Paul White

USA TODAY Sports

The Houston Astros have drawn plenty of attention, including significant criticism, for their long-term building plan, and certainly for some of their methods along the way. But general manager Jeff Luhnow, architect of the plan, all along has insisted he has the backing of ownership.

There's little doubt of that today after Luhnow fired manager Bo Porter and bench coach Dave Trembley amid increasing reports of an ongoing rift between Luhnow and Porter.

Luhnow left little doubt about the motivation in his statement regarding the move, which puts longtime coach and instructor Tom Lawless in charge of the team that's fourth in the American League East with a 59-79 record. Lawless was serving as a roving instructor in the team's minor league system.

Lawless, 57, is a former infielder with St. Louis, Cincinnati, Toronto and Montreal. His most memorable moment was a game-winning homer for the Cardinals in Game 4 of the 1987 World Series but Lawless also is the only player ever traded for Pete Rose. He's managed several teams in the Houston system.

"This decision was not made because of our current level of competitiveness in the Major Leagues," Luhnow said in a statement. "I recognize that our win-loss record is largely a product of an organizational strategy for which I am responsible. Rather, I made this decision because I believe we need a new direction in our clubhouse."

Luhnow clearly wants to determine that direction, a significant shift from his strong backing of the fiery, emotional Porter.

Porter took over the Astros, his first major league managing job, after the 2012 season. He previously was on the coaching staffs of the Washington Nationals, Arizona Diamondbacks and Florida Marlins, and managed in the Marlins minor league system.

A former outfielder with the Chicago Cubs, Porter brought along the football mentality and intensity that came from his days as a starting defensive back at the University of Iowa.

"He not only has the charisma of a preacher or a politician, but he backs it up by having a deep knowledge of the game," Luhnow said of Porter last year. "That combination is incredibly powerful."

We know today who's more powerful in the Astros hierarchy – Luhnow, who others on the Astros staff say often weighed in with Porter on in-game strategy and even lineup composition.

Owner Jim Crane has, visibly at least, remained out of the fray. But Luhnow has been taking increased heat from various directions this summer. Previously, the real controversy revolved around the GM's plan to retool the struggling franchise from the ground up through a combination of analytics and innovative – and sometimes controversial – instruction.

Outside assessments range from anointing the Astros a budding power with one of the strongest collections of prospects in baseball to a mad-science operation doomed to falter in the day-to-day realities of baseball.

Luhnow came from the successful St. Louis Cardinals player development program, but his strong personality didn't always mesh smoothly with Cardinals GM John Mozeliak.

This year, Luhnow has run afoul of agents and the players' union over his handling of unsuccessful negotiations with draft picks, including first overall selection Brady Aiken. The Astros were unable to sign Aiken, Brady Nix and Mac Marshall. Possible grievances over the Aiken and Nix cases are pending.

Other major league front offices were upset earlier when a security breach resulted in confidential logs of trade talks appearing on Deadspin.

Crane has said he's willing to deal with the attendance issues that come with the rebuilding plan and 100-plus loss seasons the past three years – the three worst in the franchise's 53-year history. The Astros are on pace for 93 losses this season and are ahead of the Texas Rangers, their injury-riddled in-state rivals, in the AL West.

While Crane has been loyal to Luhnow's plan, he's also brought franchise icons Nolan Ryan and Craig Biggio into the club's management team and Ryan's son Reid is the Astros president of business operations.

For now, Luhnow still wields much of the influence. Come 2017 or so - when Sports Illustrated predicted the Astros would win the World Series - we'll know whether he was more genius, or mad scientist.