Dear Jim Crane.
Mr. Crane, we owe you a lot of thanks. You brought Houston fans a brand of baseball we’ve never seen before. Sure, we got close with Drayton McLane, and there were a few fun years there. Clemens, Pettitte, Biggio, Bagwell et al.
But you brought us two World Championships and several seasons at the top of the American League.
Thank you. You’ve earned your place in Houston sports history.
But we’ve been stuck on a side road for the past few years, and everybody in the truck knows it. We need to get back on the freeway. The problem is, the motor under the hood right now isn’t a freeway motor.
Over the past several years, this franchise has watched Gerrit Cole, George Springer, Carlos Correa, Alex Bregman, Kyle Tucker, and Framber Valdez all leave Houston. Six homegrown or franchise-defining players, all gone within a six-year stretch. Since 2019, Astros players have signed nine-figure contracts worth more than $1.5 billion combined.
Only two were to stay in Houston: Jose Altuve‘s extension and Yordan Alvarez‘s commitment. Yordan wasn’t a free agent, but you stepped up and got that deal done, and it has paid off in a big way. The other six left because we weren’t willing to pay them.
We’re not here to relitigate every departure. Some of those players wanted to play elsewhere, and there’s nothing you can do about that. It’s just the business. But when the pattern repeats time after time, it stops being a series of individual choices and starts being an organizational one.
We get the hesitation. You gave Lance McCullers Jr. five years and $85 million, and he’s barely thrown a pitch since 2022. That kind of deal burns, and it’s fair to say it gave you reasons to think twice before committing long-term money again. But thinking twice and never acting aren’t the same thing.
Today, your Astros sit at 64-64 and lead the AL West by one game. On the surface, that looks like a team still in the race. You don’t have to dig too deep, though, to find the cracks. The run differential is -27, suggesting this club has been winning games it probably shouldn’t.
Seventeen different pitchers have started a game this season, and that ties the 1965 franchise record. And, um, that 1965 team finished 65-97, just saying.
Hunter Brown’s command is wobbly at best. Peter Lambert is carrying a workload I’m sure you, Dana, or Joe never expected him to handle. And Ethan Pecko, that 23-year-old out of Towson University, just made his major league debut Wednesday because Joe Espada is trying everything he can at this point to win a game and stay in the hunt.
The bullpen has been phenomenal for the most part, especially of late, and Josh Hader deserves a standing ovation for what he’s done since coming back from injury. But asking a bullpen to cover for a rotation this thin over a six-week stretch is hoping against hope.
The best player in the American League plays for you. Yordan Alvarez is leading the AL in batting average, home runs, and RBIs. He’s chasing the first MLB Triple Crown since Mickey Mantle in 1956. This may be the greatest individual season in franchise history, and it’s happening on a team that’s one game over .500 with a rotation held together by duct tape, rubber bands, and a prayer.
That should keep every one of us up at night.
Jeremy Peña hired Scott Boras, and the extension talks disappeared. Hunter Brown is a Boras client too. Dana Brown and Joe Espada are both working on expiring contracts, and you told reporters in January you hadn’t even discussed extending either one.
The CBA expires December 1, a lockout is all but guaranteed, and once that happens, everything shuts down: trades, signings, extensions, front-office restructuring, all of it will be frozen. If there was ever an offseason where the franchise needed to move quickly and decisively, it’s the one that’s about three months away.
Respectfully, Mr. Crane, we need you to lead. And we don’t mean that as a slogan. We mean the specific, uncomfortable, right-now kind of leadership that this moment requires. Pick up the phone and tell Boras you’re serious about keeping Jeremy Peña in Houston.
Sit down with Dana Brown and Joe Espada and give them an answer on their futures, because two men managing on expiring contracts aren’t managing with full conviction; they’re auditioning. You’ve had plenty of time to evaluate them, so you should know by now whether you can work with them next year or not, so tell them.
Houston fans watched 2025 end without a playoff berth for the first time since 2016, and they came back anyway this year. Many of them are still in the seats, still watching every pitch, still believing this thing can be turned around. That kind of loyalty deserves urgency from the top, and right now, it seems like we’re not getting it.
You built something in Houston that most owners never come close to. Two titles, seven straight ALCS appearances, a run that belongs in the conversation with the best stretches in American League history. Nobody can take that from you, and nobody should try.
But we’ve been driving on the side road long enough. The fans see it, the rest of the league sees it, the numbers confirm it, and time is not our friend. We need a freeway motor, and we need somebody willing to put one in.
You’re the only person who can make that call.
We’re asking you to make it.
Thank you!
Diehard Astros fans.
ALL THINGS ASTROS 
3 responses to “An Open Letter to Jim Crane”
Chip, my take is somewhat different.
Cole, Springer, Bregman, Correa, Tucker, Valdez. It would have been great to sign some of those guys long term. It probably was not realistic though. But the concept of letting those guys, all but Tucker, play out their contracts and get nothing for them put us where we are today.
I’d say the Altuve deal was unavoidable, but it’s going to be terribly painful to watch over the next three years. It was not good baseball business. Jose is not putting people in the seats today and he won’t be boosting attendance for the next three years either. I don’t think we’ll hear any Altuve fan boo Altuve, but I’ll guarantee you that a whole lot of us would be very grateful if he retired.
I suspect Yordan will have a shorter career than Altuve, but I’d agree that it’s time now to do one thing or the other with him. And I think we’re better off moving him this winter if moves are still being made. I find it difficult to watch Alvarez play surrounded by so little major league talent. He’s terribly frustrated and now it’s affecting his play.
And yes, move Pena and Brown too. Steven, yes again, both guys would have brought us considerably more talent at the deadline.
Chip, I don’t want Jim Crane to lead though. We know he’s played the game. We know he’s a baseball fan. But this club was much better off before Jim Crane took so active a role in leading baseball operations. I’m sure he’s still hiring and relying on experts in logistics to run his other profitable interests. He should do the same thing with the Astros.
LikeLike
I think everything comes back to the farm system. The Cardinals are 14 games back in their division, three games above .500, and their fans have a lot to be optimistic about because of the young players in their system. How did they get them? Two first rounders, 3 second rounders, 1 third rounder, an 8th rounder, an 11th rounder form their offense. Of our offense, only Jeremy Pena was drafted by Houston. From the staff you give Luhnow credit for picking Hader, take away credit for trading him, and then give Luhnow more credit for picking Hunter Brown. Maybe a couple guys like Brice Matthews eventually pan out, but our picks have been lousy for a long time. The only way to fix the sinking ship is to fix the farm system and especially do better in the draft.
LikeLike
dave, Crane has to lead! I teach and train on leadership in business, and as Crane goes, so go the Astros. He leads by hiring good people, giving them solid parameters and resources, and letting them do their jobs. He has to communicate effectively and give them the resources.
Yes, I understand you want him to keep his hands off the business, but he has to put the pieces in place. And to let two guys dangle their way through a season without a clear future is not only senseless, but irresponsible, in my book.
Sure, Devin, the farm system is important, if not critical, but they obviously don’t have the right personnel in place. Tampa Bay does it on a low budget, and they don’t draft high year after year. Other teams do well, too. Yes, we used to draft well, too. Roy Oswalt and Dallas Keuchel are two examples, and there are others.
It all starts with having the right people in place and letting them do their jobs. That works on the field and off the field. The Astros don’t have the right people, and they don’t have the resources they need…at least that’s the view from the outside looking in.
LikeLike