The Astros have a new manager in Dusty Baker, whom they hired Wednesday, but they’ll have the same bench coach in 2020. Joe Espada will stay on in that role as part of Baker’s staff, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com tweets. Expectations are that Baker will add one coach from outside the organization, though, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.
At this late stage of the offseason, it would’ve been difficult for Baker to shake up the Astros’ staff even if he wanted to go that route. Thanks to the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal from 2017, they recently found themselves in the awkward position of having to replace manager A.J. Hinch just weeks before spring training. By now, just about all coaching staffs have been established, so Baker’s not in position to make many changes to the group he inherited from Hinch.
In Espada, Baker’s getting a well-regarded right-hand man who has two years in Houston under his belt and has drawn significant interest from manager-needy teams over the past couple offseasons. The Giants, for instance, looked as if they’d hire Espada as their manager this winter before tabbing Gabe Kapler for the role.
If Baker does end up hiring one more coach to fill a to-be-determined position, Chris Speier’s the probable pick, according to Rosenthal. The 69-year-old ex-infielder has already been on Baker’s staffs with the Cubs, Reds and Nationals.
JohhnyBets67
“Joe Espada will be looking to take Dusty’s job after the season”
SFBay314
Was pulling for Espada in SF, but seeing that Kapler was signed on the day the Astros news broke, it’s clear the SF front office Espada was no-touch. But that doesn’t explain how they, they still picked Kapler… #ArguementsWithMyself
yogineely
Lol, good manager, good one!!
nasrd
He’s very mouthy which the Astros surely don’t need at this stage.
Angry Disgruntled Sox Fan
This great news because the Red Sox won’t have Dusty as a manager. He turns pitchers into dust in playoff games.
RedSox4Life4ever
And now the former manager of the biggest steroid user is now the manager of the biggest, most recent cheating team.
Rocker49
Really genius input
lsujedi
Not sure you could say biggest steroid user. Definitely most successful steroid user though.
Frisco500
Big Pappi used steroids. As did many other players on every single team. Bonds was just a lot better then any of them. So by “biggest steroid user” I’m assuming you mean Best.
jjd002
Aren’t your Red Sox about to be in trouble for the same stuff, but in the 2018 season?
ShieldF123
He’s just deflecting. Sox fans are still in denial about Papi’s steroid use, what makes you think they’re going to admit they cheated
DarrenDreifortsContract
Verlander and Greinke will both be on the DL by June.
maximumvelocity
This whole Baker arm killer trope is played out.
The WS organization, which pretty much has a track record for babying young pitchers, had four guys undergo TJ surgery in its organization within a single year.
We still don’t know why guys get injured. But it’s known big, strong, high velocity guys like Wood and Prior are more likely to suffer injuries. They were hurt more than 15 years ago.
Give it a rest already.
30 Parks
Agreed – enough with the arm killer nonsense. Dusty is a good manager.
gocincy
Correction: Dusty is a very good regular season manager. The playoffs are a totally different story.
whyhayzee
According to the Tommy John Surgery List (a Google doc) there have been 1,823 patients in professional baseball since TJ himself through 10/30/2019. Specific managers having an impact on that list? No.
Frisco500
It’s easy for the cattle to repeat the same tired comments regarding Dusty. I’m pretty sure he is more accomplished than most managers in the game today.
anna_roger2002
I have always liked Dusty, he is a players manager. However, he has never won anything. Why wouldn’t they have hired Mike Scioscia! He is a very skilled tactician. Is Sosh blackballed?
californiaangels
not blackballed , but I feel a high majority of FO are just looking for a young puppet to play their numbers game , Scossia is an “old school” guy who is at his best when he has full control … look at his first 10 years with the Angel’s before the sabermetrics became the norm.. they were one of the best teams of the decade (record wise)
unfortunately-a-reds-fan
If Houston wants a young puppet who’s into metrics, I think they hired the wrong guy… Considering he’s 70 and the oldest manager in the game
jjd002
They’ll get there guy in the off season. No good, young bench coach or someone like that was going to leave their team 3 weeks before spring training.
brucenewton
Scioscia won once. That series against Baker could have gone either way.
