They just aren't bad either. Five TJS's and injury to the best hitter will suppress most teams. We need Yordan back and Walker to not regress 200 OPS points in a single season.
The manager is never the sole (or even a big reason) a team doesn't win a World Series, just as a manager is generally only a small part of winning one (i.e., less than a good player, probably less than an average starter). Players are not static; they go through streaks, age, have Tommy John surgery, etc. . I'm pretty sure the Astros preseason projections have gone down each of the last three seasons. On Espada, hard for me to get much feeling one or the other as I just think the Astros are weaker than they've been in recent history.
