Jeff Luhnow to be guest on Astroline Thursday

HOUSTON, TX - Astros General Manager Jeff Luhnow will be the final guest on Astroline which concludes this Thursday, March 26, at 8 p.m. ET (7 p.m. CT), and airs from the ESPN Club at Disney's BoardWalk in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Astros radio color commentator and former Major League pitcher Steve Sparks will serve as the host.

Thursday's Astroline, which is presented by Karbach Brewing Co., will air on KBME SportsTalk 790 AM and will stream online at Astros.com/Astroline. Astroline broadcasts live, weekly from 7-8 p.m. CT during the offseason. On-site locations for Astroline are open to the public with no admission charge. 

Fans can submit questions to the show via Twitter using the hashtag #Astroline, before and during the show. Fans may also post questions on the Astros Facebook page at www.facebook.com/Astros. As always, fans will also have the option to call the show with questions at 713-212-5790. 

Since being named Astros GM during the 2011 Winter Meetings, Luhnow has made a multitude of trades and overseen three amateur drafts all while emphasizing the Astros long-term plan to rebuild through a strong farm system. To build on a 19-win improvement from 2013-14, Luhnow and his staff made several acquisitions this offseason to bolster a young and promising core of players. Major Leaguers such as Hank Conger, Evan Gattis, Luke Gregerson, Roberto Hernandez, Jed Lowrie, Pat Neshek, Colby Rasmus and Luis Valbuena were among the players added via trade or free agency. In January, ESPN's Keith Law ranked the Astros minor league system third among all 30 organizations. Law also ranked five Astros in his list of 100 top-prospects, four of whom were either drafted or acquired by Luhnow (#3 Correa, #44 Appel, #73 Moran and #76 Phillips).

Sparks enters his third season as the Astros radio color commentator after being named to the post on Feb. 13, 2013. Prior to joining the Astros radio broadcast team, Sparks served as a pre- and postgame analyst for Astros television games over several seasons following a 17-year playing career. A knuckleballer in his playing days, Sparks pitched in the Major Leagues in parts of nine seasons (1995-2004) for the Brewers, Angels, Tigers, A's and Diamondbacks. His best season came in 2001 for Detroit when he went 14-9 with a 3.65 ERA and a Major League-best eight complete games while tallying 232.0 innings pitched. 

*Media Note- Media wishing to interview Jeff Luhnow are asked to arrive by 7:45 p.m. ET.

-ASTROS-