[LetsGoMocs]

The Houston Astros are loathed in the baseball world right now. Cameras, trash cans, buzzers, cheaters, asterisks, suspensions, firings. These are the buzzwords that surround the franchise at the moment.

In 2011, other sorts of unenviable adjectives described the Astros. Garbage, Lastros, Trashstros (that has a double meaning now), minor-league, putrid. The list goes on-and-on.

What if, in December of 2011, the Astros never hired Jeff Luhnow? What if Jeff Luhnow were never there to hire A.J. Hinch, who hired Alex Cora?

In this universe, the Astros will hire a different candidate, which will be addressed in the next post. It will be the job of that candidate to win...and to win the right way.

This save starts with the 2011 season, although the story begins in earnest in the twilight of 2011, when I will take over control of the Astros. For the 2011 season, historical lineups and transactions are on. That will change on Dec. 7, 2011, when I will take that off, and run the Astros as I see fit for the rest of the decade. The goal? Can I win as much (or more) and as quickly as Jeff Luhnow and his regime did, but my regime will do it correctly, with no cheating.

The next post will be a rundown of the events of the 2011 season in the sim. The post after that will be an introduction of Houston's new GM (while I'll be pulling the strings, it will be through the name of a very realistic candidate the Astros pursued in real life). After that we'll meet the team, and continue the story from there.

If you like the idea, bang the thanks button. Only do it once though. Twice will cross up the signs.