Interesting – Nightengale has updated his story; it now reads:
While one high-ranking Astros official said that Joe Espada will not receive a new contract after the season, Espada’s status is unchanged and he will remain as manager, and a decision by Crane will be made after the season. The Astros are 65-66 and tied for first place in the AL West.
I don’t think it would ever happen but I sure would like to see it happen.
No real surprise here. The record has declined every year since Brown took over and every year of Espada’s tenure. The only offseason pitching signings or trades that somewhat panned out this year were Peter Lambert and Kai-Wei Teng.
I just hope Crane looks at hiring someone from an analytically forward-thinking organization like the Brewers or the Rays.
Maybe Click is available
Lol.
Not sure he and Crane clicked.
When Brown got the job, the other two finalists were Guardians AGM James Harris and former Giants GM Bobby Evans. Ausmus was a candidate too, according to reports at the time.
If they have interest in anyone from the Luhnow family tree, maybe Putila gets a call.
Meanwhile in Miami, I guess AI has come for pro scouting jobs as they are letting go much of their pro scouting department:
Those familiar with the Marlins’ decision did not specify exactly how many scouts were being let go but said the move reflected the front office’s desire to use more video during the scouting process.
Also, in looking for a non pay link, I learned the Marlins let Oz Ocampo go earlier this month. Would love to see him back with the Astros.
To be fair, Imai was touted as the best pitcher in Japan and was highly sought after. It was a big signing at the time. I too had high hopes for him. I didn’t know he was such a flake, and maybe Brown should have, but I don’t necessarily blame him that he didn’t.
Yep. Lunhow had his misses too.
Another good reason not to blame Brown for Imai is that, if reports are to be believed, he had minimal involvement with that deal.
Burrows, on the other hand…
I don’t blame Brown for Imai nor Burrows working out this season. I was especially excited about the Imai addition and thought both pitchers looked promising in Spring Training.
Even if Imai was a Crane-driven signing, the stuff was there in Spring Training, and he was good in Japan. Nobody could have foreseen how much difficulty he would have transitioning to life in America and getting comfortable in MLB.
Ditto. I ain’t a Woe Is Me guy.
I am semi-surprised Espada did not go first. His using Souza (sp?) in the 8th with a 3-1 lead was criminal, imo. If Abreu was ok to come in to try to hold the tie, start him in the inning.
Agreed. Abreu should have started the inning. Sousa hasn’t done anything to move ahead of him in the bullpen pecking order.
Once Sousa had runners on second and third with one out, I would’ve brought in Hader since he’s the Astros’ best reliever and most likely to prevent both runs from scoring in that situation. I don’t like using him for multiple-inning saves, but he hadn’t pitched since Wednesday, and that was the A’s best chance to tie or take the lead.
And here I thought “WFW” meant “please be considerate of my tender feelings”
On a related topic, what happened to Alimber, I was sure he would be back at some point?
Not that anyone cares, but that was the end of the road for me for Espada.
Just an absolutely idiotic decision to try and save a bullpen arm that you didn’t even really care about.
Brown was brought in to help the farm. I don’t follow that very closely, but I’m hoping he made some good decisions on that front. Our future prospects might be his real legacy. Not sorry to see him go - somebody’s got to get fired for the shit they’re throwing out there these days (lot of bad luck, though - maybe karma just came calling with all these injuries the last two years). But, Crane, I believe in. That guy has been absolute gold for us. I respect and think it’s the right idea not to surpass the luxury tax. The last thing we want to be is the Mets. But we also know he’ll open up the pocket books for the right team. And he clearly thought this wasn’t the right team, which seems like another sound judgment.