It wasn’t long ago that many regarded Jeff Luhnow as one of the best general managers in baseball. The former Cardinals executive took the reins of a horrible Houston team after the 2011 season, oversaw a couple atrocious campaigns and then helped it morph into a juggernaut. Thanks in part to Luhnow’s work, the Astros are coming off three straight seasons of at least 100 victories. They won their first-ever World Series in 2017 and took home the American League pennant in 2019 on Luhnow’s watch.
Despite the accomplishments the Astros piled up under Luhnow, he’s now disgraced, suspended for a year and unemployed. Everything came crashing down for Luhnow during the offseason because of an Astros sign-stealing scandal that has called their recent success into question. As a result, Luhnow may never work in baseball again, let alone as a GM. Nevertheless, it’s worth looking back on his tenure atop the Astros’ baseball operations.
With no real baseball going on for the foreseeable future, MLBTR’s Jeff Todd began a series Tuesday examining the trade histories of GMs. We might explore all current GMs’ swaps, but even though he’s without a job, Luhnow makes for a fascinating enough case to warrant his own post. With that said, we’ll take a look back at the notable trades Luhnow made in Houston. You can assess his trade history after reviewing it…
2011-12 Offseason
- Acquired INF Jed Lowrie and RHP Kyle Weiland from Red Sox for RHP Mark Melancon
2012 Season
- Acquired 3B Matt Dominguez and LHP Rob Rasmussen from Marlins for OF Carlos Lee
- Acquired RHPs Joe Musgrove, Asher Wojciechowski and Francisco Cordero, LHP David Rollins, C Carlos Perez and OF Ben Francisco from Blue Jays for LHP J.A. Happ and RHPs Brandon Lynn and David Carpenter
- Acquired RHP Matt Heidenreich and LHP Blair Walters from White Sox for RHP Brett Myers
- Acquired OF Robbie Grossman and LHPs Rudy Owens and Colton Cain from Pirates for LHP Wandy Rodriguez
- Acquired OFs Bobby Borchering and Marc Krauss from Diamondbacks for 3B Chris Johnson
2012-13 Offseason
- Acquired RHP Brad Peacock, C Max Stassi and 1B Chris Carter from Athletics for INF Jed Lowrie and RHP Fernando Rodriguez
2013 Season
- Acquired OF Danry Vasquez for RHP Jose Veras
- Acquired LHP Josh Hader, OF L.J. Hoes and 2014 competitive balance pick from Orioles for RHP Bud Norris and international bonus slot
- Acquired OF Justin Maxwell from Royals for RHP Kyle Smith
2013-14 Offseason
- Acquired OF Dexter Fowler from Rockies for RHP Jordan Lyles and OF Brandon Barnes
2014 Season
- Acquired 3B Colin Moran, OF Jake Marisnick and RHP Francis Martes from Marlins for RHP Jarred Cosart, UTIL Enrique Hernandez and OF Austin Wates
2014-15 Offseason
- Acquired C Hank Conger from Angels for C Carlos Perez and RHP Nick Tropeano
- Acquired C Evan Gattis and RHP James Hoyt from Braves for RHPs Mike Foltynewicz and Mike Thurman and 3B Rio Ruiz
- Acquired INF Luis Valbuena and RHP Dan Straily from Cubs for OF Dexter Fowler
2o15 Season
- Acquired LHP Scott Kazmir from Athletics for RHP Daniel Mengden and C Jacob Nottingham
- Acquired OF Carlos Gomez, RHP Mike Fiers and international bonus slot from Brewers for LHP Josh Hader, OFs Domingo Santana and Brett Phillips, and RHP Adrian Houser
- Acquired LHP Oliver Perez from Diamondbacks for LHP Junior Garcia
2015-16 Offseason
- Acquired RHP Cy Sneed from Brewers for INF Jonathan Villar
- Acquired RHP Brendan McCurry from Athletics for INF Jed Lowrie
- Acquired RHP Ken Giles and INF Jonathan Arauz from Phillies for RHPs Mark Appel, Vince Velasquez, Thomas Eshelman, Harold Arauz and LHP Brett Oberholtzer
- Acquired C Erik Kratz from Padres for RHP Dan Straily
2016 Season
- Acquired RHPs Josh Fields and Guadalupe Chavez from Blue Jays for RHP Scott Feldman
- Acquired OF Yordan Alvarez from Dodgers for RHP Josh Fields
2016-17 Offseason
- Acquired C Brian McCann from Yankees for RHPs Albert Abreu and Jorge Guzman
2017 Season
- Acquired RHP Tyler Clippard from White Sox for cash/PTBNL
- Acquired RHP Justin Verlander from Tigers for RHP Franklin Perez, OFs Daz Cameron and Juan Ramirez, C Jake Rogers
2017-18 Offseason
- Acquired RHP Brandon Bailey from Athletics for OF Ramon Laureano
- Acquired RHP Gerrit Cole from Pirates for 3B Colin Moran, RHPs Joe Musgrove and Michael Feliz, and OF Jason Martin
