Ehh... the Astros need to make a decision. They already knows what Espada brings. He has been with the Astros for years and he is someone that Dana Brown has bonded with. I understand to an extent what Brown is saying: He is talking out of both sides of his mouth though. FWIW I don't think is a Dana Brown issue - I don't think that Jim Crane has made up his mind yet.
Perhaps not an issue with this hire, but people who say incompetent things eventually are thought of as incompetent at their job.
I think it has more to do with the fact that Espada has agreed so far not to interview with anyone else - then again Brown is a big Espada backer. It seems pretty clear to me that the issue is Jim Crane - as Brown would have already hired Espada. I know Espada wants to stay in Houston. He and his wife are really entrenched in Houston and with a church - but if I were him, I would want to know what the hold up is at this point. There were like 6-8 openings for managers and now there are only a few. I will say that Ken Rosenthal knows Dana Brown - and he is someone that is measured in what he does and does not say - but he has now multiple times said that Jim Crane wants a big name hire. Who is that? If there isn't one, does he just hire Espada? IDK. What I do know is that Crane last year screwed up not having a new GM in line when he didn't offer a longer extension to Click - and now this year, Brown is supposed to be working on adding to the existing front office and pursuing trades and free agents, and he is worried about who the manager will be - and when it comes to the next manager, it is more about not getting someone that will screw it up, and there are multiple candidates available that fit the model.
I want Espada simply because that appears to be what Brown wants. Brown feels like he can work with him and hopefully not have issues like with Dusty. That's good enough for me.
That is how I feel. It isn't like there is some well known elite manager just sitting out there either. Espada isn't a pushover, he is respected by the players, believes in analytics and communicates well ...... give him the job, it is very unlikely he will screw it up.
Yes to this. Hire him today. We don’t need high profile hires. We are already infamously popular in the national media.
Several great points! This is just my gut reaction, but ever since the Luhnow drama unfolded, Crane seems to think he must micromanage everything himself. In the process of doing so, Crane's own shortcomings are surfacing. The primary one being is he cant do it all himself and its starting to show (or perhaps last year it showed as well). His ability to trust in his subordinates was damaged by the whole cheating thing and now he has trust issues. The big splash desire is driven by the need to find a guy he CAN trust. Espada may be quite competent, but he was also a member of the Luhnow/Hinch regime. So Crane wants a guy who wasnt part of that.
Espada joined the staff in 2018 to replace Cora, so he wasn't part of scandal. Just speculation, but he could have been instrumental in ending "the system"
If I recall the official "Investigation" said that it had stopped in 2017 prior to the playoffs and nothing took place during 2018 & 2019. Don't quote me but that's what I thought I remembered seeing.
My understanding is that it continued into early 2018 but stopped because "it was no longer effective" before the all star break. So - system began and continued w/ Beltran and Cora throughout 2017 2018 w/o Beltran and Cora, the system is still there but fairly quickly done away with. Even if he wasn't a driving force in getting rid of it, it's hard to say he was involved. Most likely just saw/learned of it and got settled into the job in time to see it end.
That is how I recall those events also. My larger point is, whether Crane associates Espada as being part of it, even if he was not the instigator of it or participated in it directly. One would have to know Crane's thoughts to be sure.
It bothers me....a lot, that Crane seems like he refuses to let his GM's actually GM anymore. I highly doubt Dana Brown had any actual imput on the Verlander trade (even if it worked out). It seems like he just wants a farm director and he's the defacto GM of the Houston Astros when it comes to any remotely meaningful choices. I get him having veto power on the huge choices, but Click never got to see out his vision (whatever it was) and it seems like Brown is already having similar issues.
