciting team brewing down there. You replace Loria and Miami may be a dominant player very soon. Houston, well they may not lose 100 games in 2020.

[IslandRed]

Baseball should never have allowed Loria to get another team. But the Marlins have won 2 WS during his tenure and have had a stable full of stars come through their organization. What he did with the new stadium was criminal, but it appears as if they have another exciting team brewing down there. You replace Loria and Miami may be a dominant player very soon. Houston, well they may not lose 100 games in 2020.

Huizenga was the owner for the first World Series win.

Anyway, the "Marlins model" is primarily based on luck -- make the playoffs twice as a wild card and end up winning the World Series both times? Good luck replicating that -- and regularly honking off their fans. Rebuilding is one thing, not giving a rip about your major-league product is another thing entirely. It takes true, um, talent to create a situation where you could win another World Series and hardly anyone will care that you did.

Houston's upcoming challenge is not just winning, it's also convincing fans that intentionally being the worst team in baseball for a half-decade at a time won't be a recurring rebuilding strategy. And frankly, most MLB teams don't want them to wildly succeed with this strategy. If multiple teams try this, the overall product suffers. It's almost enough to make a guy wish for promotion and relegation. If a team wants to take itself off the grid for years at a time to rebuild, it would be nice if that spot could be given to a team that would actually try in the meantime, but of course that's not how our system works.

[Sea Ray]

Is it so bad that George and Barbara Bush don't even follow them anymore?

[M2]

0.00 sounds high for an Astros audience. FWIW, I don't think they have a plan beyond spend very little money, suck really bad and maybe someday they'll have some competent players. Hopefully the reward they get for that kind of cynicism is ex-fans who never ever return.

[Chip R]

I actually like the Astros chances. Luhnow's the GM there and he was the one responsible for bringing in all that young talent in StL. If they start winning there, the fans will come. Ownership has spent big in the past. They aren't spending much now but why have a huge payroll if you are going to lose 90-100 games anyway? Everyone talks about Theo and Jed in CHI but I'll bet HOU turns things around before the Cubs.

[westofyou]

Five Year plans are for losers

Bill Veeck

[gilpdawg]

The Astros have lost 100+ games for three seasons in a row. The Astros were touting 2014 as the season they "may" not lose 100 games. They have played 3 years with one average MLB player on their roster all along collecting massive paychecks from MLB. Its even more egregious when you consider Houston is the 3rd or 4th largest market in America. Its an embarrassment and black eye for baseball.

Baseball should never have allowed Loria to get another team. But the Marlins have won 2 WS during his tenure and have had a stable full of stars come through their organization. What he did with the new stadium was criminal, but it appears as if they have another exciting team brewing down there. You replace Loria and Miami may be a dominant player very soon. Houston, well they may not lose 100 games in 2020.

Houston will be good way before 2020.

[westofyou]

Houston will be good way before 2020.

I've heard that, maybe they will have some fans still

[M2]

I actually like the Astros chances. Luhnow's the GM there and he was the one responsible for bringing in all that young talent in StL. If they start winning there, the fans will come. Ownership has spent big in the past. They aren't spending much now but why have a huge payroll if you are going to lose 90-100 games anyway? Everyone talks about Theo and Jed in CHI but I'll bet HOU turns things around before the Cubs.

They've been historically bad during the past three seasons. They are headed into expansion Mets territory in terms of long-term haplessness. This is year six of their slide and they might not have hit bottom yet (because their pitching is a dog's breakfast). The notion that this team is going to do anything positive in the near-term future strikes me as wishful thinking. Looks like a franchise with a slog ahead of it to me.

As for why spend, so you aren't a 106+ loss team. This franchise is cratering. If I were a Houston fan it would take a minimum of a new owner to get me to see that team. Seriously, my summer sports spend in that city would be directed 100% to the Dynamo (which gets better attendance and local TV ratings).

[Yachtzee]

They've been historically bad during the past three seasons. They are headed into expansion Mets territory in terms of long-term haplessness. This is year six of their slide and they might not have hit bottom yet (because their pitching is a dog's breakfast). The notion that this team is going to do anything positive in the near-term future strikes me as wishful thinking. Looks like a franchise with a slog ahead of it to me.

As for why spend, so you aren't a 106+ loss team. This franchise is cratering. If I were a Houston fan it would take a minimum of a new owner to get me to see that team. Seriously, my summer sports spend in that city would be directed 100% to the Dynamo (which gets better attendance and local TV ratings).

I wonder how many fans the Astros lost just by switching leagues. I suspect a fair amount of long-time Astros fans may have been turned off by Selig engineering the league switch to get league approval for purchase of the team. Some people have very strong views against the AL and the DH. I have family members who would probably give up baseball rather than see the Reds in the AL using the DH. I've never heard anyone say they would stop watching baseball if they got rid of the DH.

[bucksfan2]

Houston will be good way before 2020.

Will they?

They have very little major league talent on their everyday roster. They have very little major league talent in their starting rotation. Apparently they have a nice farm system, but we don't know how they pan out. At one point Homer Bailey was the best pitching prospect in baseball and it took him 5 years to become a solid reliable starter. Jay Bruce was the #1 prospect in baseball, he has been an All-Star but hardly one of the top players in baseball. It takes good drafting and a large portion of luck to build from within. Right now they have Fowler and Altuve, you could take both Bailey and Bruce circa 2008 and they still would be a 100 loss club.

