by M.A. Haines
Photos Courtesy of Houston Astros
When the Houston Astros raised the World Series trophy in 2017, it was the first baseball title by any Texas team (One more thing we can hang over our northern neighbors from the Big D). There may be plenty of credit to go around, but none more deserving than the entrepreneur turned baseball’s preeminent general manager, Jeff Luhnow. To say that he is an analytics guy is an understatement; he is reinventing the term. Jeff Luhnow is now a pioneer among baseball operatives. Not only have they done it through trades and the draft, Luhnow and the Astros have navigated the waters of free agency, international signings and the complicated Rule V draft to bring Houston possibly the first of many titles. Our sister publication, Intown, caught up with the undaunted General Manager as spring training was getting underway.
Repeating as World Champs in baseball is no easy undertaking. As defending champs, what expectations do you have for 2018?
Nobody has repeated since the Yankees almost twenty years ago, and since that time, almost every team has made the playoffs… so it is very hard to do. The Phillies, Rangers and Royals all made it back to the World Series in consecutive years since the Yankees won three in a row, but nobody has repeated. When a team wins, they face obstacles that perhaps are more challenging than the year they won. Every team gears up to play last year’s champion. Schedules become tougher with more televised night games and tough travel routes. We know we have our work cut out for us to repeat, but the good news is that we are the only team that can do it right now, and we are focused and doing our best to minimize the distractions.
You acquired a front of the rotation starter for the upcoming season and gave up a lot. What about that trade and any other new players we might see on this year’s roster?
As our owner Jim Crane likes to say… it’s all about the pitching. We acquired Gerrit Cole to make a very good rotation even better. We gave up some very good young players, but that is the cost of getting a top of the rotation starter for two years, and we hope it pays off for us. We also signed Joe Smith and Hector Rondon to add to an already strong bullpen. Our focus this off-season was to continue to build the best pitching staff we could to compliment the best offense in the league last year, (and) that is mostly returning this year. The strategy is to score runs, lots of them, and prevent runs with good defense and pitching. Easier said than done, but we have the players to do it.
Who are some of the young players you will be looking at in camp, and do they have a chance to make the big league roster?
Derek Fisher has a chance to be a regular or a role player this year and he is a top talent; he runs well, can play defense well, and he can hit, and hit for power. Francis Martes can be a force out of the bullpen or rotation, depending upon the opportunity. Rogelio Armenteros could be a factor this summer after a terrific year last year. Max Stassi could be a regular player for us behind the dish. Those are just a few as our system is still deep.
In what particular areas are the Astros looking to improve?
Our moves suggest we want to improve our pitching staff and take it to an elite level. I think we can do that. Overall, we need to stay
focused and overcome the challenges that we know are ahead. It will take mental toughness and discipline. This team won 112 games last year, so it’s hard to improve too much from there!
Was there one thing that happened last year that you believe turned the tables from the Astros contending, to winning it all?
Bringing in Justin Verlander for September, and the post season was big for us. August was our toughest month, but by September, our players were healthy and we had added Justin. That helped us win it all.
Charlie Morton and Mike Fiers were a few players last season who really filled a void. Do you see some up and comers on the current roster or in the minors that may make a big jump and possibly contribute to a new World Series title?
Morton and Fiers were critical to the summer and fall. We will have some heroes step up this year, and I don’t know who it will be, but it’s fun to think about that question. I think any of the young players we talked about, (Fisher, Martes, Armenteros, and Stassi), could play a crucial role. Many others could too.