Upon Baker’s retirement, the Astros kept things in house, hiring bench coach Joe Espada to take over as skipper and keep things rolling.

Whenever there is a regime change, things naturally adjust to fit what the person in charge wants to accomplish, but after a strangely poor offensive season this past year, management has already directed the current hitting coaches to adjust some things prior to 2025.

If that doesn’t happen, there’s a chance staff changes could be made.

Someone Houston likely still wishes they had around is their former pitching coach Brent Strom.

Serving in that role from 2014-21, the former Major League player and longtime coach was a huge reason why the Astros won their first-ever World Series title in 2017.

Joining the franchise on the backend of their teardown rebuild, his pitching staffs finished 25th in ERA in 2014 (4.11), sixth in 2015 (3.57), 11th in 2016 (4.06), 11th in 2017 (4.12), first in 2018 (3.11), third in 2019 (3.66), 13th in 2020 (4.31), and seventh in his final year in 2021 (3.78).

Strom signaled he was going to retire when he departed Houston, but he was promptly hired by the Arizona Diamondbacks to become their pitching coach where he helped them reach the World Series in 2023.

But, after a disappointing showing during this past campaign, Strom was looking for his next gig after the Diamondbacks fired him.

He landed on his feet pretty well considering Noah Hiles of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazzette reported the Pittsburgh Pirates are hiring the guru to be their assistant pitching coach.