How Jim Crane responds to this could be Astros most important moment

STONE COLD 'STROS

How Jim Crane responds to this could be Astros most important moment
What is Jim Crane thinking right now? Composite Getty Image.

As the Houston Astros continue to struggle through what has been a nightmare start to the season, one voice we haven't heard from in a while is club owner Jim Crane.

To be fair, Crane is under no obligation to comment on the state of the team. He has a GM and manager to address the media, and he has other business responsibilities outside of the Astros.

But we do wonder what he's thinking right now about the team's disastrous start to the season. Clearly, he can't be happy with how the club is performing on the field. But a lot of the front office decisions he approved have backfired.

And this is a year he decided to break out the checkbook and go over the luxury tax for the first time since 2020 by signing Josh Hader to a 5-year, $95 million deal. A move that has been a massive failure through the first 35 games.

Signing Hader this offseason, Jose Abreu, and Rafael Montero the previous offseason all look like misses. And even he has to acknowledge that parting ways with former GM James Click after the 2022 season may have jumpstarted the beginning of the end of the Astros dynasty (let's hope that's not the case).

If anything, we have to think he'll be gun shy about signing free agents to big deals moving forward, based on the poor results from Abreu and Hader.

And if the team continues to struggle as the trade deadline approaches, will he be open to trading some assets like Framber Valdez, Alex Bregman, or Kyle Tucker? Our guess is no, this guy has been a winner in all areas of life. He'll probably be thinking this team isn't dead yet, they are bound to turn things around based on their history (or back of the baseball card). And staying the course may end up being the correct move, only time will tell.

At the end of the day, Crane has led this organization to incredible heights, and is clearly the best owner in Houston sports history. But even he makes mistakes, and one of them appears to be listening to his baseball advisors like Jeff Bagwell and Reggie Jackson over the analytics department that this dynasty was built on.

Be sure to check out the video above for the full discussion about what Crane might be thinking right now, his role in the current state of the team, and much more.

Catch Stone Cold 'Stros (an Astros podcast) with Charlie Pallilo, Brandon Strange, and Josh Jordan every Monday on SportsMapHouston's YouTube channel! We'll continue to drop more episodes throughout the week.

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Jazz defeat the Rockets, 124-115. Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images.

Keyonte George scored 30 points and Lauri Markkanen added 23 points and 10 rebounds to rally the Utah Jazz to a 124-115 victory over the Houston Rockets on Saturday night.

Walker Kessler had 11 points and 17 rebounds, and Isaiah Collier added 12 points and 10 assists to help Utah snap a two-game skid.

Alperen Sengun led Houston with 27 points and 12 rebounds. Jalen Green added 25 points and 10 assists, and Amen Thompson had 23 points.

Aaron Holiday and Thompson made back-to-back 3-pointers to put the Rockets up 96-89. But the Jazz surged ahead for good behind a 21-5 run. Three straight baskets, capped by Cody Williams' layup, gave Utah a 110-101 lead with 5:59 left.

Sengun and Dillion Brooks each scored a pair of baskets to key an early 13-2 spurt that gave Houston a 45-40 lead midway through the second quarter.

Utah chipped away at the deficit, but did not retake a lead again until the third quarter when Markkanen bookended a string of four straight baskets that powered a 13-5 run. Kessler’s alley-oop dunk three possessions later punctuated that run and put the Jazz up 77-76.

Takeaways

Rockets: Houston committed only four turnovers over the first three quarters before coughing up the ball three times in the fourth.

Jazz: George propped up Utah’s struggling offense in the first half, scoring 20 points on 6-of-10 shooting before halftime.

Key moment

After falling behind by seven early in the fourth, the Jazz scored on six straight possessions and took the lead for good on a pull-up 3 from George.

Key stat

Utah outscored Houston 66-36 in the paint.

Up next

Houston hosts Milwaukee on Tuesday night. Utah hosts Portland on Monday night.

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