Interesting comments from team owner  Drayton McLane; "I felt for a number of reasons, we needed new direction, invigoration, to play with more enthusiasm and play more like a champion," McLane said.

And this from new interim GM Tal Smith; "Nobody relishes these occasions," Smith said. "Tim and Gar are good people. They cared very much about the Houston Astros. But as we all recognize, this is a performance-driven industry."

So will this open the door to a serious public discussion on this teams front office performance?

Lefty, the only discussion that matters is the one that happens between Mr. Rogers, Mr. Godfrey and Mr. Ricciardi. As far as I know that one is still very amicable and JP's job is in no jeopardy regardless of what happens or doesn't happen this offseason. The team would be better served by a more pro-active approach, but it looks like it will get the stand pat treatment. That's unfortunate because this team is definitely 2-4 players away from being a threat to the Yankees and Red Sox and an offseason of neglect will definitely not help things. Regardless of what happens this offseason, I for one don't want to fall for the "panic in the streets of New York and Boston" line again. I'll believe that when I see it happening and I see the team playing meaningful games, not only in August, but September and October as well.

Is it possible that JP is saying "stand pat," while planning to do some trading?
Does looking like a (buyer or seller) before the end of the season do him any favours?

I don't mean those questions to sound rhetorical or sarcastic, but folks here seem to have taken him at his word on this one, and JP is not nescessarily interested in including us in his thought processes.

Also, many threads seems to drift into this topic sooner or later. Do we need a running JP/Gibby watch thread?

...on a more pertinent note, it seems like a lot of managerial jobs have been more stable through this season. Is this related to the new "hands on GM" philosophy that folks are talking about? Was Garner actually responsible for most of the Astros problems this year?

Nick, I was thinking the same thing, because in part I was trying to remember if this was the first managerial change of the season -- and if it would be the latest first change ever. But Baltimore made a change, right? Anyone else?

And who's next?

Arizona Fall League Rosters at MiLB.com ....Purcey, Romero, Vermilyea, Santos, Patterson & Snider named to Scottsdale roster

Jerry Narron was canned by the Reds on July 1. Mike Hargrove also resigned from the Mariners on the same day and there still remains some speculation that it wasn't altogether voluntary.

Also at MiLB.com... Butler named to FSL all-star team ... Josh Kreuzer all-star and FSL's MVP... congratulations guys

Nick Holmes, I can only hope you're right. Last year he said he was going to Spring Training with the club as it was after the two whiffs at the Winter Meetings and then proceeded to sign Thomson, Ohka, and Zambrano and may have made some other moves that I can't recall. He may also be trying to relax and reassure the players on the current team and issuing the statement that what you see is what you get may be his way of telling the media to worry about next year during the offseason and that his focus and the focus of the team is and should be on "finishing up strong". I'm just concerned about the paper thin depth that this team has. Granted it is better than 2002-2004 and has gotten better each year from 2005-2007, but it's still too thin for this division. Perhaps a bit of frustration on my part too, both in this thread and the "Doubles Streak" thread, but I think that's a normal reaction to so many "soul crushing" (Mike D's phrase) defeats this year. At least in 2004 it wasn't a great team to begin with. This team looked decent at the start of this year and then things went downhill. I'm not saying JP isn't the man for the job, in fact I've defended him quite a bit on this very site, but I could easily be persuaded that he isn't with a stand pat offseason.

What has surprised me this season is that going into tonight's game the Jays have scored more runs(586) than only two teams in the AL (554/CWS and 584/KC(by 2)) ...if Barnett can be fired for Wells having a bad April can Brantley be fired for Wells having a bad season ?

Olmedo started the first rally, had two hits (and a third that was changed to the A's E) and based on last night's game, plays like an Ozzie Smith. What's not to like? The pitching staff is good--maybe great. The rest of the field gets a pass.  Gibbons has been better, recently (got Downs in just in time--maybe a batter too late). I can see JP's point, I like this team, now they're healthy.  

If Frank Thomas retires at the end of the season, Uncle Ted saves a chunk of change, and Frank has the satisfaction of going out near the top of his game. Next season, who knows?

Olmedo is a first-rate defender, and a joy to watch out there.  Back to the subject at hand.  I have a lot of respect for Tal Smith, and being a GM in the NL Central means that you don't need to put on a good Branch Rickey impression to have a good shot at winning.  The 'Stros will be back...

Indeed, they will be back -- the NLC is weak. Hey, if the 'Stros go 23-8 for Cooper, they finish .500 -- and that could darn well net them a division title! The Cubs are what, 66-63, and in first place, so it's not out of the question.