It is more than the injuries it is a lack of fundamentals and leadership. Maybe Joe has lost the clubhouse? DD
If this was the middle of the season, he would be gone. Going 14-23 after today’s loss, If they don’t make the playoffs he needs to go,
Espada Cintron Clark Perezchica (should've been gone 2 months ago) ...and any other of his cronies are cooked. Dana needs to make a move-- FAST-- if this team is potentially playoff bound. Hell, fire the bullpen coach bc he seems kinda "meh" also. Josh Miller, you can stay and right the ship.
A team whose personality does not reflect the manager is in need of a new manager at the earliest opportunity.
You have CHAMPIONS on this squad (a championship caliber team) and you still cant find a way to score a run in 4 days, much less log a Win… GTFOH. Espada should be held with a gun to his head and given the options: fire your hitting & base coaches or fire your pitching coaches. Then take the hypothetical bullet to end your own career.
I'm not a fan of Espada at all, but they were winning unexpectedly there for a while. They were probably overachieving at the time, and they are certainly underachieving now. I don't think anyone gets fired yet, but if they end the season like this it's going to be ugly.
The Astros are currently 69-56. The Astros lost Bregman and Tucker at the start of the season to FA/trade. Yordan has played very little this season and sported a 626 OPS over the the 29 games that he did play. The replacement RF was a rookie with very limited minor league experience. The starting pitcher rotation has been extremely rocky, between AAAA pitchers, pitchers getting injured, MLB pitchers trying to work back from serious injuries, etc. For the playoff stretch, the Astros appear to be without their starting 3B, their closer, maybe their starting CF, maybe their starting DH, and pitchers that we had pencilled in as being ready for the playoffs: McCullers, Garcia, maybe Arrighetti, maybe Javier. Given this fact set, the Astros should be 56-69 ... no matter who the manager is. Espada is not to blame.
Sure, lets do it. For the stretch run and playoffs in 2023 Dusty went with a 66 OPS+ catcher while a 128 OPS+ catcher rode the bench. Peña has a similar OPS+ this year so who would he bench Peña for?
Hell, the guys on 610 were saying Espada should be considered for MOTY when we were winning with smoke and mirrors. I would not go to that extreme nor would I say he needs to be fired right now BUT........if he can't turn this around then you have to look at his leadership after this season. I have never been a fan of Espada and he`s had a hell of a year to deal with all of this, so I will give him some credit, but again, I never liked him from the start, so I am biased. Get deep in the playoffs and your safe, early exit and I think he is gone. TBH I am not sure what type of manager this team needs, we have such a mix of vets and rookies, and my biggest complaint is how he treats the line ups daily and the relievers I so wish we could have gotten Craig Counsel
While a manager is not by any means unimportant, the idea they have to inflict their personality on the team is just silly fan-nonsense. Players play and the best managers stay of their way and make sure everyone is moving in the same direction. The Tigers do not reflect AJ Hinch nor do the Dodgers reflect Dave Roberts - those are two of the more milquetoast managers in baseball.
Craig Counsel? The Cubs were 50-35 on July 1, leading their division by 2.5 games. They've gone 20-19 since and now trail by 9 games. Is that the Craig Counsel you wanted? Let me ask you a question: what do you want Espada to do? Be specific: how do you want him to fix the offense? Or Framber? How should he be compensating for all the injuries?
The complaints I think are legitimate about Espada have been: His bullpen usage, especially the rumors that he’s going against the pitching coaches recommendations. If he’s not listening to the guys with the proven track record of success, he’s a moron. The baserunning gaffes. One of the few things I think a manager can be held accountable for is having his players display good fundamentals and discipline. Framber publicly complaining about the defense. One of the other few things I think Managers do is make sure the team has good chemistry and players have each other’s backs. Basically, I think a manager has 3 jobs: In-game strategy. I give Espada a C here. I don’t have a major issue with his lineup construction or bench/bullpen usage. But he should be deferring to Murph/Miller EVERY TIME when it comes to pitching decisions. Team chemistry. I give him a B here, since there haven’t been major issues with chemistry and there’s been a TON of injuries and roster changes. Team effort. I give him a C here. There’s enough evidence of guys not staying focused or putting forth max effort that I think there’s plenty of room for improvement in this area. All in all I think Espada is a pretty average manager.
if he's going against the pitching coach, does that mean he's going against the hitting coaches too? because they can't hit worth a shiet.
This is a fair assessment. I think his pinch hitting decisions are crazy town here lately, but he's not working with a great roster right now. I don't think Espada is in any danger whatsoever. For this season.
