[DC 86]

Yes, you do need both. Astros cite has 40 people listed in scouting Dept.  They must be doing something….

Exclusively amateur scouts (high school, college, international). Since we were discussing minor leaguers I was referring to how they analyze those players.

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The Astros have a large "amateur" scouting group and a large "international" scouting group. Apparently they don't have any scouts officially scouting the "pros". That said, they have a lot of area/regional scouts that I'd imagine would swing by a minor league game or two.

To my knowledge they don't do that. They added to their scouting department last year but still have one of the smaller amateur scouting staffs in MLB so I don't think their personnel have a lot of free time in any case.

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Good managers play out game situations in real time. They think ahead. Kapler manages by computer and by rote. And essentially, he’s just following game plans drawn up by the FO.

I agree, yesterday's decisions didn't make sense at all (and to say that Ramos is a better defender than Wade is an understatement). But my understanding is that Kepler has a good amount of leeway in terms of game management (a lot more than Aaron Boone, for example) so I'm not sure this one is on the FO, I think Kapler is really enamored of optimizing each at bat in isolation, to a fault.

[DC 86]

Yes, you do need both. Astros cite has 40 people listed in scouting Dept.  They must be doing something….

Exclusively amateur scouts (high school, college, international). Since we were discussing minor leaguers I was referring to how they analyze those players.

---

The Astros have a large "amateur" scouting group and a large "international" scouting group. Apparently they don't have any scouts officially scouting the "pros". That said, they have a lot of area/regional scouts that I'd imagine would swing by a minor league game or two.

To my knowledge they don't do that. They added to their scouting department last year but still have one of the smaller amateur scouting staffs in MLB so I don't think their personnel have a lot of free time in any case.

---

Good managers play out game situations in real time. They think ahead. Kapler manages by computer and by rote. And essentially, he’s just following game plans drawn up by the FO.

I agree, yesterday's decisions didn't make sense at all (and to say that Ramos is a better defender than Wade is an understatement). But my understanding is that Kepler has a good amount of leeway in terms of game management (a lot more than Aaron Boone, for example) so I'm not sure this one is on the FO, I think Kapler is really enamored of optimizing each at bat in isolation, to a fault.