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Jeff Luhnow

AL Notes: Alvarez, Astros, Benintendi, BoSox, Rays

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The Astros and Dodgers “were at an impasse” in trade negotiations over reliever Josh Fields at the 2016 trade deadline, Houston GM Jeff Luhnow said, before Luhnow decided to aim beyond L.A.’s farm system.  As Luhnow tells MLB.com’s Alyson Footer, the Astros had had interest in Yordan Alvarez as an international signing before he agreed to a deal with Los Angeles in June 2016.  “Really, it wasn’t until the day of the deadline that I remembered the Dodgers had signed Alvarez, and I thought, ’Well, if we can’t get a minor league player that we’re really excited about, why don’t we just take a flier on this young guy that they just signed that I know we like?’ ” Luhnow said.

After that sudden brainstorm, the Fields-for-Alvarez trade was concluded fairly quickly, putting Alvarez (then a somewhat obscure 18-year-old prospect) onto a new team less than two months into his pro career.  “I was surprised and a little worried. I didn’t know what a trade was,” Alvarez said.  “I thought they might have been releasing me. I was really surprised, but when they explained it to me, I understood.”  The rest, as they say, is history, as Alvarez blossomed in Houston’s farm system and then made an immediate impact at the big league level, hitting an incredible .313/.412/.655 with 27 homers over his first 369 Major League plate appearances.

More from around the American League…

  • Andrew Benintendi put on some weight last winter in an attempt to add more power to his game, though in the wake of a down year, the Red Sox outfielder tells WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford that the new goal is “to get lighter and more athletic this offseason.”  Many tabbed Benintendi to break out into superstardom in the wake of his impressive 2018 season, though he ended up hitting only .266/.343/.431 over 615 PA in 2019.  Some nagging injuries played a role, though Benintendi’s added bulk didn’t translate into more power, as he posted a lower slugging percentage and fewer homers (13) than in 2018.  Benintendi is hoping that better health and a more back to his old speed-based game will result in a better 2020 season.
  • Also from Bradford’s piece, he notes that Trey Ball and Teddy Stankiewicz have reached minor league free agency and could be unlikely to remain in the Red Sox farm system.  Ball was chosen seventh overall in the 2013 draft while Stankiewicz was Boston’s second selection (45th overall) from that same class, though neither player has reached the big leagues.  Bradford takes the opportunity to look back at a draft year that ended up as almost a complete miss for the Red Sox, as only five (Mauricio Dubon, Carlos Asuaje, Matt Thaiss, Gabe Speier, and Kyle Martin) of the 40 players selected have reached the majors, and none ever suited up in a Boston uniform.  Still, the 2013 draft class did plant some indirect seeds for future success — Asuaje was part of the trade package the Sox sent to the Padres for Craig Kimbrel, while Speier was included as part of the Rick Porcello trade with the Tigers.
  • The Rays used a trade-heavy approach in building their roster, though beyond the low-payroll franchise’s usual tactic of trading veterans when they become too expensive, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times notes that the Rays have also looked to add MLB-ready players rather than younger prospects, while also being willing to move minor leaguers of their own.  “But increasingly we’ve been more open to swapping players…earlier in their career. I think at the end of the day, we recognize that we have to be wide open to any acquisition method that gives us a team that we like better than the one we had previously, be it for today or be it for tomorrow,” GM Erik Neander said.  “The more near-term sensitivity we have competitively the better position we’re in, so that’s the goal. Striking that balance has to be a constant….Where you want to be is having a mindfulness on the short-term and not having it 100 percent pushed out to the future.”  A whopping 16 of the 25 players on Tampa Bay’s ALDS roster were acquired through trades, most in under-the-radar swaps.

How The Astros Landed Zack Greinke

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Just when it seemed like the 2019 trade deadline has passed without any truly major transactions, a blockbuster deal between the Astros and Diamondbacks shook things up when details emerged of the swap shortly after 3pm CT yesterday.  The Astros landed one of baseball’s top arms in Zack Greinke (and also $24MM of the roughly $77MM owed to Greinke through 2021), while trading away four interesting prospects in right-handers Corbin Martin and J.B. Bukauskas, first baseman Seth Beer and infielder Joshua Rojas.

