The Astros kicked off a new era when they hired Jeff Luhnow to be their new GM earlier this month, and now they’re looking to fill out the rest of their front office. Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports report that the Astros have interviewed ESPN’s Keith Law for a number of front office roles, including the position of scouting director. They have not yet made him an offer, however.
The FOX duo report that Law met with Luhnow and club president George Postolos last week. Before joining ESPN in 2006, Law spent four and a half years with the Blue Jays as a special assistant to then-GM J.P. Ricciardi.
kräftig. entschieden
This addition would make the Astros perennial leaders in snark.
Minnewaska
Unqualified GM trades closer for a bag of balls, then hires unqualified assistant. Yikes! what a start. AL West is gonna love the Stro’s next year and years to come until the new owner figures it out. LA, Tex will have a field day against these guys, even Sea and Oak will dominate…
Steve A.
did you even look at the Astros 40-man roster before you made this comment? what good is melancon if the team is going to lose 90 games? the acquisition of lowrie holds more promise than chumming for orlando cabrera or ryan theriot. weiland gives you an arm to help fill out your rotation, which could see wandy rodriguez and brett myers leave via trade. the Astros can have Brandon Lyon fill the closer role until ineffectiveness or injury prevents him from it.
i think you’re delusional if you think the Astros won’t, at the very least, come in ahead of the A’s in two years.
call jeff luhnow not experienced as a GM, but don’t say he’s unqualified. the Cardinals won two world championships with him in their scouting department. the same goes for Keith Law, who spent 4-5 years in the Blue Jays front office.
by the way, the team is the Houston Astros, not Astro. if you’re going to criticize, make sure you get your grammar straight.
Andy_B
Melancon is a closer on a bad team, he’s a 7th inning reliever on most teams. Getting Jed Lowrie for him is a good trade and is the start of the Astros heading in the right direction.
Keith Law is a very smart guy, Law’s problem is he tries to be a little too smart. Too many times Law will take a position just so that he can position himself as the smartest guy in the room, that doesn’t work in a leadership position.
Daniel Stern
great analysis c/c Law; why he rubs a lot of people the wrong way to a point it distracts from the content of his message
Sean
hahahahahahaha
steve2345
ewww…. gross
brocnessmonster
Interesting. Been reading him since 2006, would love to see how his ideas would pan out.
Matt Bracken
What GM could take this guy seriously at this point in his career? Keith Law is good at being a jerk online, hardly a qualified GM candidate in today’s game.
YanksFanSince78
”
The Astros kicked off a new era when they hired Jeff Luhnow to be their new GM earlier this month”.
Guess you missed that part.
Law is good at evaluating talent and my guess is he would be used for some sort of scouting/player evaluation purpose of current minor leaguers or amateurs.
Gumby65
First for me—I liked 3 replies in a single post (so far) 🙂
“Insider” comment touche’ amazing!
BeisbolJunkie
I bet Law is the type of guy who wears a tux to a job interview
andrewyf
It’s infinitely easier to be a sportswriter than someone who actually has to deliver valuable scouting reports. Hopefully Law has enough introspection to realize he has it good where he is now.
5_tool_MiLB_fool
Can keith law write an insider opinion on this?
Lars Chunks
Yes because no one will be able to read it.
2001morecowbell2001
The Astros kicked off a new era when they hired Jeff Luhnow to be their new GM earlier this month, and now they’re looking to fill out the rest of their front office. Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports report that the Astros have interviewed ESPN’s Keith Law for a…..
To read more from Mike on Keith Law going to the Astros and other non important baseball-ish related news, sign up for ESPN Insider
Ohhhplease
jumped the shark…….so three minutes ago
epearson001
I think this is the wrong usage of “jumping the shark”, FYI. The phrase indicates when someone has jumped to the punchline of the joke or a highly anticipated idea in a story too early in its telling. “Beat you to the punch” would be a much more accurate phrase.
2001morecowbell2001
Veronica Corningstone: “Oh, well, when in Rome.”
Ron Burguyndy:“Yes?….. Please, go on.”
Veronica Corningstone:“Uh, do as the Romans do?…It’s an old expression.”Ron Burgundy: “Oh! I’ve never heard of it.Veronica Corningstone:“Oh.”Ron Burgundy:“It’s wonderful, though.”
rashomon
No, “jumping the shark” means that the narrative has fully entered the realm of the absurd, usually in a play for attention. It comes from an episode of Happy Days, when Fonzie spits in the face of fear, straps on his water skis and jumps the shark.
epearson001
I see you know how to use wikipedia, but unfortunately, this is where wiki fails and where reading comprehension and knowledge of its current usage comes into play.
An event doesn’t have to be merely “absurd” to say that something jumped the shark. It is the point of a fundamental flaw in a narrative or event. You could say that Big Bang Theory “jumped the shark” when Leonard and Penny got together. If you were republican you might say that the country “jumped the shark” by electing president Obama. You could also say that Ohhhplease jumped the shark on this post by using the phrase incorrectly.
rashomon
I’m sorry, but now you’re giving a different explanation for it than what you mentioned above. Maybe if you keep doing that, one of them will be right.
epearson001
The two statements are not mutually exclusive. The second statement is just a more complete definition. It still doesn’t change the fact that you have an outdated definition and that the original usage as stated above was incorrect.
