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Jeff Luhnow has graciously agreed to answer questions from GRB posters!

Jeff Luhnow is Cardinals Vice President of Player Procurement. The Cardinals hired Jeff a with the aim to use technology to help them scout and evaluate players more efficiently, from amateurs to the minors to the big leagues.

This session will be coordinated in accordance with our Q & A Guidelines. All questions must be submited by June-29-06.

Thank you to Jeff for taking the time out of your busy schedule to chat with us on such an up close and personal level. I would also like to thank all of you for making GRB such a great place to discuss Cardinal baseball!


-Michael

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Very impressive!

Possible questions:

What was your "game plan" going in to this draft, and did ownership indicate anything to you regarding how much money was available to sign draftees?

How would you grade your first draft with the Cardinals, including your favorite pick?

How soon should we judge this year's draft, considering there were already people judging it the day it happened?

How many major leaguers, on a per-year basis, do you expect the academies in the D.R. and Venezuela to contribute?

If you could add another baseball academy in a third country, where would it be?

Jeff-

Thank you so much for taking this time to answer our questions.

One of the initiatives that's taken place since you've joined the organization is the beefing-up of international academies. Clearly, they take a while to start netting results for multiple reasons. What's your timetable for seeing the academies really flesh out the organizational depth chart?

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There's a lot to be said for making people laugh. Did you know that that's all some people have? It isn't much, but it's better than nothing in this cockeyed caravan.
-John L. Sullivan, Sullivan's Travels (1941)

One of the things that has been very obvious is the plan of the organization in its draft strategies under your watch. For instance, last summer (the 2005 draft), it seemed obvious that since you had extra picks, you could gamble a bit more with a few picks (Mark McCormick, for instance). You had more wiggle room to be creative. Conversely, in 2004, the farm system was barren enough that you needed an emphasis on college kids to flesh out the system with organizational depth right away.

What's the overriding factor in developing a draft strategy? Is it the current state of organizational depth? Best player available? Signability?

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There's a lot to be said for making people laugh. Did you know that that's all some people have? It isn't much, but it's better than nothing in this cockeyed caravan.
-John L. Sullivan, Sullivan's Travels (1941)

Jeff-

When looking at pitchers, particularly college pitchers, how much does pitchability enter the equation? It would seem that a pitcher can have the most electric arm in the world, but if he can't command it, then it's wasted energy.

_________________
There's a lot to be said for making people laugh. Did you know that that's all some people have? It isn't much, but it's better than nothing in this cockeyed caravan.
-John L. Sullivan, Sullivan's Travels (1941)

Jeff-

Is there any sort of correlation that you can draw between a potential draftee's tools, and the likelihood of his reaching his ceiling? Are there certain players that are more likely to reach their ceiling? Along those lines, how much weight does something like a player's makeup enter into the equation when evaluating a draft prospect?

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There's a lot to be said for making people laugh. Did you know that that's all some people have? It isn't much, but it's better than nothing in this cockeyed caravan.
-John L. Sullivan, Sullivan's Travels (1941)

Jeff-

I've always wondered if the various tools were weighted by a player's projected position when compiling the player's Current and OFP score. For instance, a catcher's run score doesn't mean nearly as much as the run score does for a SS or a CF. On the other hand, a catcher or RF throw score means a lot more than a 1B's throw score. So, as a purely hypothetical scenario, I'd think an OFP score could be created like so:

C: [(Throw Score * 2) + (Range * .6) + (Hit Average * 1) + (Hit Power * 1) + (Speed * .3)]/5

1B: [(Throw Score * .5) + (Range * .8) + (Hit Average * 1.8) + (Hit Power * 2.5) + (Speed * .3)]/5

And so on and so forth.

Is this a practice that teams employ when grading draft prospects?

_________________
There's a lot to be said for making people laugh. Did you know that that's all some people have? It isn't much, but it's better than nothing in this cockeyed caravan.
-John L. Sullivan, Sullivan's Travels (1941)

Jeff-

Much has been made of the Indians' creation and use of Diamondview, which I believe was created in the 90's. Has part of your job with the team entailed the development and use of a similar type of proprietary software? If so, how "up to speed" do you feel the team is right now in relation to other teams? Also if so, which portion of the organization uses it most- scouting, player development, or the higher rungs (Jocketty and Mozeliak)?

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There's a lot to be said for making people laugh. Did you know that that's all some people have? It isn't much, but it's better than nothing in this cockeyed caravan.
-John L. Sullivan, Sullivan's Travels (1941)

Jeff -

Thanks so much for fielding our questions!

It seems to me that the Cardinals farm system is in the middle of a revitilization. Kids like Rasmus and Garcia are widely recognized as potential impact players.

What are some other players in the system that haven't gotten as much recognition or press that the organization feels could be big contributors at the major league level? Are there any diamonds in the rough that we should keep our eye on?

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