HOUSTON -- Less than two years ago, the Houston Astros were
celebrating their first National League pennant. On Monday, they
were starting over.
Manager Phil Garner and general manager Tim Purpura were fired
by owner Drayton McLane, who said the franchise "needed a fresh
start" after a plunge to the bottom of the NL Central.
Bench coach Cecil Cooper was appointed interim manager, and team
president Tal Smith will serve as interim general manager.
"I felt for a number of reasons, we needed new direction,
invigoration, to play with more enthusiasm and play more like a
champion," McLane said.
The Astros slumped to 58-73 this year, nine games behind the
division-leading Chicago Cubs. They've lost five of their last
seven home games, to lowly Washington and Pittsburgh.
"We had really fallen into a pattern of so-so ball," Garner
said during a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "We
were never able to put together the run, like we made in the
previous two seasons. I think there were a number of reasons for
that."
Houston became the fourth team to switch managers this season.
Baltimore fired Sam Perlozzo on June 18 and Cincinnati fired Jerry
Narron on July 1, the same day Mike Hargrove resigned as Seattle's
manager.
The 57-year-old Cooper becomes a major league manager for the
first time. The five-time All-Star and two-time Gold Glove winner
was the bench coach in Milwaukee in 2002 and managed Triple-A
Indianapolis in 2003-04.
Cooper was taking his mother-in-law to a doctor's appointment on
Monday when Smith and McLane called to offer him the job.
"It's been kind of a whirlwind tour this morning," he said.
"Drayton asked me if I was OK and all of a sudden, in the pit of
my stomach, I felt sick. It really was a shock to me. I kind of got
a little emotional, but I'm also excited about the opportunity.
I've been the World Series as a player and a coach. Now, I want to
try it as a manager."
Cooper says he has a plan for turning around the Astros. He
promoted first-base coach Jose Cruz to bench coach and moved
bullpen coach Mark Bailey to the first-base position and planned to
unveil some lineup changes on Tuesday.
"I know how to win," Cooper said. "I really do believe I know
what it takes to get the Houston Astros over the hump and back to
the World Series."
McLane said it wasn't one game or one personnel move by Purpura,
but several factors that drove him to make changes.
"There are some issues," McLane said. "It has been a series
of things and observations."
The Astros have 31 games left and open a three-game series with
St. Louis on Tuesday. McLane suggested that the rest of the season
essentially was an audition for Cooper.
"This is an opportunity for Cecil to show us his leadership,"
McLane said. "It wouldn't be bad if we won all 31."
Garner took over the Astros in the middle of the 2004 season
after Jimy Williams was fired. The Astros went 48-26 in the second
half and won 36 of their last 46 games to become the NL wild card,
then defeated Atlanta in the first round of the playoffs before
losing to St. Louis in Game 7 of the NL Championship Series.
Houston won its second straight wild-card berth in 2005 and
defeated the Braves and Cardinals in the playoffs before the World
Series sweep.
The Astros were 82-80 last year, finishing 1½ games behind the
Cardinals in the NL Central, but slumped this season following the
departures of Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte.
Garner managed Milwaukee from 1992-99 and Detroit from 2000-02.
He has a 985-1,054 career record as a major league manager,
including 277-252 with the Astros.
"I had a wonderful time with the Astros," Garner said. "They
gave me a great opportunity. They reinvigorated my interest in
baseball and really gave me a great opportunity to reinvigorate my
career. I'm more grateful for the job they gave me than I am
saddened and upset by the firing."
Craig Biggio's 3,000th hit has been the highlight of an
otherwise dismal 2007 season.
Houston signed free agent Carlos Lee to a $100 million, six-year
contract last offseason but also acquired disappointing starter
Woody Williams (7-12). Purpura also took some of the blame for
hanging on to Morgan Ensberg, whose stats dropped precipitously
after an All-Star season in 2005. The Astros designated Ensberg for
assignment in late July.
Purpura, who did not immediately return a telephone message,
also made an ill-fated trade with Colorado, dealing speedster Willy Taveras and promising pitching prospects Jason Hirsh and Taylor Buchholz for Jason Jennings, who was 2-9 before he was placed on
the disabled list with a bad elbow on Aug. 21.
"We want to bring some new, fresh ideas," McLane said.
"Companies become stagnant sometimes. In the corporate world, when
they bring in new CEOs or new top executives, they come in with new
ideas, new ways to get things done. That's what I'm excited
about."
Purpura joined the Astros in 1994 and directed player
development and six minor league affiliates before taking over from
Gerry Hunsicker as GM before the 2005 season.
McLane wants to find a new GM by the end of this season. Smith,
73, was the Astros' president from 1976-80, then opened a
consulting firm. McLane bought the Astros in 1993 and hired Smith
as team president the following year.
"Nobody relishes these occasions," Smith said. "Tim and Gar
are good people. They cared very much about the Houston Astros. But
as we all recognize, this is a performance-driven industry."
The Astros came into this season with the fourth-best winning
percentage in the majors since 1993.
"We've got a lot of work to do," Smith said, "and in the next
several weeks, we're going to sit down and examine all aspects of
the operation. We will proceed with a [GM] search as soon as we
possibly can and see if we can't set things in motion for the
future of this franchise.