The MLB Cardinals' analytics efforts, which began in '03 with salaries and hardware that cost less than $1M, have expanded into an arm of the front office "that impacts decisions everywhere, from the boardroom to the dugout, the training room to trade talks," according to Derrick Goold of the ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH. When Cardinals Chair & CEO Bill DeWitt Jr. in '03 hired Jeff Luhnow -- now Astros GM -- to "guide the club into the super numbers-crunching era and tap the well of data beneath baseball’s surface," the new, and "at times radical, initiative did not have a fixed budget." DeWitt: "There was none. What we needed is what we did. Today every aspect of the game is under analytical scrutiny. On the field. Off the field. Medicals. ... There has been a coming around to information in the last 10 to 15 years and a lot of teams were looking for that edge." The "accelerated growth of the Cardinals’ analytics, from the first computer to today’s Baseball Development department, is a lesson in why its data are so valuable." The team's Baseball Development department since it was formed in '07 has "doubled in size" and includes Baseball Information Manager Jeremy Cohen. He is "joined by analysts Matt Bayer and Dane Sorensen and developer Patrick Casanta" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 6/21).
HANDLE THE SCANDAL: In St. Louis, Bernie Miklasz writes DeWitt and Cardinals Senior VP & GM John Mozeliak are "feeling anguish -- but for the right reasons." They are "shamed by the hacking accusations and the apparent wrongdoing by a person or persons on their payroll." They are "embarrassed to have a proud organization become the subject of a federal investigation." They are "angry that an entire franchise will be stained by a stupid, dirty breach of ethics." They are "willing to own this," but just "wish they could understand it." DeWitt: "It's right up there in terms of disbelief. ... This is something that has been hard for us to deal with" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 6/22). But in Pittsburgh, Gene Collier wrote DeWitt "cannot plead to being Clueless Joe Jackson on this, as it’s perfectly obvious that information and the ocean of analytics it generates have become the coin of the realm for baseball in the 21st century." MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred should "take a look at ways to shepherd the data into systems that discourage the informational scientists from cannibalizing themselves and a game that somehow remains ever ripe for scandal" (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 6/21).
NUMBERS GUY: In N.Y., Tyler Kepner wrote some of Luhnow's former associates have "been reluctant to speak on the record this week, citing the sensitivity of the FBI case, but others sketched a portrait of a sharp, driven executive eager to bring his analytical skills to a game he had always loved." Steve Campo, Luhnow's college roommate, said, "The minute ‘Moneyball’ came out, he read it and immediately was talking to me about, ‘This is perfect -- this is what I need to do.'" Astros Owner Jim Crane "hired Luhnow on a tip" from former MLB Commissioner Peter Ueberroth, who "knew Luhnow through a family connection" (N.Y. TIMES, 6/20).
