Among AL West GMs, Houston Astros Jeff Luhnow rules
By Bill Felber
Jeff Luhnow, Houston Astros
Luhnow had the general manager’s dream scenario during 2019: He took a very good nucleus, and made it measurably better.
Begin with a pair of free agent signings. Virtually alone among general managers, Luhnow saw the latent value in Michael Brantley, an often-injured 32-year-old veteran who enjoyed a bounce-back 2018 with Cleveland. It cost him $32 million over two seasons, but Luhnow got a steady left fielder who batted .311 with 22 home runs, 90 RBIs and a 2.4 WAA. Totally worth it.
In need of a catcher, Luhnow found Robinson Chirinos, a mid-30s refugee from the Rangers who had batted just .222 there in 2018. Chirinos’ comparables with Houston weren’t a lot better, but he still brought a 2.3 WAA, making the $5.75 million it cost to get him a relative steal.
His 14-player rookie class was largely undistinguished, the obvious exception being outfielder Yordan Alvarez. Debuting in June, Alvarez furnished 27 home runs, 78 RBIs and a2.5 WAA that made him a likely Rookie Of the Year winner.
Since Luhnow was dealing from strength (Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole), it’s perhaps understandable that he would look askance at the idea of keeping Charlie Morton or Dallas Keuchel or both. Nonetheless, the record marks their losses to the free agent market as the biggest blots on Luhnow’s record.
To partially offset the impact of their departures, he was forced into the trade market in July, acquiring Zack Greinke from Arizona for four prospects who may or may not ever amount to anything.
Short-term acquisitions: +0.7
Short-term trade losses: +3.2
Short-term free agent signings: +5.8
Short-term free agent losses: -3.5
Short-term rookie production: +0.5
Short-term total: +6.7