Jeff Luhnow became a polarizing figure in the Cardinals front office. Many old-school baseball guys bristled at his new-age thinking.
His willingness to tap unconventional resources – stat guys, bloggers, baseball outsiders with oddball theories -- drove some folks nuts.
Luhnow became one of Bill DeWitt Jr.’s favorite employees. His ascension to player development czar and the resulting turmoil drove general manager Walt Jocketty from the organization.
But Luhnow got results, both through the amateur draft and international signings. While the Cardinals quickly assembled a small army of prospects that helped them win the 2011 World Series championship, former powerhouse Houston fell behind by failing to develop MLB-ready prospects.
This is why the Astros hired Luhnow as their new general manager Wednesday night.
This hiring was quite a turn of events for Luhnow. The Cards clipped his wings after last season by stripping him of daily, hands-on farm system control.
Now Luhnow moves on to the mammoth challenge of rebuilding an entire organization. He is brimming with confidence and ambition, so the fun is about to start in Houston.
He is starting from scratch. The Astros finished last season 56-106. New owner Jim Crane expects Luhnow to trade off the remaining big-salary veterans, Wandy Rodriguez, Brett Myers and Carlos Lee, for younger players.
Once that happens, the franchise will have no veterans under contract beyond the 2012 season. Luhnow’s task will be to start over as Houston prepares to move to the American League and begin a rivalry with the Texas Rangers, the two-time AL pennant winners.
This team has a few front-line prospects, including former top Cardinal pick Brett Wallace. What it needs to develop, ASAP, is the sort of depth that served St. Louis so well as it overcame a spate of injuries to win it all last season.
(Among those overjoyed by Luhnow’s hiring: former Cards pinch-hitter Nick Stavinoha, one of the college stars Jeff drafted to provide instant depth for St. Louis. Thick Nick signed with the Astros as a minor league free agent after his monstrous season in Memphis. Hello Crawford Boxes!”)
Given Luhnow’s knowledge of the Cardinal farm system -– and his love of particular prospects -- he and John Mozeliak could do some business moving forward.
In the near term, Luhnow may try to poach some of the top Cardinal field operatives to get his party started. Bobby Heck, Houston’s current player development boss, upgraded the Astros drafting in recent years.
But the results haven’t been exceptional and Luhnow will want some of his own guys at his side. The next few weeks should be interesting.
The only sad aspect of all this is Houston’s departure from the National League Central. Luhnow, Jocketty and Mozeliak could have enjoyed quite the executive competition.
Luhnow will make things better . . . because they can’t possibly get worse in Houston. Whether he can build a juggernaut remains to be seen. Either way, the rebuilding process won’t be dull.
As for the Cardinals, Luhnow’s exit, like Tony La Russa’s departure, gives Mozeliak an opportunity to expand his bandwith. He must find the right leader to build on Luhnow’s good work and maintain the self-renewing talent base currently in place.
He must also prevent Luhnow from stealing the best and brightest members of his scouting department.
A fascinating offseason for the Cardinals just got even more interesting.
