[Yahoo Sports] Astros GM Jeff Luhnow wants to set baseball back 50 years

I see the media is back to exploiting negative press about the Astros no matter what...

 

I agree with him. wish there was a salary cap too.

 

please don't give this garbage any more clicks

 

The national media will bash Luhnow wherever possible. This should be a non-story, and it's a poorly written article to top it off. The "story" contains only 2-3 quotes from Luhnow (which are rational takes, as discussed below), and the other 95% of the article is Yahoo! opining on why they think Luhnow sucks.

Luhnow never explicitly said he wants to set the MLB back 50 years. For what it's worth, I think Luhnow has a colorful claim. The CBA provides an inherent no-trade clause for qualified players. Luhnow just doesn't want teams to add an additional no-trade clause for non-qualified players. Such a sentiment is not that ridiculous. It's like asking retailers not to add an additional warranty when the manufacturer already has one in place. The game provides security for players. Luhnow just wishes teams wouldn't extend beyond that. The CBA's no-trade clause prevents MLB from being set back, as the story insinuates is Luhnow's goal. Regardless, the freedom to contract (and the market itself) will override Luhnow's stance, but that doesn't make it an irrational one, nor one that will set the game back 50 years.

 

I sure wish teams didn't give out no-trade clauses as well, but Luhnow's statement isn't anything more than that - a statement. He is not actively pursuing a rule change. Perhaps the author should go back to reviewing baseball romance novels.

http://www.thegoodphight.com/2014/1/26/5348836/congrats-to-new-author-liz-roscher

 

I think it's hilarious that many casual and non-sports fans find it asinine that JJ Watt makes 100MM (non-guaranteed), yet have no clue who Kyle Seager is, or that he makes 100MM (guaranteed). Baseball has stupid money, Personally, I'd rather see the NFL and NBA release their caps than the MLB add one, because it lets a player earn his true value. God knows JJ is worth more than 100MM non-guaranteed contracts. If there were a true open market, his contract would be jaw-dropping. Same with Lebron. I just think the cap prevents NFL and NBA players from earning their true market value.

 

Houstons not a small market team. They should be able to compete with anybody. No excuses

 

Wha a garbage article. So since lunhow expressed frustration that the Astros were on the wrong end of no trade clauses in back to back years that means he's implicitly vouching for less players rights as a whole? Never did he say he was actively working on removing those restrictions and he sure as hell never said he thinks players deserve to be treated as property.

This "journalist" was about 2 steps away from saying that lunhow is pining for the days of indentured servitude and the old south rising again. Can't believe I clicked on that link.

 

The NBA cap only hurts the market value of 5-10% of the league. The LeBron's and Harden's are gonna be stupidly underpaid even at the max, but the mid and lower tier players are being overpaid just because teams have to spend a certain amount of money, and they can't give it to the studs.

I would say most players on a multiyear contracts in the NBA are overpaid, not underpaid relative to their importance to the team. NBA players actually make significantly more, while playing half as many games.

As for the article, I didn't even bother reading. I can tell it's not worth my clicks.

 

Its also hilarious that he sights, as negatives, the Aiken "debacle" (when really, the Astros came out of that having dodged a huge bullet.. and they get Bregman), and the hacking scandal... which again wasn't the Astros fault, and they're probably going to get some form of compensation for that as well.

 

That seems like fanboy/fangirl blog post version of the USA Today article.

 

They got bergmen for aiken. That was a great deal.

 

Jeff Luhnow has a fair number of enemies for a variety of reasons. He can be very abrasive and doesn't bow down to the media. He isn't diplomatic; you criticize his team unfairly and he will cut you off.

However the biggest issue is that Luhnow is an outsider. He doesn't have a baseball background. He was mentored by another guy that relishes being an outsider; Walt Jockety. If conventional wisdom in baseball doesn't make sense to Jeff; he will go against it. He doesn't say his way is better; but just questioning it rubs a lot of agents, executives and media the wrong way.

 

Boy, Liz really went out of her way to write that article in the most negative way possible about Luhnow and the Astros.

 

Especially the hacking scandal! How in any way, shape or form could that be viewed as a negative towards the Astros? That's like admonishing someone for getting robbed.

Lunhow obviously has his detractors and certainly can rub some the wrong way but this piece was flat out terrible. Hopefully someone laced into Liz on Twitter.

 

Jeff Luhnow won't lose any sleep over this article. He has assembled a great core of young players and a relatively deep system. If Cole Hamels and Jonathan Lucroy want to watch the Astros win the division every season for the foreseeable future then so be it.

 

This is some super homerism.

 

Agreed. I had a longer reply but yours is short and on point.

 

If anything I don't look at this as Luhnow trying to set baseball back at all.

It's about Luhnow making excuses for his failures even while knowing players have no-trade clauses. Its not a new thing. Its a reality he knew before he even got here and he is blaming it for his team not being able to compete against a rival.

That makes Luhnow look like an excuse maker.