What can Joe Espada to do when Jim Crane won't release Jose Abreu and Joe is getting orders to constantly play this declining player. Joe Espada can't trust the Batters, Starters, Bullpen. Alex Bregman burden of a Big Contract in Free Agency. Hitting .200 Almost every player are injured or Out for the Season. Even if the Astros make Postseason they won't go far because of Lack of Depth, Declining Players, Age. Players distracted by Free Agency mentally checked out (Bregman, Valdez, Pressly) Framber Valdez distrusts Yainer Diaz. Framber being petty and calling his own pitches. Jose Abreu should be released Chas McCormick Leg injury Ryan Pressly back injury Lance McCullers coming back Luis Garcia coming back Rafael Montero - inconsistent, overpaid Any injury can happen to them Framber Valdez - Elbow injury Justin Verlander - Shoulder, Elbow Out for Season Cristian Javier Jose Urquidy
They said: “almost every player are injured or Out for the season” It’s remarkable we have games when almost the entire team is out for the season according to that poster.… lulz
Bottom line is look at Pressly, if he hadn't blown 1/2 the games he's blown the team would be fighting for 1st place in the division. Also the team isn't good enough this year to overcome their manager. Too much politics are going on down at Union Station. Yes, Brown and Arrighetti sucked at the beginning of the season, and McCormick/Abreu have sucked, but Crane's making Espada play Abreu, I think the league has figured Chas out and I dont think he can make an adjustment. He's a valuable 4th OF right now IMHO.
The thing is - if they made those moves and the Astros started winning, there wouldn't even be crow on the table to eat.
The Council of Elders wanted Espada and, to a lesser extent, Dana Brown because they wanted more input into the day to day running of the club. That is their right, but the returns are bad and they have to eat that.
I agree there are a lot of legit excuses as to why they are struggling and that it's not JUST Espada, but many of the decisions he has made have been equally troublesome. He has been a problem in addition to all of the other things you mentioned. He's just another issue they are going to have to overcome rather than being a thing that helps to fix it. He's been bad. I continue to hope that he will grow into the job, but right now that's pretty hard to see. He seems to be way in over his head.
We can’t speak to how he’s either keeping the clubhouse intact or gauging the pulse of the team day-in/day-out… and theres certainly a front office influence when it comes to the Abreu decision… but he’s done everything on paper that most internet managers would have done from lineup changes (Meyers/Pena getting cleanup, Tucker batting 2nd, Diaz DH’ing when Caratini catches), and managing the bullpen as it was constructed to. (Including pitching Hader 2 innings at times). Pressly falling off a cliff, Bregman/DIaz being worse than a replacement player for 1.5 month at the plate, and Chas being worse than a replacement player all year aren’t things anybody here was “expecting” coming off last season. But again, we don’t know what else is going on behind the scenes… and certainly the front office making most of the Abreu calls because Espada is a team player is going to probably lead to him getting fired. But we also know what it’s like to have a manager who does solely what he wants to do… and that’s probably the course correction a lot are subconsciously asking for despite knowing how that goes.
A competent manager would put his players in the best position to succeed. Pressley was clearly struggling and should have been in lower leverage spots.
Despite everything you listed,if Pressly was just avg the team would be in the thick of things. Add a bat and play Loperfido, plus add a high end reliever and things will get much better quickly. Gotta start playing the best players regularly though. They've pissed away their margin of error.
Joe Espada believes the players are the 2022 Team instead of the 2024 Team. Joe himself needs to come to realization that most of the players having a down year, injured year. Example is Joe Espada puts Ryan Pressly trying to hold the lead but blows it. Whose fault is it, at the end it is the players fault that they are not performing. Alex Bregman not hitting with any authority is not Joe Espada fault. Jose Abreu my goodness I can't believe he declined so much since his White Sox Days. Jose Abreu used make easy contact, now he is the worst hitter in MLB.
