Blue Jays hire former Astros GM James Click in front office role

The Toronto Blue Jays are making additions to their front office.

On Monday morning, the team announced that they’d hired former Houston Astros general manager James Click as vice president of baseball strategy.

“In this role, Click will join the Baseball Operations leadership team, working closely with General Manager Ross Atkins and department heads on strategic planning, decision making, and evaluation,” the Blue Jays said in a release. “He will work across both professional and amateur levels to identify best practices, develop plans, and implement strategies.”

Click spent three years in the Astros organization as the team’s GM, but turned down a contract renewal with the team after winning last year’s World Series, announcing his departure in November 2022. During Click’s time as GM, the Astros had a record of 230-154, making it to two World Series and three American League Championship Series.

“We are grateful for all of James’ contributions,” owner Jim Crane said in a statement at the time, per CBS. “We have had great success in each of his three seasons, and James has been an important part of that success. I want to personally thank him and wish him and his family well moving forward.”

Per The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, it appears that there were fundamental disagreements between Click and Houston’s ownership about how to run the team.

“[There were] stylistic clashes between the two, disagreements over the size of the baseball operations staff and concern from Click about other voices in the organization influencing the owner,” Rosenthal wrote in November.

Prior to his time with the Astros, Click had spent 15 seasons with the Tampa Bay Rays organization, being named the team’s vice president of baseball operations in 2017.

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