The Astros new General Manager Jeff Luhnow just wrapped up his first ever web chat with fans on Astros.com. Yes we the fans got to ask questions and interact with the Astros GM. The full transcript of the chat is after the jump.

Luhnow spent almost 40 minutes fielding questions from the Astros fan base, some of which you'll want to role your eyes and others you'll want to applaud. Overall I was very impressed with the quality of questions. The first "free agent signing" questions didn't appear until 30 minutes into the chat. And there were some real good ones that involved scouting, player development and favorite blogs.

For the most part the answers were fairly straight forward and provided us with a little insight into his personality. He answered questions that ranged from David Carpenter to an international draft.

We didn't get a whole lot more insight into what's going on in the front office that we didn't already know or speculated about, but there are some interesting tidbits. And it's certainly nice to be able to interact with the man in charge and get answers directly from him, instead of a media outlet.

The best part of the chat, his final words:

Thanks to everyone for asking the questions... we will do this again sometime next month. Keep following the Astros! Jeff

If you missed this one look for another one next month, as this looks to be a regular event.

What were your impressions of the chat?

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Jeff Luhnow has provided us with our first gift of the holiday season as new general manager of the Astros. Jerry Cransick appears to have been the first one to report the trade with Ken Rosenthal confirming.

In return for Mark Melancon the Astros receive shortstop Jed Lowrie and right handed starting pitcher Kyle Weiland from the Boston Red Sox.

In 2011 at the age of 24 Weiland posted a 7.66 ERA in 24.2 innings for the Red Sox in 7 games, 5 of which were starts. Obviously small sample size so we won't jump to any conclusions just yet. Weiland was drafted in the 3rd round and has had a steady climb through the minors. For his Minor League career he has a 3.51 ERA in 449.1 innings with a 1.215 WHIP, a 8.5 SO/9 and a 3.4 BB/9.

Weiland features a 90-95 fastball in a two-seam and four-seam variety, a 78-81 curveball, a 85-88 cutter and a low 80's changeup. I imagine the Astros will try him out as a starter and move him to the bullpen if necessary.

The switch hitting Lowrie has been in the majors since 2008 and has posted a .252/.324/.408 line in 256 games. With a Minor League .286/.381/.448 line, he has some untapped offensive potential. Injuries have been a big issue. If he can stay healthy he may be able to provide some offensive production at a premium defensive position.

Speaking of defense, the advanced defensive metrics have not been kind to him at the shortstop position the past couple seasons. However small sample sizes and injuries may have affected those ratings. He looks to be average defensively at second and third base. If anything he may turn into a decent utility infielder.

Gotta say I like this move. It's creative and something the previous front office probably wouldn't of gotten done. The Astros are taking on some risk here giving up a cost effective player in Melancon for Weiland an unproven pitcher and Lowrie a struggling position player. In the end though taking chances like these are what the Astros need to be doing. If the price for a potential starter and starting shortstop is a bullpen piece sign me up.

For Red Sox fan reaction check out this article by Over The Monser.

Take a bow, clack.

The guy you brought up as a possibility got the job as the newest Astros GM Wednesday night. On Thursday, Houston will hold a press conference to announce former St. Louis Cardinals vice president for player procurement will be named as the general manager of the Houston Astros.

You'll have to excuse me if I can't form full sentences here. I'm a little taken aback.

Luhnow. Advanced metrics. Outsider. Ummmm....

What? Is this the same Astros organization I've been pulling for all these years? The one that drove me crazy for not respecting things like OBP and leverage situations? What is going on here?

Luhnow has everything you could want in a GM. He's got the background at building a farm system, a proven track record at drafting and developing major league contributors, plus he cares about developing his own player metrics in those evaluations.

Basically, he's exactly the kind of guy that Andrew Friedman or Theo Epstein would be, without success in the top job.

Remember, though, when the Cardinals and Walt Jocketty parted ways, it was in large part because they wanted to keep Luhnow around. Cards GM John Mozeliak and Luhnow had to work well together, a situation that led to a World Series title this past season.

Luhnow probably wasn't as flashy a choice as Friedman would have been, but he's got a better track record than J.J. Picollo and narrowly beats out Bill Geivett on the big league success thing. Do you know who he reminds me of? Daryl Morey, down to both of them being on Twitter. I think Postolos has found the Astros a numbers-centric guy to revamp the farm system and create a winner.

Now let's go get some players.

It's way past my bed time but I'm going to give it a shot.

It was rumored around midnight but wasn't confirmed for another 30-40 mins that that the Astros have finally chosen their man to run this team in the wake of Ed Wade's effort. Jeff Luhnow has been serving in the St. Louis Cardinals organization since 2003. Most recently as the Vice President of Scouting and Player Development.

It appears that a colleague of Luhnow jumped the gun on congratulating him on his hiring, which caused twitter rumors to swirl before being confirmed by several local and national media personnel.

Speaking of twitter he has an account so be sure to give him a follow.

