Nov. 18: The Diamondbacks have officially announced they’ve hired Strom as their pitching coach.
11:52am: Strom confirms to Mark Berman of FOX 26 in Houston that he has accepted an offer to be the next pitching coach of the Diamondbacks. “It’s an exciting time for me,” says Strom. “It’s a challenging job obviously. They’re much better than what their record showed.”
Strom also confirms the change of scenery to Rosenthal (Twitter links): “Me leaving the Astros had nothing to do with any disagreements or anything like that. Just a gut feeling on my part that eight years was long enough. It’s really in good shape with the people they have now.” He also heaps praise on Astros skipper Dusty Baker, calling him “as good a human being as I’ve ever been around in my life.”
11:43am: The Diamondbacks are set to hire Brent Strom as their new pitching coach, per Ken Rosenthal and Andy McCullough of The Athletic (Twitter link). The hire comes just nine days after Strom announced that he would not return as the Astros’ pitching coach.
Strom didn’t commit to retirement at the time of his departure from the Houston organization, suggesting such a route could be on the table but also squarely leaving the door open for further coaching opportunities in the Majors. As USA Today’s Bob Nightengale points out, Strom resides in Tucson, Ariz., so the move to the D-backs brings him much closer to home.
It’s a notable get for the D-backs, who had one of the worst pitching staffs in Major League Baseball this past season and will soon welcome a bevy of interesting young arms to the big league ranks. Strom spent eight seasons as the pitching coach for the Astros, helping to develop a number of quality young arms and also turn around the careers of some previously unheralded journeymen. While a pitching coach alone isn’t solely responsible for the successes of a staff — certainly not in the era of advance scouting and mounting data provided from analytics staffs — it’d be foolish not to credit Strom as a significant factor in the success of the Astros’ pitching staff over the years.
Young arms like Corbin Martin, Ryne Nelson, and Bryce Jarvis are all expected to begin next year in Double-A or higher, making them relatively near-term options for the big league club in Arizona. Strom ought to have the opportunity to work with them and with several of the D-backs younger arms in camp this spring, too — a group that includes names like Slade Cecconi and Blake Walston.
Of course, beyond the up-and-coming prospects, the D-backs will look to Strom to help right the ship for a club that posted the second-worst team ERA (5.15) and FIP (4.88) in all of Major League Baseball. Still-developing arms like Zac Gallen, Luke Weaver, Tyler Gilbert and J.B. Bukauskas will hope for better results and/or better health, and even an elder statesman such as Madison Bumgarner will surely welcome new ideas under Strom.
More than ever, it takes a village to field a competitive pitching staff (or, more broadly, a competitive roster), but there are few hires the D-backs could have made who would’ve commanded as much respect from the pitchers he’ll now oversee and from his peers on manager Torey Lovullo’s staff.
I’ll guarantee you that he couldn’t get along with Baker on how the pitchers were used. Astros just made huge mistake renewing Baker and not keeping Strom. Great news though for the D-Backs.
I guarantee you don’t know what you’re talking about.
We will see. I like Baker as a person, but he sucks as a manger and had no clue how to use his bullpen.
I would say that Baker did pretty well with what he was given in the playoffs. He’s not the best, but it could’ve been a lot worse.
He has more of a clue than some guy on the Internet who watches the games from his living room.
Personally I think Baker’s career record and longevity speak to him being well above average.
Baker’s experience and gravitas made him uniquely suited to rehabilitate the image of the Houston cheaters and to take control of their clubhouse.
But a large part of this blog is about ordinary baseball fans giving their take on players, managers, front offices and owners. Attack the merits of the post rather than the poster.
@ Cey Hey;
I’m on the Internet and watch a lot of games in my living room.
While I have no idea of why what happened, I did note that last year the Astros made Joshua Miller co-pitching coach, and at the end of the season when Strom said he was weighting options about 2022 after being with the team for 8 years I figured something might be up.
