The Houston Astros are the reigning World Series champions. Even though Dusty Baker is returning as Astros manager, the Astros general manager James Click of Durham, North Carolina will not be. On Friday, six days after winning baseball’s most significant team prize, Jeff Passan announced that Click had rejected their one-year contract offer for the 2023 Major League Baseball regular season.
Three Years as Astros General Manager
Click had spent three seasons as the Astros general manager from 202o to 2022. In that span, the Astros had a record of 230 wins and 154 losses for a winning percentage of .599.
Houston actually had a losing regular season record of 29 wins and 31 losses in Click’s first season as general manager in 2020, but the Astros still made the playoffs under Major League Baseball’s expanded playoff format that season (eight teams that qualified from each league). Houston beat the Minnesota Twins two games to none in the American League Wildcard Series, before beating the Oakland Athletics three games to one on in the American League Divisional Series. There they lost in seven games to the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League Championship Series.
In 2021, the Astros won the American League West with a record of 95 wins and 67 losses. Then they won the American League Divisional Series three games to one over the Chicago White Sox, and then the American League Championship Series four games to two over the Boston Red Sox. In the World Series, the Astros lost in six games to Atlanta.
In 2022, the Astros won the American League West, with the best record in the American League at 106 wins and 56 losses. They then swept the Seattle Mariners in three games to win the American League Divisional Series, and the New York Yankees in four games to won the American League Championship Series, before needing six games to beat the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series.
Scott Powers fired
The Astros also fired assistant general manager Scott Powers. In the meantime, the Astros will have Andrew Ball and Bill Firkus be in charge of the baseball operations department. Ball had been another assistant general manager of the Astros since December of 2021. Before that he worked two years with the Tampa Bay Rays (2014 to 2016 as their Advance Scouting Intern, Assistant of Baseball Operations and Assistant Director of Pro Scouting), and the Director of Baseball Operations with the Los Angeles Angels from 2016 to 2021. Firkus meanwhile has been with the Astros since 2013 as their medical analyst, director of sports medicine and performance, and senior director of baseball strategy. Firkus also won a World Series with the Astros in 2017.
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