Former Astros pitching coach Brent Strom signing with Arizona Diamondbacks

There were a lot of things going on.

A big part of it was the Astros wanted to keep Joshua Miller on their staff and Strom believed Miller should get a chance.

Also Strom will be able to spend more time with his family in Arizona.

Strom is awesome but he was not the only one working with the pitchers and he also benefitted from people like Sarah Gelles giving him information.

 

He was pretty clear in his comments that he’d potentially take another job so not surprising. I think the fact it’s close to home is more telling than anything else.

 

He told Mark Berman on Oct. 13 that he was considering retirement and would decide after the season. In his exit interview after the World Series, he said he asked people what retirement is like. He never indicated he was leaving to take a similar job within two weeks.

 

How can you be shocked when he literally said the reason he’s leaving was to allow the Astros to keep the other pitching coaches who already have a stable while Strom lost most of his guys

 

Big $$$$$$$ that he maybe didn't expect so soon and so much. Perfectly understandable. Too good to pass up.

 

It’s Brent Strom. The day he left the organization, I’m sure he was inundated with calls from major league teams to become their pitching coach because he’s considered to be among the best in the business. He could have simply said there are young guys in the Astros’ organization ready for their chance and left it there. Instead, he told Mark Berman in October that he was considering retirement and told reporters after the World Series the travel was getting to be too much for him and his family, and he asked others what retirement is like.

 

I’m not mad at Strommy in the least. He’s a earned the right to do what he wants. He helped give this organization some great years. I wish him nothing but the best.

 

It's the Morey playbook. Houston should be used to this by now.

 

Dang, that sucks. Still some chance it will be ok if Miller/Murphy are the next great thing.

 

People really read too much into everything.

 

How so? Do we know what he was paid here vs Arizona?

 

But maybe he WAS considering retirement? And then Arizona approached him with an opportunity to keep going while also reducing the grind for his family and he decided that sounded great?

Why can't all this be true? People he asked could have said "retirement isn't all that great"?

 

Yeah

The Astros as an organization, ever since Crane bought the team have been very aggressive in making changes in their front office staff. Some are new names that enter the organization, but a lot of them are reassignments. Luhnow did it as well. He completely changed the Astros minor league scouting and player development heirarchy and even how they approach their job. So it isn't entirely shocking that Strom isn't there anymore. Luhnow plucked Bill Murphy out of college and Miller has been working for the Astros for awhile now.

Miller and Murphy did a lot of the work already. They have been groomed to take over by Strom. I don't know how good both are but I can tell you that they had opportunities with other organizations they turned down to stay with the Astros and the pitching staff likes working with them.

Strom is obviously a pioneer but he also benefitted a lot from the support system that was built in by Luhnow and not Puptila and Click. The Astros have the very best R&D group in the game (along with the Dodgers) and their amateur scouting department is great. So the information that is given to the pitching coaches is top notch. Murphy especially relies on advanced computer models with Gelles so the Astros should be okay.

As for Dusty, Click respects him and Crane likes him as a person. He ultimately will fight against what Click wants to do, but gives in and will change his mind. I am sure the next manager hire will likely be someone that is more numerically and functionally sophisticated, but the cowardice of Hinch showed that having someone in the dugout that will, when needed, stand up to the players is necessary.

 

Morey was under contract - he had to be shady to get out of it. Strom wasn't under contract. He's was a free agent like anyone else.

 

The Astros knew this was coming. He has discussed it in the past and he is nearly 80 years old. He will be missed but the Astros planned for it and have a plan in place to address it.

 

Never heard that he said that. I don't live on his doorstep.

What I DID hear from his own mouth less than a month ago was he was considering retiring and he wanted to try other things. Then, he promptly took another job about 10 days after leaving the Astros. You don't find that to be a little odd?

 

Not at all. Why would it be? If he was considering retirement because of the difficulties being away from family, and then he gets an opportunity to keep doing what he loves but also resolve the family distance issues, why not jump on it?

Charlie Morton was considering retirement after 2017 for the same reasons... and then got an opportunity to pitch near his home, so he took it. No one seemed to think there was anything weird about that.

 

That’s likely what happened. I’m not mad at Strom, but I am surprised he took another job with the same title 10 days after leaving the organization.

People he asked did give him mixed responses. In the interview with McIlvoy, he says some people said you’ll love it, and others say you’ll have to figure out a way to not get bored.

 

He changed his mind about retirement in a span of 10 days. Nope nothing off about that. Nothing to see here.

 

You seem to be ignoring the key reason he was considering retirement. And the key benefit to the new job he now has. It's weird that you think your timetable of however long it might take you to make a decision should also apply to him.

Strom had no reason to lie - he was not under obligation to the Astros. His contract had expired and he could sign anywhere he wanted.