Jason_F
You are so completely wrong. It refers to the episode of Happy Days where the Fonz literally jumps a shark on a waterski, signalling the point in the show’s existence in which it was well past its prime.
epearson001
Thanks for repeating exactly the same garbage that Jasenn said. I give you the fact that you can read the first four sentences in wikipedia. If you read further into the definition, you will see that you, sir, are the one with the outdated and incorrect definition.
Jason_F
First of all, I didn’t consult any online directory for my definition. You see, I have this amazing directory in my head called a brain. I happen to be just old enough to know the phrase from its origination. Just because the generation that followed me perverted the definition doesn’t mean that the original meaning is “outdated and incorrect.” It is similar to how the use of the term ‘ironic’ has been so pervasively misused, that now a vast majority of the population uses it incorrectly. It doesn’t mean it is correct.
Jason_F
I’m trying to figure out why you would post a reply to me and then erase it. How is my logic flawed, oh wise one?
mattinglyfan
Astros are probably just looking for a new Head of Twitter Operations, no big deal.
MB923
I’d rather hear Keith Law confirm this then Rosenthal and Morosi
aricollins
Baseball would be a poorer place without his snark. And I’d miss his blog posts about books, food, and board games.
Astros could use some stat guys to say, “No, do not give one hundred million dollars to Carlos Lee. NO. BAD GM. NO!”
nm344
Wasn’t he in that exact position when Ricciardi was extending Vernon Wells?
hk99
The Wells extension was signed after Law left the Blue Jays.
YanksFanSince78
”
During his time with the Blue Jays, he acted as a major league and minor league scout, contract negotiator, and provided assistance to the team’s marketing and sales staffs”.- wiki
My guess is he wouldn’t have the authority to have any major influence in a deal involving tens or hundreds of millions but was primarily used for the minor leaguers and draft.
melonis_rex
I’m pretty sure Luhnow wouldn’t forbid him from writing about books, food, and board games.
0bsessions
Seems feasible to me, I don’t think Omar Minaya’s had a single blog post about books, food and board games since being hired by the Padres.
Blue387
Omar’s food posts would involve heating up leftovers.
Blue387
Omar’s food posts would involve heating up leftovers.
Hal_Jordan77
Luhnow mentioned in a chat that he’d like to create a new executive position that would oversee both scouting and player development. Not sure if Law is the right guy for that job, or if it’s what they’re discussing.
Bluejaysnation
I respect Law’s baseball knowledge and think he’d be a good hire for the Astro’s. I’m pretty sure he did well in his role in Toronto.
Guest 5455
And JP got canned …
Bluejaysnation
Not sure I get ur comment bout JP??
hk99
Law was an assistant to JP, who left before JP gave Wells the extension. Should JP have not gotten canned?
Bluejaysnation
Definitely! JP never had a clue what he was doing as GM.
Efrain Cortes
agreed his current job as special assistant to a GM is better suited…same for Depodesta..
Guest 5454
NIL
loadtimes
I love you Klaw!
Colin Christopher
Interesting that the network KLaw works for didn’t get the scoop on this story.
optionn
Since when has any MLB team thought Keith Law knew what he was talking about to make him more than an assistant of an assistant?
TimotheusATL
wonder if he has a monthly updated ranking list for brands of coffee to get for the general manager
sportfan
The Astros Interview Keith Law so they could get a free membership to ESPN insider
BeisbolJunkie
@SteveA
Are you serious? Are you blind or deaf? The A’s just stockpiled a boatload of talent that was mostly either MLB rookie ready or ready within the next 2 years. I Not to mention they already had some good prospects unlike the Astros. Pending the stadium situation, I see them being contenders ALOT sooner than the Astros.
Ryan H
A lot is two words…
FrankTheFunkasaurusRex
this little guy disagrees
Steve A.
you act like the A’s are perennial contenders for the AL West crown. they won the AL West in 2006 but have since finished higher than second only once. plus, i never said contenders, i said higher than the A’s.
the trades the Astros made for Jarred Cosart, Jonathan Singleton, Domingo Santana, Paul Clemens, Jordan Schafer and Jimmy Paredes have or will yield multiple major leaguers. the player obtained with Paredes (Melancon) was used to obtain Lowrie and Weiland. One (Lowrie) or both will break camp with the 2012 squad, barring injury.
what do you think the Astros could get for Wandy Rodriguez, or Bud Norris should they choose to field offers for them? I’m sure Norris would bring back a package close to what the A’s received for Gio Gonzalez. Rodriguez likely gets the team one blue-chipper plus one or two additional promising prospects back.
the A’s trade players because they can’t hang money wise, the Astros have to trade them because they refused to rebuild 3-4 years ago.
BeisbolJunkie
If they wanna rebuild, rip the band-aid off, don’t slowly pull it off. I’m not an A’s fan, nor an astros hater. But I don’t see the Astros finishing ahead of the A’s this year, next year, or the next year, if that is how they are rebuilding.