It's official. The Houston Astros, through new CEO George Postolos, informed general manager Ed Wade and team president for baseball operations Tal Smith that they will no longer be a part of the team Sunday night.
We expected this might happen when Crane hinted that changes would be coming after Thanksgiving, but I didn't really believe it until I saw it. Now, it looks like the Astros will have a new decision-making set very soon.
No word in all the mix on whether or not Bobby Heck will keep his job. I'm guessing he might stay on until a new GM is put in place, thereby letting the new guy pick his own scouting director. Of course, they could make a clean sweep, meet with all the baseball operations people and entirely clean house.
This may be hasty. This may be not be fair to Ed Wade, given the direction he was under from Drayton McLane during his tenure and the rotten state of the farm system when he took over. However, it does show a sense of purpose by Crane. He knows what he wants and how he wants to move forward.
All we're left with now is how he will go about moving forward. We know George Postolos will be involved in the decision as the team's new CEO. We know he's been interested in Andrew Friedman all summer and we know he's fascinated by the Texas Rangers system since he almost bought the team.
Winter is coming. I mean, the Winter Meetings are coming. The Astros need someone running the show then,but it will likely be interim GM David Gottfried. If that's the case, I don't expect Houston to do much of anything, outside possibly taking a flier on a Rule 5 guy or two. Forget about a possible Wandy Rodriguez trade for now. Forget about any lower level free agent signings. All that will wait.
The question is: does this move Crane in the path towards fixing fan's feelings towards the team? Back in May, I wrote an open letter to him about the team. So far, he's promised or done almost everything I've seen. He's set to lower ticket prices. He better keep Alyson Footer around. He's going to clean house on the baseball side and look into a possible uniform and logo change for the switch to the American League. That's a clean sweep for changing the luck of a foundering franchise.
Is that enough for you? Do you wish Wade and Tal had been given a fair shake? Do you think Crane acted too harshly? More importantly, are you upset that MLB's delay of Crane's confirmation meant Wade's firing came months after it could have happened?