The Astros have a manager search ahead of them, and whoever gets the job will inherit more than just a roster decision or two. Joe Espada’s tenure left behind a few clear questions the club has to answer before it hands the keys to the next skipper.
One of the biggest is how the bullpen was handled. The Astros piled up more multi-inning relief outings than anyone else, even if the rotation itself wasn’t the worst in baseball and the club didn’t lead the league in total relief innings.
The heavy workload came back around late in the year, when the wear and tear started to show. A.J.
Blubaugh led the known universe in relief innings, and September brought the kind of fade that can carry over into the next season. Bryan King’s drop-off was also tied, at least in part, to the early-season burden.
Some of that was unavoidable when starters got knocked out early, but not all of it fell into that category.
Then there’s discipline, or the lack of it. That complaint usually gets thrown around in football, but it has its baseball version too: running into outs, making careless mistakes, and not playing clean enough for a veteran team.
The source of the frustration here is the Framber Valdez situation in 2025, especially the beaning of Cesar Salazar, which the article says didn’t seem to be handled at all. The writer goes so far as to say that, in his view, Dusty Baker would not have let that slide.
Valdez was excellent for most of his Astros career, but over the final six weeks, the outings were described as guaranteed losses. That kind of episode may not matter much on paper in 2026, but it could matter in the clubhouse if teammates questioned what they were seeing.
The third concern is the constant tinkering. The Astros shuffled lineups more than just about anyone, and while injuries explain some of it, the article argues that plenty of it came down to the manager’s daily instincts.
That kind of churn can wear on players. Hitters like to know they’re in the lineup and where they’re batting.
Relievers want a sense of how they’ll be used. Routine matters, and when it gets interrupted too often, performance can suffer.
The article’s point is simple: Espada seemed restless, changing lineups, making unusual pinch-hit calls, and mixing up bullpen usage as if he didn’t fully trust the plan.
All of that leaves the Astros in a familiar but tricky spot. The next manager has to be more than a good interview.
The source argues that first-time managers make it harder to know how they’ll handle these issues until the games start, while an experienced hire gives the club more to evaluate. Brad Ausmus and Morgan Ensberg are mentioned as possible names, with Ausmus carrying the kind of track record that can be judged.
A first-time hire can work - Larry Dierker did it - but the article makes clear that the Astros need someone who can directly answer these concerns, not just talk around them.
In Other News...
Astros Enter The Offseason With One Problem They Still Havent Solved
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What makes the offseason feel even more unsettled is that the questions around the roster are only part of the picture. The organization is also staring at uncertainty on the baseball side as it prepares for a winter shaped by bigger decisions, with the next collective bargaining agreement expiration looming over everything. For a club that has spent years setting the standard in the division, the challenge now is not just getting back to October, but figuring out what version of the Astros is going to lead the way there. [Read more 🡒]
Astros Suddenly Face An Uncomfortable Question About Their Hitting Setup
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The more uncomfortable layer is what Hennigan said about the college program he is walking into, with Wake Forest offering a hitting laboratory and technology setup that apparently topped what he had in Houston. The Astros will sort out the fallout by redistributing some of his duties, including to Chuckie Caufield, but the broader question now is whether the organizations hitting setup still stacks up the way it once did. [Read more 🡒]
Yordan Alvarez Still Does One Thing Pitchers Can't Solve
Yordan Alvarez has long had the kind of power that forces opponents to game-plan around him, but former Astros hitting director Dan Hennigan pointed to something even more valuable than raw strength: Alvarezs feel for how pitchers are trying to attack him. Hennigan said the slugger can read the plan, adjust on the fly and still do damage, which is a big reason he has remained such a difficult out for Houston opponents even as pitchers keep searching for an answer.
That insight also aged well. Hennigan believed Alvarez had 40-homer upside, and Alvarez eventually pushed past that benchmark in 2026 with 42 homers, 106 RBIs and a .316 average. Injuries interrupted his 2025 season, but the larger body of work still speaks for itself: a .300 career average and 212 home runs, plus the kind of plate discipline and adaptability that keep pitchers from ever feeling fully comfortable. [Read more 🡒]