Houston is also changing the people in charge, and the Mariners need to treat that as an invitation to get aggressive. The Astros have hired Randy Flores as general manager, moved on from Joe Espada and opened a managerial search that now includes Albert Pujols. According to The Athletic, Houston will interview the former Cardinals and Angels slugger this week.

That’s quite a shift for a rival we’ve spent years measuring ourselves against. Seattle has an opportunity to gain ground while Houston sorts out its next direction. How much that opportunity amounts to will depend on what the Mariners actually do with their offseason. Pujols makes the situation more interesting. And he’s not a name to brush off. He gives us a reason to take Houston’s managerial search seriously.

Albert Pujols Would Bring More Than a Famous Name to the Astros

There’s some history here. Pujols spent years punishing Houston pitching, including the Brad Lidge home run that still follows both men about two decades later. The possibility of him managing the Astros practically writes its own introduction.

Pujols managed Leones del Escogido to Dominican Winter League and Caribbean Series championships in 2024-25. He has already taken responsibility for a clubhouse and won under postseason pressure. A major-league season would present a different set of demands, but there’s enough substance to know that this isn’t some kind of novelty.

His playing career would buy him obvious attention. Keeping a team engaged through a full 162-game season would determine how much that attention is worth.

We should assume he understands the distinction. Anyone who played as long as Pujols did has seen how quickly a clubhouse can lose faith in the guys in charge.

The Athletic also identified Luis Urueta, Morgan Ensberg and Brad Ausmus as possibilities for Houston’s opening. So there’s no need to start imagining a Pujols-led Astros lineup yet. There’s every reason to watch what Flores wants his first managerial hire to accomplish.

Mariners Need to Press Their Advantage During Houston’s Reset

Jim Crane’s fingerprints are already on this search. He interviewed managerial candidates before hiring Flores, and Houston retained several coaches before choosing its next manager. Flores is stepping into a process his owner has already helped shape.

Pujols would bring his own expectations, and his talks with the Angels offer a revealing precedent. Contract terms reportedly helped derail those negotiations. Bob Nightengale later reported that Pujols also wanted personnel changes the Angels weren’t prepared to make.

We don’t know what changes Pujols would seek in Houston. But with part of the coaching staff already in place, Crane would need to be comfortable hiring someone who might want to revisit decisions the organization has already made.

Pujols’ experience and early managerial success would earn him consideration. The more consequential question is how much authority Crane would give him — and whether he would trust Pujols’ judgment when the two disagree.

Seattle has its own adjustment period to manage, and very little time to get it started.

The collective bargaining agreement expires Dec. 1, with a lockout widely expected. That gives Jason Kanzler less than a month to begin building relationships with his players before a potential shutdown cuts off contact with the 40-man roster. As Ryan Divish reported in The Seattle Times, Kanzler plans to use in-person conversations and video calls to get acquainted.

Those conversations deserve some urgency. Players need to hear what he expects, and he needs to understand what they want from their manager. A few calls won’t establish trust in the clubhouse. But they can give players something more useful than an introductory press conference to remember him by if contact stops in December.

Houston faces that same approaching deadline while still choosing its manager. That gives Seattle a modest head start, provided Kanzler makes these weeks count. By the time Houston introduces its next manager, we should want the Mariners’ players already having substantive conversations with theirs.

Pujols could give the rivalry a compelling new face. Seattle’s immediate opportunity is to build some familiarity with its own before baseball potentially goes quiet.