Jon Heyman heard that he did.
Astros owner Drayton McLane called to gauge interest on the part of Astros icons Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio in Houston's managerial job. But for now...they remain just two names on a very long list of possibilities. A person familiar with their thinking said to add Don Baylor and Scott Servais to a managerial list that's reported to include interim Dave Clark plus Al Pedrique, Tim Bogar, Brad Ausmus, Manny Acta and Jim Fregosi.
I hadn't heard Baylor and Servais' names before. But further on we see that Barry Axelrod, agent for both Bagwell & Biggio, "could have interest" in the job, but both are considering the timing of the opportunity.
Later we see this, about Bobby Valentine:
He is leaving his $4 million-a-year job managing the Chiba Lotte Marines for an analyst position at ESPN but would expect to earn a lot closer to the $4 million mark to manage. And the Marlins paid only two of their players -- Hanley Ramirez and Dan Uggla -- as much as $4 million last year.
With the Astros already paying Cooper around $800K to not manage the team next year, and with a payroll that will be considerably lower than 2009's $107 million, I bet Valentine is out of the Astros' pay scale.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
