Javier is tenured. As long as he doesn’t walk through H-E-B naked or commit some other act of moral turipitude, his job is safe.
I can’t believe Strom would want to come back next year.
I’m guessing a lot depends on who they hire as GM and manager.
I’m seeing Albert Pujols’s name listed several places as a possible candidate for manager. I’m not sure how I feel about that.
From Rome’s latest podcast:
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The hitters like Rodriguez. Miller is under contract beyond 2026 and that may have factored into the decision. Jason Bell is “in demand” from other teams, not someone they wanted to let go.
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The GM search is underway and “exhaustive” with the Astros casting a wide net. Rome’s heard a lot of names, not sure who is a serious candidate vs just someone they’ve spoken to casually. Asked if the names are more “jocks or nerds,” Rome says it’s a mix, and also notes that some of the names he’s heard are with teams still in the postseason (all four are generally “nerd” teams but obviously individuals are individuals). Says people in the org are optimistic about having a GM in place before the end of the World Series.
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Do the hitters like Rodriguez because he tells them to swing at anything and everything they feel like?
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“Hey Jim, Let’s get rid of all the guys with difficult to spell last names and keep the ones we can spell. Except for Bracamonte of course, he has been here long enough for us to spell his name.”
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Rome or Stafford, I forget which, on Rome’s podcast made the joke that Bracamonte actually just lives in the Astros bullpen and yeah, that tracks
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It was Tyler Stafford. Pretty funny. He has grown on me some.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7696801/2026/10/16/martin-maldonado-tigers-coach-astros/
I know some folks were hoping for Maldy as manager or some kind of coach. Hinch decided to take that off the table.
I don’t remember seeing it reported before that the Astros (Bagwell specifically, per the article) tried to hire Maldy onto the coaching staff last offseason. He spent 2026 as an adviser in the Braves org.
I fully believe that when he wants to, he will get a manager job and be a really good one
Probably a good idea for him to be a coach for a couple of years first and if I was him, doing that with Hinch is the best way to go
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I know nothing about this guy but driveline has been at the forefront of pitching development for many years and the Yankees have been quite good at pitching development in recent years. Seems like a good hire on the basis of those two things
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It’s also being reported the Astros have talked to White Sox assistant GM Josh Barfield and Cardinals assistant GM Randy Flores about the GM job
The thing that jumps out at me the most here is the fact that key personnel decisions are happening without input from the new GM.
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Article updated to add Royals AGM Scott Sharp, a longtime member of their front office.
All four named candidates come from the scouting side of their organizations, with Flores and Barfield coming from MLB playing careers beforehand of course.
Rome provided some further context that is not an on-field role. Medick is responsible for “pitching philosophy/infastructure” across the entire organization and that this type of move falls under the purview of an AGM (at least, according to him).
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In what I’d guess is a pretty strong indicator of Crane’s interest, he took Matt Kleine to an event last week and appeared with him on the red carpet. The clip is killing me. “We’ve had the video [for a week since the event], but today, able to finally confirm it is Matt Kleine.” Crack investigative team they’ve got at Channel 11.