Astros GM puts himself in line of fire

There may be no easier general manager in baseball to reach than the Astros’ one of the rare executives in baseball who uses his real name on Twitter.

Any fans Astros unhappy can just send him a tweet at @jluhnow and vent away.

Being on social media is a risky thing for a GM, but Luhnow doesn’t care if he catches some flak.

“It’s not fun sometimes,” he said. “I don’t answer back much. I do use it occasionally to interact with fans and share some excitement or tells some stories.

“But I think it was important for us in 2012 and ’13 [during the rebuild] to communicate with the fans. We did it through a variety of vehicles. Being on Twitter and allowing them to express their concerns and their doubts and excitement seemed like the thing to do.

“Sometimes I don’t enjoy what I read. Sometimes I won’t read it for a week or so. But it does give you a pulse of a certain type of fan.”

Many baseball executives use Twitter under an alias, which allows them to follow people surreptitiously. Players do the same thing, though many more use their real names, such as Twins pitcher

Last year I noticed Santana was following me, along with 199,000 others he follows.

I had never met Santana until the recent All-Star Game in Miami, so I asked him why he followed me on social media. Santana said he liked reading my articles, so I asked him what I was writing about.

“All good stuff, man,” he replied with a grin.

Obviously he had never read me at all.

Of course, Twitter users can write some nasty stuff. It’s an occupational hazard for reporters, but I wasn’t sure why Luhnow would subject himself to such abuse. Does he ever block anyone? “I’ve got plenty of people blocked,” he said. “My rule is if you curse or say something very insulting or personal, you’re blocked. I have 20-25 people I’ve blocked. Some people I’ve blocked and they asked me to unblock them and apologized for their comments, so I’ve unblocked a few too.”

Whether or not you like him, you have to respect Luhnow for putting himself in the line of fire.

Maybe some Chicago baseball executives with unknown Twitter aliases can join him some day.

Cubs manager used a four-man outfield in the fifth inning Monday against the Reds’ inserting third baseman in left-center field with one out and no one on base with a five-run lead.

Votto spoiled the strategy with a double down the right-field line, and Maddon didn’t go back to the strategy the rest of the four-game series.

Reds manager understands managers are trying to find ways to get Votto out but seemed to believe the four-man outfield was unnecessary.

“When Joey is at the plate, we’ve seen some unusual things, I guess,” Price said, adding: “Traditions have kind of fallen by the wayside.”