Top baseball executives occasionally get fired within a year of winning the World Series — it happened to Dave Dombrowski with the Red Sox in 2019 and Walt Jocketty with the Cardinals in 2007. But perhaps the only example of a head of baseball operations losing his job immediately after winning a Series was in 1947 when the Yankees’ Larry MacPhail abruptly resigned, then was bought out of his ownership share.
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“As the Yankees were whooping it up, MacPhail entered and turned the clubhouse celebration on its head when, in a drunken stupor, he unleashed a barrage of insults, punched a writer, and announced his resignation,” according to the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR). “His behavior continued at the Biltmore Hotel, where MacPhail tearfully announced his retirement again. Del Webb and Dan Topping bought out the fifty-seven-year-old MacPhail the next day for two million dollars.”
Astros general manager James Click isn’t known to have done anything as extreme as MacPhail, and his reputation suggests he never would. His team, 7-0 in the playoffs, is about to play in its second straight World Series. During his three years as GM, the Astros have won the most regular-season games in the American League. So what exactly must Click do to earn a new contract from owner Jim Crane? Why, as the Series begins, does his job appear in jeopardy?
Sources familiar with the Astros’ situation who are not authorized to talk about the team’s operation cite a variety of potential reasons for the uncertainty surrounding Click: Stylistic clashes between the 44-year-old executive and the 68-year-old Crane, disagreements about the size of the baseball operations staff and concern from Click about other voices in the organization influencing the owner.
Both Crane and Click declined comment for this story.
Crane hired Click in a decidedly hasty process, taking only three weeks to replace Jeff Luhnow, whom the owner fired the day the league announced the Astros’ punishment for stealing signs illegally in 2017 and 2018. The owner now might prefer a baseball operations leader who is more in line with his own agenda.
One problem: The Astros under Click are the envy of baseball.
If Crane parts with his GM, the rationale frequently invoked by management in such situations — “philosophical differences” — will not suffice. Not after the validation Click, along with manager Dusty Baker, brought the Astros in the aftermath of the sign-stealing scandal. Not when prospective replacements for Click would rightly wonder if any GM could satisfy Crane.
Maybe Click’s lame-duck status will prove inconsequential, considering that Yankees GM Brian Cashman also worked under an expiring contract this season and is expected to return even after his team’s disappointing finish — at, ahem, the hands of the Astros. Maybe Crane simply wanted to exert pressure on both Click and Baker in the final years of their respective deals, and make sure they focused on the task at hand before re-signing them.
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The difference is, Baker isn’t thought to be in trouble, while the tension between Crane and Click has been a topic of industry speculation virtually all season. Crane could have ended the talk at any time by awarding both Click and Baker extensions. But Crane hasn’t said much beyond what he told Houston sportscaster Mark Berman on Sept. 12: “I’m aware both contracts are up and we’ll address them at the end of the season. We don’t want any distractions right now.”
Crane’s concern over distractions is disingenuous. He created the distractions. The question, as it pertains to Click, remains why. As I wrote on Sept. 30, Crane is difficult, demanding and heavily involved in baseball operations, acting almost as an owner/GM. He said he had no knowledge of the Astros’ illegal sign stealing, and some in the organization believe he took a more active role because he did not want to get embarrassed and blind-sided again.
It’s Crane’s team. He can run it however he wants, and in many ways he is a good owner. Players speak highly of him. He cares about winning. He shrewdly runs the Astros’ business, helping provide support for baseball operations. Even his penchant for making employees uncomfortable is not necessarily a bad thing.
Occasional friction between an owner and GM is normal. Occasional friction between a GM and manager, the type Click and Baker are said to experience, also is normal. But while Luhnow acquired 18 of the 26 players on the team’s ALCS roster, any analysis of Click’s tenure must start with the reason he and Baker were hired early in 2020 — to restore stability to a franchise reeling from scandal.
