Yes he is but Being a troll doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. They’re bunch of articles written about springer getting hosed.
I don't think there is any question. At the time, Luhnow and the Astros were very cutthroat and all about the numbers. I have no doubt that Luhnow specifically wanted to get 6 1/2 years out of him instead of just 6. Especially considering the team was not competitive in 2014 and he fully expected them to be in 2020.
Luhnow used the system that was agreed upon in the CBA the best he could to the advantage of the Astros. The players did not have to agree to that CBA, but once they did Luhnow was just playing by the rules
I recall local radio hosts saying Springer might have hard feelings about his late-entrance into the league. It was said a long time ago
With the benefit of hindsight, it's pretty clear Luhnow was extreme/cutthroat about the numbers early on... somewhat unnecessarily. Some of those extension offers were straight ridiculous, like a 6 year/$35m extension offer to Springer buying out like 2-3 years of FA. The Braves were very successful in getting their young guys to sign extensions. Part of was not mega cheaping out on the numbers, part of it was by amortizing the costs over a longer deal. The Stros were and are still hamstrung by Crane not wanting to offer deals longer than 6 years, but they've somewhat gotten over making offers that the players will auto-reject.
To a point. He promoted Correa/Bregman/Tucker/Yordan when they were ready as the team could use them. He stalled with Springer because the team wasn't ready, not because he wasn't ready. He certainly adjusted the cut-throatedness more and more as he gained experience in the role. But they still tried to coerce him to sign an extension to grant an earlier promotion, like Singleton... when he rejected, they kept him in the minors for the rest of 2013 and start of 2014. That probably irked him more than anything as it was somewhat proof that he was ready to be in the big leagues, but the team wouldn't promote him due to financial reasons (which was technically illegal, but nobody ever speaks of it).
