Astros Manager Joe Espada joins FT: Framber convo, Beltran’s HOF case, Altuve’s recovery, 2017 champs

00:00:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, and there he is the manager of the Houston Astros. Joe Aspata. Always great to see you, Joe. We appreciate you taking the time to be with us. Happy off season, although it never seems like you guys are really off. First, before we get into it, give us an update on Jose Altuve. Just had surgery to relieve that right foot discomfort discomfort. How's your boy?

00:00:23
Speaker 2: He is doing. He's doing well. You know, this is something that's been has been humpering for a little bit for a couple of weeks, and obviously he fantishy sees him playing through it. And we actually went in there yesterday and we got a little bit of work done trying to clean the area. But he's doing well. He should be back moving around and continue he's his off season workouts here in the next in the next week or two.

00:00:49
Speaker 3: Joe. First of all, I want to say thank you for reaching out, because you know, I don't like asking for people's phone numbers, especially managers, because then people, you know, sometimes people are like, oh, you want a job. No I don't want a job, but.

00:01:02
Speaker 2: No, you don't. You and I, You and I we talked about it. Doing a season, you know, and you invite me to the show, and I'm like, you know what, doing the off season, we could do it. And you know, I think this is a really great show. They you know, the dynamic between you and and your and and everyone in the show is great. So you know, it's an opportunity for me to come out, come here and talk about talk about our club.

00:01:25
Speaker 3: Well, I appreciate it. Like I said, that's why I was thanking you for reaching out and coming on being a man of your word. So I appreciate that. Yes, L two V will be fine. He's gonna hit three hundred. He's gonna get in one hundred and eighty. That's two hundred hits next year. He's fine. I don't worry about him. But you have new coaches, right, You brought in some new coaches. Can you tell us about your staff and how do you go about hiring new coaches, especially from guys that you've had around for a long time. You've been around for a while and then they're gone and you have new faces.

00:01:52
Speaker 2: And that's a good question. And you know, for me is try to bring back try to you know, our identity back on who we are as a club. You know, I've been here for eight years, and our offense is great when we when we control the pace of the game and we're all working together and we're trying to win every bat, every pitch, we're trying to win first base. And and and I thought that, you know, we just needed a new voice when he came to on that aspect of of the of our offense. And I can't you know, Alexe Tron and Troy Snicker tremendous hitting coaches. We we've been part of an incredible run here and they deserve a lot of credit to what we have accomplished. But I thought, and this this time, that it was important for us just to bring a set of voice, you know, two set of voices that can get our guys going again. And you know, our group is changing a little bit. We've got some younger players coming, we got some veteran players that I thought bringing, bringing a different way of doing things can can get us back and and and and you know, getting our offense back and scoring a ton of runs.

00:03:00
Speaker 4: Is this something that you saw possibly needing to change during the season or was it sometimes when changes need to be had. It kind of happened a year or two before and you're like, hey, you know what, we we kind of we stayed the course, we still had success or was it something that kind of changed this year when you lose a guy like your Don Alvarez, when you trade a guy like Tucker.

00:03:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, Kurt, it's a good question. And I think, you know, if we would have had those guys healthy the entire year, I think the outcome of our season would have been would have been different, you know, for for me as a manager, and I'm in this position where I got to evaluate our staff. You know, we as an organization, we evaluate the rich that we want to go this next way for players that are coming, right, do we have the right uh the right people in place to help us into the future. So this is something that you know, we we've been this, we discussed for for a while and we end up, you know, this decision was not easy to make. Yeah. Sorry, I my phone hasn't stopped ringing, guys. We still you know, we're trying to get prepared, you know now that we are hiring processes over now. We actually started to talk about you know, the you know, players and putting our team together, which excites me right now. Looking forward to our twenty twenty sixth season.

