I still feel ill when I think about this whole issue
If on field success is a key driver (which it obviously should be), the list in some fashion is:
Hinch
Dusty
Garner
Virdon
Dierker
Lanier
Of those Hinch and Dusty are my top two by far. Hinch ahead for me because as mentioned every press conference was insightful and thoughtful and I always came away from them understanding more about the game and the team. Then Dusty because he’s just one of the coolest mother fuckers ever to walk the earth, much less grace the game of baseball.
Astros announce they have parted ways with Joe Espada, catching coach Tim Cossins, game plan coordinator Tommy Kawamura, third-base coach Tony Perezchica, assistant hitting coach Anthony Iapoce and assistant pitching coach Ethan Katz.
They’re keeping pitching coach Josh Miller, first base coach Dave Clark, field coordinator Jason Bell, hitting coach Victor Rodriguez and bullpen catcher Javier Bracamonte.
They’re offering bench coach Omar Lopez a different role in the organization.
Everyone but Bracamonte is a train wreck. The new manager needs his own staff.
Let’s keep the architect of this staff:
The team compiled a 4.45 staff ERA (6th-highest in MLB) and walked the most batters in the American League.
And the architect of these hitting outcomes:
| Statistic | Team Total | MLB Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Home Runs (HR) | 226 | 1st |
| Runs Scored (R) | 734 | 13th |
| Slugging Percentage (SLG) | .417 | 14th |
| On-Base Plus Slugging (OPS) | .733 | 15th |
| Batting Average (AVG) | .242 | 19th |
| On-Base Percentage (OBP) | .315 | 20th |
That’s a recipe for success.
I’m hopeful there’ll be a more complete change in 2028 after the new GM and manager have their feet on the ground.
Keeping Miller and Rodriguez makes zero sense. Why would you fire their assistants and keep them? Even if you kept Espada, those clowns needed to go.
Miller at least has a backlog of great success from 22-25 to fall back on, so I can kind of understand keeping him. Rodriguez would seem like a nobrainer to let go.
I would have let everyone go and let the new GM/manager bring in all their own guys.
What, and I cannot state this plainly enough, the fuck
I’m with Doyce here: Miller at least has some success in his background. But there is nothing to suggest that Rodriguez should have any role on this team.
Maybe they’re pretending that they’ll still need someone to oversee off-season workout plans. Once the lockout becomes official, maybe they’ll be jettisoned.
I guess the case for Miller is that he isn’t the one who traded for Mike Burrows or signed Tatsuya Imai. Likewise, Rodriguez isn’t the one who decided to go into the season without an outfield. These aren’t actually reasons to keep either; they’re at best reasons why they aren’t directly to blame for the worst parts of the season. Moving on from both would make perfect sense to me. Miller has success in his past but the days of the Astros pacing the league in pitching development are long behind.
This is exactly right, and the same case could be made for Espada too. “I didn’t tie my own hand behind my back with this flawed roster, that guy did”
If they plan to keep Strom hanging around, that helps reason out keeping Miller as well since they obviously have worked well together before.
The new GM should be hiring the 2027 manager and the manager should have a say in who coaches on his staff.
This is clearly the way a sane organization would handle the transition.
I’m very much looking forward to more endless debates on “he wasn’t fired, they just didn’t renew his contract”
This will be the fifth new manager in the Crane era. Each of the previous four had holdovers from the prior manager’s coaching staff, at least for their first year. I’d have been fine with a total house-cleaning, but this is right in line with the way they’ve handled managerial changes in the past.
The real difference this time around is that the new GM will actually hire a new manager in his first season. Luhnow kept Mills for 2012, Click never hired a manager at all (Baker was hired before him), and Brown inherited Baker.
As best I can tell, this has only happened for the Astros with:
- 2007 - Ed Wade and Cecil Cooper (mid-season)
- 1994 - Bob Watson and Terry Collins
- 1986 - Dick Wagner and Hal Lanier
Crane didn’t dare gamble on offering an insulting one year contract.