In successive offseasons, the Astros lost Gerrit Cole, George Springer and Carlos Correa, yet the team’s worst postseason finish under Click and Baker is its seven-game elimination by the Rays in the 2020 ALCS. The COVID-19 pandemic shortened that season. In the two full seasons since, the Astros have won American League pennants. And they are favored to win the World Series after winning 106 regular-season games to the Phillies’ 87, the second-greatest disparity in Series history.
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Yet the uneasy relationship between Crane and Click continues. Here, in greater detail, are the potential reasons cited by sources:
Stylistic clashes
Crane likes to act quickly and boldly. Click, who came from the Rays’ organization, moves more deliberately. Yet while the two might not share the same ideas on roster construction, their decisions on players seem to complement each other well.
Crane was the driving force in the most recent contracts for Justin Verlander, Michael Brantley, Yuli Gurriel and Martín Maldonado. Click, meanwhile, built nearly the Astros’ entire bullpen, which led the majors in ERA during the regular season and has allowed three runs in 33 innings (on three solo homers) for a 0.82 ERA in the postseason.
Click is not completely risk-averse, as evidenced by his choice of rookie Jeremy Peña to replace Correa without signing a veteran shortstop as a safety net. But at this stage of the Astros’ competitive cycle, his mostly conservative approach is probably best for the franchise. It’s easy for a GM, particularly a GM who arrives from another organization, to screw up a good thing.
Case in point: Click could have traded one of his younger starters at the deadline for a promising catcher or center fielder. Instead, he reduced the surplus in his rotation by sending veteran righty Jake Odorizzi to the Braves for lefty reliever Will Smith, and retained his depth for the future. The Astros, even if they lose Verlander to free agency this offseason, will have six starters under club control through at least 2025.
Staffing conflicts
Luhnow built a powerhouse with a lean staff, and Crane loved the efficiency of the operation, as any owner would. Click has taken the Astros in the other direction, adding to the team’s front office and scouting department.
Last offseason, Click hired two assistant GMs, Scott Powers from the Dodgers and Andrew Ball from the Angels (another assistant GM, Pete Putila, recently left to become the Giants’ general manager). He also boosted the team’s number of scouts from 27 to 38, according to Baseball America. The Astros still have one of the smallest scouting staffs in the majors, but their increase of 11 was the largest of any team from the previous year.
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Crane obviously approved all of the hires, but that doesn’t mean he liked increasing his budget for baseball operations — and Click is said to want further additions. Pivoting from Click less than a year after allowing him to expand the staff would be odd. Forcing another GM to inherit Baker (whom Crane hired shortly before Click) would be odd, too.
Other voices
Crane felt burned by Luhnow, and after firing him was looking for people he could trust. Special advisor Reggie Jackson and community outreach executives Jeff Bagwell and Enos Cabell helped fill that void, and remain influential with the owner.
Click has not gained Crane’s confidence the way Luhnow once did; perhaps no GM could. Click also is not as savvy politically as the job sometimes requires, and perhaps should have made a greater effort to endear himself to Crane’s newfound inner circle. Players, though, view Click as a good, open communicator. And if Click is not the type to glad hand, Crane should have learned that before he hired him.
It is not unusual for an owner to hear from a variety of voices. It would be unusual if those voices carried more weight than the GM’s.
All of the issues described above, and any others that might be festering, pale before the biggest issue Click and Baker faced — distancing the Astros from their trash-can-banging identity. Some fans will always consider the Astros cheaters. But only three position players remain from the tainted 2017 World Series champions — Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman and Gurriel. This is not nearly the same club.
However Crane might view Click, any fixation on the GM’s limitations misses the forest for the trees. Click, by helping the Astros emerge from scandal and keeping them among the game’s elite, proved as valuable to Crane as Luhnow once did, albeit while fulfilling a different mission. To justify parting with him, Crane would need better reasons than the ones sources cited. And unless Click pulls a Larry MacPhail, it’s difficult to imagine what those reasons might be.
(Top photo of James Click, left, and Jim Crane: Levey / Getty Images)
