Jim Crane’s key & trusted advisers •Ausmus’ ties with Bagwell, whose voice has grown more prominent within the organization this winter, can not be discounted. Bagwell vouched for Ausmus during Abreu’s introductory news conference in December — the same day Bagwell bemoaned baseball’s excessive reliance on analytics. •Before he left the organization, Click said it was “trending toward” Yordan Alvarez assuming everyday left-field duties in 2023. Bagwell disputed that on Tuesday. “I think if you look at left field, that’s something we’re going to think about,” Bagwell said. “I want Yordan (Alvarez) to play 45-50 percent of the games in left field. I think it’s good for him. Mentally, it’s good. He enjoys it. That’s important. There’s going to have to be some way we figure it out … but I need Yordan to play 45 to 50 percent of the games.” •“The main thing we want to do here is, I don’t want to hear windows,” Bagwell said. “I want to hear every single year we have a chance to win. That’s how we have to base our decisions: short-term, but the long-term in the back of our minds. Like how are we going to be in three years, five years, 7-10 (years).” •“We have Lee and Diaz. I personally have not seen enough of them to make a decision on either of those two,” Bagwell said. “I know what we have in Maldy, which is one of the best teammates and (being) all about winning as I’ve seen. Everything he does is about winning and I love Maldy. But there’s always room for upgrades. We just have to figure out where we’re going.” •“He’s a line drive hitter,” said Hall of Famer Jeff Bagwell, who visited Abreu in Miami to help the Astros finish the deal. “He drives in a lot of big runs. There’s a lot of guys that can drive in 80-90 runs. This guy has driven in over 100. He drives in big runs. He knows how to do that. We can get him in our lineup, that can only do stuff to benefit us.” •After acknowledging his growing role in the franchise's makeshift front office, Hall of Famer Jeff Bagwell on Tuesday bemoaned the Astros' reliance on analytics and asserted that “this game is played by humans, man. It’s not played by computers.” “The game has advanced so much,” Bagwell said. “But at the end of the day, it’s about driving runs in, scoring runs, getting 27 outs before the other team. That never changes. Trying to get a mix of both of those is what I’m trying to get some of up there because that’s what (owner Jim Crane) wants.” Analytics built the Astros into a budding dynasty, but it’s worth wondering if Bagwell’s growing influence on Crane might shift the franchise back toward a blended approach. “I talk to Jim a lot and the new assistant GMs and so forth just to give my opinion on some of the things I see and how I see it (from) a player’s perspective and, I guess, a front-office perspective and how that all mixes together,” Bagwell said. “You have to have a mix of both. You can’t just be one way.” Asked whether the Astros had gone “too far one way,” Bagwell replied, “Personally, for me, yes. “There are certain things that go on that the numbers can’t explain,” Bagwell said. “This game is played by humans, man. It’s not played by computers. There’s a lot of things that go on — stuff at home, a lot of things that can happen throughout the year that mean something, and it affects players in certain ways.” It’s clear that since Click’s departure, Bagwell wields far more influence than his current job title of community outreach executive. “I don’t know. I do the same thing,” Bagwell said. “I bother Jim nonstop. I think he’s tired of me. I’m just a voice of how I see baseball and how I see the other things in baseball that aren’t just numbers. Numbers are important — don’t get me wrong. But there are other things that matter.” Bagwell’s 15-minute conversation with reporters Tuesday sounded eerily similar to a general manager’s mid-winter state of the union. Of Yordan Alvarez, Bagwell said, “I want Yordan to play 45 to 50 percent of the games in left field.” He called Abreu “our number one target” and didn’t rule out entering the catching market despite Martín Maldonado’s return. “I want to do whatever Jim needs me to do,” Bagwell said. “I’m not pushing myself to do anything. I know I’m involved. I know I enjoy talking the game of baseball, and I certainly enjoy talking about us and getting better.” I owe an apology to the likes of Keith Law. They were right, I was wrong. This is what happens when you Jerry Jones your way through an off-season.
This is even more horrific in hindsight. Thankfully Crane went the Biggio route for GM (with Brown and Biggio going to college together)
Crane is the guy everyone should be pissed at. He fired a well performing GM simply bc hr didn’t like the guy and hired someone who has spent most of his career as a scout and will likely need to learn on the job how to be a GM. Does anyone believe we would not be better off right now with Click as GM? Bagwell is what he is, but Crane is the one who allowed him to enter the fold.
Huh? Brown was a very respectable hire. Much better than shitpile Click. Now Bagwell? He's garbage as an advisor.
I don’t think letting go of Click was totally out of line considering he seemed to be wrong on a lot behind the scenes, hiring Brown (traditional baseball guy) instead of a Sig, or traditional analytics guy might turn out to be an over correction. But I am willing to wait to see how it turns out and roles are delegated, super excited to see what he can do in the draft.
Agree with this. Brown was very important in the Braves building through the draft the way they did. It was time to reset our minor league system before it got back to a point of having to burn it all down again. I think/hope Brown will have a major focus on strengthening through the draft, while maintaining the major league team as the power in MLB. This season is faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar from lost. We don't have to win 106 games to still achieve the expectations we all have. It's going to certainly be more of a challenge with the current injury list but I have no reason to doubt the front office.
Click made a lot of calculations that proved to not be good last year - and oddly, Dusty was right on most of the large issues. Click also had real issues fitting into the culture of the organization, which is one of collaboration, and that was not Click's strong point at all. There are a lot of talented people that were and still are with the Astros, that Click simply did not listen to or consider their opinions. At the end of the day, the owner lost confidence in his GM - and a lot of people within the organization were glad to see him go. I can see it from Click's side as well, the Astros won a WS - he didn't trade away the young pitchers and he built the pen. Sometimes there is no clear cut bad or good guy and this is one of those times. As for Dana Brown, he has been more than a scout. He handled the entire minor league system for the Braves, he was the lead voice on the international draft, he was very involved in trades and established who they would hire for player development - and the last few years was as involved in trades and extensions as the actual GM in Atlanta. He was essentially the right-hand man for a GM that was very much into delegating authority. So no, I don't think the Astros would be better with Click and Powers running the Astros - I suspect they would be about the same. They likely would have Bell or Abreu at 1st, and Contreras at catcher..... Bell and Abreu have struggled, and there was a pitcher's revolt against Contreras in St. Louis. We likely loose Joshua Miller if Click is still there as well. Click is a solid GM, if I had a team and was rebuilding, I would look at him as a strong candidate.
Bagwell says the astros have gotten too analytical for his tastes. look at the last 6 years. By far the most success the organization has ever had. why would anyone take him seriously after saying that?
Bagwell in postseason (33 games): .226 AVG/.364 OBP/.321 SLG J. Abreu with Astros (35 games): .225 AVG/.272 OBP/.268 SLG
bagwell "We can get him in our lineup, that can only do stuff to benefit us.” when will this stuff happen?
That's all well and good, but to be fair to Bagwell you can't count 2005 when he only had 1 arm. It never happened. 26g. .232 AVG/ .371 OBP/ .337 SLG.
