Joe Espada didn’t cost the Astros Saturday night, but the moment he created is the kind that lingers when a season starts to tilt.
In the sixth inning against the Athletics, Hunter Brown had already spun 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball and was working with runners on first and second when Espada stepped to the mound. The move looked routine at first glance - the kind of visit that usually signals the end of a starter’s night and a call to the bullpen. That wasn’t what Espada intended.
After the game, Espada said he only wanted to give Brown a quick pep talk and let him finish the inning with Houston ahead 1-0. But whether it was muscle memory or, as Espada put it, an attempt to signal the umpire for timeout, he made a motion toward the Astros’ bullpen. A’s manager Mark noticed it and alerted the umpires, who ruled it enough to require a pitching change.
Houston survived that particular mess. AJ Blubaugh came in and finished the inning, then worked a scoreless seventh.
The real damage came later, when Bennett Sousa blew the game in the eighth. Still, Espada’s gaffe now lands differently with the Astros having mutually parted ways with GM Dana Brown.
Suddenly, the manager is the next name everyone is watching.
That’s the problem for Espada: the transition from Dusty Baker never really smoothed out the way Houston hoped it would. He looked like the natural successor when Baker retired after 2023.
Espada had been on the staff since 2018, serving as bench coach under both AJ Hinch and Baker, and he’d already been to three World Series during that stretch. On paper, it fit.
The results have been messier. Houston won the AL West in Espada’s first season, but that team posted its lowest win total, not counting 2020, since 2016 and then got bounced in the Wild Card round.
In 2025, the Astros still won 87 games, but they missed the postseason on a tiebreaker after going 12-13 in September. Now in 2026, they’re hovering around .500 and hanging onto a playoff spot largely because the AL West has been so weak.
Espada has also had to manage a team in the middle of major turnover. The core that powered four World Series trips in six years has been breaking apart, with ownership unwilling to make fair offers.
During Espada’s time, Alex Bregman, Framber Valdez, and Justin Verlander all left in free agency, while Kyle Tucker was traded away. The players who stayed have gotten older.
And yet, this is still a roster with real punch. Yordan Alvarez remains a potential triple-crown winner.
Jeremy Peña is one of the best shortstops in baseball. Josh Hader is one of the game’s top closers.
The talent is still there for Houston to matter.
That’s why Brown is gone first. The organization decided the recent failures belong on his shoulders. But if the front office decides more change is needed, Espada will be next in line - and a strange bullpen blunder on Saturday won’t help his argument.
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