There are a select few positions within a sports organization whose importance dwarfs the significance of most other jobs inside the company. In football, it's the quarterback. In basketball, it's the franchise, All Star player. In baseball, it can be a Cy Young level pitcher, or a game changing player like, say, Yordan Alvarez. Those are sports-specific positions.

Then, there are the jobs that, across all sport, you have to hire elite people in order to win championships, and at or near the top of that list is general manager. It's really hard to find a team, not just currently but over the course of time, that strays from the traditional style of GM. Typically, it's someone who's spent years in various personnel or scouting positions, before betting their big shot in the big chair.

Exceptions to that rule would include someone like the 49ers GM John Lynch, a Hall of Fame player who stepped out of the broadcast booth to take his GM role, or Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who carries the GM title, because (a) he makes all the personnel decisions, and (b) he's the owner, so he can do whatever the hell he wants. Within those exceptions, though, at least those folks all carried the title of General Manager.

For whatever reason, the two biggest instances of teams recklessly disregarding, perhaps even disrespecting, the employment of a real general manager, both happened here in Houston within the last five years, and both times the results have been disastrous. How did we get so lucky?! Let's take a look at each one, and look at the subsequent efforts of the eventual general managers hired post-disaster to clean up the nuclear mess of their predecessors:

HOUSTON TEXANS

THE GENESIS: June 7, 2019, fired GM Brian Gaine
THE SOLUTION: Promote Bill O'Brien and Jack Easterby into some two headed monster of poor decision making
The firing of Gaine came out nowhere back in the summer of 2019. Gaine was in just his second offseason as GM for a team that was coming off an 11-5 season. However, Easterby was new to the organization, and in a VP role where he was basically allowed to run roughshod with recommendations and outright decisions across many areas of the franchise. He attempted to get Nick Caserio from the Patriots as the GM, but got snagged for tampering, so the team went ahead and made he and O'Brien the main decision makers on personnel, even giving O'Brien the GM title in 2020.

THE DISASTER
Where to begin? O'Brien and Easterby began making a slew of decisions that were, at best, questionable, and at worst, malpractice. Just before the 2019 season, they traded multiple high picks for Laremy Tunsil, and traded away Jadeveon Clowney for peanuts. The 2020 offseason, though, was the big catastrophe, as they traded DeAndre Hopkins for David Johnson and some draft picks that were used on bad players. They signed several Texan players and free agents, none of them even remotely close to Pro Bowl level, to contracts that were exorbitant and salary cap clogging. The team started 0-4 in 2020, and O'Brien was fired, but the damage was beyond done. The moves made by O'Brien and Easterby left the Texans with a horrible roster, no cap space, and almost no draft capital for the 2021 draft.

NUCLEAR CLEAN UP EXPERT: January 8, 2021, hired Patriots VP Nick Caserio as new GM
Enter Caserio, who the team was actually able to hire the second time around. He was already facing a herculean task in rebuilding this franchise, and it becomes severely exacerbated the day he was hired, when QB Deshaun Watson demanded a trade. Trading Watson became ultra-herculean when, six weeks later, 24 women filed lawsuits against him for sexual misconduct.

HOW'D HE DO?
Credit Caserio for navigating two head coaching changes (and the ridicule that came with that) to land on DeMeco Ryans. Credit Caserio for standing patient and ultimately landing a king's ransom for Watson. Credit Caserio for nailing the 2022 and 2023 drafts to rebuild the core of this team. Credit Caserio for a glitzy and substantial 2024 offseason that saw Stefon Diggs and Danielle Hunter become Houston Texans. Bottom line? Just credit Caserio.

HOUSTON ASTROS

THE GENESIS: November 11, 2022, owner Jim Crane allows GM James Click to leave after the two cannot come to terms on a new deal
THE SOLUTION: Crane assembles a brain trust of old school analysts haters, spearheaded by Jeff Bagwell, to steer decision making
This whole thing was confusing and bizarre, watching Crane move on from the general manager of team that won the World Series the prior week, but that's exactly what happened. The Astros took their time finding a new GM, and during the crucial portion of the offseason, when free agency is popping, Crane decided to lean heavily on the "expertise" of Hall of Famers (as players, NOT GMs!) Jeff Bagwell and Reggie Jackson.

THE DISASTER
With Bagwell, in particular, as a front facing representative of the team, the Astros proceeded to pay setup reliever Rafael Montero an exorbitant three-year, $34.5 million deal to keep him from walking in free agency, and even worse, gave a three-year, $57 million deal to aging free agent first baseman Jose Abreu. Both contracts were disasters almost from the word "GO" in 2023, as each were among the worst at their positions. Montero and Abreu became the objects of scorn from the fan base, and Bagwell's credibility wound up in the toilet.

NUCLEAR CLEAN UP EXPERT: Jan 26, 2023, hired Atlanta scouting guru Dan Brown as new GM
Brown was actually hired just weeks after the Montero and Abreu signings, so he inherited them, but immediately was responsible for the performance of a team who would have to navigate life with both of those contracts on the books. Brown would have to answer every question about the underperformance of Abreu, in particular, as if he signed Abreu to the deal, while Bagwell watched from the owner's suite. Tough gig.

HOW'D HE DO?
The Astros wound up making the 2023 ALCS, the seventh straight season they'd made it that deep into the postseason, so that was mild deodorant on those two stinky contracts. However, when 2024 got off to a 7-19 start, we all knew something would eventually have to give. After trying to get Abreu straightened out with a minor league stint, Brown convinced Crane to release Abreu, and eat about $30 million in dead salary. A couple months later, after another season with an astronomical ERA, Montero was given the boot, with about $16 million left on his deal. The mere fact that Brown was able to convince Crane to admit his mistakes and eat that kind of money is commendable. However, moving forward, Brown is the GM for a team on the downside of a title window, with nobody to really point the finger at when it comes crumbling down.

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