The Houston Astros have parted ways with manager Joe Espada, the team announced Wednesday. The news arrives a day after a report surfaced that Espada was granted permission to interview for the Mariners’ manager position.
While the Astros are moving on from Espada, they also revealed Wednesday that they’re retaining pitching coach Josh Miller, first-base coach Dave Clark, field coordinator Jason Bell, hitting coach Victor Rodriguez and bullpen catcher Javier Bracamonte. Plus, per the team, bench coach Omar Lopez has been offered an opportunity to remain with the organization in a new role.
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During Espada’s three seasons at the helm, Houston went 256-229. During that span, the Astros never won more than 88 games in a season. Conversely, they didn’t finish one of those campaigns below .500. In fact, despite a horde of injuries and questionable front-office decisions, Espada’s Astros reached the postseason twice.
Their resilience turned heads, particularly when they rebounded from a 12-24 start in 2024 to win the American League West crown and when they began this season 20-31, only to then scrounge together the pieces to again field a division-winning squad, albeit in a weaker AL West this time around.
But Espada-led Houston teams didn’t fare well in the playoffs. They went a combined 0-4, bowing out in the wild-card round both times.
This story is being updated.
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