Remembering the time the real Houston Astros threw out fantasy league type trade proposals to other general managers. The Stanton trade proposal won out.
There was a time when the Houston Astros were conducting business so laughable you didn’t think it could be true. And I’m not talking about the trashcan banging scandal. Six years ago their computer system was hacked and a plethora of trade negotiations was brought to the forefront. One of which was the Giancarlo Stanton trade proposal.
A disgruntled former colleague of Jeff Luhnow’s exposed the many secrets of the Astros general manager and was found guilty of corporate espionage. The Astros should have been found guilty of trade malfeasance for the offers they were throwing out.
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There is a guy in my fantasy league who will offer a trade of some bum and then when no offers are accepted, said bum will get released. Jeff Luhnow is this guy on the major league level.
Luhnow worked in the scouting department for the St. Louis Cardinals before being promoted to general manager of the Astros. He had eight-plus years of scouting experience, surely he knew how to gauge a player’s trajectory.
Maybe his negotiating skills were just in need of some fine-tuning. I guess you have to shoot for the moon in the initial offer, but if the proposal is so far fetched you run the risk of souring the trade partner.
Luhnow soured a few trade partners.
Here are three of the most comical trade ideas which came out of those leaked emails.