The Athletic’s Zach Buchanan (subscription required), ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan, and the Houston Chronicle’s Chandler Rome all provided some of the details that led up to the trade, including the fact that Astros GM Jeff Luhnow didn’t get in touch with the D’Backs about Greinke until the day before the deadline.  Arizona GM Mike Hazen and his front office wanted four prospects for Greinke and didn’t move from those demands, despite some counters from the Astros.  Talks didn’t pick up again until around 35 minutes before the deadline.

“At the end of the day, that was the deal they insisted on, and that was the only deal that was going to get done, and we conceded at the last moment,” Luhnow said in a conference call with Rome and other media members.

It could be that the Astros were willing to bend on the Diamondbacks’ ask since Arizona may have been one of the few teams that didn’t try to pry away Kyle Tucker or Forrest Whitley, Houston’s top two prospects.  Luhnow told rival clubs that Tucker and Whitley were “off limits” — the Tigers and Mets are two of the teams known to have asked about Tucker, in discussions around Matt Boyd and Noah Syndergaard.

Also, as Passan writes, “it dawned on the Astros: No one else was doing anything” on deadline day.  The biggest moves for starting pitching were driven by teams that weren’t really contenders in 2019, namely the Reds’ acquisition of Trevor Bauer and the Mets’ acquisition of Marcus Stroman.  With teams like the Yankees, Red Sox, and Dodgers having quiet deadlines and other top teams like the Nationals, Twins, and Braves focusing on bullpen moves, Houston felt a Greinke trade would make an even bigger splash than usual due to the relative lack of activity from other World Series challengers.

Speaking of the Mets’ Stroman deal, that surprise trade served as something of a catalyst for the Greinke trade, Passan notes.  The Astros had interest in Stroman themselves, and once the right-hander went elsewhere, it broadened Houston’s search into other potentially available arms, including Greinke.

From the Diamondbacks’ perspective, a Greinke deal wasn’t a priority for Hazen, despite constant speculation over the last several years that Greinke’s large contract was simply too much of a burden on the Snakes’ payroll.  When the Astros were agreeable to Arizona’s asking price, however, Hazen got the go-ahead from D’Backs owner Ken Kendrick and team president/CEO Derrick Hall.

“This was how the deal came together,” Hazen said.  “I think we anticipated, as we’ve gone through the last few weeks, if we were going to get any sizable amount of talent in return that there was going to have to be some compromise financially. That talent return was extremely important to us. We would never have considered trading Zack Greinke without talent (coming back). That would have been a nonstarter.”

With the Greinke trade coming down to the final few minutes before the deadline, the D’Backs were simultaneously in a scramble to replace him in the rotation with another veteran arm in Mike Leake.  Seattle general manager Jerry Dipoto told reporters (including MLB.com’s Greg Johns) yesterday that the Leake trade was finalized with only 68 seconds remaining before the 3pm deadline.

“Human beings are notoriously bad when deadlines are imposed….For some reason, we don’t ever get to work until there are 20 minutes to go. This was a big one to be tackling with 20 minutes to go,” Hazen joked about the two trades.

Notable Pre-Arb Salaries: Bregman, Flaherty, Hicks, Ohtani

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The Rays decided over the weekend to renew the contract of reigning American League Cy Young winner Blake Snell for just $573,700, highlighting the less-than-satisfying manner in which pre-arbitration players’ salaries are determined. As we noted in that post, other similarly accomplished players have been paid quite a bit more by their respective teams. The collectively bargained system leaves full discretion with clubs to set salaries for those players that are not yet eligible for arbitration, subject only to a floor (currently $555K). A few players have landed in the $1MM range, though that is the exception rather than the rule. Approaches vary widely from team to team. Whatever one thinks about the fairness of that minimum salary level, it’s rather a bizarre system.

