The Astros kept digging into Cleveland’s pipeline of coaching talent on Sunday, hiring Conner Watson as their new director of hitting.
Watson had spent the last two seasons with the Guardians as assistant director of hitting development, making him one of the behind-the-scenes voices helping shape players for big league success. Houston didn’t wait to finish the rest of its front office overhaul before making the move, either. The Astros are still searching for both a general manager and a manager, but they chose to lock in Watson first.
That move matters because Houston is filling an important opening that came last August, when former Astros director of hitting Dan Hennigan left for a job on the Wake Forest coaching staff.
Watson’s addition is the second major staff hire Houston has made, following the earlier appointment of Spencer Medick as director of pitching.
The Astros’ interest in Guardians personnel doesn’t come out of nowhere. Cleveland’s pitching operation has long been viewed as one of the best in the game, and now Houston has shown it likes the Guardians’ offensive approach as well.
All of this comes while the Astros are trying to steady a franchise that slipped over the past couple of seasons. That downturn cost Dana Brown his job as general manager, and Joe Espada was not retained as manager. Whoever lands those positions will inherit a roster with real punch in places, but plenty of issues too.
At the center of it all is Yordan Alvarez, the clear headliner of the lineup. He delivered another massive season, finishing 2026 with a 1.033 OPS, 42 home runs and 106 RBI. He was also the only Astros player to reach both 30 home runs and 100 RBI.
And yet the season still ended at 81-81, good enough to “win” the American League West before the Chicago White Sox swept Houston in two games in the American League Division Series.
Whether the Astros end up crossing paths with the Guardians in the American League in 2027 is still unclear. What is clear is that Houston has already drawn another direct line to Cleveland, this time by poaching one of its hitting minds.
In Other News...
Guardians Just Made Their First Base Direction Pretty Clear
Rhys Hoskins gave the Guardians a useful veteran bat after arriving on a minor league deal and earning a spot on the roster, but his stint in Cleveland never really changed the long-term picture at first base. He appeared in 95 games and supplied 13 home runs, yet the overall offensive return fell short of expectations, leaving the club where it has been leaning for a while now: toward the younger core.
With Hoskins now a free agent, the path forward at first base looks even clearer for Cleveland. The organization is expected to keep prioritizing left-handed, developing hitters such as Ralphy Velazquez and Kyle Manzardo, a sign that the Guardians are more interested in building around their next wave than revisiting a short-term fix. [Read more 🡒]
Guardians Keep Stockpiling Pitching With Another Intriguing Young Arm
The Guardians have added another arm to their growing international pipeline, officially signing 17-year-old left-hander Nerio Reyes out of Venezuela. Reyes trained at CJB Academy in Maracaibo, and his arrival fits neatly with Clevelands long-running habit of betting on young pitchers with upside and room to develop.
Reyes is expected to make his professional debut in the 2027 season in the Dominican Summer League, giving the organization time to let him grow into his body and his craft. For a club that has steadily leaned into finding and shaping pitching talent from Venezuela, this is another reminder that the Guardians are still building the same way, one young arm at a time. [Read more 🡒]
Guardians Face A Tough Call On Five Key Free Agents
The offseason in Cleveland is already starting to take shape around a familiar question: who, if anyone, should the Guardians bring back from a group of five pending free agents? The list includes catcher Austin Hedges, first basemen Nathaniel Lowe and Rhys Hoskins, and pitchers Foster Griffin and Shawn Armstrong, giving the front office a mix of depth pieces and veterans to sort through as the roster continues to evolve after the trade deadline and a series of recent moves.
Insider Joe Nogas read is that Hedges may be the only realistic candidate to return, and even that would likely require a reduced salary. The others face longer odds for a mix of reasons, from performance to injury history to the amount of depth already on hand, and all of it comes with labor talks still hanging over the broader baseball landscape. For a club that has spent plenty of time retooling on the fly, the next round of decisions could tell a lot about how aggressive the Guardians want to be this winter. [Read more 🡒]