[CoachBombay]

I honestly dont get it. The astros suck. We know this. But this is America. People love watching horrible TV shows. Especially horrible reality TV shows

[RiverRat13]

Rewarding teams like the Astros that are intentionally putting an inferior product on the field with high draft picks does not make sense. If we're not going to have a salary floor on the major league level, there should be at least a salary floor to be able to pick in the top 10.

[KronoRed]

It might suck for the fans but would them aiming for 82-80 really be that much better? if you don't have a chance at a championship why not build for one?

[dougdirt]

The Astros have one of the best farm systems in baseball. They have money to spend. They are going to be pretty good pretty soon.

[RiverRat13]

It might suck for the fans but would them aiming for 82-80 really be that much better? if you don't have a chance at a championship why not build for one?

I really don't want what is basically the NBA mentality to come into MLB. I don't think having a third of your teams tanking their seasons in order to get a higher draft pick is good for the sport, which is what will happen if MLB doesn't do something to dissuade teams from doing it.

[IslandRed]

It might suck for the fans but would them aiming for 82-80 really be that much better? if you don't have a chance at a championship why not build for one?

The two things are not mutually exclusive. The Astros aren't spending tens of millions more on their farm system than other teams are. They could put a better product on the field, one that might make dads feel like it's worth the trouble to take their kids to see a game, without damaging anything they're doing with the farm system. Or, more to the point of the original article, a modicum of competitiveness might garner enough TV eyeballs to keep their cable partner from going bankrupt and leaving themselves in a lurch with respect to future local media revenue.

[M2]

Or, more to the point of the original article, a modicum of competitiveness might garner enough TV eyeballs to keep their cable partner from going bankrupt and leaving themselves in a lurch with respect to future local media revenue.

Excellent point. To build on that, while other franchises are breaking the bank with new local TV contracts why would anyone pay a nickel to broadcast the Astros? Literally, no one's watching. That could shorten the team's window with homegrown players from six to four years, after which quality arb-eligible players will be too costly to keep.

[dougdirt]

Excellent point. To build on that, while other franchises are breaking the bank with new local TV contracts why would anyone pay a nickel to broadcast the Astros? Literally, no one's watching. That could shorten the team's window with homegrown players from six to four years, after which quality arb-eligible players will be too costly to keep.

That certainly could come into play. But they will still get a big chunk of money from the national tv deal and MLBAM.

I'm curious, if CSN Houston goes under, what do the Astros (and MLB) do?

[improbus]

I really don't want what is basically the NBA mentality to come into MLB. I don't think having a third of your teams tanking their seasons in order to get a higher draft pick is good for the sport, which is what will happen if MLB doesn't do something to dissuade teams from doing it.
Basketball and baseball are so vastly different that it will never quite work that way. In the NBA, one player can make you relevant and two can make you a title contender, so tanking to get one of those players is a viable option. In baseball, no one player (or even two) can have that impact. So, there is less incentive to go after those top picks.

Teams instead go into "rebuilding mode" and attempt to stock up as many prospects in their system and hope that enough of them become good major leaguers that they can contend. If it works, you can do some winning (like the Reds with Cueto/Votto/Bruce). If it doesn't, sell them and try again.

[Boston Red]

Revisiting. So would you rather be a Marlins fan or an Astros fan? The Marlins have, thus far, been the best team in baseball when playing at home.

And when Fernandez pitches, their fans are coming out in droves. It's like Dontrelle Willis 2003 all over again (except that Fernandez is likely going to be a stud for 15 years).

[Chip R]

Revisiting. So would you rather be a Marlins fan or an Astros fan? The Marlins have, thus far, been the best team in baseball when playing at home.

I'd say Astros cause you probably figure Loria is going to trade off some of those guys once they get expensive.

[Boston Red]

Still early, but....still the 11-24 Stros over the first place Marlins? Who have the NL's second best run differential? Can't see it.

[Yachtzee]

Revisiting. So would you rather be a Marlins fan or an Astros fan? The Marlins have, thus far, been the best team in baseball when playing at home.

And when Fernandez pitches, their fans are coming out in droves. It's like Dontrelle Willis 2003 all over again (except that Fernandez is likely going to be a stud for 15 years).

I'd rather be an Astros fan, because a) you can't trust Loria, and b) those Marlins uniforms are all kinds of ugly.

[Brutus]

Preface: this obviously is not good no matter how you slice it.

That said, needs to be pointed out that the actual rating was not 0.00, just the metered daily reports they get from a small sampling. The true diary readings which will supply the official numbers will be higher than this (I guess there's only one way to go).

[19braves77]

Only 40 % of Houston can watch them on TV and they have received zero money from their TV contract over the past two years.

[RiverRat13]

Only 40 % of Houston can watch them on TV and they have received zero money from their TV contract over the past two years.

I read a little about their local TV situation a few weeks ago. With how bad of a product they are putting one the field, what incentive is there for the dish networks or U-Verse to reach a deal? If the Astros at least made an attempt to be competitive, perhaps fans would be pushing back at those carriers or maybe even switching to Comcast.

[Boston Red]

OK, with Fernandez down for the year hurt and the Marlins doing their best Reds impression on their 9 game West Coast swing (did the Reds EVER have a good 9 game West Coast trip?!?), I guess the Astros are back in the hunt for being a less terrible team to root for than Miami.