The champagne is still damp in Houston, yet the Astros are faced with front-office uncertainty.
James Click will not return as Astros general manager in 2023, the team announced Friday. According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, Click rejected a one-year contract offer from Houston.
This news comes less than a week after the Astros beat the Philadelphia Phillies to win the World Series. Click’s contract officially expired Oct. 31, per Passan, and he continued to run Houston’s baseball operations department without a new deal.
“We are grateful for all of James’ contributions,” Astros owner Jim Crane said in a statement Friday. “We have had great success in each of his three seasons, and James has been an important part of that success. I want to personally thank him and wish him and his family well moving forward.”
The optics of a high-profile executive leaving right after a championship sure are stunning. But it sounds like the writing was on the wall for Click’s departure, as Passan reported Friday, citing sources, that conflict within the organization on baseball operations decision-making continued throughout Houston’s World Series run.
As Passan notes, this marks the first time in 75 years — since New York Yankees GM Larry MacPhail resigned in 1947 — that a head of baseball ops won’t return to lead his championship team the following season. Click oversaw the Astros for three seasons, beginning in 2020 after Houston fired then-GM Jeff Luhnow in wake of the club’s sign-stealing scandal.
Conversely, Astros manager Dusty Baker will return in 2023 after agreeing to a new deal.