Frisco500
Let’s be Honest, Dusty pulling Ortiz in game 6 probably cost the Giants the series.
talking baseball
Frisco500, you are 100% correct.
Then tossing the ball to him was the kids of death. I remember sitting there and thinking to myself that
WERE SCREWED & we were !!
agentx
From his perspective, Scioscia may not have wanted to leave his comfortable Southern California home for what may be a very short-term, organization-fix kind of role.
letmeclearmythroat74
This whole league baby’s pitchers … there never used to be pitch counts , now when you get to 100 pitches or God forbid past the 6th inning go to the bullpen …. pitchers used to have north of 10 complete games. It’s silly. I’m a Reds fan and liked Dusty, I had no problem with how he handled pitchers. I like the old school approach.
moe 3
I agree with you completely
Tom E. Snyder
According to his MLB profile, Chris Speier’s nickname is “Spy”.
inkstainedscribe
Bring in Rockin’ Leo as the pitching coach!
bigbluewreckingcrew
Good to see Dusty back in the game.
creacher
All three Managers lieutenants should have been canned.
jjd002
Why if he wasn’t a part of it? The stuff happened before Estrada came to the staff.
Allen Adams
The GM position is one of great PR presence. He represents the team, ownership, and the farm system…
He has to be a great negotiator with agents and players and League GM’s. With the roster mostly set, arbitration is the first major hurdle, if not handled by Crane and his team… As the season begins… focus will shift to promotions/devotions and IL moves…
So except for media presence…
The GM duties for the start of the season are mostly in place and should be fine until the trade deadline. The focus should be on the PR presence to get the Organization in the best position to dispell the scandal as quickly as possible and fully cooperate with MLB compliance.The rest of the Organization can handle the day to day operations. While the GM player and payroll strategy needs to be aligned with Jim Cranes vision for the team. Extensions for next year’s free agents to manage payroll in the closing window of win now should be on the agenda. Expensive signing of superstars like Springer may make them expendable… Except for McHugh… all ex Astro free agents have been paid when they hit free agency.
Allen Adams
meant to post on GM thread
Thomas Walker
I didn’t quite understand Crane not firing the entire coaching staff. If you fire Luhnow and Hinch, how could you say the bullpen coach, pitching coach, hitting coach, and the bench coach were not in on it too?
takeitback
Bench coach wasn’t with the team in 2017, that was Cora. Hitting coach was new in 2018 or 2019 as well.
As for pitching coach, why would he be replaced in a sign stealing scandal that hitters used?
pullhitter445
Dusty sucks. If I were a pitcher on any of his teams I’d run fast.
hinglemccringleberry
Welcome to the bandwagon!
tiredolddude
I wanted to see Espada hired as Pirates manager but after having witnessed this off season flurry of uh, “moves,” it’s clear that Joe has a guardian angel that kept him out of baseball Siberia
hinglemccringleberry
Proud of you dusty! Teach these guys how to win the right way! Not cheating. Dusty is a players manager. The old school ‘he’s over the plate so throw at him’ manager. You young dudes have no clue.
reflect
So… why would it be difficult to shake up the coaching staff? There are still a gazillion candidates available, and it really doesn’t take that long to interview a random coach.
That assertion is just thrown into the article without any supporting statements.
maximumvelocity
Coaching doesn’t just take place during the season. The bench, pitching and hitting coaches all have been working with players the entire offseason on specific issues.
It’s far easier for Dusty, who is a veteran coach, to come in and see what guys have been doing, than it is to get rid of the entire staff, and then bring in guys who may be doing things a different way.
That’s another reason it made sense to hire Baker. He has seen everything, and can come in with instant credibility with an existing staff (or demand it, and get it).
victorg
i would have prefered Ausmus or Biggio but i am ok with Dusty Baker .. i also would have liked Phil Garner to come back.
agentx
I like the Dusty hire but agree that Garner, Ausmus or Biggio also could have been good choices, in that order.
Deleted Userrr
My new conspiracy theory is that having to hire Dusty as their manager is part of the punishment the commish handed down to the Astros.
Rallyshirt
An Astros fan named Tony Adams just released an 8200 pitch analysis of the Astros in 2017, detailing each player and their bang percentages overall (including a leaderboard).