James Click
Born Feb 14, 1978 · Durham, NC · age 48
A Tampa Bay-trained executive who served as Houston Astros general manager for the 2022 World Series title before an abrupt departure.
Across the full 2-season sample, the measured profile stands out most for championship leverage per acquired WAR (100th percentile), roster depth (100th percentile), and cheap-talent surplus (95th percentile). The clearest contrast is net WAR per trade (8th percentile): the realized net WAR return per trade has ranked below most peers. Because the sample covers fewer than five seasons, those comparisons are descriptive rather than stable.
2 seasons with salary-era data across 1 stint. All figures are franchise-level outcomes during the tenure, not solely attributable to one executive.
★ 1 title · 2 pennants · 2 playoff appearances · 201–123 (0.620)
Overview
| Team | Role | Year | Pay $M |
Rel Pay |
Surp $M |
Surp WAR |
Dead % |
Cheap $M |
Draft $M |
Trd $M |
Int'l $M |
$ / WAR |
WAR | Depth | Dead WAR |
HG | Trade | Net/ Trd |
FA | R5 | RFA | PPA | CPA | WAB | TAB | W-L% | PO | Pen | WS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Astros |
GM | 2021 95–67 | $168 | 132 | -4 | -1.2 | 11% | +39 | +8 | +7 | +24 | $3.2M | 50.4 | 11.0 | -2.7 | +0.0 | -1.8 | -0.45 | -23.2 | +0.0 | +0.43 | 3.08 | 1.10 | +9.5 | +12.7 | 0.586 | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Astros |
GM | 2022 106–56 | $179 | 125 | +31 | +8.4 | 19% | +82 | +25 | +18 | +38 | $3.0M | 57.3 | 10.0 | -3.2 | +39.1 | -12.9 | -3.23 | +2.5 | +0.0 | +0.38 | 0.46 | 2.14 | +21.2 | +20.3 | 0.654 | ✓ | ✓ | ★ |
| Career total (1985+ data) | $347 | 129 | +27 | +7.2 | 15% | +60 | +17 | +13 | +31 | $3.1M | 107.7 | 10.5 | -2.9 | +39.1 | -14.7 | -1.84 | -20.8 | +0.0 | +0.35 | 1.79 | 1.61 | +30.7 | +33.1 | 0.620 | 2 | 2 | 1 | ||
Roster Construction
Build channels — net fWAR
Acquired minus surrendered / signed minus walked.
Trades
Trades made — 14 deals credited to James Click, best expected value first; surplus is realized value in $M
HOU · James Click
+$29.6M
CLE · Chris Antonetti
−$29.6M
HOU · James Click
+$25.6M
SFG · Farhan Zaidi
−$25.6M
HOU · James Click
+$6.4M
SEA · Jerry Dipoto
−$6.4M
HOU · James Click
+$1.6M
PHI · Dave Dombrowski
−$1.6M
HOU · James Click
+$1.6M
CIN · Dick Williams
−$1.6M
SFG · Farhan Zaidi
+$0.0M
HOU · James Click
+$0.0M
BAL · Mike Elias
+$4.0M
HOU · James Click
−$4.0M
HOU · James Click
+$0.8M
TBR · Erik Neander
−$0.8M
HOU · James Click
+$0.0M
MIA · Kim Ng
+$0.0M
BOS · Chaim Bloom
+$88.8M
HOU · James Click
−$88.8M
HOU · James Click
+$6.4M
ATL · Alex Anthopoulos
−$6.4M
MIA · Kim Ng
+$1.6M
HOU · James Click
−$1.6M
HOU · James Click
+$2.4M
BAL · Mike Elias
−$2.4M
TBR · Erik Neander
+$52.8M
HOU · James Click
−$52.8M
Players acquired — 25 players, by realized fWAR for the franchise (scroll for more)
| Player | Pos | Team | How | Year | Szns | fWAR | WAR/yr | RFA | PPA | CPA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jeremy Peña | SS | HOU |
Draft | 2022 | 5 | +17.9 | +3.6 | – | – | – |
