Houston Astros: In Luhnow We Trust?

A run of bad luck?

Jun 29, 2015; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Astros right fielder

(4) catches a fly ball hit by Kansas City Royals third baseman

(8) (Not Pictured) in the third inning at Minute Maid Park. Mandatory Credit: Thomas B. Shea-USA TODAY Sports

After years of waiting for a new “star” to root for, George Springer finally gave the Houston fans someone to get excited about even though most of us couldn’t watch him on TV. He crushed ten home runs and had 29 RBI and helped lead the team to its first winning month in years. Finally, there were signs of hope. Not only that but we had Carlos Correa coming and the number one pick in the upcoming draft. The Astros were finally on their way to the top.

Then, to my personal disappointment, the Astros passed over Carlos Rodon for a young high school pitcher, Brady Aiken. This was a year after they had passed over another personal favorite, Kris Bryant, for Mark Appel. But these were the baseball geniuses I wanted to run my organization, so I deferred to them; in Luhnow we trust, right? – Then everything went south.

6/22/14 – Carlos Correa suffers a broken right fibula while still playing his baseball for class A. Why was he still in class A? Would this have happened to him if he were playing in Corpus Christi already?

6/29/14 – It is reported that the Houston Astros database was hacked into, and inter-office discussions were leaked to the public? Was this some incompetency by the leadership I believed in?

7/19/14 – It is reported that Brady Aiken does not sign with the Astros and that Jacob Nix and Mac Marshall were also unable to sign because of MLB’s rules regarding the salary allotment to draft picks. Not only were we losing a crop of talented pitchers in a time of rebuild, but the Astros and Jeff Luhnow were blasted in the media by their reported handling of the negotiations. The Major League Baseball Players Association later filed a grievance against the team over the negotiations. It was a bad look. I was mad, embarrassed and frustrated.

Then, days later…

7/22/14 – George Springer injures his left quad and his season would be over… and most Astros fans stopped caring that they still couldn’t watch them on television.

7/31/14 – The Astros trade one of their top young arms, Jared Cosart, to the Marlins.

A month later…

9/1/14 – The Astros fired Bo Porter.

Next: Part of the Process.