As the Astros “try to rebuild,” they have become one of MLB's “most progressive franchises,” according to Evan Drellich of the HOUSTON CHRONICLE. The Astros are said to “handle contract negotiations and the timing of player promotions with a dehumanizing, analytics-based approach.” Astros GM Jeff Luhnow's “radical approach to on-field changes and business decisions has created at least pockets of internal discontent and a potential reputation problem throughout baseball.” Luhnow said, "It doesn't affect our ability to make people happy at the big league level. It just doesn't. It affects their ability to perform better and be more prepared. That's at least our hypothesis, and what we believe. And to tie that together with (how we handle) contracts is ridiculous. … We're not running for election here; it's not a popularity contest." Orioles and former Astros P Bud Norris said, "They are definitely the outcast of Major League Baseball right now, and it's kind of frustrating for everyone else to have to watch it. When you talk to agents, when you talk to other players and you talk amongst the league, yeah, there's going to be some opinions about it, and they're not always pretty." Drellich noted some teams “share in similar practices, to varying degrees.” But the Astros in totality “appear more overt in their efforts and have moved with a greater speed for simultaneous changes than anyone of late.” No matter what the future will say about their plan, they are “presently in a combustible setting.” The premise of attempting to sign players at a bargain price is “not what some agents said bothers them, but how the Astros approach dealings and appear to handle clients” (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 5/24).