| Hunter Brown | P | HOU |
Draft | 2022 | 5 | +12.0 | +2.4 | – | – | – |
| Yainer Diaz | C | HOU |
Draft | 2022 | 4 | +8.6 | +2.2 | – | – | – |
| Justin Verlander | P | HOU |
Free agency | 2022 | 6 | +6.7 | +1.1 | – | 3.0% | 1.33% |
| Mauricio Dubón | 2B/OF | HOU |
Trade | 2022 | 4 | +5.2 | +1.3 | +0.43 | 0.0% | 0.14% |
| Héctor Neris | P | HOU |
Free agency | 2021 | 2 | +2.5 | +1.3 | – | 0.8% | 3.50% |
| Ronel Blanco | P | HOU |
Draft | 2022 | 2 | +1.9 | +1.0 | – | – | – |
| Ryne Stanek | P | HOU |
Free agency | 2021 | 3 | +1.4 | +0.5 | – | 1.3% | 0.45% |
| Jake Odorizzi | P | HOU |
Free agency | 2021 | 2 | +1.1 | +0.5 | – | 3.2% | 1.15% |
| Rafael Montero | P | HOU |
Free agency | 2022 | 4 | +0.7 | +0.2 | – | 0.4% | 0.14% |
| Phil Maton | P | HOU |
Trade | 2021 | 2 | +0.5 | +0.3 | -0.23 | 0.3% | 0.10% |
| Jayden Murray | P | HOU |
Trade | 2022 | 1 | +0.3 | +0.3 | +0.39 | – | – |
| Will Smith | P | HOU |
Trade | 2022 | 1 | +0.3 | +0.3 | +0.19 | 0.2% | 0.74% |
| Yimi García | P | HOU |
Trade | 2021 | 1 | +0.3 | +0.3 | – | 0.8% | 0.29% |
| Christian Vázquez | C | HOU |
Trade | 2022 | 2 | +0.2 | +0.1 | – | 0.1% | 0.33% |
| Kendall Graveman | P | HOU |
Trade | 2021 | 1 | +0.2 | +0.2 | -0.15 | 0.8% | 0.29% |
| Pedro Báez | P | HOU |
Free agency | 2021 | 1 | -0.0 | -0.0 | – | 0.0% | 0.01% |
| Joe Perez | 3B | HOU |
Draft | 2022 | – | -0.0 | – | – | – | – |
| Jacob Wilson | 2B/3B | HOU |
Trade | 2021 | 1 | +0.0 | +0.0 | – | 0.1% | 0.05% |
| J. J. Matijevic | 1B/DH | HOU |
Draft | 2022 | – | -0.2 | – | – | – | – |
| Parker Mushinski | P | HOU |
Draft | 2022 | 1 | -0.3 | -0.3 | – | – | – |
| Niko Goodrum | 2B/SS | HOU |
Free agency | 2022 | – | -0.4 | – | – | – | – |
| Korey Lee | C | HOU |
Draft | 2022 | – | -0.4 | – | – | – | – |
| David Hensley | DH/OF | HOU |
Draft | 2022 | 1 | -0.5 | -0.5 | – | – | – |
| José Abreu | 1B | HOU |
Free agency | 2022 | – | -2.0 | – | – | – | – |
Trade-side columns: RFA is playoff-readiness percentage points added to the future roster foundation. It grades the franchise's entire side of a trade, so the same score repeats for every player acquired in that package. PPA/CPA remain player-level arrival-year probability points.
WAB = wins above what the team's payroll predicted (resource-controlled). WAR surplus = era-neutral value (WAR minus payroll in win-equivalents). Roster surplus $M = dollar value of WAR over cost. Build channels (realized fWAR): HG = home-grown via amateur draft / international signing; Trade = acquired minus surrendered (incl. purchases/waivers); FA = signed minus walked; R5 = Rule-5 / minor-league-draft pickups. Credit follows the acquisition year — home-grown to the regime at the player's draft/signing (not whoever was in the chair when he peaked), trade/FA/R5 to the GM who made the move. Players acquired as prospects before debuting (e.g. Smoltz, Bagwell; Rule-5 picks like Uggla) are counted as trade/R5, not home-grown. All are franchise-level outcomes during the stint, not solely attributable to one executive.