Here are some other notable recent pre-arb salary outcomes:

  • The Astros renewed star third bagger Alex Bregman for $640,500, per MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart. That’s a bargain rate for one of the game’s best young position players, who says he’s “disappointed” in how things turned out. Bregman explained: “I feel like good business would be wanting to make a player who performed at a high level on your team happy and want to feel like he wanted to be kept and feel like they wanted him to play here forever. I’m just disappointed it doesn’t seem like the same amount of want.” GM Jeff Luhnow defended the decision in part by pointing to the fact that it’s “one of the top ten” pre-arb salaries ever awarded. “I know it’s not satisfying because he’s a great player and no player is ever satisfied the year before they reach arbitration with the amount the club gives them,” said Luhnow. “That’s just the nature of our industry right now.”
  • Over in Cardinals camp, there are a few other players who are surely less than thrilled with how things turned out. Righties Jack Flaherty and Jordan Hicks were each renewed, as Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. The former was renewed at $562,100 — $10K less than the team offered him, reflecting a $10K reduction for his decision not to sign on the dotted line. Flaherty decline to criticize the team, saying that “their process is great and it makes sense,” but says “the system as a whole is not great.”
  • Meanwhile, the Angels managed to reach agreement with AL Rookie of the Year recipient Shohei Ohtani, Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times tweets. Ohtani has over than a year less service time than Bregman but will out-earn him at $650K. The ROY hardware certainly didn’t hurt and Ohtani is unquestionably a unique case — and not just because of his two-way contributions. The Halos originally landed Ohtani — Japan’s biggest star and the most fascinating international player ever to cross the Pacific — for a bonus of just over $2.3MM since he chose to come over while still subject to collectively bargained international signing caps. Ohtani’s will be a pre-arb earner one more time in 2020 before qualifying for arbitration.

AL Notes: Astros, Luhnow, Kikuchi, Orioles, Machado

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Astros GM Jeff Luhnow spoke to Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter links) and other reporters about today’s five-player trade with the Mets, noting that New York “was aggressive” in asking about J.D. Davis.  The Astros weren’t originally thinking of moving Davis, but Luhnow explained that “there was enough of a market for him that we decided to go ahead and explore it because there’s no obvious spot for him on our 25-man roster next year, at this point.”  The Mets’ inclusion of catching prospect Scott Manea as part of the return going back to Houston “was a big part of it for us,” Luhnow said, due to the Astros’ lack of catching depth.  In terms of future moves, Luhnow also said that the Astros are still considering the starting pitching and bullpen markets.

Here’s more from around the AL…

  • Speaking to media (including the Kyodo News) in his return to Japan, Yusei Kikuchi mentioned that the Mariners were the first team to make him a contract offer.  It isn’t clear if other teams also made offers after the fact and Seattle eventually altered its offer to win the bidding, or if perhaps the M’s were the only club to issue a concrete offer to the left-hander.  The latter scenario seems rather unlikely, given that multiple teams reportedly had interest in Kikuchi during his posting period.  Then again, given how impressed Kikuchi and agent Scott Boras were with the Mariners’ detailed plans for managing Kikuchi’s workload and arm health in his transition to Major League Baseball, it isn’t entirely out of the question that Kikuchi decided to jump on the offer, especially considering the money involved (at least $56MM, and worth as much as $106MM) in the deal’s unique salary structure.
  • The Orioles have offered their bullpen coach job to minor league pitching coordinator John Wasdin, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com reports.  Wasdin has been in his current role in the organization for the last two seasons, after spending the previous six years as a minor league pitching coach in the Athletics’ farm system.  Wasdin briefly pitched for the O’s in 2001 as part of his 12-year career in the majors.  It isn’t yet known if Wasdin will accept the offer, though regardless, Kubatko writes that the Orioles will head into 2019 with an entirely new coaching staff under new manager Brandon Hyde.
  • The latest round of Manny Machado speculation had the free agent infielder reportedly visiting Chicago today, attending the Eagles/Bears NFL playoff game as a guest of White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf.  As per Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times, however, this rumor wasn’t accurate.  In terms of free agency, Machado is already seeing a Chicago vs. Philadelphia (vs. New York) battle play out, as the White Sox, Phillies, and Yankees are the three teams most directly connected to his pursuit, and it’s possible these three clubs could be the finalists for Machado’s services.

