3 Astros who are more to blame for team’s struggles than Dana Brown or Joe Espada

With the Houston Astros languishing in the bottom of the AL West standings, there are definitely some people in the hot seat. For many organizations, the natural inclination is to pin the blame on either the general manager or the field manager and in Houston's case, both are sensible targets for removal.

Houston has been on a steady decline since Joe Espada's arrival and he's already being listed as one of the potential victims of the annual manager culling. Dana Brown had an immensely lackluster offseason and his inaction is being exacerbated by the discouraging Tatsuya Imai situation. However, while these two are responsible for building and managing the team, only the players can have a direct impact on winning or losing so which names on the actual roster have been letting everyone down?

Here are the players that Astros fans should be blaming instead of Dana Brown

AJ Blubaugh

Given his numbers from last year, Blubaugh's disappointing 2026 shouldn't have been a surprise. Although he posted a 1.69 ERA over 32 innings in 2025, he had a 4.42 FIP, a concerning signal for the future. This year seems to be more representative of his abilities as he is sitting at a 6.60 ERA over 15 innings.

Blubaugh has a 13.0% walk rate and an 18.8% strikeout rate yet the command issues don't end there. His four-seam fastball is often located too close to the heart of the zone and is allowing opposing hitters to do plenty of damage. All five of the hits against his heater have gone for extra bases and the pitch has a .737 opposing slugging percentage. He's just one of several red flags in the bullpen but he's one of the biggest under-performers thus far.

Bryan Abreu

Perhaps no other pitcher is having a worse year than Bryan Abreu which is saying quite a lot given the team's current injury circumstances. With Josh Hader on the shelf, this was the perfect chance for Abreu, who has been an outstanding piece of the Astros bullpen for years, to take his talents to the next level. Unfortunately, things have completely fallen off the wheels and he has posted a 14.73 ERA over 7.1 innings with a 12.27 FIP.

There are two key aspects of his pitching that seem to have noticeably regressed. His fastball velocity is down from 97.3 mph in 2025 to just 95.4 mph this year. His control has gotten significantly worse and his fastball is in the strike zone just 41.3% of the time. His 30.2% walk rate has made it impossible for him to be effective and being behind in counts has forced him to leave pitches over the plate. As a result of his diminished stuff, he has been moved out of high-leverage situations but it may already be too late to salvage his year.

Yainer Diaz

An offensive surge for the rest of the lineup has left Diaz in the dust. After 72 plate appearances, his OPS+ of 40 is the worst on the team and he hasn't really shown any signs of life at the plate. The Astros are aware of this and hoped that some time off would help him reset but his hitting slump is painfully noticeable.

Other than maintaining a respectable 15.3% strikeout rate, his Statcast numbers are gravely concerning. His plate discipline has been abhorrent and his quality of contact is non-existent. In fact, the two are likely related as chasing bad pitches does limit how much damage a hitter can do. Defensively, the picture isn't much rosier as he's below average when it comes to blocking, framing, and limiting steals.

The silver lining of all this is that Christian Vázquez has far exceeded expectations as a backup and while he continues to be effective, the Astros aren't missing out on much. However, it does raise the question as to whether Diaz will be the team's future backstop as originally intended. Even if he will end up helping the team win later, he sure isn't helping them win now.

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