I don’t read the minds of people I associate with, let alone pass judgement on people I never met. I don’t know what goes on in MLB FO meetings. But by looking at patterns of what actions people on teams take, it’s easy to piece together the direction teams are going in as it relates to some areas.
Historians and Auditors do the same thing.
Bakers faults are he has favorites in the bullpen like brooks raley who really shouldn’t be one of top bullpen arms
Manages just listen to how the front office tells him how to use the bullpen. Trying learning about how baseball is played in 2021
@iverbure I guarantee you’re right
What can Baker do about the Astros poor pitching? Nothing anyone can do. Braves lit it up for a reason, and it isn’t Dusty Baker
So poor it took them to the World Series?
This is an excellent hire by the Diamondbacks. Congrats.
It wouldn’t have mattered if the Astros didn’t retain Baker, Strom was leaving. He told the team around mid-year he was leaving. The D-Backs got a really good one in Stromy.
If you’re 73 where would you want to live and still make a sizable income: Houston or Phoenix? I know the answer for Strom is Mexico, but until he wants to retire to a remote beach in Mexico next to Red and Andy Dufresne – I can see the appeal, already having a ring.
@puhl
How many teams has Baker taken to the playoffs? How many has Strom? Strom is a great pitching coach, but I think if it was a choice, Houston made the correct one. I also don’t think Baker has had the success he’s had by not listening to his pitching coaches. Just because you disagree with how the pitchers were used, does not mean there was any disagreement among those on the actual team. It may just be Strom wanted to be closer to home.
@ Puhl, No, I’ll guarantee you that he couldn’t get along psychologically being a member of the Astros anymore. It’s difficult to go to work everyday when you’re viewed as part of the “cheater” organization. He simply decided to move on and build his reputation again with another team.
Is my take correct? Who knows, but it’s as “logical” as yours. Maybe more so.
Obviously, we’ll never know. But he’s 73 with an amazing career. Not sure he needs to rebuild anything.
If anything, speaking out against the organization would destroy his reputation more so than moving on and saying the right thing.
Only 5 2017 Astros were on the 2021 WS roster. Correa and Marwin are probably gone. Yuli is 37. Altuve was proven not to cheat and LMJ is a pitcher.
The taint has washed off. Fans can boo laundry if they want.
I would add that Gurriel and Bregman were both young players in their first full season. In the big. Are they going to challenge the veterans? Do they even know this isn’t normal in the majors?
So to recap:
The 2017 Astros still on the team:
Lance McCullers who is a pitcher
Jose Altuve who has been stated over and over again was opposed to it and did not use it.
And
2 young players in their first full year who may not have known any better but definitely were not in a position to challenge the veterans.
Can we PLEASE put this all to bed now?
Lol
Some would say that the Diamondbacks pitching was the perfect storm. Or is that Strom?
They got an amazing pitching coach. Best of luck stromy
Lol
Wow, didn’t see that coming from a 73-year old like Strom.
It’s actually pretty common for 70+ year olds to move to Arizona and retire
Yeah, me too. I didn’t think he would jump back in so quickly. As a D-Backs fan, though, I’m a happy camper with them bringing him in.
I would have held out for one of the other desert-area jobs that will become available through expansion.
Albuquerque Desert Dogs
Las Vegas Vipers
Pfft. They’ll have nothing on the Santa Fe Oles.
He said he was going to lay on a beach in Mexico .
Not really. He left it fairly open-ended:
“There may be another opportunity for me somewhere else. I may look at that. I may just go lie on a beach in Mexico, … I haven’t made a final decision yet.”
So really, what he was saying is I’ve made my decision to leave the Astros and left everything else open.
Great move by the D-backs here. I am really interested to see how he influences Weaver and Gallen in particular given how much potential both guys have (especially Gallen).
Finally, Arizona makes a decent enough move.
Strom looks stronger now at 73 proving that the new retirement age – if physically ok and or working from home or else – should be 80s man! Yazz!
Dusty is known for riding pitchers a little too hard. I’m sure he likes Dusty as a person, but I guess they have philosophical differences.
