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The Houston Astros announced Friday that they “will not enter into a renewal for the 2023 season” with general manager James Click, a bizarre conclusion to a three-year run that culminated in a championship and somehow ended in divorce.
Click and manager Dusty Baker saw their contracts expire at the end of October and were offered only one-year deals earlier this week by Astros owner Jim Crane in the wake of the team’s World Series triumph. Baker, 73, opted to accept his. Click, 44, and Crane spent the week negotiating on a contract that ultimately did not come to fruition, leaving the makeup of the Astros’ baseball-operations department in doubt.
Crane, in his statement, wrote that the Astros are “grateful for all of James’ contributions,” a stark deviation from the tension that had grown obvious.
“We have had great success in each of his three seasons, and James has been an important part of that success,” Crane continued. “I want to personally thank him and wish him and his family well moving forward.”
Click joined the Astros early in 2020, after Major League Baseball’s investigation into the team’s sign-stealing practices prompted the firings of GM Jeff Luhnow and manager AJ Hinch. He was brought in a few weeks after Baker, a forced marriage that nonetheless presided over three consecutive appearances in the American League Championship Series.
The Astros won their first title since 2017 last Saturday, defeating the upstart Philadelphia Phillies in six games, but questions continued to hover over Click’s status and tension had grown between the two. Crane’s involvement in baseball-operations decisions grew and his trust of Click continually eroded as the season went on, sources said. A deal Click previously agreed to for offensive-minded catcher Willson Contreras was nixed, sources told ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Hall of Famers Jeff Bagwell and Reggie Jackson continued to have a greater influence.
Crane nonetheless offered Click a contract for 2023 on Monday,…
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Source : espn
