Houston Astros: What Should Jeff Luhnow Do?

It’s official Houston Astros’ fans. The 2016 season is over and now it’s time to start thinking about what went wrong during the season and what can be done to improve this roster moving forward.

It’s official Houston Astros‘ fans. The 2016 season is over and now it’s time to start thinking about what went wrong during the season and what can be done to improve this roster moving forward.

The 2016 campaign was one of a few triumphs, let-downs and many of us fans scratching our heads wondering what the hell happened.

Should we have been more active at the trade deadline?

Many of us would’ve liked the Astros to be but as with just about every trade deadline we’ve experienced in the last decade or so, it has been one of a letdown as the organization talks a big game but won’t cough up the cash to get it done.

In some respects, that could be smart because it attested to the faith the Astros’ brass had in their current roster at the time.

Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow told the Houston Chronicle’s Angel Verdejo a couple of days ago that he “absolutely” could’ve done more at this year’s trade deadline but “he didn’t have perspective at the time.”

Luhnow also added this tidbit:

"“I can’t control what happened after the deadline,” Luhnow said. “But we’re certainly going to continue to look at every opportunity going forward to give ourselves maybe a little more breathing room so if we do lose a player or we have some underperformance, that we’ve got more of a margin to still have a successful campaign.”"

I certainly hope so — I’m tired of us always getting outbid on top-tier talent that could seriously help out our roster.

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Luhnow even mentioned that his team was in talks with the cream of the crop but came to grips with the fact that it was over what he was wanting to spend on bringing additional talent in.

It continues to puzzle me why the Astros are sometimes run like a small-market team when this team’s address is in the 4th-largest city in the U.S.

There are a myriad of baseball fans in this city — including myself — and I’m sure that many of you feel the same way.

But it’s time for the Astros to get to work as they’ve already confirmed improvements need to be made to the outfield, first base as well as the catching position.

The biggest focus will likely be in left field — an area Colby Rasmus manned in 2016.

After accepting a $15.8 million qualifying offer back in the off season, Rasmus struggled to not only emulate but improve upon his performance of the previous season.

Rasmus’ slash line was a paltry .206/.286/.355 which certainly wouldn’t align with the huge pay bump that he got in the off season.

But although Rasmus puzzled many for taking up the one-year option — the first time a player has since the new collective bargaining agreement came into fruition — as opposed to negotiating a multi-year deal, it seems he has done the equivalent of cashing in his chips, stuffing his pockets and barreling toward the exit door.