Luhnow: Astros feel urgency to have aggressive offseason

The Houston Astros are looking to become the American League version of the Chicago Cubs.

Armed with an abundance of young talent, the Astros are feeling urgency to make acquisitions, thus complimenting their promising core with veteran players via free agency or through the trade market.

"We're going to be more aggressive this offseason than we have been the last few years," Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow told MLB Network on Wednesday.

A slow start in 2016 cost Houston the chance to reach the postseason, but the team returns an enviable core of George Springer, Alex Bregman, Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, and Dallas Keuchel.

Luhnow's main areas to address this winter are the outfield, behind the plate, and at first base - and there are plenty of options. Edwin Encarnacion, Jose Bautista, Yoenis Cespedes, Mark Trumbo, Dexter Fowler, and Matt Wieters are all free agents, while names like Miguel Cabrera and Justin Upton have begun to populate trade rumors.

"I think in the past we've sat back a little bit and let things come to us and see what happens in the market, knowing that we weren't going to set the market in any way, shape or form," Luhnow told Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle on Tuesday.

"But I think now we do feel a sense of urgency. We feel some pressure to surround our exciting young core with some other players, and we're going to do everything we can to make that happen."