Houston Astros: Nobody to Blame for the 2015 Collapse

Jeff Luhnow acted aggressively.

May 2, 2015; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow waves to the crowd before a game against the Seattle Mariners at Minute Maid Park. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

More from Climbing Tal's Hill

• Just how much better is the Houston Astros playoff rotation than the rest?
• Houston Astros: A Lineup Change to Spark Offense
• Astros prospect Hunter Brown throws 6 shutout innings in debut
• Always faithful Astros World Series champion Josh Reddick defends the title
• Michael Conforto declines Astros’ 2-year, $30 million offer

Jeff Luhnow acted aggressively. This team was not left short-handed by its management. After the hot start, Luhnow recalled Lance McCullers and Vincent Velasquez to upgrade a shaky rotation. Both of those decisions were smart moves. He acquired more starting pitching (Scott Kazmir, Mike Fiers), a two-way center fielder in his prime (Carlos Gomez) and a veteran lefty specialist (Oliver Perez) to patch the roster, and gave up a significant haul of future assets in the process.

All of those players had track records suggesting they would be highly useful. Kazmir has largely not worked out, and Gomez had a rough first three weeks before he began to heat up. Fiers has been as-advertised. If anything, one can criticize Luhnow for giving up too much future value to win in 2015 I did so but that has nothing to do with why the team is falling apart now. He went for it on guys who should have produced. Nobody can accuse Kazmir and Gomez of not trying hard.

Click below to continue reading…

Next: A.J. Hinch has made very few mistakes.