Back in February, the Astros’ bullpen coach, Josh Miller, got a title bump to “pitching coach.” And Bill Murphy, the pitching coordinator, got added to the major league staff as an “assistant pitching coach,” which was a newly-created position.
Both of those guys have spent quite a bit of time in Houston’s farm system, both as minor league coaches and as pitching coordinators. I can’t speak to their bona fides, but they should certainly know the system pretty well by now. I’d think they are both strong internal candidates and I wouldn’t be surprised if their recent promotions were at least partly a tryout for stepping into Strom’s shoes.