00:04:23
Speaker 1: Let me ask you this. When I think of the Houston Astros, Joe, I think it is synonymous with postseason play. And this season was the first time since twenty sixteen, you guys haven't been in it. I don't, I can't. I mean, I don't even remember twenty sixteen. It feels like that long ago since you guys were not in the postseason. What was that like, because you were still in it at the end, what was that like for you as a manager? Because you take it, folks take it for granted that you're just always going to be there.

00:04:49
Speaker 2: Right, and it was very difficult. Trust me, it was not easy seating at the house, you know, watching post season from the couch. You know, our players obviously it's something that we're now used to. This is going to create, you know, it's going to put a ship on our shoulders. We want to get back. We know that we are a postseason team, and but it was not fun at all. We knew, we know exactly the things that we need to get on, starting to getting healthy, trying to keep our players on the field, you know, building building a team that could sustain one sixty two hopefully one eighty one hundred and eighty games, So that's our focus. But it was not easy. You know, I've been here now, this is my eighth season, and all we've known is postseason baseball and on our fantasy serves. That organization deserves that and most importantly, our players deserve that.

00:05:43
Speaker 3: Okay, I got a first of all, I've done the Houston Astros my entire postseason career, so this is the first year where normally my plane just takes off and just goes whatever plane I'm on, it just goes to Houston, right, But this year I was even this year, I was going to Seattle and they were like, we might have to make a landing to drop somebody off in Houston. I was like, wait, what, I'm not going to Houston. So I don't know if it was my fall Joe or what, but I apologize that you guys didn't make the playoffs because I've stayed enough at that four seasons right there that I have frequent flyer. I don't know if you have, although four seasons doesn't really do that, so that's that's not your problem. So I apologize that my plane tried to make an emergency landing so that you guys didn't make it. I apologize, But what I want to know is.

00:06:23
Speaker 2: J I won't hold that. I will hold that against you. You know, we there's a lot of things that happened throughout the season, and we learned from those things. And trust me, our focus right now is trying to make those things better, getting our players ready to play, and I can't wait to get the screen training.

00:06:37
Speaker 3: Dude, you're one of the most positive people I've ever been around in my life. Okay, but you brought something up just a second ago and I got to ask you. You said, we're focused on getting players, all right, So give us the inside scoop. Dana Brown's not gonna tell us so Joe Spatta is Verlander coming back? Are you guys bringing Kyle Tucker back? Are you guys going again?

00:06:57
Speaker 2: Boba?

00:06:58
Speaker 3: Shitit to play? I don't know where, No play somewhere right? Who are you to tell us? Now?

00:07:04
Speaker 2: You know what? I want to keep those I want to keep those names to to to myself. But one thing I do tell you is that we are always data in the front office. We're always looking for ways to improve our our club. Uh, you know, we have a very strong core of players that that we're very excited about. We've got some younger players that we are going to give opportunities for them to develop at the major league level and they're going to help us win games. But we are looking for ways to improve our club either position player wise, and we you know, right now, our main focus is on the pitching side of things. Obviously, we we we you know, there's someone like front from Balde who's going to be a free agent. We continue to speak to his camp about ways to to bring to you know, to bring him back if that's a possibility. But we're looking for ways to improve our club. We have a team that is ready to compete next season and we we still feel like the that we in a position to win the West. So we're gonna look for every avenue that we can to improve our club.

00:08:08
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00:08:27
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00:08:47
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00:09:09
Speaker 3: Right, improving the club.

00:09:10
Speaker 4: When you talk about young guys, obviously, the first name that comes to my mind is a guy you talked about in spring training, Cam Smith. Cam Smith, what does he need to I'm not gonna say work on but when you look at his numbers, you would say, okay, it's a tale of like three seasons, a slow start, hot middle, slow finish. What on the field do you need to see from him to be that star? I think your exact quote was he can be a star one day. It's up to him or you know, once he learns. I forget exactly what you said, But what do you need to see from him on the field? Obviously his work, everybody's talked about his makeup. Everything is off the charts on the field though.

