5:36pm: The Astros have officially announced Hinch as their new manager. In a prepared statement within a press release, GM Jeff Luhnow offered the following praise for Hinch:
“I am extremely excited to bring in A.J. as our new manage. Throughout our process, we searched for a person with previous Major League experience, who could effectively lead our young, growing nucleus of talented players. I have no doubt that A.J. is the right person to do that. He brings experience as a Major League player, Major League manager and player development executive. His skillsets and leadership abilities will be enormous assets in our clubhouse and to our entire organization.”
3:31pm: The Astros have called a press conference to make a “significant announcement” at 5:30pm CT today, and MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart hears from a source that it will be to name the team’s new manager (Twitter link). Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle reports (Twitter link) that A.J. Hinch is “close” to becoming the Astros’ manager, so it seems likely that Hinch will be announced in that role two hours from now. ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick had tweeted earlier in the day that Hinch was still in the running as the search was narrowing.
Hinch, 40, served as the Diamondbacks’ manager for parts of the 2009-10 seasons, leading the team to an 89-123 record after being hired despite his young age (34 at the time) and the fact that he hadn’t managed at any previous level. More recently, Hinch has served as the vice president of professional scouting for the Padres — a position he left earlier this summer. Hinch was one of three men, along with assistant GMs Omar Minaya and Fred Uhlman Jr., to fill in making baseball operations decisions for the Padres following the dismissal of GM Josh Byrnes earlier this year. A Stanford graduate, Hinch has been called a “numbers guy” by some, so the match with the analytics-driven Astros isn’t a total surprise.
In addition to his time as a manager and in the front office, Hinch played in parts of eight Major League seasons between the Athletics, Royals, Tigers and Phillies. A catcher by trade, Hinch batted .219/.280/.356 with 32 homers in 1075 big league plate appearances from 1998-2004.
The Astros dismissed Bo Porter from the managerial position earlier this month and have leaned on former minor league manager Tom Lawless as the club’s interim manager. Lawless, along with Red Sox bench coach Torey Lovullo, former Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu and Rays bench coach Dave Martinez were all said to have interviewed for the position at one point.
I was totally waiting to hear that they’d signed Gardy. He’d just bounce from one press conference to another.
Don’t get or like this move. He wasn’t very good with a decent team in AZ.
Looking at Baseball Reference, and you’re absolutely right on the 2009 edition. A career year out of Mark Reynolds, and a decent starting four (including a young Max Scherzer).
That AZ team was marginally better than the 2012-2013 Astros. Seriously.
Agree. A young Max Scherzer was nothing to write home about: 30 starts, a 9–11 record, 4.12 ERA
Hope Hinch has learned from past failures. Hard to believe he got another chance.
He was in a dead tie with 3 others before the Houston computer projections determined it’d be $23 more financially efficient to fly him in for a press conference than the next closest candidate. Apparently, carrying bags on rather than checking pays off
Amazing comment. Well done sir.
why?!
Doesn’t matter really, as what really counts is not butchering the draft again for the third straight year. At least having two top-five picks should help.
Congrats, AJ! You said “yes” to Jeff Luhnow more than the other candidates did.
Will Dave Martinez ever get a shot?
You could always replace Bochy with him.
I mean, I guess “a bit over one season” qualifies as an experienced manager…
AJ Hinch? but this guy has no managerial exper… Oh, can’t use that one anymore…
Worth another shot, now lets see if the Astros can give him a team to work with.
Seems an iffy hire, but the Astros were determined to get a guy who can work with the front office and who has big league experience. Not too many other candidates out there that fit the bill.
Hope he does well and that Crane starts spending to get him a better team.
The return of “organizational advocacy.”
This guy got Josh Byrnes fired in Arizona. How do jokers like this guy and John Gibbons keep getting managing jobs when there are more qualified possibilities available?
I think you have it backwards. Byrnes got Hinch fired with the roster he gave him.
I think this is a move made with the idea that Hinch is the statistical guy thefront office wants. Theywant a guy who will look at the sheet and do what it says to do in each situation. The Astros blew 25 saves this year, and my feeling is that Porter was blamed for using the staff incorrectly in those situations. Cut that number in half, and Houston is a .500 ballclub.
Hinch will make better decision. Few understand he has one of the sharpest minds in baseball. I don’t think they could of made a better hire, I really don’t.
Taking the numbers into account while managing is a great idea!
The problem with AJ isn’t his brains during the game, it’s in motivating the players to rise above (or at least meet) their expectations. That human element was sorely lacking during his stink in AZ. I could tell the players didn’t like playing for AJ all that much and the results, with what was a good team, speak for themselves. Gibson came in, made worse game time decisions, but got the team to gel and win.
Interesting. Bo supposedly rubbed some people the wrong way with the “rah-rah” attitude. Seems like they went the other direction.
Taking over in the middle of the season from the beloved Melvin @ 34 is different from being the manager from the get-go @ 40.
Some people won’t get or like this move but this is an absolutely fantastic hire. This guy is no doubt one of the best minds in baseball. He basically handled GM duties and made the deadline trades for the Padres with the help of their staff. I’ve seen enough of Hinch to know he’s the type the players will respect. The Stros are slowly moving back to relevance.
I think he’d be better in the front office instead of managing.
WOW total fail on astros part. AJ hinch is a horrible manager and makes some really bad/scary deicisions. HIs Dback manging experience doesnt count. He let Edwin Jackson pitch that no hitter with an extermely high pitch count case closed *drops mic*
Couldn’t agree more. I am biased, but why hasn’t Ron Wotus been given a fair shot?
Incredibly disappointing hire. Well who knows. This young group need leaders and to keep egos in check. Not sure he’s the man.
No calls to Grady Little huh?
Sometimes Experience just means you’ve been fired a bunch of times.