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Houston Astros, New GM Look To Rebuild Around Top Pick Carlos Correa

Salomon Fuentes |
June 5, 2012 | 6:21 p.m. PDT

Staff Writer

Top pick Carlos Correa (Courtesy Houston Astros)
Top pick Carlos Correa (Courtesy Houston Astros)
When the Houston Astros took Puerto Rican shortstop Carlos Correa first overall in the 2012 First-Year Player Draft on Monday night, it marked a turning point for a franchise that lost 106 games last season.

The 6-foot-4, 190-pound Correa was on hand at the MLB Network Studios in Secaucus, N.J. as commissioner Bud Selig called his name, ending the whirlwind of speculation over who Houston would select.

In a draft without an obvious potential superstar Bryce Harper or Stephen Strasburg at the top, observers believed Stanford pitcher and Houston native Mark Appel would be the first pick. Those observers were stunned when the Astros skipped on "the safe pick" and went with the player they felt has the most upside.

Correa, who has drawn favorable comparisons to Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez, became the first player drafted first overall from Puerto Rico and instantly the most hyped prospect in Houston's farm system (assuming he signs, which he is expected to do given the $7.2 million the Astros can offer).

"He has the skills to be a star," said Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow of Correa. "He's got all the tools; he's got all the intangibles. He looks like a man among boys right now, and I can just imagine five years from now out here at [Minute Maid Park], he'll be looking the same way."

That’s not to say the fate of the entire Astros organization rests on the shoulders of the 17-year-old Correa.

Instead, it’s on the recently-appointed Luhnow to turn around a franchise in the midst of tumultuous change both internally and externally.

This year, Astros fans saw long-time owner Drayton McLane sell the team to Jim Crane for $680 million and were surprised to learn that next year the ball club will be heading off to the American League West ending 50 years of participating in the National League.

Beloved veterans like Roy Oswalt, Hunter Pence, and Houston native son Lance Berkman were all dealt away over the last three seasons and the team increasingly looked hopeless, culminating in a 56-106 season last year. Fans stopped caring and the ballpark got emptier by the game.

Thing is, it wasn't always like this.

To put things in proper context, you have to understand Houston is very much a football town and always will be.

When the Houston Oilers packed up and left town to become the Tennessee Titans in 1997, fans were outraged and that passion did not go unnoticed. It was part of the reason why Houston was awarded an expansion franchise (the Houston Texans) by the NFL in 1999 over Los Angeles, despite the Texas city being a smaller media market.

Even with that handicap, the Astros were the talk of the town from 2004 to 2005. With stars like Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Oswalt, Craig Biggio, Jeff Bagwell, Jeff Kent, Carlos Beltran and Berkman, the Astros were, frankly, stacked.

They made it to the World Series in 2005 and even though they ultimately fell short, the city fell in love with the team and the thought around town was that the 'Stros were on the cusp of winning it all.

That didn’t happen. It's impossible to pin-point exactly what went wrong after 2005, but it's easy enough to blame Hurricane Ike.

In truth, there was more to it than that. A rapidly aging roster, bad contracts and some not-so-great GM's did the Astros in. With no young blood coming in through the system — you got a league-worst 56-106 in 2011.

GM Jeff Luhnow sometimes helps out as an usher (Courtesy Houston Astros)
GM Jeff Luhnow sometimes helps out as an usher (Courtesy Houston Astros)
That’s where Luhnow comes in. Though he’s not even six months into the job, the former St. Louis Cardinals vice-president has the Astros at 23-31 and while that doesn’t exactly make Houston a world-beater, it’s already 41 percent of their win total from last year.

His statistical approach to acquiring players is nothing new to baseball, but it’s a breath of fresh air to Astros fans. Impressively, his first three drafts with the Cardinals resulted in 24 major league players, better than anyone in that period.

It’s also no coincidence that he has drawn comparisons to Houston Rockets GM and fellow stat geek, Daryl Morey—they were both hired by the same guy, current Astros president George Postolos.

Morey has kept the Rockets competitive despite a career-ending injury to franchise star Yao Ming by finding gems late in the draft. The hope is that that Luhnow will use his know-how of statistical analysis to do the same for the Astros.

Stats aside, he has Houston fans feeling optimism for first time in years and a sense that there’s a smart plan in place for rebuilding the franchise.

With Correa as the cornerstone of the Astros' rebuilding plans, Luhnow now has a chance to bring the Astros back into relevancy for years to come. It will not be easy, especially now that they will be playing in the same division as Josh Hamilton and the Texas Rangers, but Luhnow is up the challenge.

"I want to see Minute Maid Park filled to the rafters in an American League championship series," Luhnow told the Houston Chronicle. "I want to see this city get excited about the possibility of going to a World Series. And I would love to see Houston to win the World Series, and the team in Texas that gets talked about be the Houston Astros. I'm all in."

Incidentally, the last time the Astros had the first pick was 20 years ago. They skipped on a guy you may have heard of — Derek Jeter.

And what player does Correa want to be like?

"I want to be like Derek Jeter," Correa said. "He's awesome. He's a great ballplayer. But I like him even more as a person."

If everything pans out as expected, in 20 years time some kid in Puerto Rico will be saying the same about Carlos Correa.

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You can reach Salomon by email or follow him on Twitter.



 

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