A straight shooter
Brutally honest. Unfiltered. Up front and direct. • Saying in public exactly what comes to mind, as soon as a private thought appears. • During the last six-plus years, I don’t believe the rebuilt, World Series-winning Astros organization has ever been described with the above words. • But that’s exactly how everyone within Minute Maid Park describes Enos Cabell. And it’s why a 68-year-old who first became an Astro in 1975 has lasted this long with Houston’s pro baseball club.
“I’ve known Enos since I was a kid. And he’s just a person that you instantly like because he’s such a people person,” said Astros president Reid Ryan, whose father, Nolan, spent 1984-85 wearing orange and blue with Cabell. “In this day and age of political correctness, the one thing about Enos Cabell is he calls it like he sees it. And so he doesn’t sugarcoat anything. He’ll say, ‘That guy’s terrible’ or ‘That guy’s great’ or ‘That guy needs to get his head out’ or whatever, and you know you’re getting his honest opinion.”
One of a kind
I’ve been randomly running into Cabell — hallways, tunnels, near the Astros’ dugout, behind the batting cage — since the horrible 100-loss years.
I spent 30 minutes listening to him speak last week inside a near-empty suite, as the Astros prepared for an American League West series against Seattle. The conversation could have lasted three hours and I would have still wanted to hear more.
They don’t make them like they used to.
There’s only one Cabell wearing a World Series champion T-shirt in 2018.
“I asked to be traded. I was only, like, 22 and I’m going into Earl Weaver’s office and telling him, ‘You need to trade me,’ ” said Cabell, recalling his initial MLB run with the Baltimore Orioles.
“I never was on the disabled list until I retired,” said the special assistant to the Astros’ general manager, who hit .277, stole 238 bases and scored 753 runs for five teams over 15 major league seasons, but has recently dealt with ankle and rotator cuff problems.
“I know math. I know statistics don’t change. If a guy hits .280 for five years in a row, he is not going to hit .320. It’s not in his DNA. It’s not going to happen,” said Cabell, capturing his under-the-radar importance to everything the Astros have built since Jim Crane and Jeff Luhnow first tore it all down.
A voice to heed
Ask a question. Be silent. Let the man who knows way more than you speak. Keep the recorder rolling.
“Enos is a trip. Enos is funny,” said outfielder George Springer, who has a close relationship with Cabell. “He’s cool, he knows the game. … He says a lot of stuff and it’s just really, really funny.”
Cabell said the following about Springer. In two statements, he captured the power of the Astros’ once-painful rebuild and how important No. 4 was to the franchise’s first ring (and the future trophies that could follow).
“I knew George was going to be a great player when I saw him in A-ball,” Cabell said. “I said, ‘He did stuff the only people I saw do was Willie Mays.’
“He may be our best player. Because if he goes, they go. If he plays like (crap), they play like (crap). ( Jose) Altuve’s the rock. And (Carlos) Correa might be the best player I’ve ever seen for a while, but he’s got to prove it. But when George plays, they score five, six, seven runs before they even know what hit ’em.”
A survivor
If I look on an even plane toward my right at Minute Maid while Justin Verlander is firing on the mound or Altuve is digging into the box, I often see the same faces. Luhnow, of course. Then a man — still listed at 6 feet, 5 inches on MLB’s official website — who watched both of the Astros’ World Series and is one of the few to survive all the change since the franchise’s first Fall Classic in 2005.
“We’re probably coming up on 1,000 games I’ve sat next to him, watching baseball games,” Luhnow said. “It’s almost like a family member at this point. I just enjoy his opinion and I trust his opinion.”
Cabell said that former Astros GM Gerry Hunsicker opened a door for his return to the organization in 2004. When Hunsicker unexpectedly resigned a couple of months later, Cabell was allowed to remain.
When Crane took over the Astros in November 2011 and the years of constant turnover began?
“(Crane) says, ‘You’re fine. I want you to meet with this Jeff Luhnow,’ ” Cabell said.
The new-age, first-time GM and former player from a different era sat down, talked and … “hit it off.”
