The Astros named Jeff Bagwell to a new position as a senior advisor to ownership and baseball operations, MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart writes. The new title essentially makes official Bagwell’s increased influence within the organization, as he had already been working as a special assistant within the baseball ops department.
Bagwell told McTaggart that his new role doesn’t come with many new duties, so the Hall-of-Famer will continue to work in a broad capacity, ranging from meeting with Major League and minor league players to offering advice to owner Jim Crane to even acting as a recruiter for the team. (Bagwell joined bench coach Joe Espada and assistant GM Bill Firkus on a trip to Miami to help land Jose Abreu in free agency this past offseason.)
“All I’m trying to do is help the organization be the best it could possibly be, so there’s no such thing as a window [of contention] here and we just continue to maintain winning,” Bagwell said. “Part of that is the big league stuff, making sure we get the right players that fit our organization and what we do — great pitching, great defense and we don’t strike out. Taking that and bringing it all the way down to the minor league system.”
Though all teams have front office advisors in some capacity, the exact nature of the job varies greatly from team to team, or person to person. It is common for former players and franchise legends to appear in these roles, in part to create a past link to team history, and also naturally because there is plenty to be learned from players like Bagwell who have achieved such great heights on the field.
In the Astros’ case, however, Bagwell’s role has come under some scrutiny, as his more old-school approach seemed to clash with the philosophy of former GM James Click. Even though the Astros continued to win during Click’s three years as general manager and even captured the World Series last fall, rumors swirled for months that the Astros would be parting ways with Click after the season, championships notwithstanding. Crane only offered Click a one-year contract extension in November, which Click understandably declined in order to leave the organization (Click later joined the Blue Jays in the role of VP of baseball strategy).
Despite the Astros’ success, Bagwell said last November that he felt the team had become too reliant on analytics. “There are so many things about this game the numbers can’t tell you. The type of person, what he means in our clubhouse, his desire, how he goes about his business,” Bagwell said. “Those are the intangible things I can see when I talk to somebody more than just the numbers. This game is played by humans, man, it’s not played by computers.”
It certainly seemed as though Crane agreed with Bagwell’s stance, and the hiring of Dana Brown (who has a long background as a crosschecker and scout, in addition to his prior role as the Braves’ VP of scouting) as Houston’s new general manager seems to reflect the Astros’ turn towards a more traditional approach. In the larger picture, past reports suggested that Crane took a more personal role within baseball operations in the wake of the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal under past GM Jeff Luhnow, thus allowing for ownership advisors like Bagwell and another legendary name in Reggie Jackson to have more of a voice in the front office.
