The Seattle Mariners have received permission to interview Houston Astros manager Joe Espada,per reports.
In normal circumstances, this would be quite unusual — a team granting a division rival permission to interview their manager for the rival team’s open managerial spot. However, this is the Houston Astros we are talking about, where circumstances are rarely normal.
This is the final year of Espada’s current deal with Houston. After spending six years as a bench coach for the club, he was named
the team’s manager after Dusty Baker retired following the 2023 season. Houston has not met expectations during Espada’s time at the helm — the club has won 88, 87 and 81 games the past three seasons, and though they won the division twice, they were swept in the Wild Card round each time.
The Astros failing to meet owner Jim Crane’s expectations would seem to have more to do with the failings of the front office than Espada, however, and Crane did fire general manager Dana Brown in late August. Brown, like Espada, was in the final year of his contract. Crane announced when Brown was fired that he (Crane) would oversee baseball operations until a new general manager was hired.
Espada is technically under contract with the Astros until the World Series ends, which is why the Mariners need permission to interview him even though the Astros’ season is over. The fact that the Astros are granting permission would seem to indicate that they are not planning on Espada returning for 2027.
The Mariners are seeking a new manager after firing Dan Wilson after their disappointing 2026 campaign. Wilson was named the manager for the Mariners late in the 2024 season after the M’s fired Scott Servais, who had been their manager since 2016. Wilson, who had spent parts of 12 seasons with the Mariners as their catcher, is described in the link at the start of this post as a “franchise icon” in Seattle, and after leading Seattle to the ALCS in 2025 — just their second postseason appearance since 2001 — he seemed to be on solid footing.
But the Mariners were seen as one of the biggest underachievers (non-Mets category) in the majors this year, ending the season at 76-86, despite being the consensus favorites to repeat as division champs in the West.
