Bruce Bochy retired as the Giants' manager with a 9-0 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2019 regular-season finale. That didn't mean he never would manage again.

Bochy already is back in baseball. He will manage Team France in the World Baseball Classic qualifier taking place in Tucson, Arizona from March 22-27.

But Bochy isn’t ready to come back to the major leagues quite yet, though. The future Hall of Fame manager told USA Today's Bob Nightengale that he still plans to hit the "pause button" and won't come out of retirement to replace A.J. Hinch on the Houston Astros.

Hinch was fired by Astros owner Jim Crane on Monday, the same day MLB handed down historic punishments to Houston for the team's role in electronically sign-stealing during their 2017 World Series run. Crane fired Hinch and general manager Jeff Lunhow hours after MLB suspended the two for one season without pay.

The Astros also lost their first- and second-round picks for the 2020 and '21 MLB Drafts, and were fined $5 million -- the highest allowable fine under the Major League Constitution.

Bochy seems like the perfect fit to turn the Astros around during tumultuous times. He was taken by the Astros with the No. 23 overall pick in the 1975 MLB June Draft-Secondary Phase. The former catcher spent the first three years of his big league career in Houston, from 1978 to '80.

While Bochy went through three straight losing seasons to end his time in San Francisco, he still won over 1,000 games with the Giants and has 2,003 regular-season victories. The 64-year-old is a four-time NL champion and three-time World Series champion.

[RELATED: MLB told Dodgers not to comment on Astros' sign-stealing]

There certainly still is the possibility Bochy manages in the bigs again one day. For now, he'll sit back and sip on some fine wine instead.

Smart choice.