Astros GM Dana Brown backs manager Joe Espada amid 11-18 start

AL EastBlue JaysOriolesRaysRed SoxYankeesAL CentralGuardiansRoyalsTigersTwinsWhite SoxAL WestAngelsAstrosAthleticsMarinersRangersNL EastBravesMarlinsMetsNationalsPhilliesNL CentralBrewersCardinalsCubsPiratesRedsNL WestDiamondbacksDodgersGiantsPadresRockiesScores & ScheduleStandingsPodcastsThe Windup NewsletterFantasyMLB ProspectsMLB OddsMLB PicksPower RankingsFans Speak UpTop ProspectsRed Sox Fire Astros GM Dana Brown and manager Joe Espada are both in the last year of their respective contracts. Tim Warner / Getty Images Share articleHOUSTON — A debrief between Dana Brown and Joe Espada occurs after every game at Daikin Park. There are roster moves to ponder, players to praise or decisions to question. The Houston Astros’ braintrust discusses everything before Espada walks across the hall to conduct his postgame news conference. The routine did not change on Saturday evening, when baseball’s managerial carousel started to spin and the Astros’ early-season spiral continued. Both realities prompt real questions, but Brown entered Espada’s office and kept his focus on what is frustrating him most. “You can’t defend 10 walks,” Brown said he told Espada. “There’s nothing we can do to defend that. We’re doing our best to put the right team on the field, get the best roster based on the injuries that we’re facing. You can’t defend 10 walks, baserunning mistakes and errors.” All of the above are ailing an Astros team that awoke on Saturday at 10-17. The Boston Red Sox had an identical record when they fired Alex Cora and five of his coaches that evening. Doing so only applied more pressure to other managers in precarious positions. Few of them have less security than Espada, who is in the last year of his contract, working for one of the sport’s most demanding owners and overseeing a team amid a terrible start. Blame for this 11-18 record is not entirely Espada’s, but Cora’s ouster still creates a logical question: Is a managerial change under consideration? Confronted with it on Sunday morning, Brown said it is not, while offering Espada the first public vote of confidence he’s received since the season began. “No. Joe is managing through the injuries. We are all watching what’s going on,” Brown said from his suite overlooking Daikin Park. “The pitching hasn’t been up to par. We’re walking a ton of guys. I can’t start pointing the finger at Joe because we’re walking a ton of guys and we’re banged up.” Fifteen Astros players are on the injured list, more than any team in the sport. That alone separates Espada’s situation from other skippers under scrutiny, be it Cora, Philadelphia’s Rob Thomson or New York’s Carlos Mendoza. Both Thomson and Mendoza have either guarantees or options for 2027 in their contracts, too. Espada does not. Nor does Brown. Entering the season against that backdrop would always elicit additional — sometimes outsized — criticism if the club started to crater. Owner Jim Crane remains involved in the club’s major decisions and, given his unpredictability, it’s anyone’s guess how he is analyzing this anemic April. Save a few snippy press conference answers, Espada has maintained an almost unflappable air of positivity and optimism, something Brown said he has appreciated across a 29-game stretch that would stagger some others. Players lauded Espada for his demeanor during a similar scenario in 2024, when the Astros lost 24 of their first 36 games before rallying to capture an American League West title. “One of the values of Joe Espada is the calming influence. He’s even-keeled. You’re not going to see him blow up at players and get guys more on edge,” Brown said. “He’s going to quietly lead these guys individually — and he’ll do it as a group if he has to — and get these guys back on the mark. I think players appreciate that. When you’re like that, at the end of the day, players start to pull back and say, ‘OK, let me take it day by day, let me not put too much pressure on myself.’” Optics for both Brown and Espada haven’t always been favorable in a season where they matter more than others. The six pitchers Brown added this winter to the major-league roster have a 6.04 ERA and, now, are part of a staff that has surrendered more runs than any in the sport. That it has walked 158 batters in 29 games frustrates Brown more than anything his manager is or isn’t doing. A baserunner got picked off in each of Houston’s three games this weekend against the New York Yankees. Another got thrown out trying to stretch a single to a double. Espada can’t control their actions from the dugout, but fundamental flaws like that — at a time like this — can be fuel for frustrated fans clamoring for change. It’s just a bad look. “Our effort level has been quality,” Brown said. “I think what happens is, when you’re struggling as a team, guys start trying to do too much. We’ve got guys in the batter’s box trying to hit a three-run homer with nobody on base. I think guys are trying to do too much as opposed to lollygagging or no effort. These guys are playing hard.” Among the injured Astros are six-time All-Star closer Josh Hader, All-Star shortstop Jeremy Peña, everyday center fielder Jake Meyers and three members of Houston’s season-opening starting rotation: ace Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier and heralded free-agent acquisition Tatsuya Imai. The attrition has exposed a total absence of organizational depth, which rival executives and evaluators have long described as this franchise’s fatal flaw, even toward the tail-end of Houston’s eight-year postseason streak. At one point earlier this month, as injuries decimated their 26-man roster, the Astros had no healthy position players on their 40-man roster to summon as replacements. In response, Dana Brown acquired journeyman minor-league infielder Braden Shewmake from the New York Yankees, claimed outfielder Dustin Harris off waivers from the Chicago White Sox and signed outfielder Daniel Johnson Jr. to a minor-league contract. All of them arrived in the organization within a span of two weeks. That all three players were in Sunday afternoon’s starting lineup underscored the unenviable position Espada is in. Three major-league outfielders are on the injured list and 35-year-old second baseman Jose Altuve needed a day off. No better options existed to replace them. Harris, Johnson and Shewmake teamed to go 0-for-9. “If this was a case of we were healthy and our pitching was throwing well and (Espada) was making mistakes, that would be a totally different ballgame,” Brown said. “That’s not the case. The case is, we’re banged up. We don’t have three starters that were in our Opening Day rotation and we’re walking a lot of players, which we have to get that together. You can’t point to the manager for the injuries or the walks.” Often, though, teams do just that. Cora can’t claim culpability for Boston’s lack of power or peculiar roster construction, but is out of a job anyway. Espada isn’t responsible for a pitching staff short on proven personnel or a paucity of depth within an entire organization. Injuries are out of his control, too. It leaves Espada only able to play the roster at his disposal. Whether it will be good enough at full strength to meet Crane’s massive expectations is a mystery. Solving it should stem the speculation around the men in charge of it — one way or another. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms