#Growing up skipper ken series#

The team hired six new domestic scouts this past offseason, too. Powers, Ball and longtime Astros lieutenant Pete Putila comprise the core of Click’s leadership team. Click hired two new assistant general managers - Scott Powers and Andrew Ball - along with farm director Sara Goodrum. Last winter, for the first time since Click came to Houston, Crane allowed him to significantly bolster his front office.

received a five-year, $85 million extension in 2021. Closer Ryan Pressly got a two-year, $30 million deal this past spring, while Lance McCullers Jr. Alvarez’s deal is the second largest in franchise history - the sort of contract that does not come without ownership approval. Click’s two major free-agent mistakes, reliever Pedro Báez and infielder Niko Goodrum, cost the team $13.6 million.Ĭlick has negotiated three contract extensions, including the six-year, $115 million deal Yordan Alvarez signed earlier this year.

According to Spotrac, the 2022 team is operating with a $183,407,872 total payroll - more than $10 million below its 2021 mark. How much - if at all - Crane has meddled in Click’s operation is unclear. Crane hired him despite Click's having no general manager experience. Before Baker received a new contract, Crane allowed the manager to work the entire 2021 postseason without one - perhaps a pattern worth remembering when it pertains to Click’s status.Ĭlick came to the Astros after spending his entire baseball career in the Rays' front office. I’ve always said if I win one, I win two, so you have to win one first in order to win two.”īaker echoed similar sentiments throughout last season. “I’d like to win (the World Series) this year and next year, too. “Yeah, I’d like to come back,” Baker said. The 73-year-old skipper said Monday he hopes to manage the team next season. Owner Jim Crane hired Baker a week before poaching Click from the Tampa Bay Rays. He has worked all three seasons with a manager he did not hire - and one with whom he shares at least some philosophical differences. In the two complete seasons Click has overseen, Houston has won one American League pennant and fallen a victory short of another. It has the American League’s best record in 140 games since Correa vacated shortstop.

Houston won a pennant the season after Springer departed. The 44-year-old executive successfully guided the team through the pandemic and the departure of two franchise cornerstones: George Springer and Carlos Correa.

#Growing up skipper ken series#

The Houston Chronicle’s Chandler Rome discusses some of the biggest questions facing the Astros as they begin a road series in Detroit. Bear in mind, too, that Click inherited a farm system considered one of baseball’s worst. He did not have a first- or second-round pick in his first two drafts as a result of the punishment. Though the major league roster was stacked, Click inherited an absolute mess in February 2020 - a month before the COVID-19 pandemic and after the league revealed the breadth of Houston’s electronic sign-stealing scandal. Given the team’s accomplishments during Click’s brief tenure, parting ways with him seems somewhat illogical, even if the team does not win a World Series. The Astros boast the American League’s best record and have authored one of their most dominant seasons in franchise history. 500 and all but guaranteed to capture another American League West title in the next three weeks. Houston entered Monday’s game against the Detroit Tigers 40 games above. On a podcast posted Monday morning, The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal listed the Astros among teams that could have a general manager vacancy this winter, adding “there could be some maneuvering if the Astros sputter in the playoffs, which frankly, I don’t expect.” Within the organization, speculation about his future has been a growing topic since the end of spring.Īn Astros spokesperson declined comment. Click has declined comment on his contract status thrice this season: once in spring training, once after the trade deadline, and again Monday afternoon.