Earlier this afternoon, Jeff Luhnow wrestled control of the official Houston Astros Twitter account for a question and answer with fans who submitted questions via #AskLuhnow. Here are the highlights from that Q&A.
Carlos Correa injury update
Q1 RT @HoustonHITS: @astros #AskLuhnow Can we get an update on Carlos Correa's rehab?
— Houston Astros (@astros) October 15, 2014
Q1 Carlos progressing well... doing baseball activity, running, taking grounders, etc. Should be full recovered and ready for ST #askluhnow
— Houston Astros (@astros) October 15, 2014
Surprises from within the Astros organization
Q2 RT @CRPerry13: #AskLuhnow What players in the entire org impressed or surprised you most in 2014?
— Houston Astros (@astros) October 15, 2014
Q2: So many choices! Have to include the big three bats from the 2014 draft - Davis, Fisher, Reed... all three could move fast! #AskLuhnow
— Houston Astros (@astros) October 15, 2014
Q2 (cont) on the ML side, 'tuve, Keuchel and McHugh impressed everyone! #AskLuhnow
— Houston Astros (@astros) October 15, 2014
Orbit's value
Q7 RT @smith3594: @astros @OrbitAstros Orbit had a great year in the media. How do you rate his value to the organization ? #AskLuhnow
— Houston Astros (@astros) October 15, 2014
Q7: Orbit has been our MVP off the field... I can't even remember life before he arrived! #AskLuhnow
— Houston Astros (@astros) October 15, 2014
Offseason needs
Q8 RT @dyslexicsports: Hummm so #AskLuhnow biggest need this offseason, is it still the Bullpen? #Astros
— Houston Astros (@astros) October 15, 2014
Q8: Priorities are pen, infield options and depth... we will look at all avenues to get from 70 wins to 80 plus. #AskLuhnow
— Houston Astros (@astros) October 15, 2014
Coaching staff finalized
Q11 RT @LarBear54: @astros @jluhnow #AskLuhnow When will the Astros Coaching Staff be finalized?
— Houston Astros (@astros) October 15, 2014
Q11: AJ and I are working on this non-stop. We hope to have everything in place by the end of the month. #AskLuhnow
— Houston Astros (@astros) October 15, 2014
Impressions
Nothing earth shattering here. I do think the offseason needs question is interesting, because it points to the bullpen and infield options and then depth. We've been putting together the list of Astros players eligible for the Rule 5 draft and there are a lot of interesting names on that list. So many, in fact, that it's likely the Astros won't be able to protect all of them with the current state of the 40-man roster. And that doesn't even account for one or two free agents the Astros intend to pursue. I expect that the Astros front office will be active in the trade market and look to move some players on the 40-man, as well as some of the Rule 5 eligible players to further improve the farm systems depth and "reset the clock" on some of their assets.
A full recap of the Q&A will be available on the Astros' MLB blog Mission Control.