He is not on a team friendly contract if he is traded. The Astros backloaded his contract and MLB changed the rules in the last CBA. If Yordan is traded his CBT salary gets re-calculated based on the remaining money still owed. His AAV for the Astros is 19 million. If he is traded it becomes 26.83 million for his new team. That's a lot of money for a DH only player that is often injured.
The thing I hate about baseball is there is no innovation when it comes to Managers, one guy gets fired and other teams are like "pick me, pick me", these are just old retreads who have a voice for like a year and then the team tunes them out..................its like football a decade ago, it seemed like the same 5 old white guys would just get fired and then another fan base is excited to get them, they were fired for a reason
I will be very surprised. Teams have to have a media availability after their season, so I think this is just them checking that box.
What’s Joe Maddon up to these days? He was pretty innovative if I remember right? 3x manager of the year, pot season success, and knows how to win a close game.
For a player like him under contract until 2028, Three years is a blip to many teams. Walker is $20 mil for 3 years, I guarantee teams would throw themselves at paying under $7 mil/yr more for Yordan and take that chance on him being great even for only 1 or 2 years of that.
I know this is your “Defend Espada/Dusty at all costs” shtick, but I find it fascinating you really thought Espada was a competent manager
As for Espada and some of the coaches. I have a couple of issues with Espada, I am not sure the players respected him - liked him for sure, but not sure they respected him. Second, the Astros were not very good at the things that the coaches can impact, like running bases, positioning and containing the running game. Last, this is just my opinion - but it felt like we were no longer the smart kid in the class, it felt like Espada and some of the coaches were actually behind the times. It would be nice to have the smartest guy in the stands in our dugout again.
What do you think about Bochy? He would've been perfect 3 years ago but Dusty was coming off a WS win.
They can do a lot worse than Bochy. He is old, and set in his ways - but he knows what he is doing and will demand respect. He is a short-term solution though.
The rumor is he can be a little grating and that he doesn’t necessarily play well with others in the sand box. I’d take him in a heartbeat over slow joe, but he’s got some downside risk to him that a guy like AJ doesn’t.
This team should be focused on the end of 2027 as 2 real cracks at winning the World Series. Maybe brown, Yainer and Yordan at the end of 2028. Short term solution is fine. Beyond that they have to absolutely turn over the farm system before 28 or at the very latest 29 or it’s a tear down/rebuild. Thats supposed to be Dana’s super power so I will trust him to do that, but the path to competition for a title is really clear and obvious through 27 and completely murky behind that. A 2 or 3 year solution is absolutely appropriate right now for the org, in my opinion.
I agree with this - every year the current situation is addressed, but I think the relative window is two seasons at this point. Obviously if Cole and Smith and others produce, the window could increase - but at this point it is a year at a time, and two years seems reasonable.
He does well with younger players that look up to him and listen. He did start to rub some of the veterans the wrong way - and he also does not tolerate any meddling by the front office.... last, he also loves the media and attention, and that started to bother some of the players and people in the organization as he became the story and not the team. I think he will be remembered fondly - but I think that his time is probably over.
Mark DeRosa would be somebody I would look at if they fire Espada. It’s a bummer Beltran is not an option.