AL Notes: Royals, Astros, Bauer

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In light of yesterday’s Yan Gomes trade, those teams still in need of a backstop for 2019 will be surveying the market with renewed urgency. One guy not likely to be on the move is Salvador Perez. The story has not changed for Salvy and the Royals, whose price for Perez is “so exorbitant no team would meet it,” per the Athletic’s Rustin Dodd (subscription link). While teams around the league would certainly check in on Perez were he to become available, it is unlikely anyone values him as highly as the Royals. The 28-year-old catcher is owed $36MM through 2021 and hasn’t had an OBP over .300 since 2013. His power output has remained consistent, however, and his merits extend behind the field of play, as he is a key presence both for players and for fans, as a leader in the clubhouse and as the one of the last core position players from back-to-back American League pennants. More from the Royals and the rest of the American League…

  • As for other Royals targets, Whit Merrifield is a slightly more achievable trade target, but given his four years of team control, the Royals are unlikely to part with their second baseman either. Lefty Danny Duffy can likely be had, but given his down year (4.88 ERA, 4.1 BB/9) and the over $45MM still on his deal, the Royals are better off keeping him and letting him restore some value in 2019. A quiet offseason looms for the Royals and GM Dayton Moore, who has said previously he expects Kansas City will be better-positioned to be aggressive in the market by 2021.
  • The Astros tendered contracts to ten players before yesterday’s deadline, most of whom were fairly safe bets to return to Houston. Outfielder Jake Marisnick was one on-the-bubble candidate, but he returns for a third season of arbitration eligibility in Houston. Marisnick has struggled at the dish, carrying a career .226/.278/.374 line into 2019, but he is an elite defensive center fielder, a valuable asset for the Astros, who never seem wholly comfortable leaving George Springer full-time in center. Marisnick does have one option remaining*, so Houston can send him down to Triple A without exposing him to waivers. The Athletic’s Jake Kaplan (subscription link) also notes that fellow benchmates Tyler White and Tony Kemp are without options, limiting flexibility for GM Jeff Luhnow. None of the three would net much of a return on the trade market on their own, though all three are cheap and useful enough to be included as a complimentary piece to a larger deal. The Astros do have options in the minor leagues should they deal Marisnick, most notably Myles Straw, who could replace Marisnick as the speed and defense option in center off the bench.
  • Both Kaplan and Fancred’s Jon Heyman suggest the Astros are looking for a primary catching option to top the depth chart ahead of Max Stassi. The Marlins J.T. Realmuto is the dream get, but Houston has thus-far refused to surrender star pitching prospect Forrest Whitley. Heyman notes that they may be willing to part with outfielder Kyle Tucker, a likely must-have for Miami in any package for Realmuto.
  • Heyman also notes that in Cleveland, though most of the trade noise has focused on Corey Kluber and Carlos Carrasco, Trevor Bauer is actually the most likely of the three to be shipped out. This makes sense with the recent rumblings of extension talks with Carrasco, though there’s nothing close as of yet regarding Bauer. The Indians would love to keep him, but of the three, Bauer’s arbitration eligibility makes him more fiscally volatile than either of Carrasco or Kluber, who are under multi-year contracts. The perfect trade package for the Indians would probably include controllable pieces to augment what they already have in either the outfield or the bullpen, two areas in need of securing this offseason.

*Original post incorrectly listed Marisnick as having no options remaining (in referencing the Kaplan piece), but he does in fact have one option year left.

AL Notes: Eovaldi, Gaston, Castellanos, Astros

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As he prepares for the World Series, Red Sox right-hander Nathan Eovaldi says he has yet to have any talks with the club regarding a deal that would keep him off of the open market, John Tomase of WEEI.com reports. The hurler says he’d “love to be back,” though unsurprisingly it looks as if he’ll test the open market first. It’s certainly possible to imagine a fit with Boston, though the same could be said of quite a few other organizations as well.

