Since Jeff Luhnow took over as the General Manager of the Houston Astros in December 2011, the team’s fortunes have undoubtedly improved. Grading trades isn’t as easy as “Which player ended up better?” You have to take into account team needs, money, service time, etc. And on top of that some players are flipped for other players later on, making the web even more tangled.
I’m going to do my best to quantify each of Luhnow’s major acquisitions. You may see things differently than I do. That is fine. You can write your own article.
After picking Duarte from the Rockies’ Triple-A team, Luhnow flipped the reliever to Boston for Gonzalez – who the Red Sox had just taken from Miami in the Rule 5 draft.