Ready to spring forward
New manager Baker, GM Click on the same track after dissimilar paths to Houston
On Wednesday, when the worst winter in Astros history concludes, the two men tasked with repairing this franchise will encounter a crush. Questions will arise that neither can adequately answer. Dusty Baker will shake hands with players he’s only seen on television. James Click can put a face to what was once a name on the Tampa Bay Rays advanced scouting report.
Neither man has worked for the Houston Astros for more than three weeks. Their familiarity with the franchise is almost nonexistent. They took two distinctly dissimilar paths into baseball and harbor few of the same philosophies for how to evaluate it. Still, they are expected to engineer a season that aligns with a city’s enormous expectations.
“We’ll enhance each other,”
Baker said last week.
Added Click: “It’s daunting on some levels (and) it’s tremendously exciting on others. There are more firehoses to drink from than I know what to do with at this point.”
Five months ago, Click came to Minute Maid Park part of a plucky underdog up against baseball’s most feared team. Click was rather anonymous, a fast-rising baseball executive in a Tampa Bay Rays front office full of them. He pored over the Astros’ lethal lineup and stout starting rotation for any weakness his club could exploit.
“The talent is undeniable,”
Click said. “It’s a really impressive roster.”
Tampa pushed the Astros to the brink of elimination before falling to Gerrit Cole in the fifth game. From his California home, Baker observed what followed. He watched with interest when Houston met the Washington Nationals in the World Series. Baker had not managed in the two seasons since Washington fired him.
“Don’t tell the Nationals,” he later said, “but I was rooting for this team to beat the Nationals.”
Houston came within eight outs of the goal. The four months that followed rendered many of the specifics moot. Reckoning came for a franchise constantly on the cutting edge but beset by a toxic culture atop it. Manager A.J. Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow were dismissed for tolerating rampant electronic signstealing during the 2017 and 2018 seasons.
Players who participated have expressed little culpability or contrition. Commissioner Rob Manfred afforded them immunity for accurate testimony. Such a security blanket does not extend to public perception. Opponents and rivals have ravaged the mostly-silent sign-stealers, some of whom will gather in West Palm Beach, Fla. on Wednesday when pitchers and catchers report.
Click and Baker’s first duty is to guide the full team through the unforgiving media circuit that awaits. The first full-team workout is set for Feb. 17. Ten members of the 2017 World Series team are scheduled to be present.
Owner Jim Crane’s promised a “strong statement” and some sort of a formal apology from the entire group. How that will manifest remains a mystery. Former Astros Dallas Keuchel and Charlie Morton have offered remorse in hopes of helping to heal the wounds.
Baker was brought in to accomplish the same. Among baseball men, few can manage a crisis better than the 70-year-old, threetime Manager of the Year whom Crane hired to be a “players manager.”
“Have an open heart to forgiveness,” Baker said last week. “That’s probably one of my worst traits. I know it is. My auntie used to tell me, ‘You have to forgive.’ I just couldn’t. Now I’m trying to learn how to and also make sure the players stay together.”
“I don’t know what I’m going to do differently. I have to first get in there and see what the mood and the personnel is like before you can just go to changing stuff. I prefer to not to have to change anything, and just do much of the same. It was good before I got here.”
Baker is a planner. Especially during spring training, he thrives on organization and a seamless schedule. Achieving that for a team he knows little about borders on impossible. He will lean on returning bench coach Joe Espada and pitching coach Brent
Strom for the majority of the sixweek stay in Florida. Espada met with both Baker and Click on Feb. 4 at Minute Maid Park so all parties could be aligned.
“I’m relying on him quite a bit,” Baker said. “He knows the players. He knows who works hard. He knows who might not work as hard. He knows who comes in early, who comes in late. There are some guys who work too hard where you might have to tell them to back off a little bit. He’s giving me some insight into the team and to the players.”
Since he was hired on Jan. 29, Baker’s heard from a handful of Houston players. Alex Bregman phoned first, confusing Baker for a moment with his hometown New Mexico area code. Jose Altuve and Aledmys Diaz greeted Baker at the ballpark after his introductory news conference, too.
Click’s introductions are not as advanced. He was introduced on Feb. 4, eight days before most of the Astros’ contingent was scheduled to depart for West Palm Beach. That Houston has few uncertainties for its opening day roster may lessen the task for both he and Baker. A spring seemingly free of many difficult roster decisions can allow for more individualized talks as the team plots a new way forward.
“I’m really looking forward to asking them how they all got to be that good and see if we can figure out how to get everyone else that way,” Click said.