Here’s more from the American League:

  • There’s some belief that the Rays will land Cuban righty Sandy Gaston, according to MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro (Twitter links). Two other top players, the Mesa brothers, landed with the Marlins today. The Orioles had been seen as a chief competitor for these and other top young players who are eligible to sign rather than entering the draft. To date, though, the club has largely kept its war chest intact. Frisaro says it’s believed that it would cost Tampa Bay around $2MM to secure the amateur.
  • The lack of a suitable defensive position has long been the primary concern with Tigers slugger Nicholas Castellanos. As Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press writes, GM Al Avila says the current plan remains to keep Castellanos in right field, where he has “made some strides.” As Fenech writes, though, there are some good practical reasons to consider utilizing Castellanos at first base, where he’d be less of a concern defensively and wouldn’t clog up a spot in the outfield for other other players the club would like to get a look at. Of course, the first base position is spoken for, at least for part of the time, by Miguel Cabrera.
  • Despite a disappointing end to the 2018 season, the Astros enter the winter with a great deal of confidence in their existing roster, as Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle reports. Unsurprisingly, though, GM Jeff Luhnow identified starting pitching and catching as two areas that will need to be addressed. In other Astros news, the organization is expected to retain all of skipper A.J. Hinch’s coaches, Luhnow tells Rome (via Twitter). All are already under contract, per the GM. Of course, bench coach Joe Espada has received strong interest from other organizations as a managerial candidate, so it’s still possible the club will need to make a new hire.

Astros Place Charlie Morton On 10-Day DL, Activate Chris Devenski

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The Astros announced today that righty Charlie Morton will be placed on the 10-day disabled list, as Jake Kaplan of The Athletic was among those to report (Twitter links). He’ll be replaced on the active roster by reliever Chris Devenski, who was activated from his own DL stint.

Morton is dealing with “right shoulder discomfort,” per the team’s account. That description is somewhat ominous on its own, but evidently shouldn’t be interpreted in such a manner. Fortunately, per Houston GM Jeff Luhnow, the expectation is that Morton will only miss a single start.

It certainly doesn’t see as if the AL West-leading ’Stros feel as though this injury is cause for particular concern. While the organization still needs to hold off a pesky A’s club that’s dealing with its own, perhaps more serious pitching health troubles, the focus will surely remain on getting Morton to full health for the postseason.

The Astros have already dipped into their farm to fill in for Lance McCullers Jr., who is himself on the DL, installing Framber Valdez into the rotation. With several relievers on hand who can give innings, it may not be necessary to call another starter up to account for Morton’s absence. If the organization does look at adding another arm at some point, though, it can call upon 40-man members such as Brady Rodgers, Cionel Perez, and Reymin Guduan.

All told, there’s really no reason to anticipate that the Astros will feel particularly compelled to add another arm via trade. Indeed, Luhnow said yesterday that “there’s no clear missing piece” on the roster, as Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle reported. McCullers is expected to return as a reliever rather than building out to a full starter’s workload, but the ’Stros still have three excellent postseason starters (in addition to Morton) and can also ask for multiple innings from pitchers such as former starters Collin McHugh and Brad Peacock. Luhnow didn’t shut the door to an acquisition entirely, but there’s little reason to think that any dealmaking will be driven much by Morton’s current health situation.

AL West Notes: Athletics, Ohtani, Luhnow, Rangers Infield

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Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle takes an interesting look at the future of the Athletics’ baseball operations and field leadership. She cites “increasing speculation in baseball circles and among those who know the A’s higher-ups” that the existing combination of VP of baseball ops Billy Beane, GM David Forst, and manager Bob Melvin may not be maintained past the 2019 campaign. The club is not obligated contractually beyond next season to Beane or Melvin, with the notable exception of Beane’s small stake in the team itself — a potential future wrinkle to keep in mind. Forst’s contract status is not publicly known. As Slusser explains, there’s a general sense that change is afoot in Oakland, though the direction (let alone the outcome) is not yet clear. It’s a worthwhile examination of the A’s organization that you’ll want to read for yourself to appreciate fully.

