Joe is Gone

In the cult classic comedy Office Space, there is a scene where the productivity experts (known as the Bobs) discuss with the office manager how they are handling a specific “problem” relative to a very odd employee named Milton, played by the great Stephen Root.

The Bobs explained that Milton was effectively laid off years ago but kept getting paid because of a payroll glitch. They say they’ve “fixed the glitch,” so he won’t receive any more paychecks, and they expect “it will just work itself out naturally.” They add that they like to avoid confrontation whenever possible.

That scenario kept coming back to my mind lately as we watched the grains of sand run out of the glass containing the Astros managing career of one Joe Espada. It felt like the team was just going to let Joe Espada sit there and then fade away “naturally” when the paychecks stopped coming at the end of October.

The situation was finally addressed today with the following release…..

Joe Espada Will Not Return As Astros Manager – MLB Trade Rumors

One has to wonder about a few things….

  • Did the team actually tell Joe he was out back when Dana Brown was fired, as had been rumored, or was the decision made after the team was swept by the White Sox in the Wild Card round?
  • Who made the decision? We would assume it was Jim Crane, but how much Bagwell influence was there in it?
  • Did anyone actually talk to Joe man-to-man about this? How did that go?
  • Do they fill the GM spot first and allow that person to be part of the management search? Do they fill the manager spot first? Do they leave both spots empty (and unpaid for) until after any work stoppage occurs and eventually ends?
  • And who has the biggest say on who they bring in for interviews and who the team  eventually hires for both manager and GM?

I feel a bit sorry for Joe Espada. Not as badly as I felt for Brad Mills and Bo Porter who were asked to row a boat with two oars sawed off at the handles, but still…. Joe was asked to manage to expectations spawned from the 2017 to 2023 peak of the Astros’ Renaissance, but without the toolkit that A.J. Hinch and Dusty Baker wielded.

The 2024 team was good, not great and the 2025 and 2026 teams were mediocre. Especially, the last two seasons he and the team had to overcome a ton of injuries and underperformance by their pitching staff to even get as high as they did.

If Jim Crane thought that the team that was handed over to Espada the last two seasons was capable of a long playoff run, he was delusional. The only reason the 2026 team made the playoffs was a) The terrible play of the rest of the AL West and b) Joe Espada’s ability to keep the team together through a series of maladies affecting the starting pitching.

In the end, Joe Espada overcame a lot in his time here, including making the playoffs while using 19 pitchers to start games in 2026. He must have shown something to the outer world to get an interview with the Mariners while still under contract to the Astros.

Going forward, will Jim Crane continue his Jerry Jones-esque meddling in the day-to-day workings of the team? He might want to take a close look at how much playoff success the Cowboys have had since Jerry nudged Jimmy Johnson out the door.

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14 responses to “Joe is Gone”

  1. I know that Crane is very wise and confident in the decisions he makes. He believes in his decisions. But surely within his bright mind, he can ascertain that he just might not know everything he might think he knows about building and maintaining a competitive baseball team. The same goes for Bagwell. We’ve seen already how his advice turned out. Please look to Tampa, Milwaukee or Cleveland for a bright and analytical baseball mind. Get Bagwell the hell out of the front office and leave this new GM alone to rebuild this team.

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  2. Joe is a good man. He became a major league manager. With a 95 win roster, I think he would have won 95 games. He was not demonstrative enough for me. But apparently was well liked and respected by his players. Maybe he was too respectful of his players. Maybe they actually needed a leader that provided more leadership. Someone a little tougher. They sure played flat for him in his two short post season shots. But both of those clubs were gassed after long, injury laden seasons. I don’t know if Joe will get another managers job, but he’ll have a job in baseball as long as he wants to stay in baseball.

    I wonder too if Joe got a phone call and was told it was over. Then a statement got released. No need for the owner to take questions. Regardless, Joe took the high road, never saying a negative word about anyone at any level. And I’m sure he could, but he won’t.

