Astros GM Jeff Luhnow pursues pitching but likes what’s in pipeline.
LAS VEGAS — After the Astros completed a three-game ALDS dismantling of the Indians, five days elapsed before Boston’s prolific offense broke Houston’s formidable rotation and ended the Astros’ season.
In the interim, baseball’s best prospects descended on Scottsdale, Ariz, where the Arizona Fall League offers a showcase of sorts. For Forrest Whitley, it was the answer for a truncated minor league regular season sunk by a drug suspension and minor injuries.
On the night of Boston’s seriesclinching victory in the ALDS, a day after Houston’s Game 3 win in Cleveland, Astros manager A.J. Hinch received a text message. A scout in Scottsdale, Ariz., watched Whitley’s debut. The righthander, regarded as the game’s best pitching prospect, struck out eight of the first nine men he encountered.
“I have your starter for Sunday (in the ALCS),” the scout texted Hinch, “if you need one.”
Houston had no such dilemma. Its rotation was the best in franchise history. Not until Lance McCullers Jr.’s elbow tightened in August and Charlie Morton’s shoulder fatigued in September was there ever intrigue or apprehension surrounding it. Even then, rookies Framber Valdez and Josh James were summoned for spot starts in which they excelled.
Such luxury is an anomaly, one the Astros happily relished but know won’t repeat itself. Addressing the attrition is general manager Jeff Luhnow’s preeminent priority before the Astros report to spring training on Feb. 13.
Comfort is contrived from Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole, who will head the rotation. Collin McHugh will report to West Palm Beach, Fla., all but assured of reentering the rotation, Luhnow confirmed Tuesday at the Winter Meetings.
But Verlander, Cole and McHugh are all free agents after next season. The situation ostensibly presents another wrinkle in Luhnow’s offseason shopping. He must address the rotation’s immediate needs while balancing the possibility that next offseason, a similar scenario he now faces could again confront him.
Longer-term deals with free agents, or trading for a starter with more than two seasons of club control, ostensibly present a somewhat steady solution. Balancing that idea with the tantalizing potential — but unknown actual major league effectiveness — of Houston’s numerous prized pitching prospects is where Luhnow and his front office stand.
“We are looking at both shortand medium-term deals for pitchers,” Luhnow said Tuesday from the Astros’ suite at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. “That being said, I think a year from now we’ll know a lot more about Corbin Martin, we’ll know a lot more about Forrest Whitley, and we’ll have a better sense on James and Valdez, and it could be we don’t have an issue a year from now.”
Whitley and Martin will earn invitations to major league spring training, Luhnow said, and big league debuts for both seem imminent.
Whitley threw only 52 1 ⁄ innings 3 between Class AA and the Arizona Fall League. His 0.96 WHIP was the lowest of any starter in the Arizona Fall League.
“He’s going to come into camp, my guess is, with a goal of making the team,” Luhnow said. “And if he has a good spring, we’ll have to see where we are with everybody else. But I suspect at some point he’ll been our rotation this year.”
Martin, meanwhile, engineered a breakout season between high Class A and Class AA. The Texas A&M product ended his season with a 2.51 ERA, permitting 6.5 hits per nine innings.
Couple that with the September successes of Valdez and James — each had a sub-2.40 ERA in his monthlong big league debut — and internal options for addressing rotation turnover are plentiful.
“You don’t have to convince me. You have to convince A.J. and (pitching coach Brent Strom),” Luhnow said. “Valdez and James both did that in short order. If we do that (with others), we're going to be in good shape.”
Tuesday was a “productive day,” Luhnow said. The Astros extended “a few offers” in the trade and free-agent markets. Luhnow’s policy is not to comment on specific negotiations, nor does he specify free agents the club is targeting.
A reunion with Keuchel or Morton has seemed unlikely, though Luhnow acknowledged Tuesday the organization has “been in touch with all of our former players in one form or another, and in several of them we have expressed interest.”
J.A. Happ remains perhaps the most sought after free-agent pitcher not named Keuchel. The Astros have been linked to him. Cleveland has been reportedly willing to trade either Corey Kluber or Trevor Bauer. Each has at least two years of club control remaining. So, too, do Zack Greinke, Noah Syndergaard and Marcus Stroman — each of whom has been bandied about as trade chips at the Winter Meetings.