00:09:54
Speaker 2: You know what for me Krasty, you guys playing the big league for a long time, you and aj and as a manager of UNI need to have two things when he comes to young players. For me is you need to have give him time and you need to be patient. We cannot rush those two things, right. I think if we put Cam in a position for him to succeed and give him time, he has to work ethic. He has the ability to do it, but we need to give this process some time. This is just gonna be his sophomore year in the big leagues, and I think his freshman year was a solid season. You know, is he is it more in there? Absolutely, But you know, he barely played minor league baseball. He came into camp, he won a spot. We believe in him, We believe in his ability to be a right fueler for the future. But we just need to let, you know, allow him to learn the league. He came out so on the bat really well and the league. What happens. The league's going to adjust to you and he just needs to figure out a way to adjust to the league and what they're trying to do on the offensive side. And we you know he is going to be able to do that. My job is to continue to provide an environment where he could be himself, he can continue to develop to the players that we know he can't be and and just be patient. Uh, this kid's going to be a start and I'm just super excited about the future. What what holds upon?

00:11:16
Speaker 1: So you see Cam Smith as the future and right field for the Houston Astros. Joe Dana Brown said that you guys need to firm up the off season this winter. What does that mean to you?

00:11:27
Speaker 2: You know what? And I think that's one of the one of the aspects, right. You know, obviously, Ken Smith is one of those those guys that we want to give them the opportunity to take over that right field spot and run with it. And and again it's about you know, being patient and allow him to do that. And I think this offseason is very important for him to take to grab right field and run and run with it. I think this opportunity, you know, we want to create opportunities for players like Zach Cole and Jacob Melton. Their dynamic players that bring speed and they that brings some power from the left side, something that we need in our offense to be a little bit more dynamic to you know, be able to take our game to the next level on the base path, be that athletic team that we've been in the past, and we have the pieces to do that. Another name that come to mind is somebody like Bryce Matthews, who came in and pretty much want us a series in Arizona. You know, having creating more opportunities for these players to develop, help us win games. And at the same time, those players will help me give our better players some time to rest and recover in a long and a very long season.

00:12:34
Speaker 4: All right, on this show, we've talked about it, and it's a discussion I even had when I was playing. My opinion, there's usually eight to ten aces true aces in the game of baseball depends. It fluctuates every years, Hunter Brown and ace and if not absolutely an ace in the game.

00:12:52
Speaker 2: Yes, I believe so, you know, and I'm going to take away the performance like you do need to perform, right, I think performance goes with that description that you just that you just said, right, you have to perform. But there's also an element that as bring to a team is which is every day he steps on the baseball field, that dynamic, the environment, the clubhous just changes. You know, we all feel like we're going to win that game. Right, you go through stretches of games where you're not playing well, you can't wait for that age to get on the mount. So if you change the course of the series or the week, right, that's the description of an ACE. That's number one. Number two. You know he brings he brings this element of of like humility arrogance to him where it's contagious to everyone. Right, he's got an edge to him. JV had that edge, Garrett Cole has that EDG that has that edge, that level of confidence where he knows that today we have to win this game. Today, I'm going to give you know, our club six seven innings because our bullpend needs and our team needs it. And Hunter Brown has developed into that a's mentality and from you know, moving on on now he's got to continue that consistency in his preparation and discipline. It's what it's going to you know, make you know, keep them in that level where when we talk about the A's the schools of the world, that's this. Those guys are on a different level because of how consistent they are, not only are the performance, but in their preparation.

00:14:28
Speaker 4: All Right, I got to ask about a guy who was your number one for a few years, got into a sticky situation, the Framburgh cross up no cross up on the show as catchers, I had some heated words about it. How did you handle that as a manager? How did you handle that when you saw it? Did you have the same feeling when you went back and saw it on video?