Press release tonight, press conference tomorrow at Minute Maid Park 1PM CT

Links below:

Ultimate Astros " Astros hire Cardinals’ Luhnow as new general manager
By Zachary Levine

Astros hire Luhnow as general manager « Tag's Lines
By Brian McTaggart

Baseball Prospectus | Prospectus Q&A: Jeff Luhnow
2008 interview

Q and A with Jeff Luhnow - Beyond the Box Score
2009 interview

Luhnow named Astros general manager
Cardinals perspective by Derrick Goold

Lots and lots and LOTs of media reaction so far this morning on the news that Wade and Smith are gone. Let's run down the highlights before getting to more thoughts:

• Wade was told he was fired last Wednesday, meaning on Jim Crane's second official day on the job.
• He's also getting paid through 2013 because of his contract under Drayton McLane. That means Crane had to eat quite a bit of money at a very late date to get a new GM in place. That is a pretty gusty decision.
• Tal Smith was bitter about getting the axe. He isn't gracefully retiring, he was booted out by a phone call Sunday night as he was in Hawaii with his family. He was none too pleased. 
• Brad Mills is safe for now, as the ownership will wait until a new GM is in place to make a decision on him. I wouldn't be signing any long-term leases in the Houston-area if I were Brad Mills, though.
• Buster Olney talks to one executive who says the Astros are 4-7 years away from contention again, which will affect who they can get as a new GM. As Astros County points out, the Astros situation isn't the best without the long wait for contention.

That's a lot to react to, but I'll do my best after the jump...

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It's official. The Houston Astros, through new CEO George Postolos, informed general manager Ed Wade and team president for baseball operations Tal Smith that they will no longer be a part of the team Sunday night. 

We expected this might happen when Crane hinted that changes would be coming after Thanksgiving, but I didn't really believe it until I saw it. Now, it looks like the Astros will have a new decision-making set very soon.

No word in all the mix on whether or not Bobby Heck will keep his job. I'm guessing he might stay on until a new GM is put in place, thereby letting the new guy pick his own scouting director. Of course, they could make a clean sweep, meet with all the baseball operations people and entirely clean house.

This may be hasty. This may be not be fair to Ed Wade, given the direction he was under from Drayton McLane during his tenure and the rotten state of the farm system when he took over. However, it does show a sense of purpose by Crane. He knows what he wants and how he wants to move forward.

All we're left with now is how he will go about moving forward. We know George Postolos will be involved in the decision as the team's new CEO. We know he's been interested in Andrew Friedman all summer and we know he's fascinated by the Texas Rangers system since he almost bought the team.

Winter is coming. I mean, the Winter Meetings are coming. The Astros need someone running the show then,but it will likely be interim GM David Gottfried. If that's the case, I don't expect Houston to do much of anything, outside possibly taking a flier on a Rule 5 guy or two. Forget about a possible Wandy Rodriguez trade for now. Forget about any lower level free agent signings. All that will wait.

The question is: does this move Crane in the path towards fixing fan's feelings towards the team? Back in May, I wrote an open letter to him about the team. So far, he's promised or done almost everything I've seen. He's set to lower ticket prices. He better keep Alyson Footer around. He's going to clean house on the baseball side and look into a possible uniform and logo change for the switch to the American League. That's a clean sweep for changing the luck of a foundering franchise.

Is that enough for you? Do you wish Wade and Tal had been given a fair shake? Do you think Crane acted too harshly? More importantly, are you upset that MLB's delay of Crane's confirmation meant Wade's firing came months after it could have happened?

You can't fire the owner.

That's been almost a Houston hallmark motto over the past 25 years. They've had some pieces of work come through, both owning the Astros and other professional teams in the Bayou City. From John McMullen to Bud Adams, Houston hasn't been blessed with the most benevolent of owners.

There was a long stretch when I would have counted Drayton McLane in that group. I blamed him for the team trading away Mike Hampton and Carl Everett. I blamed him for not signing Darryl Kile or Randy Johnson. I blamed Billy Wagner and Drayton for what happened between the two of them.

Most of all, I blamed Drayton for chasing off Gerry Hunsicker. I don't care who got the credit in the end. I just knew that Hunsicker was one of those guys that would be hard to replace. Tim Purpura and Ed Wade seem to be showing just how hard that would be.

There were a lot of reasons why I wanted Drayton gone for years. Then 2005 happened and Drayton built up a lot of goodwill with Astros fans. He kept Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell around until the ends of their careers. It was a nice cap to his time with the team.

10 years ago, I would have been thrilled that this day finally had come, that a new man was in charge of the Astros. But, apparently, Bud Selig won't let us have nice things...

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The moment is finally hear. Jim Crane was unanimously approved as the Astros new owner.

We'll be using this thread as a way to keep you updated on the news through out the day and for people to discuss the sale. Over the past few days we've already learned a lot of information. If you haven't heard the Astros appear set to make a move in 2013 to the American League West with the likes of the Rangers, Athletics, Angels and Mariners.

A majority of the fan base is upset with this move and rightfully so. The Astros are only in this predicament because of circumstances. A bad team, a change in ownership, an owner with a controversial past all adds up to one thing, leverage. With no other National League teams volunteering to make the jump to the other leagues Bud Selig took hold of that leverage and dragged the approval process out until Crane either accepted to move the team or walked. Crane with some leverage of his own (walking) settled for a reduction in the sale price of the team.

While we've speculated about Crane should do with this money (investing in the draft, free agency, etc.) it's most likely going against the debt that's owed, which shouldn't be overlooked. Less debt is one step closer to a thriving organization.

With that in mind and the holiday's fast approaching lets kick off some discussion. What is the one thing you would like from the Astros new owner?

Hit the jump for links leading up to the approval of the sale with new links and news added through out the day. Make sure to check back regularly for the latest. Feel free to post any links I may of missed. We'll also be doing a special podcast recording tonight so send in any questions you have to thecrawfishboxes@gmail.com

Remember to keep the discussion civil or I'll go all Strong Bad on your comment.

EDIT: More links added - 10:45 AM

EDIT: Jim Crane has been approved as Astros new owner 

Press Conference is scheduled for 3:30 PM CDT today. It will be streamed live on Astros.com and aired on Fox Sports Houston.

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