2018 Season
- Acquired C Martin Maldonado from Angels for RHP Patrick Sandoval and $250K in international pool money
- Acquired RHP Ryan Pressly from Twins for RHP Jorge Alcala and OF Gilberto Celestino
- Acquired RHP Roberto Osuna from Blue Jays for RHPs Ken Giles, David Paulino and Hector Perez
2018-19 Offseason
- Acquired INF Aledmys Diaz from Blue Jays for RHP Trent Thornton
- Acquired 2B Luis Santana, OF Ross Adolph and C Scott Manea from Mets for INF/OF J.D. Davis and INF Cody Bohanek
2019 Season
- Acquired RHP Andre Scrubb from Astros for INF Tyler White
- Acquired OFs Rainier Rivas and Raider Uceta from Angels for C Max Stassi
- Acquired RHPs Aaron Sanchez and Joe Biagini from Blue Jays for OF Derek Fisher
- Acquired C Martin Maldonado from Cubs for 2B/OF Tony Kemp
- Acquired RHP Zack Greinke from Diamondbacks for RHPs Corbin Martin and J.B. Bukauskas, 1B Seth Beer and INF Joshua Rojas.
2019-20 Offseason
- Acquired LHP Blake Taylor and OF Kenedy Corona from Mets for OF Jake Marisnick
- Acquired RHP Austin Pruitt from Rays for OF Cal Stevenson and RHP Peyton Battenfield
No one knows whether Luhnow will get another chance as a GM. His history of trades may play a role in that. How do you think he did in that department during his reign in Houston? (Poll link for app users)
Lol
All I have to say is he did trade for (Kenedy) Corona before he left…
That Carlos Gomez deal in itself prevents grading this an A in my eyes.
The Gerrit Cole trade does a lot to make up for that. I’d go B+ if that were an option. Luhnow had always done a great job trading from positions of surplus. Trading spare parts for young minor leaguers was always something Luhnow did better than others as well.
Disagree
You won’t ever find a GM that hits 100%
It wasn’t just the trades. Have to look at all the roster moves including drafting
Highly successful with long term goals in mind.
Losing him was 10x bigger than Hinch
Great trades but tremendous strategies for winning games.
Tremendous cheating for help in winning games..
Fixed that for ya pal
Cole trade was a major steal
Did he trade for the trash can?
Free agent signing
Out right waivers
I thought they drafted the trash can.
Rule 5
International free agent signing. Made in china
Bud Norris isn’t worth Josh Hader and a man with the last name Hoes.
That competitive balance pick turned into Derek Fisher too
The Verlander and Cole trade are the only really good deals. Yordsn Alvarez looks good.
Bad deals… gave up Josh hader, Vince Velasquez, Jonathan villar, Mike foltynewicz and rio ruiz.
Velasquez and Ruiz haven’t amounted to anything
Velasquez is a giant tease and hasn’t put togethere anything on a team thats had the luxury of giving him chancw after chance. On a win now team he is bleh. Giles gave them some solid years despite being unusable in the World Series and punching himself.
Out of all of those guys, only Hader has produced consistently
Vince Velasquez for Ken Giles.
You’ve got to be kidding if you think that turned out poorly.
Giles + other junk turned into Osuna. Not that Giles for Velasquez, Appel and other filler isn’t already not a bad deal itself.
I would take the Blue Jays end of that trade every day, the only persons head Giles hits is his own.
You still have the Greinke trade.
Yordan Alvarez deal was by far the best deal.
Verlander is solid but he is a pitcher. Cole only gave the Astros two years.
There is a huge reason why David Ortiz loves Yordan.
Because he is Tippin on Four Fours when he comes to the plate.
Has a chance to be in the middle of that lineup for a long time.
For a relief pitcher
Cole only two years? Hard to understate that those two years may be the two best of Cole’s career.
Yordan is a transformer that has Cadillac rims? What does tippin on four fours mean in relation to baseball? Is he Mike Jones?
The question that’s important is who is Mike Jones?
Don’t forget JD Davis and Ramon Laureano- both had break out years last season and IMO are going to go on and do big things for their org.’s If you look at the starters they’ve fielded over the last 3 seasons it’s amazing how much talent they’ve amassed. Did HOU trade 2009 draft pick JD Martinez to DET before Luhnow came on board?
