Astros: Time to dispel some crazy rumors, theories from this week

Reid Ryan Will Not Be The Next GM

Look, I get why fans would like to see this. Ryan, as the son of Hall-of-Famer Nolan Ryan and the Astros’ outgoing president of business operations, is essentially Astros royalty. His company owns the Round Rock Express and Corpus Christi Hooks, and he’s been around the game his entire life.

But Ryan has worked on the business side of things, not the baseball side. His job and Luhnow’s job were vastly different, and you wouldn’t want them to have switched roles. They were both good at what they did, but weren’t necessarily positioned to do the other’s job.

The Astros need someone with experience in baseball operations to take Luhnow’s place, someone who knows how to operate a front office and can negotiate with Scott Boras and Brian Cashman and everyone else. Ryan has many great qualities, but he’s not a baseball operations guy. He’s not a fit.

Craig Biggio, Jeff Bagwell or Lance Berkman Will Not Be The Next Manager

Similar to Ryan, these wishes are rooted much more in nostalgia than in reality. All three of these guys are all-time greats for the franchise, and Berkman should join his fellow Killer B’s and have his number retired by the club one day.

But none of these guys have any real major league coaching experience, and there’s no indication they would even want the job anyway. As with the GM role, you want someone who’s been working in a major league clubhouse, and none of these three have been doing that.

This is why guys like Buck Showalter and John Gibbons are getting interviewed. Gibbons led the Blue Jays to the ALCS in 2016, and Showalter is coming off a great run with the Orioles. Even Will Venable, who has no managerial experience, has been working as the Cubs’ third base coach. These guys have been in the game.