Joe Espada's time

Assesing Joe Espada’s Time With the Astros So Far

By | | MLB
The Houston Astros are now American League West Division Champions and finish with a regular-season record of 81-81 after the team was able to win a four-game series versus the Athletics. However, manager Joe Espada is still on the hot seat, and a decision will be made by Astros owner Jim Crane at the conclusion of this season. Will Espada survive the upcoming off-season decision? But for now, it seems his seat has cooled off.

Joe Espada’s Time As Astros Manager

A Decision To Be Made At Season End

After letting go of former General Manager Dana Brown, there will be a decision to be made at the end of the season about whether or not Espada gets let go and that will be decided by Crane. The writing does seem to be on the wall already that Espada’s season in Houston could be coming to an end.

This will be Crane’s third general manager he has fired in five seasons, after firing former General Manager Jeff Luhnow in 2020 for the cheating scandal and firing former general manager James Click in 2022, after a World Series title victory. and now will be the second manager on the chopping block, possibly following the firing of former manager A.J. Hinch for the same reason Luhnow was fired.

Espada hasn’t really helped his case for not being fired, especially with overreliance on the bullpen and then, at times, bad lineup configurations when facing certain pitching matchups. But the roster construction is not Espada’s fault at all for some of these bad lineups and bad pitching, whether it be the starting rotation or the bullpen. However,  the choices that led the team to lose games fall squarely on Espada.

In Game Management

Espada’s in-game management, though, is completely in Espada’s control and that has cost the team some games that the team shouldn’t have lost. There have been times during games, for example, when Espada has taken out a pitcher a bit too early before the pitcher has gotten into a complete rhythm.  That has caused some losses throughout the regular season.

The line-up construction has also not been great at times, especially with who goes into the line-up after the fourth batter. Espada seems to get creative with the bottom of the line-up, because there have been times where the bottom part of the line-up has not produced.

A lot of this is roster construction flaws, but selecting the wrong relief pitcher on the mound and letting the game get out of hand is due to overall in-game management.

Because of all these issues with the roster construction, the issues did contribute to Houston’s 11 games under .500, with  a 20-31 record for the month of May. Also due to poor in-game management.

The Roster Construction

Former general manager, Brown, made very poor choices in building up the Astros’ roster over his three-year tenure in Houston. One of the first issues was not re-signing one of the impact bats, including now Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder Kyle Tucker and Chicago Cubs third baseman Alex Bregman. The other issue was also Brown trying to restock the farm system with talent that is currently 29th out of 30 teams.

Also, the bottom part of the line-up is ranked last in batting average according to ESPN. That job Brown failed at doing so, which was trying to stock up on talent in the lower part of the line up.  The bright spot for the top of the line-up is leading Major League Baseball with home runs in that stat category.

Pitching also seems to be the forefront of another glaring issue from Brown’s tenure; since the departure of former starting pitchers Justin Verlander, Framber Valdez and Gerrit Cole. The pitching overall has taken a step back this season. For example, Houston’s current starting pitching is at a 4.50 ERA one of the lowest in starting pitching stats. The two main starting pitchers, Hunter Brown and Hayden Wesneski, have done well to this point. But the rest of the starting pitching has not done well.

Right-handed pitcher Tatsuya Imai has also been a disappointment signing as well, having a 4.93 ERA, as Imai has not started in games much after poor performances and has been relegated to the bullpen.

Assessing The Past Three Seasons

Espada’s time in Houston has been rocky. Taking over for now-retired former manager Dusty Baker, Espada’s first season in 2024 had a regular-season record of 88-73 and a loss to the Detroit Tigers in two games in the first round of the playoffs, then missing the playoffs altogether in the 2025 season due to a really bad offense, bad pitching and major injuries to the lineup.

Not everything falls under Espada, especially the roster construction of the team, but he is the manager of the team and everything on-field-wise falls under him. With the 2026 season coming to a close, time may technically be on Espada’s side; however, a decision is still coming very soon. But for now, Espada has a chance to guide the Astros as the third seed against the Chicago White Sox in a Wildcard playoff matchup.

Will this be Espada’s last season in Houston?

Main Image: Erik Williams-Imagn Images

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