The Houston Astros have a manager, and they went looking for him in their own past.
Houston announced Wednesday that Brad Ausmus will manage the club, making him the 21st manager in franchise history. No contract terms were disclosed.
John Granato of ESPN 97.5 in Houston broke it Wednesday morning, reporting Ausmus was flying in to accept. Brian McTaggart of MLB.com and Jon Heyman advanced it. By midday the team had a release out, which makes this official rather than reported.
“We are thrilled to welcome Brad back to the Astros organization,” general manager Randy Flores said, adding that Ausmus “impressed us throughout the interview process.” Ausmus said he is “very excited to be back in Houston.”
Why the Job Was Open
Joe Espada was not fired. Houston declined to renew his expiring contract on Oct. 14, which gets to the same place with better manners. Owner Jim Crane said the club was “thankful for Joe’s hard work, his passion for the game and for his commitment to the Houston Astros.”
Espada went 256-229 over three seasons and 0-4 in the postseason. His 2026 team finished 81-81, won the AL West by a single game over an 80-82 Texas club, then got swept in a two-game Wild Card Series by the White Sox. A .500 division winner that loses twice and goes home is not a resume anybody extends.
Who Houston Actually Hired
Ausmus is 57 and spent 18 seasons as a major league catcher, 10 of them in Houston. He won three Gold Gloves, all with the Astros, in 2001, 2002 and 2006, and made one All-Star team with Detroit in 1999. He caught 1,259 games for Houston, more than any catcher in franchise history, and he was behind the plate for the 2005 pennant winner.
The managing record is where this gets uncomfortable. He went 314-332 with Detroit from 2014 to 2017, winning the AL Central at 90-72 in his first season and getting swept by Baltimore in the ALDS, then bottoming out at 64-98 in 2017. The Angels hired him for 2019, he went 72-90, and they fired him after one season of a three-year deal. Career: 386-422, one postseason appearance, no postseason wins.
What he has done since matters more. Ausmus was the Yankees’ bench coach from 2024 through this past season, and New York reached the playoffs all three years, including a World Series trip in 2024. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said at the GM meetings that Ausmus was a prime managerial target and that New York expected to lose him.
What It Means for Houston
Albert Pujols interviewed in person on Nov. 5, his first with the organization, and did not get the job. No reason has been reported. Morgan Ensberg, the Triple-A Durham manager and a former Astros third baseman, and Rangers bench coach Luis Urueta also interviewed. Houston picked the candidate with the most big league experience in the chair and the least recent success in it.
Flores was hired Oct. 30 after more than a decade with the Cardinals, and this is his first significant move. He inherits an infield logjam involving Jeremy Pena, Jose Altuve, Christian Walker, Isaac Paredes and Carlos Correa, $168.35 million already committed for 2027, and obvious holes in the outfield, the rotation, the bullpen and at designated hitter.
He also inherits a clock. The collective bargaining agreement expires at 11:59 p.m. ET on Dec. 1, and a lockout would freeze player transactions. Managers and coaches are not union members, which is precisely why the Astros could close this hire now and worry about the roster later. Ausmus gets a few weeks to build a staff, starting with a bench coach to replace Omar Lopez, before the sport likely stops moving entirely.
Hiring a 57-year-old former catcher with a losing managerial record is not a bold swing. It is a bet that the version of Ausmus who sat next to Aaron Boone for three playoff runs learned things the version who went 64-98 in Detroit did not.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
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