Brian T. Smith of the Houston Chronicle talked to Bud Selig yesterday about the Astros move to the American League West and the rebuilding process.

Check out the full article here.

Aside from pumping up the "very attractive" American League Selig says that the Astros moving to the AL West was "simple geography" and the only "logical choice." Astros County does an excellent job of addressing those issues FJM-style.

What I don't understand is why Selig is saying anything at all. He is one of the most hated figures in Houston and that hate goes way beyond the switch to the American League. In getting the Astros to switch to the AL Selig and the owners dragged their feet in approving Jim Crane. Drayton agreed to sell the team to Crane in May but approval from MLB didn't come until November. Then there's the Hurricane fiasco which resulted in the Astros being no-hit by the Chicago Cubs in the Milwaukee Brewers' home ballpark, a team Selig formerly owned. Fans are upset with this but this wasn't the headline in Astros fans eyes. Why reopen the wound and pour salt in it. It's very troll like.

Selig comes off as one of those guys that only thinks his ideas are pure gold and is completely baffled by anyone who challenges them.

MLB commissioner Bud Selig said Tuesday he fully understands fans' complaints and sympathizes with their pro-National League pull. But Selig told the Houston Chronicle the only "logical choice" for baseball was to relocate the Astros to the AL, and he believes fans won't question the move five years from now.

Oh that's nice, he knows how we feel! This plan is pure gold and we'll take five years to get over what was built over fifity years.

The American League is very attractive

Oh yeah? Attractive enough to be worth seventy-five million dollars less than an N.L. team?

Now, he did follow this up by explaining the numbers game about evening out the divisions. I have to say I agree. The dividsions need to be even, that is logical. But, the Astros aren't the ONLY logical choice to move.

Selig said the primary reason for the Astros' AL relocation came down to simple geography

Here lies my biggest issue. Tell me how the geography makes sense? In this age, as clack says, "where teams have to travel by bus," geography doesn't have much of an impact anymore. Every other major sport has no issues with it. The Dallas Cowboys are in a division with the New York Giants and Washington Redskins. Are the L.A. Clippers and L.A. Lakers a huge rivalry? That's as close as you get in geographical locations yet it doesn't have much of an impact. What really matters is history between two teams and Bud Selig doesn't get that. Then, add in that Houston is actually further away from all of their new divisional foes outside of Dallas than previous, this argument makes less sense. Go read Astros County's post that was linked to earlier, it gives you the actual mileage.

But, it's all o.k. Bud says the Brewers have "tremendous" rivalries with the other N.L. Central teams and that had to be preserved. Bud created this mess by moving his beloved Brewers to the N.L. so he wants to keep that going. No way he's going to devalue that franchise even though their history doesn't lend itself to rivalries like the Astros have.

Finally, Selig approves of the Astros rebuilding strategy which is of course something you say after screwing over someone. Ironically, he has no issues with all of the problems that everyone else seems to be complaining about, including Buster Olney in his new insider piece. Payroll? Nope, Bud is good with that. Terrible losses? Nope, he trusts the plan and those enacting the plan. He actually says the Astros rebuilding plan will be good for baseball! Well, that's nice...