Putting in place an early plan for his succession, Astros owner Jim Crane appointed his son Jared to help oversee the franchise’s business operations in place of longtime team president Reid Ryan.

“We felt at this time it was time for him to step in,” Crane, 65, said Thursday. “I’m past retirement age, and he needs to learn the business if the family is going to retain the team.”

Jared Crane, 36, will “assist Jim and his executive team in a broad variety of functions related to the operations of the Astros business,” the team said in a statement.

Jim Crane said the plan to bring Jared into the franchise was brewing for “about a year.” Jim Crane said he told Ryan “months ago” he was considering bringing his son aboard.

“I’m not a spring chicken,” Crane said. “I’ve been working hard for a long time, and in all of my stuff I’m building a succession plan. Baseball requires a plan in place for each team, so we’re doing that and planning for the family. It has nothing to do with Reid.”

Ryan and Jim Crane met Monday to finalize the plan. All three men will attend the owner’s meetings in Arlington at the end of the month

The team promised Ryan will remain “an important part of the Astros organization.” He was given a new title — executive adviser, business relations — so he could have “have more opportunities to focus on his other business ventures while remaining an important part of the Astros organization.”

Ryan had been the team’s president of business operations since May 2013.

Ryan did not return a text message seeking comment. Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan, who spent the past six seasons as an Astros executive adviser, told Fox 26 on Thursday he no longer will serve in that role.

Nolan Ryan was a frequent attendee at Minute Maid Park during his son’s tenure, often sitting behind home plate. Jim Crane said Thursday he tried to reach out to Nolan Ryan to tell him he was always welcome at Minute Maid Park. Nolan Ryan’s contract with the team was set to expire in February.

“I can’t speak for Nolan,” Crane said Thursday. “I tried to call him and (tell) him you’ll always be welcome at the stadium, and if he chooses not to continue, that’s his decision. We weren’t going to address that until we got closer to February, and I guess he’s done that.”

Before joining the Astros, Reid Ryan was president and CEO of Ryan Sanders Baseball, which owns the Round Rock Express minor league team that last year resumed its Class AAA affiliation with the Astros after being affiliated for several years with the Texas Rangers. The Express has three seasons left on the Professional Development Contract it signed with the Astros last September.

Ryan Sanders Baseball also founded the Corpus Christi Hooks, the Astros’ Class AA affiliate, before selling that team to the Astros in 2013.

“Jim Crane has been a great owner for the city of Houston, and I thank him for the opportunity to lead the Houston Astros organization,” Ryan said in a statement. “Thank you to the many employees, fans, and partners that have supported this team during my tenure as president. Baseball is about bringing joy to people’s lives and I take pride in knowing that we have made so many memories for our fans. While my role has changed, I will remain with the Astros and look forward to another great season in 2020.”

Under the company umbrella of Ryan Sanders Baseball, the families of Nolan Ryan and Houston financier Don Sanders also own a turf company, a live entertainment production company and a hospitality company along with the Express and interests in several area banks.

Reid Ryan has not been active in the daily management of those assets since joining the Astros. He came amid general manager Jeff Luhnow’s teardown, when the team was just beginning its third consecutive 100-loss season. He replaced George Postolos, the former Rockets and NBA executive who worked with Crane on his attempts to buy the Astros and, before that, the Texas Rangers.

Postolos’ brief tenure as president of business operations came at a difficult time for the club, which also was involved in a tense standoff involving Comcast SportsNet Houston, the regional sports network owned by the Astros, Rockets and Comcast that was forced into bankruptcy in the fall of 2013 when it couldn’t pay tens of millions of dollars in rights fees owed the Astros.

After a period of considerable front-office turnover in the wake of the Crane ownership group taking control of the Astros from former owner Drayton McLane, Ryan’s arrival heralded a period of stability for the club’s business operations and a critical link to its past through the Ryan family’s longtime ties to baseball in Houston.

In that vein, Ryan was instrumental in establishing an Astros Hall of Fame along the left field concourse at Minute Maid Park that was unveiled this season.

One of Ryan’s first actions was opening gates earlier to give fans access to batting practice. He also helped preside over the 2017 renovation in center field that included the removal of Tal’s Hill and the addition of a field-level suite and dining and hospitality areas in a previously underutilized portion of the stadium.

The Astros announced plans earlier this year for a $25 million renovation that will include the addition of a new club for season ticket holders on the stadium’s suite level and changes in the right-field corner that will include an open staircase with field viewing areas and additional restaurant options.

“Speaking for those who are close to Reid, he has dedicated the past five or six years to the Astros, and all you have to do is look where the Astros were when he came and where they are today,” said a person with knowledge of the Astros’ management structure who declined to be identified.

“The baseball team has done a lot, but the changes in the ballpark, from seating to restaurants to getting in and out, that’s Reid Ryan. The things he has accomplished have been gigantic.”

Jim Crane said Ryan will continue to aid in alumni relations, do public speaking and “some of the things with the Greater Houston Partnership.”

“He just won’t be on the point,” Crane said. “The executive team will report to me, and Reid and I will continue to work together.”

Crane said the change in Ryan’s role was not related to the team’s awkward handling of assistant general manager Brandon Taubman’s outburst at a group of female reporters at the end of the American League Championship Series. Taubman eventually was fired, and the team apologized for a series of missteps and statements that originally questioned the first story on the rant.

“Absolutely nothing to do with that,” Crane said.

Crane’s decision to bring his son into the management structure is noteworthy in light of the fact that McLane sold the Astros to Crane in November 2011 in large part because his sons Denton and Drayton III were not interested in taking over the team.

According to Jared Crane’s LinkedIn profile, his most recent job title was regional vice president, business development at Crane Worldwide Logistics. Jared earned a bachelor's degree in business from California Lutheran University in 2007 and worked various jobs at Champion Energy Service from 2002 to 2008 — when his father was CEO and director of the company.

Jared Crane founded Incite Energy in 2012. Last September, he sold the company’s assets to Infinity Power Partners LLC and CSD Energy Advisors LLC.

Crane’s LinkedIn page lists him as president of the Astros Foundation since 2016.

“He’ll come in and go to meetings,” Jim Crane said of his son. “He isn’t going to be running the thing. He’ll be learning and observing, and I’ll be showing him how things work as we go along.

“He’ll participate in things and he’ll have an office close to me, so we will be able to work together and I’ll bring him in so we will be able to work together and eventually assign some things to him.”

david.barron@chron.com

twitter.com/dfbarron

chandler.rome@chron.com

twitter.com/chandler_rome