Here’s more from the AL West:

  • The Angels continue to emphasize that the next steps for injured superstar Shohei Ohtani will not be decided until his sprained elbow ligament has a chance to respond to recent treatment. That said, manager Mike Scioscia says there’s significant internal optimism that the news will be good, as Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times reports (Twitter links). For the time being, Ohtani is limited to taking some swings with his left arm. It’ll still be two or three weeks until more is known.
  • Astros owner Jim Crane and newly-promoted president of baseball operations Jeff Luhnow discussed their plans for the future after announcing a new contract for Luhnow yesterday, as MLB.com’s Christian Boutwell writes. Crane says that Luhnow deserves “a lot of the credit” for the club’s World Series win last year and promising future outlook. It’s the possibility of a sustainable run of success, meanwhile, that has Luhnow excited. “[T]his next phase of keeping this organization at its high level for an extended period of time, that’s what drives me, that challenge,” he said. Despite his new title, Luhnow will continue to function as the general manager and will hang onto that label as well, though he says he’ll be willing to hand it off to someone else if that proves necessary. Luhnow also suggested that there’s a strong commitment to skipper A.J. Hinch, whose contract expires after the current season but seems likely to be extended at some point.
  • The Rangers have a crowded infield mix now with Elvis Andrus re-joining the active roster. As Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News explains, the organization hopes to keep all of its primary options on the field quite often, allowing Jurickson Profar to continue receiving ample opportunities while also letting Rougned Odor work through his struggles at the plate. Skipper Jeff Banister says this will be accomplished by utilizing third baseman Adrian Beltre as a DH with some frequency and allowing Andrus some extra rest. Utilityman Isiah Kiner-Falefa, meanwhile, is going to attempt to add to his versatility by suiting up behind the dish, as Grant tweets. It’ll be interesting to see how this situation plays out for the struggling Rangers, who could weigh trades involving several of these players. In particular, Beltre (who’ll be a free agent at season’s end) and Andrus (who can opt out of his contract) seem to be plausible candidates.

Astros Extend Jeff Luhnow Through 2023

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The Astros announced on Monday that they’ve promoted Jeff Luhnow from general manager to president of baseball operations and signed him to a five-year contract extension that runs through the 2023 season.

Jeff Luhnow | Bob Levey/Getty Images

The exact length of Luhnow’s prior contract with the Astros was unclear, though owner Jim Crane plainly stated at today’s press conference that Luhnow is now under contract through the 2023 season. Financial details, of course, were not disclosed, although recent extensions signed by some of the game’s more highly regarded executives reportedly came with annual salaries ranging from a bit north of $5MM (Yankees GM Brian Cashman) to nearly $10MM (Cubs president of baseball ops Theo Epstein).

Luhnow was a polarizing figure early in his tenure with the Astros, as many raised an eyebrow and criticized from afar as he emphasized the usage of data, analytics and sabermetrics perhaps more than any executive in the game’s history. The Astros received flak not only for their heavy reliance on statistical data (often at the expense of traditional scouting) but also their aggressive utilization of defensive shifts and other, more experimental player development tactics such as tandem/piggyback starters in the minor leagues.

In the end, it’s hard to question much that the Astros have done during Luhnow’s tenure, though. The Astros are the reigning World Series Champions and have recently snapped off 11 consecutive wins to propel themselves to first place in the American League West. Their .658 winning percentage on the season trails only the Yankees and Red Sox, but the Astros will have ample opportunity to change that; they’ll play their next 19 games against teams with losing records.

