It’s strange that Astros special assistant and team legend Jeff Bagwell has managed to carve out such a negative space for himself in his post playing days in Houston. One of the top three Astros of all time and an unabashed lover of all things ‘Stros, he nevertheless finds himself in a tough spot these days thanks to his curmudgeonly color commentary and, more importantly, very bad and terrible decisions in between the James Click and Dana Brown eras.
We lead with Bagwell because the Astros are hiring his former teammate (and good friend), Brad Ausmus, to take over as the team’s manager after bringing in Randy Flores as the club’s GM less than a week ago.
If you recall, prior to the hiring of Brown, Bagwell had pushed (reportedly) for Ausmus in that role.
So, for fans, Ausmus has been tainted by association and it’s honestly not fair. The former catcher is one of the sharpest guys in baseball and, despite struggles with two lackluster franchises at the time he was with them, by all accounts should make for a good, level-headed skipper.
With Bagwell still acting as baseball whisperer in chief to owner Jim Crane, until the Astros see success again, Baggy will be scrutinized and so to will Ausmus.
But the reality is that Ausmus doesn’t need to be the greatest manager to ever live. Neither does Flores need to be the next Billy Beane. What they, along with Bagwell and Crane, require is to be on the same page.
For nearly a decade, the Astros have muddled along with a clearly out-of-sync front office, managing to win a World Series despite those troubles. After Jeff Lunhow and A.J. Hinch were dismissed because the sign stealing scandal, Crane and the team have never quite been on the same page.
Dusty Baker managed to help steady nerves and right the ship temporarily thanks to a very good roster still hanging on from the previous World Series team, but Click was fired almost before the confetti from the parade stopped falling. And it’s been downhill from there.
Brown did what he could. Joe Espada took over admirably and was a solid if unspectacular manager. But since the Lunhow/Hinch era, this is a franchise that has made missteps, two of the biggest (Jose Abreu and Rafael Montero) under the Bagwell/Crane watch before hiring Brown.
So, yeah, you’ll excuse fans and others for being skeptical.
But, there is a real chance to change all that. And it comes from not just showing a united front, but having one behind the scenes as well. In few sports is the dynamic between the front office and the sidelines so critical. If Flores believes he and Ausmus can work together productively, AND they both have convinced Crane (and to a lesser extent Bagwell) of a new direction for the franchise, there is no reason this team cannot turn things around eventually.
Yes, it will take time. The team still has one of the worst farm systems in baseball. They also have terrible pitching and question marks all over the infield, not to mention an uncomfortable roster construction mixed with unproven youngsters, aging veterans, and the best hitter in baseball.
But, if Flores/Ausmus becomes the latest version of Lunhow/Hinch (minus the banging trash cans), the fans will finally have reason to let the former Astros first baseman off the hook for the botched decisions and assumptions about his control of the front office. Bagwell is still one of the Astros greats. If Ausmus becomes one of their better managers, all will be forgiven.
If not…well, that’s a story for a different day.
