Late last night news broke that the Houston Astros had named a new Manager and it would be Bo Porter, third base coach of the Washington Nationals. Per a tweet from Zachary Levine of the Houston Chronicle, front office personnel flew to Philadelphia yesterday, where the Nationals were playing to formally offer Porter the job.

Once again the Astros front office had big news flying through the air as most of us slept. They made it official during a 10am press conference at Minute Maid Park this morning. During his statement GM, Jeff Luhnow, stated about Porter, “He is openminded. He is smart and he knows baseball.”

Porter, who has been with the Nationals since 2011, was not the guy many of us had in mind for this position, but it’s only fair we give him his shot. The powers that be in the Astros front office did a fine job this year of making deals, stocking a desolate farm system, and proving that they have a master plan for returning the Houston nine to the glory the team once knew.

I’ll continue to have faith until they prove to me I shouldn’t.

In the meantime, Bo Porter and the Nationals are in a race for a championship and Luhnow asked that we all respect that and let him finish the job he has ahead of him. Not that Bo Porter would pick up his phone for me, I would love to ask him a handful of questions.

But for now, we have this: Bo Porter is a 40 year old who lives in Houston during the offseason, so he’s a hometown boy, of sorts. He played football at the University of Iowa until he was drafted in the 40th round by the Chicago Cubs in the 1993 draft as an outfielder. He made his major league debut, with the Cubs, in 1999, but would end up going to Oakland in the Rule 5 Draft in 2000. He played for the A’s for only 1 season before being claimed off waivers by the Texas Rangers, again, staying there only one season. He played the rest of his career in the minors in the Atlanta Braves and Colorado Rockies systems until his career concluded.

Since leaving the playing field he’s done everything from hitting coach in the minors to third base coach in the majors. He’s been a managerial candidate for the Marlins and Pirates, but never got to grab the brass ring.

Fangraphs interviewed Porter back in July of this year, calling him a “Future Big League Manager.”  When asked what his managerial style would be, he said this -

“When people ask what kind of manager I’ll be, I always tell them, ‘Give me a roster and then I’ll tell you how I’m going to manage that ball club.’ You can say you’re going to be an aggressive manager and that we’re going to steal bases and hit-and-run, but if you have six guys in your lineup that can hit 25 home runs, it’s probably not a good idea to take too many chances of giving away outs. Conversely, if you have a team that doesn’t have a lot of power — but you do have guys who put the ball in play — you can put runners in motion.

“You want to take advantage of the ability that your players have. How you manage shouldn’t be etched in stone. You have to play to your strengths and at the same time you have to look at your opponent. If there are things the other team doesn’t do well, you want to put your players in a position to take advantage of that. A big part of this game is recognizing advantages, whether you do that with data or with your own eyes.”

As of yesterday, Porter’s wish came true. I’d say with one heck of a coaching opportunity ahead of him. Many would see the Houston Astros as the team they’d least like to lead, but I’d bet that Porter’s looking at it as the opportunity of a lifetime. He gets the chance to prove to the Marlins and the Pirates that they were wrong. That he can turn a team around.

Until he proves me wrong, I’ll give Mr. Porter the benefit of the doubt. I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do with a team that has the lowest payroll and highest loss rate in the majors. A team that has too many minor leaguers taking the field each night. A team that has a developing farm system that’s talent is a few years out from the show. Yes, he has one heck of a challenge in front of him, but it’s one hell of an opportunity.

Welcome to Houston, Bo.

Terri Schlather (AGirlintheSouth) is the tortured Senior Houston Astros Writer for Aerys Sports. You can email her at agirlinthesouth@gmail.com, or follow her ridiculous ramblings on sports, vodka and the weeone on twitter @agirlinthesouth.

Jeff Luhnow wasted no time Sunday morning in announcing Oklahoma City Redhawks Manager, Tony DeFrancesco, as the interim manager for the Houston Astros. It’s a choice that seems logical given the fact that most of the young Astros team has spent time recently playing for Tony and there will be a comfort level from the get-go.

DeFrancesco expressed his excitement at the opportunity. “I waited a long time to come to this level and be on a big league staff as a manager,” DeFrancesco said. “I want to be the guy who changes the environment out there.”

He spoke openly of the attitude that can set in and the lack of confidence that can take root when a team is getting beat up on each and every day. If you’ve followed me on twitter during a game or sat near me at a game this season, you’ve heard me express the same concern. Let’s all hope that the clubhouse is a fun and encouraging place from here on out, win or lose.

The search for a permanent manager will begin immediately, according to Luhnow. He made no comments to help uncover the possible list of candidates that’s surely in his head, but did indicate there was no time to wait to begin the hunt.

As for the the other two places on the staff that were vacated late last night, Ty Van Berkleo, also from AAA OKC, as the interim hitting coach and Dan Radison, a special assistant to the GM,  as interim first base coach.

The pressure is off for all three it seems as Luhnow expressed that all three of these gentleman will be with the organization next season (but who knows in what capacity). All are clear on the needs and path of the organization according to the GM.

So what now? Now we watch and see if there’s anything an interim manager can do in six very short baseball weeks to help mature a very, very young club. In the meantime, it’s business as usual for this team as they take on the Arizona Diamondbacks for game three at 1:05pm at Minute Maid Park.

Play ball!

Terri Schlather (AGirlintheSouth) is the tortured Senior Houston Astros Writer for Aerys Sports. You can email her at agirlinthesouth@gmail.com, or follow her ridiculous ramblings on sports, vodka and the weeone on twitter @agirlinthesouth.

In a season where Astros fans just sit and wait for the next traumatic experience, the team will hold a presser tomorrow at 10am to announce the firing of Manager Brad Mills, first base coach, Bobby Meachum, and hitting coach, Mike Barnett.

The late-in-the-season timing may seem odd, but with the front office reorganizing the scouting department and casting some out this past week, perhaps it was just a foretaste of the destruction to come. Most surprising to me? The continued employment of third base coach, Dave Clark, whose head I’d like on a platter for ridiculous calls and direction and the continued employment of pitching coach, Doug Brocail, who was basically just filler after the firing of Brad Arnsberg last season.

Interestingly enough, a couple weeks ago twitter and bloggers were aflutter calling for Mills’ head on a platter, but moments after the story of his firing broke on twitter? Many are proclaiming that the poor man didn’t stand a chance with the roster of minor league misfits masquerading as major leaguers that he was handed to manage.

Meanwhile those in Boston who are begging for the return of Terry Francona to the Red Sox are wondering if Batman’s Robin, Mills, would return with him. If given a season group of truly major league players, a team would likely find Mills to be useful and productive.

It’s true that this is a team full of players who’d never likely get a major league call up if they were on another team, but there have been many occasions when the collective fan base asked, “What the hell?” as Mills made a particularly interesting or ridiculous call – having a player bunt in an odd situation, sitting an everyday player to give a wash up a few more at bats, etc.

No word yet on who will replace all three for the remainder of this record breaking losing season, but odds are we’ll see bench coach, Joe Pettini, take the reins for the remainder of the 2012 season. After all, there’s not much left to manage in Houston.

Terri Schlather (AGirlintheSouth) is the tortured Senior Houston Astros Writer for Aerys Sports. You can email her at agirlinthesouth@gmail.com, or follow her ridiculous ramblings on sports, vodka and the weeone on twitter @agirlinthesouth.