“He was telling me about all the stuff he wanted to do,” Cabell said. “And I said, ‘Well, you’re going to have to tear it down.’ ” Cue the rebuild. “He tore it down,” Cabell said. “Sometimes I had to call him and say, ‘That’s enough. We got 14 pitchers. You traded two guys for 14 pitchers. That’s it. We don’t have any players. We need some players.’ And he would go boom, boom and he would get us some players.”
A strong voice
Cabell’s experience and passion helped guide the Astros toward taking Alex Bregman and Correa in the amateur draft. He has scouted prospects, traveled on the road with the big league club, spent time in the minors, studied the gradual action during spring training, and become a trusted conduit between the front office and clubhouse.
“(Players) know I’m not going to lie to them,” Cabell said. “I say, ‘Hey, everything you did, I already did it.’ So don’t tell me anything about it.”
Perhaps most importantly, Cabell strongly speaks his mind and keeps telling the Astros’ GM what he thinks.
“I say it to Jeff. I don’t say it to everybody. Because Jeff knows I’m serious,” Cabell said. “I said, ‘This is messed up. We need to fix this.’ And a week or two weeks later, Jeff will think about it and then he’ll do what he needs to do. But Jeff is in charge. The boss (Crane) has given him the deal: You’re in charge; fix it when you need to fix it. And he does that. Jeff makes good decisions.”
To Luhnow, Cabell has become a “reliable companion.” A colleague he can quietly sit inside a room and watch another MLB game with. A respected voice that won’t back down when the words that can change players, seasons and eras need to be said.
“He has no agenda. He loves the Astros. He loves watching baseball,” Luhnow said. “He’s in my box every single night. He and I have spent a lot of nights by ourselves up there, through the 100-loss seasons, through the World Series season.”
A veteran eye
Craig Biggio was ever-present throughout the 2017 campaign and World Series run, and was back on the Minute Maid field pregame last week.
Jeff Bagwell’s face has again become a common sight at the local ballpark. As the Astros prepared for another game last week during the long 162, the slugger forever linked with Biggio in the Baseball Hall of Fame made his way through the current clubhouse.
When Jason Verlander rolled through the ’17 postseason, his former baseball idol, Nolan Ryan, watched the zeros and K’s up close, near the front row behind home plate.
Cabell has been behind the scenes and inside the Astros’ closed-door meetings for more than a decade. All the decades of his life — MLB athlete, TV analyst, TSU Board of Regents, car dealership, growing up near Compton, Calif. — keep paying off at 68.
“Baseball is very cyclical, in the fact that tendencies repeat themselves,” Reid Ryan said. “And in the era of big data, Jeff and his team have been able to better have a predictive index of what’s going to happen with a player.
“But those (veteran) guys have seen this movie so many times that they’re able to share life experiences that help a Sig (Mejdal), that help a Mike Elias, that help a Brandon Taubman or Jeff, and it’s a good mix of new and old.”
A role player
How long does Cabell want to keep getting red dirt on his shoes?
“My wife says, ‘You don’t do anything. Why would you retire?’ ” he replied, which was followed by echoing laughter.
Mention finally winning it all after all the hard losses and near misses, and the man who played with Brooks Robinson, Don Baylor, Jim Palmer, Jose Cruz and Fernando Valenzuela responds by insisting baseball’s reigning world champs are set up to do this for the next 10 to 15 years, if they get it right.
“This team is pretty freaking good. And they’re going to get better,” Cabell said. “But also you’ve got to replenish that. You’ve got to make the right decisions on who you’re going to keep and who you’re not going to keep.”
Hinch runs the club and calls the daily shots. Luhnow guides it all. Crane just wants to win.
Cabell returns to the park, then heads up to the GM’s box. He watches and studies the same game that has always been played. He’s ready to tell an ever-changing franchise what he thinks.
“Enos is invaluable to the Astros because he is that sounding board that everyone in the organization uses to get a reality check,” Reid Ryan said. “And he keeps it real.”