Luhnow focusing on market for pitchers
GM considers shopping for another starter, but injuries dictate bullpen remains in play
Jeff Luhnow will return to his baseball birthplace with six days to tinker.
The general manager claims his Astros can win a seven-game series “against any playoff team” without any additions before the trade deadline. The bravado is brash. This week will determine whether it is a bluff.
Luhnow, the former Cardinals executive hired to resurrect the Astros in 2011, is expected to accompany the team for its threegame series in St. Louis that starts Friday. He will return to Houston afterward to survey the pitching market and make any final additions to a team with World Series aspirations.
“We can win a seven-game series against any playoff team right now,” Luhnow said this week. “That doesn’t mean there’s not going to be an opportunity that presents itself to bring in another starter who could be a playoff rotation starter. We’re looking at them.”
Luhnow views the deadline as more of a means to set his postseason roster. Ensuring the Astros
match up well with the Yankees, Twins, Red Sox or Indians is of utmost importance.
Luhnow told a local radio show this week that “we have all offseason” to address the looming vacancies within the starting rotation. Gerrit Cole and Wade Miley are set to be free agents. Corbin Martin underwent Tommy John surgery and will miss 2020, too.
This does not preclude the Astros from adding a starter with more than one year of team control in the next six days. At the time of Martin’s Tommy John surgery, Luhnow said the situation “makes it more appealing.”
Many are thought to be available — Noah Syndergaard, Marcus Stroman and Robbie Ray to name a few — but will require a hefty return of prospects or established major league talent. Luhnow has never been one to mortgage his long-term future for short-term gain, although each of the aforementioned three pitchers is under team control for at least one more season.
Justin Verlander, Cole and Miley possess ERAs lower than 3.20. Cole and Verlander’s dominance is status quo. Miley’s magnificence is a welcome sight, perhaps the only piece of the organization’s starting rotation depth that has exceeded expectations.
In the trio, the Astros have a fearsome foundation for a postseason rotation. Adding a fourth pitcher of equal pedigree would cement them as the American League’s most daunting group of starters in the postseason.
But with Madison Bumgarner’s availability in question as the Giants continue a torrid run toward a National League wild card and the hefty price many of the few known available starters will command, Luhnow could be forced to part with a load of talent he normally likes to save.
Starting pitching might not be the only area addressed. The bullpen has thrown to the third-lowest ERA in the major leagues but appears in need of at least one reinforcement. One could come from within.
Josh James’ shoulder soreness and ensuing stint on the injured list could shift the Astros into a more pressing need for a reliever. The 26-year-old righthander will reside for the requisite 10 days on the IL.
Manager A.J. Hinch has utilized James in various leverage roles,
usually prior to the seventh inning. The Astros have demonstrated trust in three relievers — Will Harris, Ryan Pressly and Roberto Osuna — to finish their games. Sidearmer Joe Smith functions as a righty specialist.
The absence of a lefthanded reliever, in the major league bullpen or upper-level minor leagues, seems not to disturb Luhnow. The Yankees are an extremely righthanded team.
“When we think about our bullpen, we think about the best relievers
— we don’t care if they’re left or righthanded — and being a good reliever in this league means you have to get both sides out,” Luhnow said. “We’re not really looking for a lefty specialist or a reliever just (because) he’s a lefty.”
Harris and Pressly are menacing against lefthanded hitters, with Pressly having allowed eight hits to the 86 lefties he’s faced. Thirty-two have struck out.
But because the team requires Pressly for its most perilous lategame situations, Harris serves as the de facto lefty specialist. He hasn’t allowed an extra-base hit against the 81 lefties he’s faced.
James’ stark velocity drop in Sunday’s outing invites worry, as does any sort of shoulder injury for a pitcher, perhaps increasing the Astros’ mining of the market. Brad Peacock went to the IL on June 28 with an identical ailment to James and remains there.
But despite Peacock’s suffering a setback, assuming James will encounter one is disingenuous. Luhnow said this week the Astros are targeting a mid-August return for Peacock. The team is unsure whether the veteran will be built back up as a starter or placed in the bullpen, where he has had success.
Wherever he is, Peacock will alleviate some of the glaring need for pitching. Assuming a starter is acquired, Peacock could shift into a postseason bullpen as another leverage option; the acquisition — if one arrives — aligns behind Verlander, Cole and Miley.
Who that might be, and what role he plays, remains a mystery. Bumgarner, Syndergaard and Stroman have been the most talked-about names. And many teams in contention for a playoff spot are weighing whether to sell. Decisions might not come until deadline day.
“There’s a lot of conversations happening,” Luhnow said this week. “I expect there’s going to be a lot of activity in the next week, but I expect it will be the 29th, 30th, 31st, much closer to the deadline this year because there’s so many teams still trying to figure out which way they’re going to go.”