Astros Extended Jeff Luhnow Last Winter

The Astros extended the contract of GM Jeff Luhnow within the last year, Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle reports.  Club owner Jim Crane didn’t exactly remember when the extension was finalized but he believed it to be last offseason.

Luhnow was hired following the 2011 season, and has since presided over an extensive rebuilding plan that saw the Astros almost completely strip their roster of Major League veterans in order to reload with young talent.  The results haven’t been pretty on the field (Houston is 176-310 over the last three seasons) but the franchise has amassed one of the deeper prospect pools in baseball and now seems to be looking to again spend on veteran talent.  As Drellich notes, the 2014 season was a troublesome one for Luhnow, who faced criticism for the team’s failure to sign first overall draft pick Brady Aiken, a personality clash with ex-manager Bo Porter and a leak of trade discussions with other teams.