The Toronto Blue Jays have hired James Click as the team’s vice president of baseball strategy, the team announced Monday.
Click previously served as general manager of the Houston Astros. His contract expired in October, and he stayed on in the role through the Astros’ World Series victory. In Click’s three years as Houston’s GM, the team went to the ALCS three times and the World Series twice, winning last season’s title.
Attempts to retain Click failed to lead to a new contract as the Astros offered only one-year deals. Click’s departure marked the first time in 75 years a head of baseball operations didn’t return to steward his team the year after winning the World Series; GM Larry MacPhail resigned after the New York Yankees‘ 1947 victory.
Before joining the Astros, Click spent 15 years with the Tampa Bay Rays, rising to the title of vice president of baseball operations in 2017.
Information from ESPN’s Jeff Passan was used in this report.