Houston Astros are Proof that For a Rebuild to Work, You Must Be Fully Committed

The idea of MLB teams “tanking” has become a hot topic this winter. But honestly, would this even be a huge point of discussion if the Houston Astros didn’t show that tearing everything down and rebuilding is a viable strategy to set up a team for long-term success?

I’m not saying Houston intentionally performed badly so they would get the highest draft pick possible. However, when we take their recent rebuild into consideration, it’s pretty easy to see why some would classify it as tanking.

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When teams are going through tough times, front office executives have two options: try to keep them as competitive as possible while slowly turning over the roster, or completely blowing things up and starting over. While almost everyone would favor the second option and get a clean slate to work from, many don’t actually take the plunge and go through with it.

Not the Astros, though. After going through two straight losing seasons in 2009 and 2010 (their third in four years), they realized the current roster configuration not only wasn’t working for the present day, but the future didn’t look good, either. So, even though the decision to blow things up would lead to some even tougher times, the organization felt it was worth the risk.

And boy, was it ever.

As productive players like Hunter Pence, J.A. Happ and Bud Norris (among others) were shipped out to help replenish the farm system, the on-field results in the big leagues weren’t pretty, as you can see below (payroll information obtained from Spotrac.com):

Would fans in a bigger media market, like New York, have allowed consistent losing and a drastic slashing of payroll like this fly? Absolutely not. Heck, some people are criticizing the Yankees for not signing any MLB free agents this winter, and their payroll is still sitting at north of $200 million!

While experiencing this torturous three-year span was not fun, it’s hard to say the sacrifice wasn’t worth it in the end. They went from being a 51-111 team in 2013 to an 86-76 playoff team in 2015 – a stunning 35-game improvement before beating the Yankees in the AL Wild Card game.

We’ve said this on more than one occasion already, but it’s important enough to be repeated: When a team is rebuilding, it’s important to stay fully committed to the mission and remain patient through the process.

It’s tough when billions of dollars are getting awarded to free agents each winter, but if teams don’t stick to the original plan, finding the long-term success they desire will be difficult. That’s why the Astros stayed on the straight and narrow – general manager Jeff Luhnow had a vision and was determined to see it through to the end.

Now that the team’s competitive window is open – probably a little quicker than most expected – they’ve taken on a new role this winter they haven’t experienced in quite some time.

Instead of having a roster full of mostly unproven, but young and talented players with hopes of chasing down a few more wins than last year, they’re now the ones getting chased. What a difference a year makes, right?

With a solid young core of Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, Jason Castro and George Springer, along with veterans like Evan Gattis, Carlos Gomez and Colby Rasmus to balance out the everyday lineup, Luhnow focused his offseason to-do list on the pitcher’s mound.

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After watching the Kansas City Royals consistently come back and beat them late in games during the ALDS, he determined they needed a shutdown closer. So, he sent four players, including former top overall pick Mark Appel, to the Philadelphia Phillies for Ken Giles. Did it seem like a steep price to pay? Yes, but thanks to the process Houston just went through, they had plenty of talent in the minors to justify this kind of acquisition.

Plus, having a 25-year-old closer with a mid-90s fastball that’s already shown he can shut it down in the ninth inning is someone every contender needs. It’s just icing on the cake to hear he’s not even arbitration-eligible yet and is under team control until 2021.

In the starting rotation, the front three are set with Dallas Keuchel, Collin McHugh and Lance McCullers. However, they desired a little more depth and signed bounceback candidate Doug Fister to an affordable one-year, $7 million deal.

Since that low point for the payroll back in 2013, here’s how Houston’s spending has tracked since:

As the rebuild progressed into the later stages and eventually concluded, the MLB payroll saw an increase just as drastic as the decrease was.

Slashing payroll in 2013 was terrible for that squad, but it was needed. Having financial flexibility doesn’t necessarily win championships, but it allows teams like Houston to feel more confident in committing long-term to their young talent that they spent a lot of time developing and being aggressive in taking on more money in the short-term to help them win right now. Acquiring Gomez at last year’s trade deadline is a great example.

This is definitely something the Los Angeles Angels would like instead of having a high percentage of their payroll tied up to aging players…some of which aren’t even on the team anymore (cough, Josh Hamilton, cough).

So, which do you think is worse?

1. Admitting what’s happening isn’t working and completely tearing everything down to start building a long-term contender from scratch.
2. Wasting the prime years of your best player because reckless past spending has caused ownership to hesitate for fear of going over the luxury tax, even though there’s no perceived help coming from the farm system any time soon.

As painful as it is to sit through a complete rebuild, the Astros showed that if teams stick to the plan and focus on developing talent from within, it’s the quickest way to get back to consistent contention.

From 2011-15, the Angels have spent close to $730 million for on-field talent, while the Astros have spent nearly $290 million. Coincidentally enough, they’ve both only made the postseason once during that time. So, should owners be spending money to improve the on-field product? Absolutely, but simply spending money doesn’t guarantee a winner. It’s how this money is invested that makes the difference.

Thanks for reading! Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter so we can get through a winter without baseball together: @mmusico8.