The Houston Astros named James Click their general manager on Tuesday. Click, who is 42 yeears old, takes over from Jeff Luhnow, who was fired due to his inability to prevent the cheating scandal that rocked Major League Baseball in January.
The timing of the Click hiring was a little surprising. That is because the Astros decided to hire a manager before a general manager. Normally when a sports team fires their general manager and manager (or head coach), they hire a general manager first and it is the general manager’s decision to hire the person they want to run the coaching aspects of the team. This was not the case with the Astros, as the 70 year old Dusty Baker was hired to be the manager of the Astros on January 29.
Click had spent the last 13 seasons with the Tampa Bay Rays. He began as an intern in 2005, then was promoted to coordinator of baseball operations, director of research and development and then director of baseball operations.
For those who actively follow Major League Baseball, you would know that the Rays are a team that has done a lot the last two decades with a little pay roll. Now that Click is in a position of power and will have money to spend, it will be interesting to track the success of the Astros in the coming years.
Click will also have the disadvantage of picking players in the MLB Draft. Gone are the Astros’ top two picks in the next two drafts as a result of penalties due to the sign stealing scandal.