Luhnow’s tenure with the Astros began with some aggressive tanking that saw the team earn the No. 1 selection in three consecutive drafts, though if there’s a notable blemish on his track record, it’s probably that two of those three instances paid little dividends. The Astros couldn’t have done any better in the 2012 draft when they surprised onlookers by selecting high school shortstop Carlos Correa over Stanford ace Mark Appel with the No. 1 pick. But Houston took Appel with the No. 1 overall pick a year later after he didn’t sign, and the team’s selection of Brady Aiken a year later led to a controversial scenario in which neither Aiken nor over-slot fifth-rounder Jacob Nix signed with the organization.

Of course, the failure to sign Aiken afforded the Astros with the No. 2 pick a year later, which the team used to draft current third baseman Alex Bregman. Bregman was added to a core of homegrown players that also featured Correa, George Springer, Jose Altuve, Lance McCullers and Dallas Keuchel. Luhnow and his lieutenants have also have plenty of successes both on the trade market (e.g. Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole, Brad Peacock). They’ve prioritized now-popular but once-obscure elements like spin rate when adding names like Collin McHugh (via waivers) and Charlie Morton (free agency), and they struck gold with another waiver claim in Will Harris.

Exactly how long Houston will retain this core group remains uncertain, of course. Altuve recently signed a massive five-year extension, but key players like Springer and Correa have yet to sign extensions. That pair is nonetheless controllable through the 2021 season, though the rotation figures to take a very different look in the coming years, as Keuchel (this winter), Morton (this winter), Cole (post-2019) and Verlander (post-2019) are all approaching free agency.

That said, there’s clearly little doubt among ownership that Luhnow and his staff are capable of absorbing whatever losses they’ll inevitably incur and replacing that group with a promising wave of new young talent and free-agent/trade acquisitions. One of the most impressive things about this regime, after all, is that for all of the success they’ve had in recent seasons, the Astros still have a strong farm system. Right-hander Forrest Whitley and outfielder Kyle Tucker lead the way, and both are considered to be among the game’s top 20 prospects. With several impressive prospects rising through the ranks, plenty of financial firepower at their disposal and an enviable core of controllable assets at the MLB level, Luhnow’s Astros have dynasty potential despite the increasingly competitive nature of the American League West.

Tigers Notes: Managers, Avila, Ausmus, Verlander, Astros

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The latest from the Motor City…

  • The Tigers are planning “an extensive search” for their next manager, GM Al Avila told MLB.com’s Jason Beck and other reporters.  Avila didn’t specify whether he was looking for a veteran skipper or a younger alternative to lead the Tigers through the “trying, grinding process” of a rebuild, though Avila did say that the new manager had to have some type of dugout experience, whether as a manager in the majors or minors, or as a Major League coach.  Previous manager Brad Ausmus, of course, lacked this experience, coming into the job after his playing career and a stint in the Padres’ baseball operations department.
  • From that same piece, Beck lists nine names he feels could be potential candidates to be Detroit’s next manager.  Beck’s options range from internal choices (hitting coach Lloyd McClendon and first base coach Omar Vizquel) to several other names with ties to Avila and/or the Tigers, including Fredi Gonzalez, Phil Nevin and Mike Redmond.
  • Ausmus’ lack of experience proved to be his undoing, Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press opines, especially after the Tigers lost a key on-field leader in Torii Hunter after the 2014 season.  Ausmus was popular with his players but generally seemed like more of a teammate than a manager, creating a “country club” atmosphere within the clubhouse.  There were rumors that the Tigers were parting ways with Ausmus after both the 2015 and 2016 seasons, and Fenech believes that Avila should’ve made a managerial change then instead of giving Ausmus more chances.  Fenech also notes, in partial defense of Ausmus, that he faced a particularly large challenge for a first-time manager in taking over a team expected to be World Series contenders.
  • The trade that sent Justin Verlander to the Astros was finalized literally just two seconds before the August 31 deadline, Sports Illustrated’s Ben Reiter reports in a behind-the-scenes look at how the blockbuster deal came together.  Unable to return to his Houston home due to Hurricane Harvey, Astros GM Jeff Luhnow ended up making the final negotiations on August 31 while trying to find a cellphone signal at his in-laws’ dining table (during a dinner party, to boot).

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