Update: Elias brings in Sig Mejdal:

[Bradysburns]

2 hours ago, jsbearr said:

Sig is well known. Great guy. Good communicator. He is sought after. 

He was elbowed out.  He was being elbowed out for awhile.  Astros are moving forward with another group in the front office that remained in favor.  To some extent, it shows how stacked the front office was.  But, industry folks think Fast, Sig, and Elias were the big power guys in rebuilding that club.  Astros obviously disagree.

Sig struck me as extremely intelligent, and a great communicator, and a guy who's willing to try new tactics to help develop players. If he's coaching for Houston's lowest-level affiliate in order to inculcate them with analytics... wow. How many light years are the Orioles behind that type of approach? 

Mike, Sig and company can't get here fast enough, IMO! 

[tntoriole]

Interesting background....And, interesting that our recently departed analytics person Sarah Gelles has now joined Houston...I will see your analytic and raise you two analytics...lol

“Mejdal, a former NASA engineer, was hired in 2012 as the Director of Decision Sciences. He was considered responsible for building the skilled analytical team for Houston, which also consisted of Senior Technical Director Ryan Hallahan and Director of Research and Development Director Mike Fast.

Hallahan and Fast have also departed the team’s staff, and the latter has since joined the Atlanta Braves to serve as the special assistant to the General Manager. The mass exodus of the analytical team has caused the Astros to rebuild that department. Eshan Bokhari, formerly a senior analyst with the Dodgers, has been hired as the new Director of Research and Development. Sarah Gelles will be the new Program Manager in the department, and she ironically led Baltimore’s analytic department.”

https://climbingtalshill.com/2018/11/14/astros-asst-gm-elias-become-orioles-gm/

.”

[Woody Held]

3 minutes ago, tntoriole said:

Interesting background....And, interesting that our recently departed analytics person Sarah Gelles has now joined Houston...I will see your analytic and raise you two analytics...lol

“Mejdal, a former NASA engineer, was hired in 2012 as the Director of Decision Sciences. He was considered responsible for building the skilled analytical team for Houston, which also consisted of Senior Technical Director Ryan Hallahan and Director of Research and Development Director Mike Fast.

Hallahan and Fast have also departed the team’s staff, and the latter has since joined the Atlanta Braves to serve as the special assistant to the General Manager. The mass exodus of the analytical team has caused the Astros to rebuild that department. Eshan Bokhari, formerly a senior analyst with the Dodgers, has been hired as the new Director of Research and Development. Sarah Gelles will be the new Program Manager in the department, and she ironically led Baltimore’s analytic department.”

https://climbingtalshill.com/2018/11/14/astros-asst-gm-elias-become-orioles-gm/

.”

Love the highlighted line

[weams]

Sig is busy this week.

 

[weams]

https://houseofhouston.com/2018/11/06/houston-astros-sig-mejdal-leaves-team/

[sportsfan8703]

“ Mejdal has two engineering degrees from UC-Davis and worked for NASA and Lockheed Martin prior to baseball as well as being a former blackjack dealer in Nevada.”

From the article above. He’s going to need Lady Luck here. 

[VaBird1]

1 hour ago, sportsfan8703 said:

“ Mejdal has two engineering degrees from UC-Davis and worked for NASA and Lockheed Martin prior to baseball as well as being a former blackjack dealer in Nevada.”

From the article above. He’s going to need Lady Luck here. 

He said that helped him learn how important it is to stick with the percentages.

[TonySoprano]

1 hour ago, sportsfan8703 said:

“ Mejdal has two engineering degrees from UC-Davis and worked for NASA and Lockheed Martin prior to baseball as well as being a former blackjack dealer in Nevada.”

From the article above. He’s going to need Lady Luck here. 

 

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, VaBird1 said:

He said that helped him learn how important it is to stick with the percentages.

