Luhnow Interview on Sign Stealing Scandal

I am telling you to give credit where it's due.

How the hell does Luhnow get credit for signings in 2021?

I suppose he gets credit for the Yordan extension too.

 

On the premise that it may be easier to re-sign or extend somebody once they’re already here and familiar with the team.

 

You are stretching the facts pretty hard to assign credit to Click for accomplishments that are not rightfully his. In my opinion he is better served by an honest accounting.

 

Do you mean going with guys like Hensley, Meyers, Chaz?

Guys like Snake would've done this for sure.

 

Sorry but Click doesn’t get credit for Verlander, Gurriel, Maldonado, McCullers, Pressly or Brantley.

Likewise, Luhnow doesn’t get credit for Altuve because he extended him.

This Astros team is still overwhelmingly a result of Luhnow and his group.

The entire starting 8 are from Luhnow. Actually the entire rotation is from the Luhnow era as well.

Click gets credit for a lot of the pen minus Abreu and Pressly… and he has built an excellent pen.

The main thing Click did was have confidence in the guys Luhnow’s group drafted and signed. It sounds like a slight but it isn’t. A lot of GM’s wouldn’t have counted on Urquidy, Javier, Framber and Brown to develop. That decision coupled with The drafts and signings of Luhnow gave the Astros the best overall pitching staff in all of baseball this year and one of the best in many decades.

 

He did bring in Brantley in FA.

 

Click rebuilt the bullpen and brought in Vazquez, Mancini/ Dubon.

re-signing Luhnow's guys and and bringing up guys Luhnow found from the minors isn't doing the heavy lifting. But hey, Click has a good relationship with the press and is much nicer than Luhnow and that's what seems to matter most in today's world.

 

This is the greatest thing Click has done. While it isn’t as impressive as what Luhnow did- it’s still impressive because most GM’s would have panicked the COVID year and dealt players like Valdez for established pitching or dealt Luhnow players out of ego.

 

Now I see the problem, you're a Tesla guy. It's more like you saved gas by buying a Tesla but your light bill went up 1,000 bucks a month charging it so you could use it to get to work and you were late getting to work because you didn't realize it takes 5-6 hrs to charge the Tesla. Buy the way where did the energy come from to charge the Tesla? The energy to charge the car came from Luhnow in this case.

If they win a WS or 2 Click will get credit and he should because he built a dominant bullpen. But make no mistake Luhnow built this team and minor league system. There's a reason why Crane most likely will let Click go (Rumors out there) if the Stros dont win a WS. Crane like Luhnow is a shark and Click doesn't appear at least to me to have this in his blood. He's a very nice guy though.

 

Yep, Luhnow built the culture of this team to where guys want to re-sign or sign here in FA. They're a tight knit group that is all about winning and nothing else. That attitude came from the top Crane/Luhnow down. Kudos

 

I know when I'm beat.

Every one of those players ( except maybe Verlander who dealt directly with Crane) are currently Astros because Click signed them to a contract or brought them up from the minors. Click decided they should be on this team, not Luhnow. Luhnow decided they should be Astros in 2018, 2019, 2020, or 2021 but not 2022.

Clearly my opinion is in the minority and I can deal with that. We don't have to agree.

At least we can all agree that this team is fun to watch and we are all excited hoping to see another World Series winner.

FTR: I drive a 2016 Chevy Cruze ( not a Tesla) and I took the "E" off the back so it says "Cruz"

 

I have a slightly different take on Luhnow's approach to the international market. Lots of players are available but only a few get the hype that generates high dollar signings. Most teams compete for those few and expend the bulk of their available money on the top 30 or so highly touted players. The success rate for the top players is similar to a high draft pick but falls off dramatically after the top 3-5 players. Those players are recruited hard and will often choose based on the recruiting. The dollars will be there from whatever teams they are amenable to signing with. It was a game that had a few winners and lots of losers and Luhnow eventually chose not to play. He hired the best scouting team he could and he trusted his scouts. He regularly ignored those highly touted prospects and instead chose to spread his investment over several players that where not part of that hype. They where inexpensive to sign. They where often older or shorter or thinner but they all had the Astros scouting them, sometimes exclusively or nearly so. While other teams signings sunk or swam based on one or two players the Astros had several. One or two successes out of their larger pool of international prospects might happen once or twice out of each group but there where also minor successes.Some became bullpen or bench players and overall the team got several useful players with their strategy. Over time they got better at identifying potential among the type of players they liked to sign and the result is obvious in our starting rotation. It became obvious that our strategy was abandoned the year we signed Pedro Leon. Our bonus allotment was expended on one player with about a 55% chance of making the team. Hopefully Crane learned from that and is reinstalling the scouting group in order to put his team back on track.

 

That's why I mentioned below the fold players in FA. (2 year/$16M per year - later extended another two years at the same AAV) Brantley turned out bigger than his splash.

Below the fold is still Front page, but just not a TOP STORY reserved for "above the fold" FA pick ups. But I do realize old newspaper references don't mean as much anymore in a digital world.

 

We really do see it close to the same.

 

Click gets credit for signing pending FAs or extensions on the same basis as new FA acquisitions. He does not get credit for players under contracts agreed to under Luhnow.

 

Is it just me or is Lunhow angling himself for a return? Just now on twitter he agreed to an interview on Astros UK podcast, adding that his brother lives in the UK and his nephews are still big Astros fans... hmmm

 

His twitter presence on the Astros has certainly gone from zero to 60 in a quick period of time.

I hope he throws Manfred and the rest of the Yankees d sucking enclave right under a bus and backs over them repeatedly.
I want him to go scorched earth on every d bag that has bought into the narrative that the Stros are Lepers' and the Yankees are somehow innocent in all of this.

I live in New York, not in the city but upstate, but every time I'm at the store or movie, or any place I might wear a Astros hat or jersey i hear Cheaters yelled or mumbled in my direction. It wont change any narrative because most of the Yankees fans are a couple of IQ points above a sea sponge,
BUT I WILL HAVE MY VENGANCE!!!

I'm not sorry that the Yankees fans like Cowboys fans have to harken memories back to the days when money bought pennants, and the championships came against inferior teams as a result. They are like the kid who peaked in high school and now works as a drone for the state sitting at the same barstool at 4pm when work ends at 5pm. Fans here were running down Seattle as a town the other day. Go spend a week in the Bronx's you will beg to go to the emerald city. I bet a pack of smokes does not cost $17 in Seattle.

Sorry for the rant. I'm usually the most laid back guy you will meet, but it's Been a long time coming.