Steady Joe Espada has Astros near AL West title

When Astros general manager Dana Brown was deciding on Dusty Baker’s replacement, he could identify with Joe Espada. They are both good family men, and they had both bumped into the ceiling that is often lower for talented folks of color in baseball.

In Brown’s case, he had interviewed for multiple GM jobs before the Astros finally gave him a chance. Espada had also carried an impressive coaching resume into several managerial interviews only to see other men hired.

Brown knew Espada’s work ethic and baseball knowledge after working with him last year during Brown’s first season as the Astros’ GM. He liked what he saw, and he didn’t hesitate to make Espada his first managerial hire.

“There’s been a few managers passed over (several times) that are managing now that are pretty good,” Brown says. “I didn’t want to make that mistake (of passing over a good manager). So I was locked in on Joe.

“I knew he was a good human being, knew he was a good baseball man. And pretty much like myself, Joe had put in a lot of time in the grind. I felt some identity because I had some interviews too.”

No panic

Together, Espada and Brown have guided the Astros through one of the most difficult seasons of their impressive run since 2017. They enter the last homestand of the regular season with an opportunity to clinch their eighth postseason berth in a row and seventh AL West title since 2017.

The cynics and critics were ready to bury the Astros after they started the season with a 7-19 record. Some angry fans wondered if Espada knew what he was doing.

The same folks who blamed Baker for failing to win a second consecutive World Series title were now ready to get rid of Espada too. Espada refused to panic, and his players responded.

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“I leaned on God,” Espada says. “There’s those nights where you kneeled and you’re asking God for strength and wisdom. I have a family that supports me. I lean on them heavily for tough stretches, good ones, bad ones. 

“I think my faith has helped me just kind of stay calm and trust in this team. This is a really good team, and as the leader of this team, I’ve seen … how good they’ve been for years. Just stay calm, stay the course and I know we’d turn things around. And we’ve done that.”

Familiarity pays for Joe Espada

Few teams could have survived the injuries that have plagued the Astros this year. Cristian Javier, who was expected to be a frontline starter, made only seven starts before he was lost for the year. Righthander Jose Urquidy, another pitcher expected to be a key part of the rotation, never threw an inning in the majors before he had season-ending surgery.

Lance McCullers Jr. never came back from injury this season. Luis Garcia didn’t return either. J.P. France got hurt too. 

As if that weren’t enough, three-time Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander has been limited to 15 starts and 79 ⅔ innings so far. They also lost All-Star right fielder Kyle Tucker for almost three months. Yet, the rookie manager and his players persevered. 

“One of the reasons why we wanted Joe is because Joe has some familiarity with the club,” Brown said. “That proved to be valuable when we got off to such a slow start. Joe did not panic. He knew the pulse of the guys in the clubhouse and ultimately helped us turn this around. He didn’t panic.”

A manager who hadn’t been around the Astros like Espada had been since 2018 might have doubted the players in the clubhouse. Espada knew what he had in the clubhouse with men like superstars Jose Altuve, Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker and key role players like Mauricio Dubon.

Blanco a key

Brown’s decision to have former reliever Ronel Blanco ready to start paid off tremendously. Immediately. Loyal Astros fans will not soon forget Blanco’s no-hitter.

The trade for Japanese starter Yusei Kikuchi brought Brown plenty of ridicule at the time of the move. Nobody is laughing now that Kikuchi is 5-0 with a 3.19 ERA over eight starts with the Astros, who are undefeated so far during his starts.

“It’s been a great year,” Espada said. “I have learned a lot. The year obviously did not start the way we had planned, but we were able through our resiliency and our winning culture and our strength as a unit to turn things around. 

“That has been like the brightest spot of the season, how I saw this team turn things around and how we put ourselves in a position to go to the postseason.”

Espada’s steady hand has the Astros near a familiar place. If all goes well, he’ll sip champagne soon with his players. The grinder, however, knows he cannot take anything for granted.