I have a friend who worked as a card dealer at the Maryland Casino Live in Anne Arundel for about 6 months.    No math genius, he.    Mostly the job involves dealing the cards and moving the chips quickly and efficiently, being friendly to the customers, spotting any cheating or people who’ve had too much to drink and are bothering other customers, and being on your feet for four hours straight while dealing the cards.    Then you get a short break and go another four hours.    He liked the job, except they’d never tell him until a few days before what shifts he was going to have each week (a mix of 8 am - 4 pm, 4 pm - midnight, midnight - 8 am).   It got too exhausting and he couldn’t plan the rest of his days because of the short notice on the hours he’d be working on any given day.   I’m glad he got out of it.   

Now he runs analytics for the Cubs.    No, just kidding.   He works in a dialysis center helping patients cope with their insurance issues, and he’s much happier.   

[Just Regular]

Sam Miller's book Fantasyland has a good amount on Mejdal.  I read it many years ago and IIRC Mejdal's gateway into baseball analysis was this author enlisting him to assist in his attempt as a novice to win either Tout Wars or LABR.

I'm pretty sure there's an anecdote that at the auction their worst screw-up was overbidding for Sidney Ponson.

[NCRaven]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

I have a friend who worked as a card dealer at the Maryland Casino Live in Anne Arundel for about 6 months.    No math genius, he.    

Just curious, how was the pay?

[ThomasTomasz]

On 11/15/2018 at 9:05 AM, jsbearr said:

Will be interesting to see what he does in Baltimore. Sig was effectively cut off from the analytics side of the Astros about two or three years ago. Almost exclusively work on the developmental side.  Elias, Sig, Fast, etc. All these guys are more or less pushed as Luhnow is concentrating approaches and, confusingly, pushing out smart people who disagree with the way he decided to do things.  Will be interesting to see what Elias does. He was firmly against Luhnow slashing their scouting program in Houston.

Wouldn't that just be the same thing we did?  Not saying the Orioles had a super-star scouting program like Houston, but we diverted a lot of funds to the major league payroll to try and sustain success and get the most out of this window.  Perhaps that is what Luhnow is doing?  Even under previous ownership, the Astros were never a team super-flushed with cash, and while they are riding high on season-ticket sales and post-season profits, they have to be primarily focused on the MLB team and product right now.  

[Frobby]

2 hours ago, NCRaven said:

Just curious, how was the pay?

Paid pretty well if you include the tips, IIRC.    Maybe $75 k?

[Whammer]

4 hours ago, Frobby said:

I have a friend who worked as a card dealer at the Maryland Casino Live in Anne Arundel for about 6 months.    No math genius, he.    Mostly the job involves dealing the cards and moving the chips quickly and efficiently, being friendly to the customers, spotting any cheating or people who’ve had too much to drink and are bothering other customers, and being on your feet for four hours straight while dealing the cards.    Then you get a short break and go another four hours.    He liked the job, except they’d never tell him until a few days before what shifts he was going to have each week (a mix of 8 am - 4 pm, 4 pm - midnight, midnight - 8 am).   It got too exhausting and he couldn’t plan the rest of his days because of the short notice on the hours he’d be working on any given day.   I’m glad he got out of it.   

Now he runs analytics for the Cubs.    No, just kidding.   He works in a dialysis center helping patients cope with their insurance issues, and he’s much happier.   

OFF TOPIC but I must say my all-time favorite blackjack tables were at the old Playboy Club Casino in A.C. Beautiful women, many in bunny outfits, dealing cards while I gambled and drank. 

[jsbearr]

3 hours ago, ThomasTomasz said:

Wouldn't that just be the same thing we did?  Not saying the Orioles had a super-star scouting program like Houston, but we diverted a lot of funds to the major league payroll to try and sustain success and get the most out of this window.  Perhaps that is what Luhnow is doing?  Even under previous ownership, the Astros were never a team super-flushed with cash, and while they are riding high on season-ticket sales and post-season profits, they have to be primarily focused on the MLB team and product right now.  

Similar, not the same.  The approach is different and it is more by choice as the best way to do it as opposed to a fiscal need to concentrate funds to payroll.