Other than what I have already said about the changes he's made? He's always been a high ceiling prospect. And he's still pretty young. Plenty of pitchers don't find their way until his age or later. I'm not all that passionate about Folty. But I do think he has a good chance to be a good big league SP.
I don't think anyone is denying that he can be a good ML pitcher. I just don't see any evidence that he has turned a corner.
man, for all the crap we give Luhnow for a trade or 2.. we all were hoping for a good FA signing last year. Got Rasmus/Fister/Giles on short-term or cheap deals. And there's SO much failure out there right now. Really glad we aren't stuck with Heyward, Upton, Kazmir, Alex Gordon, and even Price and Greinke to a degree...jesus that list is long. There are absolutely guys that could've been good signings too, but if it was this much of a crapshoot, I'm happy with what we got and the relative risk.
Jeff Luhnow has done very well considering the financial constraints he has been under. He has essentially been told to rebuild the minor league system, win now, aquire players to win now and use his minor league system to do it; without sacrificing long term competitiveness.
This is a good point. I was pretty disappointed that Rasmus and Fister were the big signings this offseason, but so far avoiding the $100M players seems to have been a smart move. That said, I do think at some point it this FO will have to splurge to get over the hump, even if it's just to keep their own players.
When you consider only 5% of top picks make the HOF, he do good. Overall, I see it much like the Rockets. He done great. They took nothing and made into half of something. The Astros have a few gold nuggets around which now it's his job to finish the roster through trades and push them over the top. If you have youth, you add veterans. If you have a solid veteran like Harden, you add youth.
Astro County is doing a multi part series on grading Luhnow ... trades, FA signings, and drafts. They are now up through July 30, 2015. Jeff Luhnow: A Retrospective (Part 1) Jeff Luhnow: A Retrospective (Part 2) Jeff Luhnow: A Retrospective (Part 3) Jeff Luhnow: A Retrospective (Part 4)
