The Astros have spent a large portion of January reeling from the fallout of their 2017 sign-stealing scandal – one that cost them championship-winning GM Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch. They’ve already replaced Hinch, having hired decorated veteran skipper Dusty Baker on Wednesday, but there’s no successor to Luhnow yet. However, the Astros continue to tack on candidates in their quest to replace him.
Houston has interviewed Royals director of pro scouting/special assistant Gene Watson and Rays vice president of baseball operations James Click for its GM role, per reports from Jeff Passan of ESPN.com and Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. Watson and Click join MLB’s senior vice president of baseball operations, Peter Woodfork, and former Giants GM Bobby Evans as known candidates for the Astros’ vacancy.
It’s notable that Evans worked with Baker when the two were in San Francisco, but there’s no indication he or anyone else is the favorite at this point. It seems the Astros will continue to take their time in finding a new GM, as Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle explains. For now, owner Jim Crane and a four-executive team consisting of assistant GM Pete Putila, special assistant Kevin Goldstein, senior director of baseball strategy Bill Firkus and senior director of player evaluation Ehsan Bokhari are at the helm. That quartet played a part in Crane’s decision to hire Baker, per Rome, though it’s not clear whether anyone from it will emerge as a GM candidate for the club. It may not look good if the Astros do hire an in-house GM, considering that individual would have connections to the Luhnow-Hinch regime.
As for the newest outside possibilities, Watson – a Texas native – is a two-time World Series champion (2003 Marlins, 2015 Royals) with a long scouting history who has worked in Kansas City in various capacities since 2006. The Yale-educated Click caught on with the Rays the same year Watson joined the Royals. Click has since worked his way toward the top of a Rays front office that already lost another noteworthy exec earlier this offseason in Chaim Bloom, who became Boston’s chief baseball officer.
Hire Bobby Evans, Cubs need to unload payroll and Heyward is a veteran with a underperforming contract that he desires.
Heyward’s father doesn’t even want him either. So why would another team want him
Projection much?
Astros owner doesn’t want to take on more payroll…..
Click is a very interesting candidate. Rays are a solid organization that knows how to build from within. Right now, he’s my choice.
Shawn Chacón for GM
Not sure that swing landed
Odd that they hired the manager before the GM. If Dusty is in on the decision, I can’t see them going for Click or other quants with zero on field experience.
My sources tell me the finalists are Jim Bowden and Oscar the Grouch.
Interesting that they would hire the manager first. Don’t most teams prefer to hire a GM then allow them to bring in their own guy?
Maybe just maybe—Dusty is a one year placeholder to steer them through the PR storm with his witty remarks and skullbleeping of the rotation!
Spring training starts in 3 weeks. Kinda important to have a manager. Dusty is only operating on a 2 year deal as it is. Barring a WS win I would not be surprised to see someone else in the dugout next season.
Manager hire was first due to spring training starting soon. Need to get a guy in asap. A GM is a less pressing need. Also, not a typical hiring process. They are bringing guys in to right the ship and end the nonsense. The roster is already one of the best in baseball, don’t really need a GM right now.
Maybe DiPoto can trade himself there.
They need to hire Evans. Overnight they become an overaged , huge contract, no farm system team. Great for the rest of the AL West except Anaheim. They already have one of the two worst GM’s in the game.
At the top of the consideration list: Dewey, Cheatum and Howe !!
Click and Woodfork are both interesting candidates. No Kim Ng though?
So no more heads rolling in that “out of control ops dept.?”
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.
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.