The Astros have hired Jeff Luhnow as their new general manager, tweets MLB.com's Brian McTaggart. The Astros have confirmed the hiring in a team release, with a press conference scheduled for Thursday afternoon.
Luhnow was previously employed as the vice president of player procurement for the Cardinals. He will take over the Astros job that was held by Ed Wade until he was dismissed a week and a half ago. Dave Gottfried served as the interim GM while the Astros conducted interviews searching for Wade's replacement.
Jeff Lee
Luh…. Now?
Ferrariman
i believe it is pronouced Loo’no
Mikelo22
Good for Luhnow. He was very underrated in the Cards scouting/development program over the years. He will be missed in STL.
dkhits20
Who?
Ryan Knox
Wow, didn’t see him getting this job, there goes the Cardinals farm system…
cards2WS
Yep. Wow. I’m very disappointed.
Ryan Knox
He’s the man who played a big role in driving Walt Jocketty out of town, then revamped the Cardinals farm system, I’m sure there’s a few Cardinals in our farm system he’d love to bring over to Houston, sadly, Houston has little to nothing to offer.
STEVEBARTMAN_MVP
LOL the Cardinals have a terrible system.
gtl11
Looks like you’re trolling… but the Cardinals undoubtedly have one of the top 10 systems in baseball. Lunhow was a huge part of that turn around
STEVEBARTMAN_MVP
A top 10 farm? Don’t kid yourself seriously? Who besides Shelby Miller is even a top 100 prospect?
gtl11
Miller, Martinez, Taveras and Wong are all firmly in the top 100. I expect Tyrell Jenkins to be in about 80% of top 100 lists, but he’ll be held off of some due to limited number of innings. Rosenthal, Cox, Adams, Cleto and Swaggery will all make their way onto some but not most lists. Besides, there’s just huge amount of depth. All of the top 20 guys look at the very least like part time players. I’d love for you to find ONE person who doesn’t put the Cards’ farm in the top 10.
Jeffy25
They have a surprisingly deep system. Very under-rated really. Sickels already released his list, and the Cardinals were top 15 pretty easily, with several solid specs. They have quietly developed low caliber players into looking like decent roll players. There aren’t a lot of studs/future franchise stars down in their system, but they have some certain big leaguers. Which is why they have moved up so quietly and quickly
Joe
Yes I would be very disappointed too. Especially after your team winning the WS.
bvw87
Great move. Stros might be competitive in years to come.
cards2WS
Luhnow is good, but not a magician.
STEVEBARTMAN_MVP
The Cards will soon be in the same boat as Houston.
Joe Huber
Whoa… that came out of nowhere. Do the Cardinals get anything out of this?
Ferrariman
He deserves a shot. Built a cardinals farm system that was in years and years of nothingness under Jocketty/Mano to a respectable one which eventually helped foster a world champion on the strength of its cheap high impact role players. Astros made a logical choice
cards2WS
I wonder who replaces him? Internal promotion I presume.
Ferrariman
if i were to guess, its John Vuch.
cards2WS
We had better be able to get some kind of compensation. He was a main reason we had guys like Craig, Jay, Garcia, Rasmus, Motte, Boggs, Cruz, Shelby, C. Martinez, Cox, and Wong.
grant77
It’s always tough to lose a good employee, but a true fan should be happy that he found a better job and wish him well, at least in my opinion.
cards2WS
I’m sad to see him go, but I am glad he’ll have a chance for some recognition as a very good baseball guy. I never once said I wish he had not gotten the opportunity, or that I was not happy for him. He contributed a lot to this team, and I’m thankful for what he’s done. He’s gone though, and I’m disappointed he’s leaving us, but I realize he went somewhere he can really show if he can be successful.
YohannDookeyblue
Smart move. I am a big fan of Crane’s decisions so far. From what Ive read about Lunhow he seems to have a slightly different newer take on sabermetrics. And judging from the WS win, it works! Very exciting.
mickblue66
Luhnow has done some good things for the Cards but he is quite over-rated by most Cardinal fans. People seem to forget this is the guy who insisted to Tony LaRussa that he bat Albert leadoff to get more AB’s. He also hasn’t drafted as well as people seem to think
Adam
I’ve never heard the thing about Albert, but I agree that he has been over-rated.
gtl11
What makes you say that? The Cardinals’ system has gone from one of the worst to one of the best since he took over. I’m not saying he deserves all the credit for that, but if not him, who?
