GM Luhnow admits feeling 'pressure' to make Astros better for 2016
When a club makes the type of dramatic jump that the Houston Astros did in 2015, expectations get raised in a hurry.
Two seasons after going 51-111, the upstart Astros were in first place in the competitive AL West for much of the season, finishing with a Wild Card berth and making it all the way to Game 5 of the ALDS.
The club's window of opportunity is expected to be open for at least the next few years thanks to Houston's core and minor-league depth, and within this context GM Jeff Luhnow admitted last week to MLB.com's Brian McTaggart that the new success brought with it added 'pressure' to improve over the offseason:
"The fewer spots you have where you can improve, the more pressure there is to improve on those spots," Luhnow said. "We're obviously not looking for a shortstop; we're not looking for a second baseman. We feel pretty good about the top of our rotation, but we've got to figure out where in the puzzle are the areas we can improve, and so to a certain extent, it becomes harder, not easier, because we know something is going to go wrong. We don't know what it is, but somebody's going to underperform, somebody's going to get injured, and we have to be prepared for it. We feel we've got to work as hard now as ever."
The potential loss of slugging outfielder Colby Rasmus won't be an issue after he became the first player to accept a qualifying offer on Friday, ensuring his return to Houston next season.
As for their situation at first base, the Astros have a number of options, and according to Luhnow it could play out in a few ways:
"We've got a lot of choices," Luhnow said. "Now, what's the right choice? I don't know. We won't know until Spring Training is over and maybe not until the season is under way, but we do have a number of guys that we like that all play [first base]. We'll have to see if there's an opportunity to bring someone in at that position. We'd have to think about it, but I'm not sure it makes sense given the depth we have there."
The 2015 Astros were a resilient, dynamic club with a blend of young stars and quality veterans, and helping amend the roster to improve in areas of need before Opening Day 2016 is now on the to-do list for Luhnow and his staff in the coming months.
