Unfortunately, Bill O’Brien just fired me as an unpaid Astros problem solver and hired himself as GM and President of Baseball operations.
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If they hire a retread I much prefer Dusty over anyone not named Bochy. Reputations aside, he has won 90 or more games in 5 out of the last 6 years he managed. He made Cincinnati a winner. He is more than 200 games over .500 as a manager. None of the other candidates I’ve read about come close to any of that.
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Reports just out say the Astros are going to interview Bannister.
Excuse me while I puke.
It seems to me that interviewing as many name candidates as possible has the effect of getting known former managers on the record saying great things about the organization and players. That at least is a positive.
Along the same lines, hiring a former manager creates somewhat of a buffer going forward. They bring some credibility to an interview and can pretty much answer questions more directly.
I can see interviewing Bannister for the first reason but that is as far as it goes.
I have to believe that Bannister only gets hired if they specifically want a “redass” manager and Gibbons turned down the job first. Otherwise, hiring Bannister makes zero sense.
sometimes I feel all that is going on now makes no sense
Crane says that Baker is “right at the top of the list”, also that after the players meet in Spring Training, they will apologize.
Ordered to apologize, eh?
I am fine with Baker.
I am really sorry about that Carlos Gomez trade. Talk about a total bust…
It seems clear that the players have been instructed to keep it generic and not to apologize (yet).
In other words the organization’s PR still sucks.
I do not need/want apologies. No one on any team which did this is sorry for anything but the scrutiny and the condemnation. I would like an explanation of who and what and why.
I agree, I don’t need an explanation. I don’t want anyone placing blame. Make a statement about accepting the punishment for actions that were taken in 2017 and say you are moving forward. Then a simple, let’s play ball.
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I wouldn’t have minded a public apology directed solely at Hinch and Luhnow. But an apology made under duress two months after the fact is about as valuable as no apology.
I don’t think there’s any way that we find out the who/what/why. I doubt any current players want their names so directly attached to that.
I did not say it would happen or I wanted it public. I do want to know. For a team this good to do something so clearly against a Commissioner’s rule is a mind-boggling WTF(!) for me. I am disappointed in the clubhouse leaders and especially disappointed in Hinch.
I am uneasy because pretty much every move the organization has made since the penalties were announced appear (to me at least) to have a primary goal of making Crane look good (and by look good I mean to MLB and the media, not to Astros fans). Surely its not best for the Astros business (which is to please fans in Houston) to force the players to apologize somehow in spring training. Its just something that makes Jim Crane look like he’s moving and shaking to “rehab” the franchise. I am worried that the pending Manager and GM hires are going to be made with those goals in mind as well, rather than any sort of continuation of what has truly made the franchise win a title, 2 pennants, and 3 ALCS appearances in 3 years.
To me, Crane’s apparent haste to make this go away quickly is some evidence he knew. Everyone else in the org but him is under the bus.
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The worst part about the way he is doing it, is that I have no doubt at all that next offseason one of the major stories in the media will be what a steal a couple other teams made in hiring the best manager and best GM in baseball.
This is probably harsh, especially on the actual baseball operations side, which we dont necessarily see, but if I could describe Crane’s actions through this, it strikes me a lot as him doing exactly what Drayton McLane would have done, rather than what we would assume the Crane/Ryan/Luhnow organization of the last 7-8 years would have done.
Hinch certainly will get another job but perhaps, as my friend said, in a FO, not a manager. Luhnow is through in baseball, I think. This is the final nail in his outsider pariah coffin.
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I think that Coach is spot on. Luhnow’s done in MLB. Hinch might be too, but I could see Hinch on television.