Why Are the Astros So Bad Right Now?

The team that has been to four of the last seven World Series is off to an atrocious 7-18 start, even worse than the Oakland A's.

None of this is Jose Altuve’s fault. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images)

Hi friends-

Before we dive into the mess in Houston, we have some housekeeping:

1. Our book club Zoom discussion for Jane Leavy’s outstanding The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood will take place on May 6, from 5:30 to 6:30 PM PT. Our Long Game book club is for paid subscribers, and I will record the Zoom for those who can’t make it.

2. If anyone would like to buy a signed and personalized copy of my book, The Best Team Money Can Buy, just respond to this email and let me know. The cost is $25, and that includes priority shipping!

We kinda new this day was coming. But I don’t think many of us thought it would happen this year. After a decade of dominant baseball in Houston, their run as the top dog in the American League looks like it could be over.

Now, I say we knew this day was coming because this is a team that ran its general manager, James Click, out immediately after winning its last World Series title in 2022 because Jeff Bagwell thought Click used his computer too much. Before the champagne-soaked clubhouse was even cleaned, there was some kind of weird power struggle that pitted front-office advisors Bagwell and Reggie Jackson against the front-office nerds (like Click), and owner Jim Crane sided with the jocks.

After Click left, an anonymous Astros employee compared Crane to an NFL owner infamous for meddling. “Sometimes I wonder if [Crane] thinks he’s Jerry Jones,” the employee told ESPN’s Jeff Passan.

Passan’s piece went on to say that “[Crane] might trust Bagwell more than anyone.”

But here’s where it gets scary for me. Two weeks ago, Jackson went on The Show: A NY Post baseball podcast with Joel Sherman & Jon Heyman, and discussed why the team passed on Blake Snell.

“Being fiscally responsible, I think, is what kicked us out of the Snell deal,” Jackson said. “He signed a two-year deal, I want to say for $62 [million]. That’s too much for him. He’s been hurt a couple of times. And I think there’s incentives on top of that."

And then… the ominous part: