This story was excerpted from Brian McTaggart’s Astros Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

The Astros didn’t have a general manager at last year’s Winter Meetings; assistant GMs Bill Firkus, Charles Cook and Andrew Ball spearheaded the team’s contingent in San Diego while owner Jim Crane and advisor Jeff Bagwell stayed in touch back in Houston.

Firkus is no longer with the club, his departure a part of a front-office restructuring by first-year GM Dana Brown. A month ago, Brown promoted Gavin Dickey to assistant GM, joining Ball and Cook. Brown has also hired former D-backs and Royals scouting director Deric Ladnier as the team’s senior director of amateur scouting, according to a source. Ladnier replaces Kris Gross, who went to the Mets

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With a new-look front office, Brown can turn his attention to improving the Astros’ roster as the Winter Meetings begin today in Nashville, Tenn. The Astros, who in 2023 finished one win shy of reaching their fifth World Series in seven years, should once again be one of the favorites in the American League to reach the Fall Classic.

The Astros return most of their key players from last season and will be led by a new manager in Joe Espada, who spent the previous six seasons as the bench coach under A.J. Hinch and Dusty Baker — both of whom won World Series in Houston. Espada will meet with the media on Monday afternoon while attending his first Winter Meetings.