A closer look at reported M’s manager candidate Joe Espada

The Athletic's Astros beat reporter Chandler Rome shared his insight on Joe Espada with Bump and Stacy.

Oct 20, 2026, 7:42 AM

Joe Espada of the Houston Astros crosses before a game on July 31, 2026, in Houston. (Alex Slitz/Getty Images)

(Alex Slitz/Getty Images)

For a closer look at Joe Espada, one of the managerial candidates the Seattle Mariners are reportedly considering, Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy went to The Athletic’s Houston Astros beat reporter Chandler Rome.

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Espada was able to hit the ground running in Houston when he was promoted to manager in 2024 as he had been the bench coach there the previous six seasons first for A.J. Hinch and then Dusty Baker. He inherited a clubhouse that already had a strong culture that he had helped develop.

“The clubhouse polices itself,” said Rome. “Jose Altuve has been here for 15 years. That dude just sets the tone. The minute he walks in, everyone understands the expectations that they have for one another. Yordan Alvarez is the same way. Carlos Correa being back now, a huge part of that culture. The Astros have the culture thing down.”

Rome pointed to the handling of one of the more shocking on-field player incidents that was seen in recent memory as an example of what a good-cultured, self-policing clubhouse looks like.

“I think back to when Framber Valdez intentionally crossed up Cesar Salazar two years ago when he threw the ball at his chest,” he said. “We went in the clubhouse after the game, and the players had it handled by that point. And then Joe got Framber and Salazar into his office. They talked, and Joe handled that remarkably well. But that was diffused before Joe ever even had the chance. The expectation is just kind of understood. Joe didn’t have to get up in front of the team and set out, here’s our culture, here’s our ground rules.”

In game, Rome found Espada to be active when it came to managing the roster.

“Joe is one of the more aggressive managers I think I’ve ever covered just in terms of bullpen deployment, in terms of pinch hitting. He loved to create platoon advantages,” he said. “He likes to use his entire roster. The problem was Joe’s 26-man roster on any given day had about five or six guys that aren’t probably big league ready, then it creates some of the problems you saw and some of the decisions that were made.”

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The Astros under Espada won two division titles and dropped two Wild Card Series 2-0 in three seasons, a clear downturn from the dominance the Astros had shown for the better part of the last decade and a contributing factor to owner Jim Crane not renewing his contract. The results are what the results are, but Rome believes the downfall of the Astros should not be laid at Espada’s feet.

“The rosters he had here for three years were not great,” he said. “I don’t think anything that’s happened here in the last three years is an indictment on his managerial acumen. I think the problems in Houston are more kind of organizational and I think they’re more they don’t have enough good players anymore.”

There were clearly challenges for the Astros the past three seasons, but Rome suggested that perhaps was when Espada was at his best.

“His first team started 12-24, his last team started 20-31, and both of them went on to win the division,” he said. “In those times, even when it looked about as bad as it could look in both of those years, you never saw him change who he was. You never saw that the foundation was cracking, right? He always kept a positive, kind of optimistic outlook, even when everything suggested otherwise.”

Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player in this story. Bump and Stacy airs weekdays from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on Seattle Sports 710 AM and the Seattle Sports app.