Royals executive Gene Watson a reported candidate to take over Astros’ front office
The Houston Astros are considering Kansas City Royals senior director of professional scouting/assistant to the general manager Gene Watson among other candidates to replace Jeff Lunhow as president of baseball operations, according to ESPN.com.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported that Watson has already interviewed for the job.
Watson, who has been part of the Royals organization for 13 years, oversees the professional scouting staff. The club promoted him to senior director of pro scouting in 2018. Previously, he’d worked a scout (2006-08), coordinator of pro scouting (2008-12) and director of pro scouting (2012-18).
He worked as a scout under Royals general manager Dayton Moore while the two were in the Atlanta Braves organization in the early 2000s before Watson became a professional scout for the Marlins.
Watson has been a part of USA Baseball’s selection committee for Olympic, World Cup, World Baseball Classic and Pan-Am Games dating back to 2008. He’s also been honored by the Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation (2018) as a recipient of the Legends in Scouting Award.
Lunhow and Astros manager A.J. Hinch were dismissed by owner Jim Crane earlier this month after MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred announced findings of an investigation into the club’s use of video cameras, in violation of an edict by the commissioner, to steal signs during the 2017 and 2018 seasons.
The Astros announced the hiring of Dusty Baker as the club’s 19th manager on Wednesday. Baker has 1,863 career wins in 22 seasons as a manager.
