Is Marwin a Luhnow Guy?

47 players appeared in a Major-League game for the 2011 Astros. Only Jose Altuve is left, signed by Tim Purpura in March 2007. And yes, Ed Wade gets unjustly slandered from time to time - he drafted Dallas Keuchel, George Springer, Jason Castro, and J.D. Martinez. And I'm sort of obsessed with the team that has become the Luhnow Guys. One player who causes division in the mortal historical struggle between Ed Wade and Jeff Luhnow is Marwin Gonzalez.

Very Good Play-by-Play Guy Robert Ford started it:

Jeff Luhnow's first move as #Astros GM was to recommend selection of Gonzalez in the 2012 Rule 5 Draft. Wasn't on Astros' radar previously. https://t.co/pQSV4ZVPRk

— Robert Ford (@raford3) July 7, 2017

So is Marwin a Wade guy? Or is he a Luhnow guy? LET'S LOOK!

*December 7, 2011: Luhnow is named General Manager of the Astros

*December 8, 2011: Rule 5 draft. The Astros selected Rhiner Cruz from the Mets. Boston selected Marwin Gonzalez from the Cubs and immediately traded him to Houston for Marco Duarte, whom the Astros had just selected from the Rockies in the minor-league portion of the Rule 5 draft. So this would indicate that Marwin is a Luhnow Guy, right? I mean, Luhnow had been GM of the Astros for all of 24 hours and was "in charge." 

Not so fast my friend. In the original article on the day's Rule 5 wheeling-and-dealing, Steve Campbell wrote:

"[Rhiner Cruz has] a chance to pitch at the back end of a bullpen," said Astros assistant general manager David Gottfried, who ran the Rule 5 draft instead of new GM Jeff Luhnow.

Gottfried had been with the Astros for 13 years at that point and had been the Assistant GM of Player Relations since 2006. When Ed Wade was fired in November 2011, Gottfried became the interim GM. The Astros did not renew his contract following the 2012 season.

Alyson Footer's late night/early morning tweet prior to the Rule 5 draft indicates that Gottfried and Bobby Heck were running it:

David Gottfried and Bobby Heck will run things for Astros at Rule 5 as originally planned.

— Alyson Footer (@alysonfooter) December 8, 2011

Ford would later tweet that the Marwin/Duarte trade was pre-arranged, as is common in Rule 5 drafts. So our options are:
a) Gottfried and Heck ran the Rule 5 draft and swung the deal for Marwin on Luhnow's first full day.
b) Luhnow suggested the trade to Gottfried and Heck, and they figured it wasn't worth pissing off the New Boss not to do it.
c) All three conspired to make a trade for a Rule 5 pick that would pay off five and a half years later at precisely the time the Astros needed it most.

Got some DMs out to settle this once and for all. This will be updated. 

Front Office continues to shake

It was announced last night that the Astros will not be renewing the contract of Assistant GM David Gottfried.

Gottfried had been with the Astros - in a variety of capacities - for 14 years, and was the interim GM for the transition from Ed Wade to Jeff Luhnow.

David Gottfried is your guy...for now

While the Astros figure out what Plan Q is for the GM, Jayson Stark reports that interim GM David Gottfried can pull the trigger on any deal that may go down this week.

Arbitration Dealz!

So, due to some prior commitments today (like, "Work") we're a little late in getting you the news, but here's the big story of the day:

Michael Bourn avoided an arbitration hearing, signing a deal for $4.4 million for 2011.
Jeff Keppinger did the same thing, signing for $2.3 million in 2011 (not bad for a guy who'll be in a cast until May).
Clint Barmes did the same thing, signing for $3.925 million in 2011, plus incentives.

Ed Wade:
"[Assistant GM] David [Gottfried] handled the negotiations and indicated yesterday that we thought we had the opportunity to get at least these three done. The goal is always the same. It's to slot a player at the proper place in the salary structure, and I think the work David did and the cooperation of the players and their agents allowed us to do that with these three guys."

The Astros have exchanged figures with Wandy and Pence, and hope to get a deal done before a hearing, in which the Astros have to tell their players they're not worth what they think they're worth.

As AstroBrit pointed out in a tweet, the WAR figures aren't too shabby.

In signing Bourn, Barmes, and Keppinger, the Astros committed a total of $10.625m today for three players whose WAR totaled 7.0, or $1.52m per win above replacement.

Of course, Keppinger will miss until May, and Barmes is coming off a 0.4 WAR season, but Bourn's deal is quite nice.

Says Aaron Gleeman on Barmes:
He’s a good defender at either middle infield spot and the Astros were in need of a shortstop, but Barmes’ bat is utility man-caliber at best and making a trade for the right to pay him $4 million this season is all kinds of wrong.

Ed Wade wasn't the only one extended

Alyson Footer mentions that, in addition to Ed Wade's extension, Bobby Heck, David Gottfried, and Ricky Bennett have also been extended through 2011. This is even better.

Astros getting ready to tell players they're not worth as much as they think they are

So all eight arbitration-eligible players were offered contracts yesterday. Now comes the always-fun step of the negotiation in which the exchanging of numbers takes place until January 19. If no deal is reached by then, it goes to a panel of judges where the Astros make their case for why Player X is not worth getting the money they think they should. Wade:

"Tal, David Gottfried and Ricky Bennett will be gainfully employed the next couple of months trying to wind their way through arbitration or case preparation, and those are going to be real-dollar numbers. We think we've allocated the right numbers from a budget standpoint, but one quirky thing could impact us as well."