00:14:49
Speaker 2: You know, Chrissie, I you know, as the manager of the team, I want to hear from both sides, right, I know the type of competitor that Franberg Balde is uh no one for for for a very long time. Uh, this guy cares about winning. He's a competitor where he's on the mount. So instead of me reaching conclusions without talking to both Sally and Valdez, that's the way I diffused the situation. Obviously, Salas I was not happy about it, and and and I brought both guys in my office, and I wanted to hear from both sides. I wanted to you know, what happened. Was it a cross up? And both guys said, Joe, yes, there was a miscommunication, and you know, he threw that he threw the wrong pitch. I wanted to hear from both. I wanted to, you know, bring the fire down because I know how heated the hole entest situation. It was also we're playing the Yankees at the time, right, so when I call me my office after the game, it was a tough loss. You know, I knew what social media was saying, right I you know, I said down with my PR department, and I knew I was going to be asked about this. So before I spoke to the media and I spoke to to the rest of some of my players, I wanted to hear from both of them and that's that's who went down. I think both players handled it well. Listen, we we are a family and and doing this season. Stuff is going to happen, and there's fights between brothers and and and and this is this is what happens when you want to win so bad. But we were able to turn the corner right around the next day. We came back and we beat you know, we beat the Yankees, and and we continue to move on and and you know, because we know how important it is to have everyone working together. So uh, you know, the whole entire scene did not look great, and I understand, but but I think once I spoke with both players and both players got on the same page and we were able to move on.

00:16:48
Speaker 1: Joe along those same lines you know, from are better than anybody. We're not in the dugout, We're not in the clubhouse. Outside of the Houston Astros organization. There's a bit of a reputation that he's not a great teammate. Is I don't believe that you think that's the case, but I would rather hear it from you. What is he like as a teammate? I mean, he's a free agent, so what can people expect from from er Valdez. If he's part of their organization.

00:17:13
Speaker 2: I'll tell you what. If I'm a manager of the team, I want him on my team. I'm going to start with that. When he's when he is on the mound, he's going to give you, He's going to post, he's going to give you everything he's got right, you know, for me, as the definition of his great teammate is where people just have different definition this year, differently than everyone you know from from about that is well respected in our clubhouse. He's got a ton of friends. He's work ethic, he's impeccable, he's he's strong as a bull. He poses every day, he wants the ball. He's someone who I want to go on to battlefield with. So I understand the reputation because of one event, one thing that happened, and people might each conclusion to that, but I've beat around him for six seven years and if I want to go into a duck fight, I want this guy to be right there next to me.

00:18:08
Speaker 3: Okay, So you just we talked earlier about your coaching staff, having you had to hire all these new people. Victor Rodriguez one of my favorite people. I had him in Boston. He was our assistant. He and coach. He's awesome. So that was a good hire. But did Brandon Hyde call you? Because I don't know, people know that you your wife and his sister, or you're married to Brandon Hyde's sisters. Sisters. Yes, your wife's sister, Brandon Heide's wife's sister, and your wife our switners. Okay, both your wives or sisters. So did he call you looking for a job. Did he say, hey, Joe, you know, we got these family ties and if you don't want to make Thanksgiving and Christmas awkward, you should hire me.

00:18:47
Speaker 2: Listen, I did. I did talk to him while I was inquiring through some of these to some of these coaches, I did call Hyder. I you know, he's he's uh, he's experienced and uh you know, he's his words of encouragement and and he's advised. He's always something that I'm always looking for. So we did talk. I did not reach out for him for a job because he is managerial, uh material, I don't know how good he could be as a hitting coach, but but I did seek for advice and uh doing this process. Uh, and we still we still talk, you know, I know he's still trying to land a job and he wants to work, but uh, you know, Brendan Hudis, it's uh, it's it's not only my brother in law. I consider one of my closest friends.

00:19:40
Speaker 3: Yeah, I know the family dynamics. You don't want to be in your bench coach, and then something happened and then it'd be like, you know, hey, I want that, right, I get a.

00:19:49
Speaker 2: John watch are wise when they get together and started talking about baseball. They're they're the biggest second guessers there are in the game.

00:19:59
Speaker 3: I get. I can only imagine, all right, So.

