Since taking over as the general manager in Houston last December, Jeff Luhnow has turned over a good chunk of the 40-man roster he inherited, a collection of players who contributed to the Astros’ first 100-loss (106-loss, to be precise) season in franchise history in 2011.
Lame-duck GM Ed Wade was able to unload the Astros’ top marketable assets—Hunter Pence and Michael Bourn—last summer, but the task of moving the team’s more onerous veteran contracts was left to Luhnow. That process picked up in earnest this summer when Houston shuttled veterans J.A. Happ, Chris Johnson, Carlos Lee, Brandon Lyon, Brett Myers, and Wandy Rodriguez off to contenders in exchange for more than a dozen minor-league prospects from five organizations.
Player Traded
Date
Club
Commitment Remaining
The rest of this article is restricted to Baseball Prospectus Subscribers.
Not a subscriber?
Click here for more information
on Baseball Prospectus subscriptions or use the buttons to the right to subscribe and get access to the best baseball content on the web.
Interesting look at the 'Stros. It seems to me like they're taking a quality by quantity approach. Watching the Twins this year, I saw this work fairly well in the pitching staff finding guys like Scott Diamond, Jared Burton and Casey Fien. I realize that's far from a perfect comp and the process of finding a few gems is generally ugly, but given the chance a lot of these guys can surprise. I'll look forward to Houston finding some gems in this group of guys.
Essentially, Luhnow did an entire extra draft class via trades: he got some high upside arms, a key piece or two, and some organizational guys that you hope, but don't expect, to break out.
The Astros did what the Pirates did a few years back by cleaning house, they just did it shortly and quickly whereas the Pirates process took a few months longer.
How does Paredes converting to CF affect his value? I'm debating between him and Wallace in a keeper league trade, was leaning Wallace but like Paredes more the more I read about him
The success will be judged by when they start contending again. Really, it takes no particular skill to unload players like these (well, unloading Lee was a coup) as most are solid major league players that will plug holes for other teams in pennant race time. Teams do this all the time. The Pirates and Royals did it for 20 years, with zip results until this year for PItt. Cleveland, supposedly a "smart" organization, has been clowning around for a decade itself.
They traded some - Beltran, e.g. ...to the Astros. The Astros right now have a 50 win team out there. That's TOO awful...you aren't going to sell any tickets with that. And yes, I will argue, that a 70 win team will sell a lot more tickets.
Sometimes this stuff can be overdone, especially when the guys you are trading FOR have ceilings no better than the players you're trading away.
Beltran was a star at the same time they were keeping overpaid middling vets and it wasn't a complete dismantle. The Pirates, and the Astros, traded pretty much everyone who wasn't nailed down to get payroll flexibility and to restock their farm system with organizational depth.
I disagree that this stuff can't be overdone. If the guys you acquire have no ceiling higher than the players/"prospects", you still are getting a lot of payroll relief which can be used to sign prospects, develop overseas facilities etc. Also, since the bits you acquire are not locked into a contract, they have even more trade value than the older vets you had given up. Besides, sometimes a bit of luck happens and one of those low-ceiling prospects breaks out to do something very useful.
Value Picks: Outfielde... (08/17)
The Process: The Marin... (08/02)
11 comments have been left for this article. 
Surprise Me!
Interesting look at the 'Stros. It seems to me like they're taking a quality by quantity approach. Watching the Twins this year, I saw this work fairly well in the pitching staff finding guys like Scott Diamond, Jared Burton and Casey Fien. I realize that's far from a perfect comp and the process of finding a few gems is generally ugly, but given the chance a lot of these guys can surprise. I'll look forward to Houston finding some gems in this group of guys.