Astros Expected To Name Brad Ausmus Manager

Yankees bench coach Brad Ausmus is flying to Houston tomorrow with the anticipation of being named the next manager of the Astros, reports Brian McTaggart of MLB.com, confirming a report from John Granato of ESPN 97.5 Houston. The ties between Ausmus and the Astros go way back. During his playing days, he spent ten seasons as an Astro. He suited up for Houston in 1997 and 1998 and then again from 2001 to 2008. In his post-playing days, he has worked as a manager, coach and has done some front office work as well. Those various post-playing jobs have come with the Padres, Tigers, Angels, Athletics and Yankees but there have been whispers connecting him to the Astros along the way. Astros owner Jim Crane bought the Astros in 2011, after Ausmus had retired, but Crane has a close relationship with Jeff Bagwell. Over the years, Bagwell has been a key advisor to Crane relating to club matters. Bagwell played for the Astros from 1991 to 2005 and therefore shared a clubhouse with Ausmus for many years. Since Crane bought the team, the Astros have cycled through various managers, hiring Bo Porter, A.J. Hinch, Dusty Baker and Joe Espada. The Ausmus name would often come up when the job was open and he even got connected to the general manager position in Houston a few times but he continued to bounce around to other clubs. It has now finally happened that Ausmus will return to the Astros organization. He brings a bit of managerial experience but not with an amazing track record. He was hired to be the bench boss in Detroit ahead of the 2014 season. The Tigers had won the Central in three straight years at that time. Ausmus led them to another division title in 2014 but they fell below .500 in 2015. They nudged back above .500 by winning 86 games in 2016 but missed the playoffs. 2017 turned out to be a dismal season. The Tigers lost 98 games and Ausmus wasn’t brought back after that. He then got hired as a special assistant with the Angels for 2018. The Halos made him skipper for the 2019 campaign and signed Ausmus to a three-year deal but he was fired one year into that pact after the Angels went 72-90. Since then, Ausmus has been a bench coach. He had that job for the A’s in 2022 and then with the Yankees from 2024 to 2026. More to come. View Comments (27)