    In the meantime, 5 coaches were dismissed and 5 retained. That’s Bagwell, maybe with some input from his three assistant GM’s. And I’m still wondering if Bagwell was already working with his three assistants while Dana was the GM. If I’m Omar Lopez, I try to find a new home. Things just seem kind of stinky in Houston these days.

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    • It is a weird situation when you think about it. A general manager’s job is one of the most attractive and powerful positions in baseball (one would think). As they say – there are only 30 of these jobs in the world and they don’t open that often. Right now there are three positions open – the Angels (which reportedly is on hold pending ownership change), the A’s and the Astros. The A’s might be more attractive with the move to Vegas and the young roster, but you would think the Astros is the top marquee job of the three. But right now anyone watching the situation closely would have to wonder whether they want any part of it.

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      • I was surprised to hear Rome say that since Dana Brown left in August, the Astros have had several candidates in town to interview for the GM job. He called it an exhaustive search. That would be practical. But Rome is the same guy that insisted last winter Paredes would be moved. I’ll say this though. Crane has not said a word since August when Brown was fired. The Astro organization continues to get negative ink from most every direction in the industry. Maybe the club needs a PR department overhaul too.

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  3. Letting Espada and some coaches go while retaining a few tells us a lot and nothing at the same time. Listening to sportstalk radio the other day there was a college football analyst who was speaking about a particular head coach. Basically, he felt like this coach would put his team in position to win close games and that his teams would have an advantage over the opponents in those close games most of the time. That’s really how I feel about baseball managers. Why would we ever give AJ Hinch, Dave Roberts, or Aaron Boone a pile of accolades for winning the division with the most talented team(s) in the league? Excepting some disasters like the Mets those teams can roll out of bed and win 90 games each year. The real question is how many games a manager can swing one way or the other by making or not making moves. We have to remember the old adage that baseball is the sport where you are successful if you only fail 70% of the time. That’s a 20,000 foot view, but not each of the 27 outs in a game carries the same importance in terms of winning and losing.

    I often expressed frustration with Espada’s moves, but I hope the overall narrative was that he was a good manager. Dealing with the roster changes due to injuries alone is an area for which we should give him praise. It’s entirely possible with a loaded roster he would have pulled the right strings and reached the top. I think we’re headed into a rebuild and if Crane isn’t delusional he’ll be hiring a development focused GM and head coach who is molding the team into the style they want rather than managing egos of veterans. Of course, he is just as likely to find some of those guys with experience losing in other cities and convince the local writers to put out some puff pieces about how it’s proof he’s all in on winning.

    So, in the spirit of what I said at the top, I’m both happy and sad to see Joe go. I don’t think it was going to get better with the players available to him. That hopefully makes this more of a mercy than a disappointment to him.

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    • Honestly the Dodgers and Yankees will always be the teams for me to root against, not the Rangers. By most accounts, other than the fact they are Cowboys fans up there, Dallas is OK. It’s not New York or Los Angeles.

      That said, I was hoping for a Yankees/Dodgers series that would make the other 28 teams owners grimace and decide this thing needs to be burned to the ground. One thing is for sure, we are getting our first small market world champion now for the first time in since KC. Well, maybe Cleveland toes the small/mid line. Is getting a small market champ actually going to hurt the owners chances of getting a salary cap?

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  5. I’ve had tough moments watching Joe, but that is probably true of most fans and their managers. It will probably be true of our next manager too.

    I think Dave said it best. If Joe is given a 80 win roster, he will win 80. If he is given a 95 win roster he would win 95. He wasn’t the problem. He also wasn’t the solution. But I think it’s perfectly fair to allow a new GM to get in here and have say on the manager. I would also have completely cleaned out the top half of the coaching staff – pitching, bench, hitting, and base coaches. Those should be the new managers guys.

    My first lesson in upper management was always allow your subordinate supervisors the rope. If you are going to hold them accountable, it’s hard to do so when you made half their decisions for them. And the biggest issue, if all these blogs and podcasts and radio shows are reading the room right, is upper management are not holding themselves with any account on this issues.

    My hope is Crane changes that, hires one of those Luhnow nerd types, and gets completely out of the way, and takes his golf buddy with him to the golf course.

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  6. Good morning everyone still in the Astro off season neighborhood.

    I’m wondering what the Dodgers will do between now and December 1st. I don’t think they’ll sit around on their hands.

    Last night the TV guys were saying the Bums have a higher payroll than the combined payrolls of the three teams still playing baseball in 2026. I’m sure the big money owners will use that stat in the coming months.

    All I know is that with my own foggy eyes I can see a huge gap between the quality of baseball played by our Astros and the three teams still playing in 2026. That old saying about once into the post season, anything can happen is total BS when you’ve got an old, worn down team. It’s one thing to battle through injuries during a 162 game season and get a team healthy for the post season. But the Astros regularly make their way through the mine field of those 162 games and end up with nothing left.

    I’m encouraged that it seems the Astros are really trying to settle on a GM by the end of the season. I’m not sure if I should be though. I’m still thinking of Bagwell and cronies because today’s best analytics minded candidates will take a hard pass on the job. It’s going to be a fascinating winter though.

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    • Dave, several weeks ago, I lamented the game that, I believe, Manfred has helped to create in his tenure.

      You just outlined one of those reasons. He’s helped to create that gap, just as Crane has overseen the Astros’ slide in recent years. There are the haves (Yankees, Dodgers et al) and then there’s the rest of us. Unfortunately, even the Astros, who live in one of the biggest TV markets, are among the ‘rest of us’.

      Football and other sports have navigated that, and while we may have complaints about parity or lottery picks, etc. more teams than not can begin the season with a reason to play.

      You can argue that it’s not Manfred’s fault, and there may be some truth to it… But it’s happened on his watch, and he’s allowed the game to recreate itself. I put it in the category of reacting and not intentionally acting. Goodell is more intentional and forward-thinking, IMO.

      Someone recently wrote here about the proposed expansion that Manfred wants to implement before he leaves in 2029. Does MLB need two more teams when several of its teams already struggle to fill their stadiums?

      And..here’s one more thought? Will it change when Manfred’s replacement takes over? Probably not, since a couple of the names mentioned are Theo Epstein (Dodgers) and Sam Kennedy (Red Sox). They may not get the vote, but the fact that they are mentioned in that context may say a lot about where owners’ minds are. To twist the words of James Carville and Bill Clinton… it’s about the money, stupid!

      Anyway, you may shoot me down like last time, but I’m not a Manfred fan, and I still believe that Crane is primarily responsible for the rise … and fall … of the Houston Astros.

      Happy offseason!

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      • I don’t remember shooting you down Chip, but my memory is shorter these days. I certainly disagree with you from time to time. I’m not a Manfred fan. He sure has changed the game, with approval from his employers. The man on second thing is the worst thing he’s done. We surely agree on that. I like the pitch clock. I can go to bed earlier. And I’ll like it until someone proves that pitchers get injured more because of it. I still believe the players would have ultimately beat defensive shifts by hitting the ball to places where were holes.

        But Chip, all this collective bargaining stuff has been going on since Kurt Flood changed the game by blowing up the Reserve Clause. He should be in Cooperstown for that, but he sure did open a big can of worms. Some MLB commissioners have been tolerated more than others, but no MLB commissioner has been able to create a long term labor agreement that both the owners and the players association have been happy with. Part of the problem is that the owners can’t all agree with each other.

        As to Jim Crane, Dan said a few weeks ago something to the extent that maybe he was just lucky when he hooked up with Jeff Luhnow. I agree with that. Crane stayed out of the way for years. Luhnow made him look good. Unfortunately, once Luhnow was gone, he just could not help himself. As I’ve previously noted, Bagwell is/has been his poison. And I think Bagwell and his three tagalongs have been in cahoots well prior to Dana getting the boot. So although I have my hopes for the future, I also know that Jim Crane will remain owner operator of the franchise and I’m dubious that immediate or longterm positive change will happen for Astro fans.

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  7. You folks are throwing out a lot of gems the last couple days – I won’t answer you here – but you will be helping me with writing the next post.

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