tkihshbt wrote:

APIAD wrote:

What is Luhnow claim to fame?  He wasnt part of the 2004/2005 seasons.  2006 was still a Walt year with Edmonds and Rolen hanging on for dear life.  There has been no great talent come out of the Cardinals system really.  Not to the extent that you can pat Luhnow on the back.  The only cant miss superstar they thought they had needed to be traded because he was a pussy and the team lacked so many parts it could fill internally.  I am not saying he wont prove himself, just that he hasnt.

I think you're selling him pretty short, AP. Rasmus hasn't met expectations, but they still got an .870 OPS season out of him. And in his time they drafted Allen Craig, Jon Jay, Jaime Garcia, Matt Carpenter, Lance Lynn, Daniel Descalso and Mitchell Boggs, all players the Cardinals wouldn't have won in 2011 without, and in the case of Carpenter, would be employing Aaron Miles in 2012.

Plus, they have one of the deepest farm systems, and can expect at least some sort of contribution going forward from Matt Adams, Shelby Miller, Carlos Martinez, Trevor Rosenthal, Joe Kelly, Oscar Taveras and Kolten Wong. Luhnow and his team definitely had the Cardinals on the right course, and the staff did a great job developing that talent.

I'm coming around a bit on Luhnow.  My biggest complaint was that it seemed most of his guys were high floor, low ceiling types--pitchers who ended up in the bullpen and bench players.  But Allen Craig is a legitimate MLB bat and Garcia and Lynn are bona fide starters.  I think Lynn was Luhnow's first All-Star, and his Latin America project (insert joke here) has yet to produce anyone who could remain in the majors (I think Sanchez may have been the first (only??) from Luhnow's work to actually make the big leagues), but Tavares and Martinez are legit based on everything we're hearing.

Now that I think about it, I guess Chris Perez was Luhnow's first All-Star.  It just wasn't as a Cardinal.  We also traded 3 of Luhnow's draft picks for Matt Holliday.  None of those picks have amounted to much, but they were at least highly thought of enough at the time to get the trade completed.

All-in-all, the minor league system seems to be in pretty good shape, so if that was Luhnow's responsibility, I'll give credit where it's due.