Astros' Joe Espada is making a strong bid to be the AL Manager of the Year

You are Houston Astros manager Joe Espada. It's you're second year on the job, leading an AL West juggernaut that has captured seven of the last eight seasons, so expectations are high. However, with two of your franchise cornerstones bolting in the offseason, it would appear that the dynasty is crumbling around you.

Publicly, your owner may have stated that he was still willing to invest in the team, but privately, it's been made clear that the luxury tax is a line in the sand. You'll have to do more with less. Years of attrition have sent most of the stars you watched as your predecessor's top lieutenant move on to greener pastures.

Yet here you are, past the midway checkpoint in the 2025 162-game marathon, building a sizable lead for control of your division from your top rivals, and sitting pretty with the third-best record in the majors as of July 7 at 55-36.

Astros manager Joe Espada is putting himself in conversation as a front-runner for AL Manager of the Year

The preseason saw pundits make trendy picks to topple the Astros' run of dominance in the AL West. Seattle had, on paper, the best rotation in baseball. Texas came into the year looking to rebound to the form that saw them emerge victorious with the World Series crown in 2023.

Meanwhile, the Astros were moving one of their last remaining icon, 35-year-old Jose Altuve, to left field, a position he's never played before. It all looked like Houston was set up to become a laughing stock, an empire that was toppled due to their own follies.

As the season has played out, the club has been waylaid by injury after injury. Most importantly, Yordan Alvarez, a top-five hitter in the game, has been limited to just 29 games with a 76 wRC+, and it's anybody's guess when the fearsome slugger will return to action.

Meanwhile, the team's top free-agent acquisition, Christian Walker, has been an unmitigated disaster, posting a .231/.291/.381 line on the season.

The team's top prospect, Cam Smith who was acquired in the Kyle Tucker trade, underwent a preseason position change and then made history as the third-fastest player ever to go from drafted to making an opening day roster, and has improved every month as he makes a charge towards the AL Rookie of the year award.

Houston's rotation has been battered beyond belief, though fortunately, baseball's best one-two punch in Hunter Brown and Framber Valdez has remained unscathed as both are making compelling cases to take home this year's AL Cy Young award.

In the middle of all of this, directing the chaos like a skilled crisis manager is Joe Espada. Many others would have whithered given the plethora of challenges, yet he's thrived and built a culture of "dudes just do it," as closer Josh Hader told the Athletic.

As we gear up for the stretch run, all eyes will be on Espada and the Astros. How many more storms will they have to weather? Where will they ultimately land? If the first half of the season is any indication, the answers are "many" and "on top."

The AL Manager of the Year chase is shaping up to be a two-horse race. Opposing Espada is his former mentor, A.J. Hinch, who has led the upstart Detroit Tigers to new heights. The difference is, Hinch's club is riding the wave of a culmination of player development that made their ascension a foregone conclusion. Meanwhile, Espada has been defending a dying dynasty, and not just keeping it afloat, but rather driving it beyond anyone's wildest expectations.

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