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After donning a Houston Astros jersey with the No. 12 – one digit off the No. 11 he wore for 10 seasons as a player with the organization – Brad Ausmus described the process that led to his rejoining Houston as its new manager Friday.
Ausmus, hired for his third major-league managing job after three seasons as the Yankees bench coach, confirmed that he initially interviewed two weeks ago for the Astros' then-vacancy at general manager. During that interview, Ausmus confirmed, "at some point there was a discussion about the managerial vacancy, we talked a little bit about that."
"When I left that evening, I was sure of one thing and kind of sure of a second thing," Ausmus said at his introductory news conference. "I was sure I was not getting the general manager job at that point. And I was kind of sure that I might be involved in the manager (search).
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"But I was not assured that I was going to be the manager."
A day after Ausmus' interview, the Astros announced they were hiring Randy Flores as general manager. Due to the timing, some questioned whether Ausmus' hiring as manager this week was primarily Flores' decision or influenced by others in the Astros' front office – particularly senior advisor Jeff Bagwell, who played with Ausmus and is now a trusted voice to team owner Jim Crane.
Ausmus said what influence Bagwell had in his hiring, if any, is "probably a better question for Jeff than me, quite frankly." Bagwell attended Ausmus' introduction, sitting in the front row with fellow Hall of Famer Craig Biggio, but did not address reporters there. Bagwell did tell MLB.com he was "not banging the table for Brad" during the managerial search.
After the Astros named Flores as general manager, Ausmus said he was at that point "waiting, hoping that I get a call from him" about the managerial job "because I don't know if I'm on his radar or not."
At the GM meetings this week, Flores said Ausmus was in fact among the "several" possible manager candidates he presented to the Astros when he interviewed for general manager. Flores, who did not have a previous relationship with Ausmus, said he reached out to others in baseball for insight about Ausmus before proposing him as a potential candidate.
The Astros' managerial search came down to four finalists in Ausmus, former Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols, Rays Triple-A manager Morgan Ensberg and Rangers bench coach Luis Urueta. Ausmus said he received a call from Flores, who wanted to meet with him about the opening. Ausmus, in turn, said he reached out to others who played or worked with Flores and received "sterling reports back."
Flores flew to San Diego last weekend and he and Ausmus talked over a four-hour lunch. Flores said at the GM meetings that he left "very confident" that he had settled on a manager.
"You never know how these things go when you're going through an interview process, and I've been through a few of them, but I felt really good about it when I left," Ausmus said Friday.
"I went home and told my wife, ‘I don't know if I'm going to get it, but I really liked him, I really enjoyed talking to him.' … I think the playing experience we both have, it's like a built-in rapport that happens. So I was excited about the possibility. But until you get the call you just don't know."
Flores said this week Crane had told him the manager would be "your decision" and that Ausmus "was the choice I wanted to make." Flores said one aspect of his landing on Ausmus was "the trust that I felt we'd be in this together." That echoed Flores' explanation at the GM meetings of what appealed to him about Ausmus in their meeting.
"I think he was authentic," Flores said. "And he's smart. And he has been exposed. The game gives you some scars. And I think scars that heal make you stronger. He had a couple of rough goes as a manager (before). He goes to New York and New York is not an easy place to play or to pitch, or to manage or to bench coach. And for him to come out of that acknowledging his evolution and acknowledging where he needed to grow and his readiness, his willingness to take this challenge on, I trust him."
Ausmus and Flores were the only two people on the podium for the manager's introduction Friday at Daikin Park. His hiring official, Ausmus said his first priorities would be contacting his new players and assembling his coaching staff. A potential lockout starting Dec. 1 lends some urgency to the former.
Under a lockout, team employees are prohibited from contacting players on 40-man rosters. That likely leaves Ausmus only a few weeks to begin establishing relationships with Astros players before the sport shuts down for an indefinite period, something he acknowledged Friday.
"I already started getting phone numbers, but I need to get in touch with this short window we have with those players," Ausmus said. "So it's going to be a busy few weeks before Dec. 1."
Ausmus is set to inherit a partial coaching staff, as the Astros retained pitching coach Josh Miller, hitting coach Victor Rodriguez and first-base coach Dave Clark from their 2026 staff. Though unusual, Ausmus said he is "not concerned" about entering with several coaches already in place in prominent roles. He and Flores planned to start the process of filling out the staff Friday afternoon.
"We hope to do that somewhat expediently, but definitely thoroughly," Ausmus said.
Ausmus previously managed the Tigers from 2014-17 and the Angels in 2019, with his teams posting a combined 386-422 record in those five seasons. He interviewed for the Astros' managerial job prior to the 2020 season and their GM opening after the 2022 season that both went to other people. He said Friday that he has "kind of always felt like at some point I would come back to Houston."
That did not happen in the general manager's role. Ausmus said he left his GM interview in Houston last month not expecting to land that job due to "just the flow of the conversation."
"I guess I didn't know 100 percent," he said, "but there's not many times I've walked out of an interview and gone, ‘That didn't go the way I thought.' That was one of two that I can remember."
Ausmus, instead, will return to the Astros dugout in 2027, tasked this time with leading it.
"I just felt like at some point it would work itself out – karma, fate, whatever – that I'd come back to Houston in some role," Ausmus said. "And I'm very excited that that role is the manager's role."
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This article originally published at New Astros manager Brad Ausmus explains how he came back to Houston and what is next.
https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/astros-manager-brad-ausmus-explains-202754499.html
