The Houston Astros asked for permission to talk to Rangers assistant general manager Thad Levine for their vacant GM post, a source confirmed Tuesday.

Levine, 40, was hired as assistant general manager by Jon Daniels in October 2005, shortly after Daniels took over for John Hart as Rangers general manager. Levine has handled many contract negotiations, player acquisitions, financial analyses and has helped run the daily operations of the club. He’s been an integral part of Daniels’ baseball operations team.

He came to the Rangers after six seasons with the Colorado Rockies, where he worked with Daniels for one season. Levine played baseball at Haverford College in Pennsylvania and earned his bachelor’s degree in 1994. He worked for the Los Angeles Dodgers in business development in 1999 while earning his MBA from UCLA.

An aside: The Rangers have done a nice job of keeping this staff together. But as we saw with Scott Servais, other teams are going to be seeking to obtain Texas' talent. And why wouldn't they? The Rangers' front office is a talented bunch. Levine has done an excellent job as the top assistant to Daniels and his name has been mentioned for other jobs before. He certainly knows what it takes to rebuild an organization and is a good communicator who can lead.