The Houston Astros have fired assistant general manager Scott Powers, according to reports ESPN’s Jeff Basson. This comes on the heels of the firing of general manager James Glick Earlier today. As Passan noted, Powers from the Dodgers in January clicked.
After the Astros won the 2022 World Series, the first domino to fall in a surprising sequence of events fell apart with the Astros clicking. Despite reports of friction between Klick and owner Jim Crane, many speculated that a World Series win would be enough to overcome those tensions and get the gravy train rolling. Instead, despite the Astros winning in 2022, the odds seem too high. After Click was removed from the picture, it was assumed that some of his recruits would be let go, and that has indeed come to pass. Click back to pass through the door with powers sent out.
Powers was the Dodgers’ Director of Quantitative Analytics until his tenure Hired by the Astros In January 2022. The person hired as AGM at the time was Andrew Ball, who worked for the Click in the Race organization. No word has been released on his status, but it’s fair to wonder if Crane is determined to fire anyone he deems a click guy at this point. It’s worth reiterating that Click was hired after the Astros’ identity-theft attempts in 2017 came to light after the 2019 season. President of baseball operations Jeff Luhnow was fired and Klick was hired. While the team continues to perform well, it seems things are not so good behind the scenes. Despite the firings, Click and Powers and whoever leaves will surely draw plenty of interest from other teams around the league based on their track record of results on the field.
The Astros now face a huge front office turnover. Aside from Click and Powers, which may or may not come with any other moves, a handful of executives have already left for jobs with other companies. A month ago, trolls was employed Pete Putilla, another Houston AGM, was to be their general manager. Oz Ocampo, longtime scout and Astros executive Recently hired Must be AGM with Marlins.
That puts the Astros in a strange and perhaps unprecedented position. On the one hand, they are world champions, having lifted the trophy a week earlier. This marks the latest in a long streak of results, as they have qualified for the ALCS in each of the past six seasons. On the other hand, they may have to quickly scramble to fill a front office that is hemorrhaging members while making plans for their title defense in 2023.
Many people wonder if David Stearns could be a candidate for two reasons. He recently He went down He rose to a more consulting position as head of baseball operations for the Brewers and was also AGM with the Astros before moving to Milwaukee. However, he still has a year under contract and reiterated that position today that he is not going anywhere. Adam McCalvey of MLB.com. “I’m going to reiterate what I said before: I’m not going anywhere,” Stearns said, “and I’m committed to advising Mark. [Attanasio, Milwaukee’s principal owner] And [general manager Matt Arnold] Either way I can. That’s it.”