00:20:02
Speaker 2: Why not Bunning? Why why you bring this guy in the game. So if you bring both of them together and we are you know, forget it, we will not. We will not. We will not be able to enjoy dinner.

00:20:16
Speaker 3: Okay, that's fair. Now that we have we have the WBC coming up, you clearly won't be able to manage Team Puerto Rico this year. But that's fine. Key K's out, so you know you don't want to manage that team anymore anyways. But I do have a serious question about one of the greatest Puerto Rican baseball players, Carlos Beetro. Now, yes, I don't necessarily agree with this, but he's probably gonna get into the Hall of Fame. But are you okay, and this is Astros related with the whole trash can thing, are you okay with the fact that he gets looked down upon because his name has been brought up so many times at the end of his career for that right, Like to me, he had his career, he was a great player. He probably should have been in the Hall of Fame first or second ballot. But some people look at that part of his Astro's career and say, Carlos is a bad guy, or Carlos is this or that, and they and they almost want to put him in the steroid conversation, but not quite.

00:21:10
Speaker 2: You understand.

00:21:11
Speaker 3: It's kind of like a weird thing for me.

00:21:13
Speaker 2: But I'm not okay with it. I'm gonna be careful how I answer this question. But when he comes to Collas Beltron, he's he is a Hall of Fame player and he I think he will be in the Hall of Fame. You know, I don't want to spend too much time talking about you know, the track what happened in twenty seventeen and all that. That's that's in the past. But I don't think we should be holding him hostage for for what happened. Right, Mistakes were made, and I think, you know, the people who were part of that serve their subsets a suspension and and that's that. You know, that's the end of it. They've learned their lesson correct But the fact that that continues to be an issue with Beltron it bothers me because he's I don't know, as a Puerto Rican, right, I could be a little biased in this, but he's also a really good friend. But this is one of the best outfielders switch hitters in the history of the game. You know, you can't take that away from Carlos. And I think eventually he will end up in the Hall of Fame. But like the way the way you describe that, Jed, and you're right, the way he's perceiving all that, I don't think he's fair and I don't agree with it, But eventually he's going to end up in the Hall of Fame. All right.

00:22:45
Speaker 4: Well, the last question I got is actually pertaining to that twenty seventeen team. You and I were on the Yankees. You were on the field way more than I was. I only got two at bats, but I got to go through that entire run. What I want to start at trend is now that the Yankees have never still never beaten the Astros in the postseason ever since Joe Aspada left. So it's the curse of Joe Aspata. Are you okay with that? And are you fine answering those questions for the rest of the time until the Yankees play the Astros in the postseason and beat them?

00:23:24
Speaker 2: Listen, I don't uh curtsy. I remember us being together on that on that team, and I don't want this to be a Joe spot a Yankee course take Now, you know we right, we we prepare ourselves to to play, and I want the credit to go to our our process and how we go about our business. Right the Yankees, they're a tough team. It's not easy to beat the Yankees in postseason, regular season. They're a really good team. So I want the attention to I want the attention to go how were our players to play every single day? When he comes to seventeen. You and I were on that club when I joined with this scandal happened. Uh, you know, I have conversation with the players. Obviously I was in seventeen and I sat down with the players now wearing an astros you on it from being a bench coach, and we we had had a conversation with the players and the right things were set between me and the players where I was able to have be able to move forward and and and understand that it was the mistakes it was made. But now let's put it behind us, because we are we are a team that we're trying to get past this and just focus in the future. Right But when he broke out, obviously I was you know, I was part of the whole investigation and the whole thing, and it was it. It was not easy. But again, as we that's in the past and now we just prepare ourselves just to be the best team every single day we step on the baseball field.

00:25:08
Speaker 1: Joe, thank you so much. Appreciate you. Best to luck this offseason. Continue to do what you guys need to do. We'll see you back in the postseason next year.

00:25:16
Speaker 2: All right, thank you guys, appreciate it.