Jeffy25
Pujols batting leadoff wouldn’t have been the worst thing in the world, but he should have been hitting cleanup all these years.
2ndedition
Think there will be any Red-Astro trades in the future?
mickblue66
Unfortunately knowing Mozeliak I’m sure there will be, he probably won’t even realize that Luhnow has the upper hand knowing the Cards system better than him.
Lanidrac
He said Reds-Astros, not Cardinals-Astros.
As for the actual question, probably not, seeing as Luhnow was the guy who basically got Jocketty fired from the Cardinals in the first place.
On a related note, now that Luhnow is gone, is there any chance we can rehire our old bullpen coach (I forget his name)?
Royal_beating
Marty Mason
richardb21
Nice maybe Oquendo to follow? Not that Mills needs to go just a thought…
mickblue66
Interesting thought…most new GM’s want to have “their” guy in the manager position. If they have another 100 loss season this year no matter how gutted the roster is then I think Mills is gone no matter how unfair it is
clonger
Luhnow is super smart. Great hire by the Astros.
highski
Cards fan here – congrats to Jeff! Well deserved! Best of luck!
StanleyPujols
The fact that the Cardinals fired Walt Jockettty due to him disagreeing with Lunhow’s plan, should tell you how highly this guy was regarded by the Cardinals. Also, his players were EXTREMELY instrumental in helping the team win a championship.
Say goodbye to overpriced relievers, Houston! I assure you that no more Brandon Lyon signings are coming!
Adam
I’d say the jury is still out. I’d like to see what Rasmus does with the rest of his career. So far, he’s been a bust and while the guys the Cards got for him were important for winning the series, there’s not much else to show for it. Tyler Greene and Pete Kozma are already busts in my book. Sanchez and Lynn are looking pretty good though. Too soon to tell on the other guys he’s responsible for drafting…
StanleyPujols
The fact that the Cardinals fired Walt Jockettty due to him disagreeing with Lunhow’s plan, should tell you how highly this guy was regarded by the Cardinals. Also, his players were EXTREMELY instrumental in helping the team win a championship.
Say goodbye to overpriced relievers, Houston! I assure you that no more Brandon Lyon signings are coming!
tightenupthen
Not a good choice. A National League office man that never played pro baseball, had nothing to do with the Cards surprise World Series titles in 2006, 2012, and was probably hired on the strength of his loyalty and ability to follow instructions. The Pirates need a general manager that understands “the money ball principle” and fully understands baseball with the designated hitter. I don’t know if this guy fits the bill to lead the Pirates out of the lower class status, even below many newer franchises that don’t have the history and honor of the Buccos..
tony mengden
wtf are you talking about? The Astros hired him, not the Pirates
Jeffy25
and they won in 06 and 11, not 12. There are more mistakes in that post, but there is no point.
Zack Glasser
The national league doesnt have a DH.
tightenupthen
Not a good choice. A National League office man that never played pro baseball, had nothing to do with the Cards surprise World Series titles in 2006, 2012, and was probably hired on the strength of his loyalty and ability to follow instructions. The Pirates need a general manager that understands “the money ball principle” and fully understands baseball with the designated hitter. I don’t know if this guy fits the bill to lead the Pirates out of the lower class status, even below many newer franchises that don’t have the history and honor of the Buccos..
Ben Cook
So glad that assistant Royals GM J.J. Picollo wasn’t hired….as a Royals fan I want to keep the guy that’s been the force behind the Royals farm system.
mwilly33
As an Astros fan it’s encouraging to see the nice things all the Cards fans have to say about our new guy… Obviously, we’ve got a long road ahead of us and based off what I’ve heard and read about Lunhow, it seems like we’ve got a good guy to get us there…at least I hope so.
For all the negativity around Wade, he did kick start the rebuild, and when the team is successful, it’ll be with the players he acquired last season…plus any new Lunhow pickups for Wandy, Myers, or Lee… Let’s get started!
stroh
Once Friedman indicated he would not be available, I thought Luhnow was the next best choice. As an Astros fan, I have a lot of respect for what the Cardinals have done, and Luhnow was a key player there.
Jeffrey Mosblech
That’s a great hire by the ‘Stros and bad loss to the Cards organization.
GoAstros00
Maybe Luhnow will some how get Houston to acquire the next Albert Pujols.