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How moves by Astros GM could shine light on Dusty Baker's future in Houston

How moves by Astros GM could shine light on Dusty Baker's future in Houston
Dusty may not be long for Houston. Composite image by Brandon Strange.

There's nothing more enjoyable than a good pissing match or struggle for power in a sports team's hierarchy. Whether it's a coach, general manager, or others, it's fun to see how things play out. What's not fun is when it's your team, and/or things get ugly. The best situations to watch are the ones where things get petty!

This seemingly played out at MLB's trade deadline when Astros general manager James Click traded outfielder Myles Straw for more bullpen help, but didn't replace him. Instead, the move appeared to have been made to get Chas McCormick more playing time. Perhaps it was a move made to call up Jake Meyers from Sugar Land. Maybe, it was as simple as shoring up one of the worst areas on a contending team. Or maybe, just maybe, it was Click's way of showing manager Dusty Baker who's winning the pissing match.

Dusty is an old school baseball guy who is seemingly embracing some analytics. Click is a full on analytics guy. These opposing viewpoints might have clashed when it came to McCormick getting more time. Dusty wanted to play Straw because he's the better defensive player, while McCormick has the type of pop that warrants as many at bats as he can get. Perhaps Dusty refused to play McCormick more, so Click traded him. That level of petty is much appreciated by people like me!

Sometimes, we do things that hurt ourselves and need to be saved. Every so often, someone will save us and we don't want to be saved. This seems to be the case in this instance. Dusty was too stubborn, so Click made a move to force his hand. This also shows me that I don't think Dusty will be long for Houston. While this duo is making it work for now, I think a parting of the ways will be best served for all parties involved. Click will be able to hire a manager he's more in tuned with, and Dusty can possibly ride of into the sunset with a World Series ring as a parting gift. It is the last year of his deal and no extension talks have taken place.

The prevailing thought is that bench coach Joe Espada has been groomed to take over once Dusty moves along. That would be a good move in my opinion. Or, Click will get to go through the hiring process and find a candidate he thinks is suitable. Either way, this team is still built to contend and will hopefully get a new manager that works well with Click and can bring more of the approach Click wants in the dugout. While Dusty has proven to be the type of manager this team needed to get through the cheating scandal fallout, it could be time for a new approach. Would winning a World Series change things? I don't think so. Dusty is older and pretty amicable. I'm sure they'd work something out to where they can part ways without things getting ugly. Dusty was always a transition guy. Now it's time to finally make that move and help usher in the next phase of this Astros dynasty.

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Braves beat Houston in extra innings, 5-4. Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images.

Marcell Ozuna hit his major league-leading eighth homer and Orlando Arcia’s RBI single in the 10th inning lifted the Atlanta Braves to a 5-4 win over the Houston Astros on Wednesday.

It completes a three-game sweep of the struggling Astros and is Atlanta’s fourth straight victory.

The Braves scored two runs in the eighth inning to tie it at 4-4. Michael Harris II started the 10th as the automatic runner on second and there was one out in the inning when Seth Martinez (1-1) intentionally walked Matt Olson.

Ozuna lined out to right field to send Harris to third base. Arcia then singled on a ground ball to left field to score Harris and put the Braves on top.

Pinch-runner Jake Meyers was on second when Kyle Tucker walked with no outs in the 10th. Meyers moved to third on a fly out by Yainer Diaz but Jeremy Peña grounded into a double play to end it.

A.J. Minter (3-1) got the last two outs of the ninth for the win and Raisel Iglesias earned his fifth save.

Reigning NL MVP Ronald Acuña Jr. added his first homer of the season to help the Braves to the victory. Ozuna also leads the majors with 23 RBIs and he extended his hitting streak to 16 games, which ties his career best and is the longest active streak in the majors.

Yordan Alvarez and Mauricio Dubón both homered for the Astros, who fell to 6-14 and are last in the AL West.

There was one out in the first when Alvarez connected on his homer to the seats in left field to put Houston up 1-0.

Ozuna opened the second with his 432-foot shot to left field, which bounced off the wall and tied the game.

Acuña put the Braves up 2-1 when he sent the first pitch of the fifth inning to straightaway center field.

The Astros tied it on an RBI single by Alex Bregman in the fifth and Kyle Tucker’s RBI double came next to put the Astros up 3-2.

Dubón hit his first home run of the year off Jesse Chavez to start Houston’s sixth and push the lead to 4-2.

Harris singled to start the seventh before a ground-rule double by Austin Riley. Olson reached, and Harris scored on a fielding error by first baseman José Abreu when he couldn’t grab a routine ground ball.

There was one out in the inning when Riley scored on a sacrifice fly by Arcia to tie it at 4-all.

Houston starter J.P. France allowed four hits and two runs in five innings.

Max Fried gave up seven hits and three runs in five innings.

UP NEXT

Braves: Atlanta is off Thursday before opening a series against Texas on Friday night with LHP Chris Sale (1-1, 4.58 ERA) on the mound.

Astros: Houston is also off Thursday before ace Justin Verlander will make his season debut Friday night against Washington. The three-time Cy Young Award winner opened the season on the injured list with inflammation in his right shoulder.

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