Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic addressed these topics on the Foul Territory podcast:
Astros owner Jim Crane is a prideful man, and he has high expectations.
A case can be made that Brown’s ability to reshape the roster has been compromised by Crane’s budgetary constraints, the size
of the payroll he inherited, and the mitigated flexibility he’s had as a result.
It can certainly be understood that Joe Espada has been given an impossible task for the third straight year, which is winning with large portions of your roster on the injured list for long periods of the season.
I’ve heard the argument firing the manager could be a move to try to spark the team, but firing the manager doesn’t make anyone come off IL any faster. To me, it would be a move of frustration, and not of forward thinking.
Espada clearly has a strong relationship with the players, and he has the trust of the front office that he will work in lockstep with them.
If the team doesn’t have the financial flexibility to make the required moves, then it’s up to Dana Brown to throw darts and hope to catch some magic in a jar with smaller moves. While not impossible, certainly it is a task that is very difficult with low odds of success.
Previous Astros teams have started slowly. In 2024, mired with the same kinds of injuries to the pitching staff, the Astros started 12-24. This team has demonstrated a far superior offense to that one.
It looks like the team is in ‘tread water’ territory until it gets reinforcements in the form of players returning from injury. Tatsuya Imai, Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier, Josh Hader, Bennett Sousa are all missed on the pitching staff while Jake Meyers and Joey Loperfido have left a void in the outfield, particularly in CF where Brice Matthews and Cam Smith may be forced to play with Zach Cole and Taylor Trammell both out as well.
Do you think the manager and general manager should be fired mid-season, or do they deserve the benefit of the doubt to finish the year and see how the season develops first considering that 2024 team did go on to win the AL West?
