Former Astros pitching coach Brent Strom signing with Arizona Diamondbacks

Chill. Stromy wants his last gig to be a near home I guess. He deserves it.

 

Man let it go. It’s not personal. He did say we were in good hands and the next guys were ready. He’s a 73 old man, he has a home here in AZ, Tucson to be exact so it will indeed lessen the travel burden. I’m happy for him and thankful for his work here.

 

Hey ONLY 73!

 

Best wishes to Strom. I hate to see critical pieces of the 2017-2021 Astros era depart.

There's only one solution: Bring back Jeff Luhnow. I'd be elated. I don't dislike Click, however. I think he's doing a nice job. But Luhnow is the best. An a-hole, yes, but worth putting up with.

 

It’d be pretty surprising if Strom had a problem with Baker. Does anyone even dislike Baker personally?

He said he was done as an Astro, maybe he’d retire, maybe he’d look at other opportunities. He went the other opportunities route. He was completely straightforward after the World Series so no reason to not believe him.

 

He's been talking about "retiring" since Luhnow got fired. Coincidence? I don't think so.

 

He never said he was retiring...

 

Yet, it is... one of my good friends is friends with Strom and his wife.

What grand conspiracy do you think is afoot?

 

Yup, two words come to mind. DAMAGE CONTROL.

 

My theory is he wasn't happy with Crane, but instead of airing his unhappiness publicly, he just took a different job. This is how most break ups happen. It's not you, it's me.

 

?!??!?? 35684286 666 666 666 666 65486?!?!??!

 

Damage control of what? His contract expired. He's not an Astros slave and he has no lifelong obligation to the Astros. No one should have a problem with him choosing the job that's best for him.

 

Yep!

 

The last of the old on field regime has been run out of town.

Let's hope the new regime can keep the org at the standards the old regime required.

I've got my doubts.

 

I don't think damage control is the right term. It was a break up so obviously Strom wasn't completely happy. Great coaches don't just take the same job with a worse team. Strom is probably the best pitching coach in the MLB, so you know Crane would have paid him what they needed to pay him. Strom just chose a route that made the break-up softer. As I said my prior post, "It's not you, it's me".

 

Why? Coaches are no different than players, and he's already won a ring. They are balancing a bunch of different things - pay, family, competition, etc. Verlander almost stayed in Detroit because he was happy there, despite knowing his last years of hat contract would be spent on one of the worst teams in baseball instead of getting the same pay somewhere he could win. He only got convinced to go to Houston minutes before the deadline. Strom has connections to Arizona and is really old and wants to spend more time with family. Why not leave? As a bonus, if Arizona's pitching improves noticably this year, it will only further his legacy. Another year in Houston does nothing to further that. Maybe that was important to him. Who really knows?

As someone said earlier, people read way too much into things, and people also try to get in the heads of people who they don't know and assume they should think the same way they do and value the same things they do. If he just said "I'm ready for a new challenge", no one would have been upset. There was no break-up to make expectations for.

 

He's also a couple of hours by plane closer to his relaxpad in Mexico.

 

No surprise. Good for him. They got the best in the business.

 

He's joining a 52-win team 30 minutes from where he lives and will likely retire. This is a "riding off into the sunset" gig - low stakes, no pressure.

You guys are blowing this WAY out of proportion, especially without knowing the inner-workings of the team. He heaped praise on the younger guys and said the team wouldn't be able to keep them if he stayed.

There's not much here to get overly upset about. He wasn't working some voodoo magic in a vacuum.

 

Man, I've never thought of it like that - but, yeah - great point.