Jim Crane Fires GM Ed Wade, President Tal Smith

As far as tal is concerned. I think maybe firing wade was a bit premature. I don’t want a lateral move at gm. I want a name for chrissake. I feel it’s probably too late for friedman, which sux. I think it could’ve waited a year

I think Ed Wade has been a better GM than he’s been given credit for by most baseball analysts, but I still think he’s no better than average, and I certainly applaud Crane for not settling for average.

Still, I think there’s a job for Ed Wade out there in an MLB front office, if not as GM, then at least as assistant GM or some other job fairly high up in an organization, and I wish him the best of luck.

As for Tal Smith, my glimpses at the front office from a fan perspective leave me the impression that he was a cancer on the baseball operations, and I am thrilled to see him depart.

Overall, I’m glad to see this first sign that Crane has a clear direction in mind for the team and is prepared to pursue it.

…if this is about making the team better, or just a new owner placing his “stamp” on things. It happens in every type of business – new owner or boss, new “way”. I certainly hope he has the team’s and city’s best intentions in mind – and not his own. Houston certainly deserves an above-average product.

Personally, I have always felt that Wade was taking the long view toward rebuilding, and I sort of admired it since I knew that a weak farm system would be death to a mid-level payroll team. I also knew that the suffering the fans would endure while such a strategy was implemented might mean he wouldn’t make it to fruition.

A new owner has to send a message of renewal after a season like the last one. I don’t think there was ever a choice. Interesting he didn’t can Mills too. Perhaps he sees Mills as being handcuffed with that roster.

Great. Gotta let a loser lose.

I mean, Smith absolutely had to go. But what’s the point this late in the game of clearing house? Stealing away Friedman is a long-shot unless Crane’s really willing to wag some money at him. Other than him, though, who’s left at this point that would be an upgrade over Wade?

FoxSports talks to Tal Smith, who isn’t happy. Postolos telephoned Smith before he boarded a flight home from Hawaii and informed him of the dismissal. Smith said that Postolos apologized for the media speculation, which seems to have prompted the Sunday night phone calls.

I think Wade did reasonably well as GM during his short tenure, considering all the constraints he was working under. But, the time is right for him to leave. New owner, new direction.

I’ve never been much of a Tal Smith fan, but I respect the fact that he’s been a part of the organization for decades. If anything, we may start losing more arbitration cases now that he’s gone.

do you think theyd just fire Ed Wade without already being in talks/near a deal with a new GM? Maybe Andrew Friedman was in Houston for happy thanksgiving??? That’d be nice.

Story here. Maybe David should change the title of this TCB post. Smith takes offense that people would frame this as a “retirement.” He said he has never said he wanted to retire.

Ed Wade gone? I don’t really have a strong opinion on it either way.

I honestly think he did about the best job he could do with the conditions he was presented with. The minor league system was barren of talent and the roster was full of aging vets when he took over. During his tenure, he’s placed emphasis on the draft—even if the draft picks haven’t always worked out—and has been responsible for making the team much younger.

As far as trades and signings go, he whiffed on a few (signing Kaz Matsui and Brandon Lyon, the Oswalt trade), but he also made some pretty savvy moves (acquring Keppinger and Lindstrom, the Berkman trade, the Pence trade). I’d argue that there’s more of the latter.

At the end of the day am I sad Wade is gone? Not really. I think he’s an average GM at best and, honestly, being the GM of the worst team in baseball (and during an ownership change), you could see that the writing was on the wall for him.

Chron.com has some comments from Wade. Points of interest: (1) Wade was told of his firing on Wednesday and had a meeting with the ownership group, in which he pleaded the case for keeping certain Astros’ personnel (notably Mills); (2) Wade has two years left to be paid on his guaranteed contract; (3) Wade expresses regret about financial constraints that McLane applied to his decisions; (4) Wade expresses regret that the rebuilding process has been too slow.

must come back

…this isn’t surprising. Rosenthal says that Crane needs to hire a minority or woman as GM in order to dispel the employment discrimination history. He mentions that the Astros should interview Kim Ng and Omar Minaya like the Angels did.