Former Astros GM Ed Wade not surprised by firing

HOUSTON — Former Houston Astros general manager Ed Wade was hardly surprised that he was fired along with team president Tal Smith in the first major changes by new owner Jim Crane.

Wade was, however, disappointed that he won't be with the club to see what will come of the many prospects he brought into the organization.

"I do think the work we have done with regard to the depth in the system will be saluted in due time," he said Monday. "It takes time. We had a lot of work to do when we first got here."

Wade, hired in September 2007, met with Crane and other executives last Tuesday and was told Wednesday he wouldn't be retained.

Wade's focus in the meeting with Crane was to tout the work and value of the people under him, most notably manager Brad Mills.

"I thought it was important for me to express my feelings about the people who work in this organization, not just on the baseball side, but throughout the organization," Wade said. "I wanted to make sure they were aware of how strongly I felt about the quality of people who work here. Hopefully they get a fair shot at continuing what we've been doing for a fair number of years here."

The firings of Wade and Smith came less than a week after the sale of the team from Drayton McLane to Crane was completed last Tuesday, a transaction that requires the franchise to move from the NL Central to the AL West in 2013.

The search for a new general manager will begin immediately. Assistant general manager Dave Gottfried will serve as interim GM, but will not be considered for the permanent job.

Houston will become the seventh of the 30 major league teams to hire a new general manager or head of baseball operations since the end of the season, joining Baltimore (Dan Duquette for Andy MacPhail), Boston (Ben Cherington for Theo Epstein), the Chicago Cubs (Jed Hoyer for Jim Hendry), the Los Angeles Angels (Jerry DiPoto for Tony Reagins), Minnesota (Terry Ryan for Bill Smith) and San Diego (Josh Byrnes for Hoyer).

Wade said this year was difficult because the franchise was kept in limbo waiting for baseball owners to approve the sale of the team after an agreement was reached in May.