THURSDAY: The Astros officially announced that they've agreed to hire Porter.
WEDNESDAY: The Astros will name Nationals third base coach Bo Porter their new manager on Thursday morning, report Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. Porter will remain with Washington until they complete their postseason run.
Porter, 40, has no managerial experience at the Major League level but has previously interviewed for the position with both the Marlins and Pirates. He's served as the Nats' third base coach since last season after holding the same position with he Diamondbacks in 2010. Porter served as Kirk Gibson's interim bench coach for part of that season as well.
Houston fired manager Brad Mills last month and has been run by interim manager Tony DeFrancesco since. GM Jeff Luhnow interviewed several candidates in recent weeks, including Rays bench coach Dave Martinez. DeFrancesco was also considered for the job on a full-time basis.
roberta
most jacked manager in the game now
walter woldt
Bo Porter?? OK. Seems like a reach??
tmengd
well he was a finalist before. He is suppose to be good with young guys correct? He is only 40 himself, so maybe he will grow with them a little easier then say a Bowa would of.
FacelessGeneralManager
Not at all. Bo is a respected baseball man. Wish he would have stayed in Washington and took over for Davey when Davey is done.
Let_My_Cameron_Go
First order of business for Bo, hire Jamie Quirk…
DerekJeterDan
If Clemens returns, a player will be older than the manager.
Let_My_Cameron_Go
It’s been done before recently. I can think of A.J. Hinch off the top of my head. It also happened with Eric Wedge…
nschneid
not hiring Dave Martinez is a mistake
wade3061
How can they make this announcement right now? Sure the Astros aren’t in the race, but the the Nationals are going to the playoffs. The Nationals don’t need this distraction, and he is still under contract. The Dodgers can’t announce that they’re signing Josh Hamilton for 2013 tomorrow.
start_wearing_purple
There’s a major difference between a player telling his teammates he’s about to compete against them and a coach telling his players he’s getting a promotion elsewhere in the league.
Besides I seriously doubt the Astros would dare to make this announcement without the blessings of the Nats.
casorgreener
Yah, I see him screwing up on telling a runner to go because he is thinking about coaching the Astros…..
rundmc1981
What? Josh Hamilton to LAD?! What do they need with another injured OF or a distraction? Could you imagine Hamilton in Hollywood…they’d need to quadruple his life coaches. I know it’s safe to think LAD would be interested in the best free agent, but don’t forget they’ve earmarked $100M+ for a pitching upgrade (Greinke). Hamilton isn’t worth the risk.
wade3061
That was a completely hypothetical scenario. How about this? Any player to any team.
rundmc1981
I understand, but it’s not like this is a lateral move. WSH has already secured their playoff status and HOU is trying to salvage some 2013 season ticket holders as they are about to head off to the AL. Porter isn’t the WSH manager. I’m sure he can still perform his job with WSH before he starts the process of managing in HOU. It’s not like he was just hired by ATL.
jb226 2
To be accurate, nobody “[made] this announcement” because no announcement has been made. It is Ken Rosenthal writing an article based on comments of “major-league sources.”
For the record, I’m not questioning the accuracy; I’m sure Bo Porter will, in fact, be the Astros manager next year. But this is a leak, not an announcement. (I’m sure it was also an intentional leak, though I can’t speculate whether or not one of the teams were behind it.)
baseball lifer
Very well said…
jb226 2
And then like an hour later they announce it, heh. Thanks Astros!
Hal_Jordan77
They probably didn’t want to make the announcement right now. It seems like the media leaked it so they didn’t have a choice. I think they would have preferred to hire him in secret(i.e. only HOU, WAS, and Bo knowing about it), and announce it to the public after the playoffs.
BTW, during the press conference Jeff Luhnow implored the media not to pester Bo for interviews until after the Nats season is over. He told them Bo lives in Houston and there will be plenty of time for that after Washington’s season is over.
Steven L.
The Astros need a new jump start to there team, they need a new manager and something has to change. Bringing Roger Clemens back will not help them he is no where near what he used to be and will not perform like the old days.
Guest 4150
Houston is years away from winning, are they going to keep him around after the rebuild or is he just a stop gap
Bob Hulsey
According to Luhnow, he wanted someone who would still have the reigns when the team returned to contention, not just a fill-in. Since Porter is 40, that gives him 25 years before the Astros are contenders again.
Hal_Jordan77
Jeff Luhnow said he’d like to still be around years from now when the Astros are ready to win, and he’d like the manager they hire to be around then also.
mlbscout6
He may have said this, but after he watches Porter manage a team for a full year he is going to be quickly rethinking that decision.
Shane_McMahon
Does he get to bring Harper with him?
Bob Hulsey
I’m disappointed for Tony D because I thought the club showed great improvement this month under him and might easily be .500 if he didn’t have to start Fernando Abad (0-6) each time he came up in the rotation.
The Astros have won 11 games in September, more than July (3) and August (5) combined.
Can’t say enough about Porter to make an opinion. Worst case scenario is that he’s the next Cecil Cooper.
CaptQT
How can one team “hire” (or even negotiate) with a guy that is still employed by another major league team? Isn’t that “tampering”?