If I were a Crane or Click and one of these guys had to go, I would’ve chosen to keep Strom over Baker
He’s “known for riding his pitchers too hard” because that is the convenient, rather lazy narrative that is unfairly attached to him, mainly because of Kerry Wood and Mark Prior’s injury history….. like 20 years ago. He’s been a very successful manager, who frankly doesn’t manage his bullpen guys that much differently than most other managers. Does he lean on one or two guys more than he should? What manager doesn’t when you’re trying to win every year? Most managers don’t manage their bullpens now anyway, some dude on a computer does. I’m not calling you lazy BTW, I just think I’d rather have Dusty at 72, approaching 2000 wins as a big league skipper, than a 73 pitching coach who has never managed at nay level.
I think we can all agree that Dusty’s overall body of work including Houston is impressive but that his Cubs’ stint was not the strongest part of his resume.
As someone who detest the Cubs and most their fans, I gotta say, it’s my favorite part of his resume
Great hire and a great new challenge for Storm. Sometimes even when there’s nothing wrong per se with the old job, you still want to try something new.
And that’s also true. Either way this is a great hire for the D backs
What was all that “go lie on a beach in Mexico” talk about?
The diamondback still has no SP or RP pitchers.
Larry, you’re such a troll.
Actually, the Diamondbacks have 24 pitchers on their 40 man roster, so to say they have “no SP or RP pitchers”. Just isn’t a true statement Larry.
Larry,
You left out the word “good”.
Great hire by the D-backs Strom is a great coach but even he can’t polish a terd.So best of luck to him.He no doubt left the Astros for a reason and not to retire.
Once McCullers went down, the Astros had problems with SPs. They rebounded against the Red Sox but were ineffective against the Braves. Interesting that Dusty gets blamed but not Strom. Reality is that their inexperience showed. The bullpen kept them in contention so Dusty and Strom have to get credit for those decisions.
A lot of folks forget that 2021 was Garcia’s and Valdez’s first full season in the majors and first season at all in front of fans. Neither one had pitched above AA when the got brought up in 2020 out of necessity.
I don’t see why blame is appropriate. The team got to the World Series and made it to game 6. Yes, the pitching failed, but so did the hitting. It was a poor week for the Astros, but they still got the Pennant. I wish they had won, but I’m very pleased with the season.
He clearly has had it with the Astros. Good hire.
While I fully respect Strom and wish him well, that beach in Mexico sounded pretty damn good.
I’m sure we will find out before the 2022 season starts why Strom left the Astros.
It is not unusual for the pitching coach and the manager to have major disagreements.
Who knows, maybe one of the Astros free agents has dirt on Strom from the cheating 2017 team and will reveal it when he signs with another team?
Maybe Strom is the reason that the only Astros team to win a World Series was the team that cheated!?
Logic suggests that the pitching coach is not the guy who helped the Houston batters cheat. No one has ever made such a claim either.
Who knows? Maybe we already know because they told us, and there in no underlying cause? Maybe when you’re 73, you just want to sleep in your own bed most nights? Sometimes the news isn’t fake!
@thisredsoxfan maybe we already knew the recent Red Sox championships are b/c of known roid users (Manny, Ortiz) and stealing signs (2018 Red Sox).
This move makes me more comfortable in my decision to consider giving my allegiance to the Diamondbacks……instead of the Indguardians.
Sounds like you are a snake in the grass type of fan.
Good move no one with the snakes will be offended by their team name.Oh by the way he rejected the Muts before going to Arizona.LOL
Even though the Mets aren’t in the market for a pitching coach. Maybe it’s because they once traded him to Cleveland.
I’m actually surprised the Astros did as well as they did with no Verlander, really no Greinke and other injuries. Credit to Strom
I genuinely appreciated Strom’s contribution to the team.
A lot of people who can afford to leave Houston are leaving Houston.
A generation after Katrina evacuees swarmed into town, it’s a pit.
Strom wouldn’t dare say anything about the city…
He could be a very good hire compared to most pitching coaches. What he teaches could translate quite well to this D’backs team of pitchers.