Source: Astros interview Buck Showalter for managerial vacancy

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Thursday, January 16, 2020

The Houston Astros have interviewed Buck Showalter for their managerial vacancy, ESPN has confirmed.

The Astros interviewed Showalter on Wednesday, two days after they fired manager AJ Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow.

The Astros will interview former Toronto Blue Jays manager John Gibbons on Thursday, according to multiple reports.

Showalter has 20 seasons of major league managerial experience. The three-time American League Manager of the Year interviewed earlier this offseason for the manager job with the Philadelphia Phillies, who ultimately hired Joe Girardi.

Showalter, 63, last managed in 2018 with the Baltimore Orioles, who went 47-115 and parted ways with him after the season. He has a career record of 1,551-1,517 (.506).

Gibbons, 57, is 793-789 over parts of 11 seasons in two different stints with Toronto. He managed the Blue Jays to back-to-back appearances in the ALCS in 2015 and 2016; he did not return to the club after going 73-89 in 2018.

Hinch and Luhnow were fired Monday after being suspended by Major League Baseball for the Astros' illicit use of electronics to steal signs during Houston's run to the 2017 World Series title and again during the 2018 season.

The Athletic was first to report Showalter's interview, and Gibbons' upcoming interview was first reported by Fox 26 in Houston.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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