Nolan Ryan signs with Houston...official

[Drbio]

HOUSTON -- Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan has agreed to a personal services contract with the Houston Astros, according to a broadcast report Monday night.



Ryan, who pitched for the Astros from 1980-88, agreed to a five-year contract with the team after meeting with Astros owner Drayton McLane Jr. in Temple on Monday, Houston television station KRIV reported, quoting Major League baseball sources.



A woman answering the phone in the team's media relations office, who declined to give her name, told The Associated Press she could not confirm the report.



Astros general manager Gerry Hunsicker said Feb. 10 that Ryan and McLane have had several conversations about a possible position with the organization.



Ryan ended his formal relationship with the Rangers a week ago by deciding not to sign a new personal services contract.



Ryan owns the Round Rock Express, which is the Astros' Double-A team and is expected to become a Triple-A team in 2005. He also is co-owner of a Corpus Christi minor league team, which will become the Astros' Double-A team in 2005.



Ryan's contract would allow the Astros to take advantage of his knowledge and experience.

[Dooby]

While embarassing for the Rangers, I don't know what else people were expecting. I imagine that this has been in the works since Ryan acquired the Roundrock Express.

[NYCdog]

Things for the Astros and Ryan should get very interesting in 2005.

In 2005, the Astros triple A club will become the Round Rock team, currently owned by Ryan. The Astros Double A team will bet the old Round Rock team that will now play in Corpus Christi.

This phrase below in the article below has a hidden meaning to it.........

"Ryan's contract would allow the Astros to take advantage of his knowledge and experience."

How you might ask.............Ryan moved his home form his hometown in the south suburbs of Houston to Georgetown, Tx to be closer to the Round Rock club so that he could operate it. In the past, he has always been there. But due to his agreement with the Rangers at the time, he was never able to work with the clubs players, especially there wealth of high prospect pitchers, being that they were minor leaguers of the Astros. That will all end now as his agreement with the Astros will not only allow him to run the AAA and AA squads, but work with both teams players and pitchers closely. And for the Astros, this could be huge..........his experience and knowledge he will share with there wealth of prospects coming in and out of the farm system could make them much better pitchers overall once they make it to the big leagues.

But even more interesting, regardless what the Astros do this season, it is widely believed Drayton McLane will put his team up for sale at season's end. And a rumored front-running bidder with deep "Steinbrenner-like" pockets has emerged...........an ownership group that includes Nolan Ryan.

So if all goes according to his plan, in 2005 Nolan Ryan could partly own the Astros and their Triple A and Double A squads all at the same time. All he would need to complete the hitting for the "cycle........of ownership that is" is the Single A rookie leage franchise. Pretty amazing.........

[Drbio]

I don't think it is embarassing at all for the Rangers. Ryan had a personal services contract that expired, he and Hicks talked about a renewal and Ryan said no thanks. Ryan's ownership in the Express and Corpus Christi franchises (Houston minor league teams) made his defection to Houston very reasonable. There is no embarassment there whatsoever. Noone messed up, noone made an error, nothing negative. Just a thoughtful business move by Ryan.

[NYCdog]

Interesting article I found by Richard Justice (whom the PTI guys refer to as "the best beat writer")

On a side note, a press conference has been called for 11 a.m. in which the Astros will announce the deal with Ryan.

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Ryan welcomed back with open arms
By RICHARD JUSTICE
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle
RESOURCES

KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- Nolan Ryan's value system is such that he never really felt comfortable working with one organization's young pitchers while being paid by another.

So you are not supposed to know that he offered tips to Roy Oswalt and Tim Redding, that he tutored Kerry Wood, or that he had advice and counsel for an assortment of others.

If a young pitcher asked Ryan for his help, he gave it. Otherwise, he considered himself an employee of the Texas Rangers, available only to the Rangers.

Never mind that for the last nine years the Rangers made it clear they did not want much out of him other than an occasional photo opportunity.

And never mind that Ryan remains far and away the franchise's most significant player. His arrival in 1989 breathed life into the team and was more responsible for construction of the Ballpark in Arlington than any other single event or person.

Once his playing career was done in 1993, Ryan was more than willing to share some of the knowledge he gained during 27 seasons in the big leagues.

But in 1995 the Rangers hired a pitching coach named Dick Bosman, who made it clear that someone with 324 victories and 5,714 strikeouts could not be of use.

Bosman was dismissed four years ago, but the new administration of John Hart and Buck Showalter was either too arrogant or too incompetent to use Ryan.

By the time Rangers owner Tom Hicks began whispering sweet nothings to Ryan this fall when his personal services contract with the club expired, it was too late.

Not only did the Rangers refuse to utilize him, they insulted him. In a monumentally classless move, team officials moved the plaque commemorating the retirement of Ryan's jersey number (34) from a prominent position in right field to a remote area beyond the left-field wall of the Ballpark.

So the Rangers made it easy for Ryan to return to the Astros. Now he's back where he belongs, back where he'll be appreciated and utilized.

Perfect.

Take a bow, Drayton McLane. In an offseason in which your courtship of Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte could not have been handled better, you've now brought the most popular player in franchise history back.

From the moment Ryan stepped on the mound at the Astrodome in 1980, he has exemplified what the Astros always wanted their players to be in terms of excellence, toughness and raging competitive fire. His departure after the 1988 season easily stands as the darkest day in franchise history.

No, today does not make up for former owner John McMullen's decision to allow Ryan to sign with the Rangers. But it's not bad.

Sure, it's a symbolic move, but it's more than that. Ryan will learn that in the next day or two when Astros assistant general manager Tim Purpura telephones and tells him how much he values his opinion.

Purpura will let Ryan know his thoughts will be sought on a variety of issues and that he's welcome to assist the organization's pitchers on any level with which he's comfortable.

"He has so much to offer," Purpura said. "It would be foolish not to tap into some of that."

When McLane signed Clemens to a post-career personal services contract, Clemens joked: "I'm afraid Drayton will be leading me around town like a farm animal."

Ryan and Clemens both will allow some of that, because if you need a door opened or a telephone call returned or a deal closed, they are invaluable assets.

That's just a beginning.

Maybe some kid will ask Ryan about his relentless work ethic. Maybe he'll hear about the night Ryan celebrated his sixth no-hitter by climbing onto a LifeCycle to begin preparing for his next game.

Maybe someone can ask Ryan about the time Dave Winfield charged him on the mound. The two did not face one other for almost five years, but when Winfield stepped into the batter's box at an All-Star Game, he got a fastball under his chin. For a team sometimes accused of being too nice, a bit of Ryan's mean streak might not hurt the Astros.

Or maybe one of the Astros can ask Ryan what it means to be a good teammate. Maybe that player will find out how Ryan became angry when he believed outfielder Jose Cruz wasn't getting the recognition he deserved during the final days of a marvelous career. To remind fans that Cruz had been a special player, Ryan wrote a personal appreciation of him and asked the Houston newspapers to publish it.

In the end, Ryan has so much to offer that almost everyone, including McLane, can learn something.

One of the joys of visiting the spring training homes of the Dodgers and Yankees is watching Sandy Koufax or Whitey Ford or Yogi Berra mingling with the kids on the practice fields. Just as every young Yankee remembered the first time he saw Mickey Mantle in spring training, generations of future Astros might have the privilege of calling home and telling their parents: "Nolan Ryan adjusted the grip on my curveball today."

There's a long list of things McLane seems not to understand about baseball, but there also are some things he clearly does get.

Like the importance of having Nolan Ryan back with the Astros.