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Wednesday, January 25, 2023

Brad Ausmus Reportedly Among Astros’ GM Finalists

Earlier today, Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported that the Astros have at least three finalists for their GM vacancy: Braves vice president of scouting Dana Brown, Guardians assistant GM James Harris and former Giants GM Bobby Evans. That’s not an exhaustive list, however, and Jose de Jesus Ortiz of Our Esquina tweets that former Astros catcher, Tigers/Angels manager and (most recently) A’s bench Brad Ausmus is also among the finalists. Per Ortiz, Brown and Ausmus are the two favorites for the job.

Jumping straight into the GM’s chair would be a first for Ausmus, though it wouldn’t be his first stint in a big league front office. Ausmus was a special assistant in the Padres’ front office shortly after retiring as a player, and he held a similar role with the 2018 Angels under then-general manager Billy Eppler.

Since retiring, however, the bulk of Ausmus’ experience in the game has come in a big league dugout. That includes a four-year stint as the Tigers’ manager from 2014-17 and a 2019 run as the Angels’ skipper. He spent the 2022 campaign as the bench coach under newly hired A’s skipper Mark Kotsay, but Ausmus turned down an offer from the team to return for a second season in that position. Ausmus’ decision to decline that offer came just a week before ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported that Ausmus traveled to Houston to meet with former teammate Jeff Bagwell, who’s been a key advisor to owner Jim Crane and has held some sway in the team’s baseball operations decisions.

RoyalsRetro (AG#1F) Posted: January 25, 2023 at 08:33 AM | 14 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
  Tags: astros, brad ausmus

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   1. Starring Bradley Scotchman as RMc Posted: January 25, 2023 at 10:48 AM (#6114371)
As long as he's not f@#ing managing the Tigers anymore.
   2. villageidiom Posted: January 25, 2023 at 11:18 AM (#6114373)
I assume BBC is hoping for more press conferences. With close-ups.
   3. Tony S Posted: January 25, 2023 at 11:28 AM (#6114378)
Well, Angels fans could use some good news.

Potentially.hiring an acolyte of Jeff "All This Winning Displeases Me" Bagwell doesn't fill me with hope and faith.
   4. SoSH U at work Posted: January 25, 2023 at 01:04 PM (#6114409)
When are they going to stop hiring these damn Ivy League nerds and start putting ballplayers in these positions again?
   5. Walt Davis Posted: January 25, 2023 at 01:47 PM (#6114426)
Classic failing upwards.
   6. sunday silence (again) Posted: January 25, 2023 at 03:25 PM (#6114454)
General John Bell Hood enters the room.
   7. Infinite Yost (Voxter) Posted: January 25, 2023 at 07:00 PM (#6114498)
Potentially.hiring an acolyte of Jeff "All This Winning Displeases Me" Bagwell doesn't fill me with hope and faith.


What is this referencing, for the non-Astros-fan?
   8. Tony S Posted: January 25, 2023 at 07:21 PM (#6114499)
What is this referencing, for the non-Astros-fan?


The soft firing of GM Click on the heels of the World Series championship was reportedly influenced by Crane listening to Bagwell complaining that the Astros had become too reliant on analytics.

Exactly what bothered Bagwell so much about four pennants and two rings in six years was never made quite clear.
   9. Astroenteritis Posted: January 25, 2023 at 09:36 PM (#6114525)
When are they going to stop hiring these damn Ivy League nerds and start putting ballplayers in these positions again?


Good one.

Really, though, hiring Ausmus will be just another step on the road to mediocrity. He's not friendly to analytics, and Crane seems to be hell bent on a path of, "what we're doing is working so well that surely something needs to be changed."
   10. John Reynard Posted: January 26, 2023 at 04:27 AM (#6114547)
Great, I'm glad the Astros are headed down the route to mediocrity. If their owner is stupid enough to do this, so be it.

Not that I'm even a Red Sox fan, but, shouldn't Boston consider sacking Bloom and getting Crick at this point? I mean, I suspect it'd be 2-4 years before even a high quality GM could fix them....but, why wait?
   11. Pat Rapper's Delight (as quoted on MLB Network) Posted: January 26, 2023 at 10:43 AM (#6114569)
When are they going to stop hiring these damn Ivy League nerds and start putting ballplayers in these positions again?

With Ausmus, they'd get both!
   12. oscar madisox Posted: January 26, 2023 at 02:28 PM (#6114618)
Astros hired Brown as GM earlier today


   13. base ball chick Posted: January 26, 2023 at 06:28 PM (#6114681)
welp

i guess crane doesn't listen to baggy THAT much that he'd just hire his pal. baggy is not the brains type guy. firing click was seriously dumbass. shrug

   14. AstrosOldTimer Posted: January 26, 2023 at 06:34 PM (#6114682)
Back when Ausmus was catching for the Astros, I remember the stories about how he was the 'smart' guy on the team. Which, you know, seems impressive for a group of 25 grown men.

Later on, one of the players revealed that Ausmus knew so much about things because he watched CNN Headline news. Then I remembered, oh yeah, these guys are all jocks.

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