St. Louis Cardinals lose scout Charlie Gonzalez to Houston Astros

According to the Houston Chronicle, the St. Louis Cardinals have lost scout Charlie Gonzalez to the Houston Astros.

Since the hiring of Jeff Luhnow, a former scouting director for the Cardinals, as general manager, the Astros have hired a number of personnel from the Cardinals in addition to acquiring former Cardinals players. Pitching coach Brent Strom, amateur scouting director Mike Elias and pitching coordinator Dyar Miller have all moved from the Cardinals to the Astros organization.

Gonzalez is a Florida-based scout within the Cardinals organization and is expected to start with the Astros as a special assistant on November 1st.

With the Cardinals, Gonzalez was key in the drafting and signing of left-handed relief pitcher Kevin Siegrist, center fielder Jon Jay, and catcher Tony Cruz. Both players were drafted while Luhnow was scouting director for the Cardinals. Luhnow wants to do with the Astros what he was able to do successfully at the helm of the Cardinals scouting department.

Dylan Gonzalez, his son, was selected by the Cardinals in the 31st round of the 2007 MLB Draft as a right-handed pitcher out of Pepperdine University.

The Cardinals are sure to hire the best possible person to take over their scouting in Florida. Scouting director Dan Kantrovitz has done a top-notch job in his first three seasons since replacing Luhnow and there’s no reason to believe that he won’t get the best person for the job.