Luhnow is the GM equivalent of wasted talent. Fantastic roster moves but is a terrible person and can’t get out of his own way.
Terrible person? I don’t recall him going to prison. He didn’t commit a crime like his former team did. If only he would have paid somebody off to take the fall like another VP/GM did a few years ago. I’m guessing Chris Correa had a nice financial safety net waiting for him when he walked out.
Just because he didnt commit a crime doesnt mean hes a good perso .
Go look at how the industry feels about Luhnow. The man had to be convinced not to sign Heimlich and he basically mocked a DV situation to make a trade.
But all the teams who turned a blind eye at steroids get a pass? Including the Godfather Larussa? Heck, Roid Boy is now lead analyst on ESPN. Yes, Luhnow is the problem. MLB and their media outlets are choir boys. I understand now.
I’ve said this before… I think Hinch got the right punishment, but if Coppy got suspended for life, so should this guy. ( I don’t have an opinion on Coppolella and am a Nats fan, I just dont understand how Luhnow can get only a year). Yet another mess-up by MLB in it’s dealings with the Astros.
It’s a well know fact that Coppolella got the life time ban because he refused to cooperate with the investigation, Luthnow played stupid but did cooperate. MLB is actually tremendously forgiving, and the historical landscape is littered with forgiven cheaters, whether it be steroids, sign stealing (conventional not electronic), corked bats ect, even most gamblers have been forgiven, but everyone banned for life and cant get the ban lifted have 1 thing in common, they didn’t cooperate or lied to MLB investigators.
This
What Coppy did was much more questionable as a legal thing. orchestrating deals with minors can’t be taken lightly.
He also hired the nerds Manning the cameras, project dark arts won them a WS and all it took was a one year suspension sweet trade.
His first trade was for rule 5 pick Marwin Gonzales.
That’s not a trade…. As you said it was a rule 5 selection.
they’re waiver claims, which are fairly close to trades and should probably be in these articles as well.
Should be, could be, would be by they aren’t trades so they don’t belong in the article.
Actually it was a trade because the Red Sox picked him in the Rule 5 draft and traded him to the Astros
He first trade was for Marwin Gonzalez who was just drafted in the Rule 5 by Boston vía the Chicago Cubs. Marwin was a great Astro from 2012-2018.
The Hader trade, the terrible returns for top players at the time… pretty average at best GM.
The Astros didn’t have any top players. They were losing 100 games a year like it was cool. Bud Norris was the only guy to move that had value and thats how they got Hader.
wut are you sayin about altuve?
In comparison to Mike Hazen’s trades as Arizona’s GM, If Hazen gets an A, I can’t give Luhnow any higher than a C+/B-.
They were cheating. So all the players they got miraculously performed significantly better than they should. Those players will fall to avg and some even below avg this season. Take it to the bank. Bregman went 0-50 in his first 50 abs in debut season. He almost broke a record for worst start mlb history…and what do you know he recommended they start stealing signs. They should all be banned from the game.
wow, a guy struggled his first time in the Majors. shocker.
He actually went 0-18, finishing 2-38 over his first 42 plate appearances before turning a corner. Not great but not as bad as 0-50. And no report stated he started the recommendation to start stealing signs. That came from Cora & Beltran.
If you go back and watch those first 50 AB’s, he actually smoked several balls. The guy was a top pick, and is a great hitter no matter what you choose to tell yourself. Not defending their actions, but denying their ability is absurd.
Just looking at bad returns from the tear down in the first three years, it is kind of surprising that the list continued. Aside from getting Hader, who they didn’t really make good use of, they got very little. He got much better once the Astros started trying again, but it’s not really that impressive of a record.
Yordan for Fields makes him an A by itself.
More hits than misses and a lot of talent in many deals.
The Trashcan trade was the biggest of them all. Gave him a big banging A+ for that.
Sign stealing aside, Imagine if they kept Hader and drafted Bryant over Appel.
I give it a B. Also, Chris Devenski was part of the Brett Myers trade.
Agree, believe he was The PTBNL.
oh my gosh they did it
i feel like this is a fairly mixed resume. a lot of decent trades but also ones that were overpays.
Next do Dan Hedeya from Rookie Of The Year
Wrong Kyle Smith is linked. Smith was a pitcher frm the Royals org, not a catcher.
I wonder if that Gomez & Friers for Hader and co. Trade goes down as his biggest regret for two reasons now. 1. Gomez did nothing and Hader turned into a great closer. 2. No friers, no scandal…yet?
