Will type it up later today. I won't be able to share everything, as he asked to keep some of it confidential. but let me say this -- I walked away VERY impressed by Jeff, and believe we're in good hands. He's absolutely perfect for the job.
Ok finally I can report back. As mentioned, I can't share everything, as Jeff told us some things in confidence, but I'll give you a good sample of the shareable stuff. I spent about 90 mins talking with Jeff L, spoke with Jim Crane a while, Jose Cruz a while, Bobby Heck and some of the other guys in the baseball operations office. First off, as mentioned, Jeff is perfect for the job. He understands exactly what it will take to get the Astros competitive. I walked away thinking extremely highly of him, and suspect the Cardinals will miss him more than a certain former first baseman! I can safely say that we're in good hands. Very good hands. Stream of consciousness notes below: • Jeff reads the message boards and does his own twitter. He seemed liked he really enjoyed them! (Hi Jeff!) • The team's colors will change – they used to be the colors of Drayton's company, and once Crane found out about that, he wanted to get rid of them – will need to change a bunch of stuff around the stadium with that • Jeff thinks the fans will really like the new uniforms (I can't say more there) • Likely not competitive for minimum 3 years (urgh) • Strong consideration to moving the AAA team soon (can't say more there, sorry) • Psychological tests – they look for guys who will work hard, not those who think they'll get by on God-given talent • They look at a number of other metrics like trajectory of ball off the bat – sabremetrics guys can't look at that • They totally redid the evaluation of all players when they showed up • The 1st pick in the draft literally came down to the last couple hours on Appel / Correa • Would not go after Josh Hamilton – not the player they'd pursue (exact opposite of what they're after) • They study mechanics of pitchers and rank those with perfect mechanics. avoids injuries later • There may or may not be a "home field advantage" while the Astros are batting at MMP! good luck figuring it out • Jeff is looking for somebody to work for him and do analytics. He wants somebody 2-3 years about of b-school (MBA) and VERY good quant-wise. email me at bigtexxx@gmail.com if you have any ideas and I'll pass along
Thanks! Lots of useful insights into the new organization. Seems like Jeff Luhnow and the gang are following the integrated stathead/scouting model popular with most new GMs. The more information the better. The two insights I noted were the hard-worker one and the AAA-affiliate one. They have to feel hamstrung by the old regime's trade for Schafer. He's the antithesis of their beliefs. I'm honestly shocked they want to leave OKC; that is not the affiliate I had in mind (looking at you Lancaster). And if Jeff Luhnow is reading this: I nominate tellitlikeitis as the new Director of Social Media.
