Luhnow wants to retain Hinch ‘for as long as I’m here’
many times now, but this one was long enough that we thought it was important to make a statement that we’re going to be in this for the long haul,” Luhnow said. “I’m committed for the long haul, and I think the people in the front office are as well.”
Assuming the president designation will not alter Luhnow’s day-to-day responsibilities, he said, nor will it change the duties of Mike Elias, the club’s only assistant general manager. Elias oversees the Astros’ scouting and player development departments while running its draft.
“I’m going to be the general manager for the foreseeable future, but if there comes a point where we need that title to keep somebody or feel like it’s the right thing to do, we’ll make a move,” Luhnow said. “No one’s going to be able to come around and offer me that (president) title and take me away — nor do I want that to happen.”
Elias attended Monday’s news conference alongside a large number of front-office members; Luhnow’s wife, Gina; two of Luhnow’s three children; manager A.J. Hinch; and players Charlie Morton, Evan Gattis and Alex Bregman.
Also reportedly in the last season of his contract, Hinch lauded the “stability at the top” during a pregame scrum with reporters. Luhnow declined to reveal any contract negotiations with the fourth-year manager, only reiterating a “goal is to have him here as my manager for as long as I’m here.”
“We’re all in this together,” Hinch said. “A lot of us in that room are only Astros because of Jeff’s decision-making to bring us here.”
Crane hired Luhnow, 51, away from the St. Louis Cardinals in December 2011 to replace Ed Wade — Crane’s first hire as owner of a franchise that had not reached the playoffs since 2005.
In his first six seasons, Luhnow has orchestrated a complete overhaul, enduring 100-loss seasons in 2012 and 2013 while drafting and cultivating homegrown talent to, by 2014, make the Astros’ farm system baseball’s best.
“Wasn’t too long ago that Jeff and I would go into a restaurant and people would slap us on the back and say, ‘What in the hell are you guys doing?’ ” Crane said. “We proved them wrong, and I give him a lot of the credit.”
Placed atop the draft due to the miserable start to Luhnow’s tenure, the club picked well, selecting Carlos Correa, Bregman and Lance McCullers Jr. — among others. But Luhnow’s most cunning move was his lastminute acquisition of Justin Verlander last season. It pushed the Astros to their first World Series championship.
“He had the blueprint and followed it to a T,” said catcher Brian McCann, whom Luhnow acquired from the Yankees before last season. “Drafted well. All these young guys came up, and they’re cornerstones of this organization.”
Luhnow nabbed Gerrit Cole this past offseason in an effort to repeat. And Jose Altuve signed the richest deal in franchise history— a seven-year contract that paid him $151 million.
“It’s satisfying of course to have accomplished what we did and to have the vote of confidence from Jim to keep me around for a few more years,” Luhnow said. “But to me, sort of like Altuve, neither of us are going to rest on our laurels now that we’ve gotten an extension. We both want to work really hard to justify it.”
After the announcement was completed, Luhnow departed the dais. His young son, Henry, ran to his father. Jeff joked the toddler had not been alive for anything but a winning Astros franchise.
Luhnow raised Henry and placed him on his hip, surveying the swarm of smiling front-office faces applauding the announcement one final time.
“Last year was a great accomplishment in winning a World Series,” Luhnow said, “but we’re not done. We want to do that again.”