Goes down as one of the worst trades in decades if you ask me.
I am completely shocked that not a single soul in this abhorrently stingy comment section has bothered to mention Ramon Laureano being traded away for Brandon Bailey. Brandon Bailey! That’s like trading Cracker Jacks for over-salted peanuts! (very inadvisable!)
As an A’s fan I feel that was one of his better trades, fanatic….
Right!? Just mentioned Laureano and JD Davis in a reply above this comment. Laureano’s ADP in fantasy went from waivers last year to 10th- 14th rd picks this year. He’s an exciting young player
Even as an Athletic’s fan, it’s an A. He (they) won it it all.
We can debate trash cans until the signs come home but in simplicity, they’re not going to have to return the hunk of metal. The shame of it is (that possibly needlessly) he will be remembered for ruining the achievement.
The word hubris springs to mind….
As an Astros fan, I’m very happy with his tenure. It wasn’t just about the individual trades, but the overall plan. Plus, Jim Crane absolutely funded the team in a way Drayton McClane didn’t. I love what Lunhow did, though he did make a few blunders. That happens.
I know this is about trades, but can’t forget about picking up McHugh and Harris off of waivers. McHugh was 0-8 with an 8.94 ERA before HOU and ended up 58-35 with a 3.63 ERA over his 6 seasons in HOU.
Yeah because they were cheating.
how would cheating affect houston pitchers? they used codebreaker for the houston hitters!
besides the win
wow. didnt realize how successful he was. and he wasnt the one who encouraged the “codebreaker”. it was some executive, so idk why hes taking the fall for it. hinch never liked it, but hes getting the fall too
Im pretty sure most murderers and rapists “dont like it” either. Worst, dumbest post of the day. You must have a brain injury.
i do actually. i got kicked in the head by a horse. thanks
He gets an F because he is Jeff Luhnow and is a failure as a human being, period. He belongs in prison forever for what he did. Absolute scumbag.
Beane WORKED him on the Laureano trade too, he’s not even close to Beane all time.
Beane for HOF
Luhnow for prison
Win an LCS first. Until then he can sit next to Bonds, Clemens and Rose as a buying patron to the induction.
How do we know Luhnow has won a LCS without cheating?
how about a league investigation
The Indians’ owner could save face if he hires Luhnow in 2012. A competitive wiondow starting in 2023 could cover his “Enjoy him (sic: Fransisco Lindor) while he’s here” comment
Brandon Lyon (not Lynn) was in the JA Happ deal with the Blue Jays and Kevin Comer was the PTBNL.
Chris Devenski was the PTBNL in the Brett Myers deal.
David Paulino was the PTBNL in the Jose Veras deal.
Cheating scum bag!!
Relax
So good those trades.even the higher rated prospect which felt like an overpay at this time mostly busted (brett phillips, Jacob Nottingham for example).
Luhnow was so talented in building that system, analytics and player dev but unfortunately he got greedy and said to himself “why use my smarts only in legal ways when I can get more”?
He is like that wall street guy who made billions in legal ways but then evades another 50m illegally because he can’t get enough.
Luhnow likely was so good he could have won anyway but his greed ruined his and this astros core’s legacy. Luhnow was going into the HOF as the guy who revolutionized player dev and analytics but now this is all forgotten and he only will be remembered as the cheater. People said the astros got off lightly but this loss of legacy and the constant mocking they will face is a huge price to pay for them.
So good those trades.even the higher rated prospect which felt like an overpay at this time mostly busted (brett phillips, Jacob Nottingham for example).
Luhnow was so talented in building that system, analytics and player dev but unfortunately he got greedy and said to himself “why use my smarts only in legal ways when I can get more”?
He is like that wall street guy who made billions in legal ways but then evades another 50m illegally because he can’t get enough.
Luhnow likely was so good he could have won anyway but his greed ruined his and this astros core’s legacy. Luhnow was going into the HOF as the guy who revolutionized player dev and analytics but now this is all forgotten and he only will be remembered as the cheater. People said the astros got off lightly but this loss of legacy and the constant mocking they will face is a huge price to pay for them.
Sorry double post
If the season gets cancelled due to Corona, the time served should be prorated automatically the 2021.
I voted B. He transformed a disaster of a franchise into a perennial World Series contender. The biggest flaw I see is not giving up Hader or JD Davis in trades, but the Greinke trade. Not only did it cost them a boatload of top prospects, they are also crippled financially by his contract. I don’t fault teams for going all in to win, but re-signing Charlie Morton, a better and cheaper player than Greinke would have made 100x more sense.
wasn’t Devenski the PTBNL in the Myers deal?