KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow has brains and guts. He promises there will be glory down the road for his rebuilding-from-the-bottom-up team.
Luhnow has taken a wrecking ball to his team. The Astros might make a run at the 1962 Mets, who managed 40 victories.
Until the bleeding stops, though, the AL West results could prove devastating to the Yankees.
Luhnow is all-in on rebuilding, but here is the “Houston, we have a problem’’ facing the Yankees: The Astros being dreadful will give the top teams in the AL West a scheduling advantage. Texas, Oakland and the Angels should feast on the Astros, playing them 19 times, pumping up their records and putting them in a better position to make the playoffs while teams from the AL East beat up each other.
The Yankees play the Astros six times.
There is the possibility both AL wild-card teams could come out of the West, making it imperative the Yankees win the East. Not that Luhnow buys it.
“There’s going to be unbalanced scheduling in the league all the time,’’ Luhnow told The Post yesterday in his office overlooking Osceola County Stadium. “I will tell you that last year in September, the Phillies came to Houston, they were still in it, by the time they left; they were out of it.’’
Luhnow can’t worry about that, though. He is doing what’s best for his team. He insists the no-name, no-payroll Astros are not going to just roll over and die.
“We’re going to get up for every series,’’ said the second-year GM, who built the Cardinals’ No. 1 ranked farm system before coming to the Astros. “We’re going to get up for every game. We’re certainly not going to roll over for anybody. We’re going to make life as miserable as we possibly can for anybody who comes to Minute Maid, for anybody who sees us come to town.’’
Get the top draft pick, make the right choice and a franchise can turn around quickly. The Astros selected shortstop Carlos Correa No. 1 last June.
The Nationals made the most of No. 1 picks Stephen Strasburg (2009) and Bryce Harper (2010). The Rays got David Price No. 1 in 2007.
Luhnow was proud to note that one ranking of the Astros’ farm system has moved it from 27th to fourth in 12 months.
“We’re hoping that by laying that foundation quickly and improving the system quickly, we’re going to start to see the results at the big league level as soon as this year,’’ Luhnow said.
Luhnow believes jumping from the NL Central to the mighty AL West will help the Astros.
“I tell my daughter all the time that if she wants to become a better tennis player, she needs to play the best tennis players that she can find,’’ Luhnow said. “We’re going to get better just by definition because we’re going to be playing such good teams all the time.
“We have a unique situation in that with a new ownership group, switching leagues, we have a blank slate. When Jim [Crane] bought the team he inherited a team that had one of the worst minor league systems in baseball and the worst record at the big league level. You’ve got to start somewhere and we decided we’re going to start with filling the pipeline and getting that straight.’’
Fifty percent of the 40-man roster is new from last year. There are no stars, but many new prospects. The payroll is projected to be $25 million — and $5 million of that is going to Wandy Rodriguez, who is pitching for the Pirates.
Diminutive second baseman Jose Altuve was the team’s lone all-star last season. The rest of the roster will be filled with the likes of fading strikeout machine Carlos Pena, ex-Met prospects Philip Humber and Fernando Martinez, and about 20 guys most fans outside Houston have never heard of.
“We know the expectations are low among the pundits, but we fully intend to exceed those expectations and show our fans that the Astros are on the rise,” Luhnow said. “The Astros are a team of the future and this is a team that’s going to win championships in the not too far future.”
The Astros are all-in on a complete makeover.
The Yankees better take care of their business in the AL East.