Astros' Joe Espada should be frontrunner for AL Manager of the Year, but isn't

From the moment that the Houston Astros hired Joe Espada to be their manager last offseason after Dusty Baker left town because the internet and media were mean to him, expectations were understandably high. The Astros have been one of the best teams in baseball for the better part of a decade and returned a roster that looked to be among the AL's best this season.

Unfortunately, the start of the 2024 season did not exactly go well. With the team struggling to do much of anything right the first couple months of the year, including staying healthy, there were whispers early on that Espada could be a one-and-done manager due to unspecified communication issues.

Houston's fortunes have changed considerably since then, as Espada and the front office have pressed the right buttons and cut bait with plenty of dead weight like Jose Abreu. All of a sudden, the Astros are overwhelming favorites to win the AL West yet again, which begs the question as to why Espada isn't getting more consideration as AL Manager of the Year.

Joe Espada deserves a lot of credit for Astros' turnaround in 2024, but he isn't getting it

Managerial credit is a funny thing sometimes. When a team plays well, it is because the players are doing their jobs. When they aren't, it is all the manager's fault. It is a tale as old as the game itself and isn't going to change anytime soon.

Still, for Espada to shepherd Houston through that rough patch and all of the injuries early in the season and help get them to this point in his first year on the job is extraordinary. It was certainly helped by the fact that Astros players were familiar with him, as he has been a coach there for a long time. However, it would have been very easy for this season to spiral out of control, and Espada helped to steady this team.

Have the various oddsmakers given Espada any credit for that and consider him among the possible AL Manager of the Year favorites? Nope, not even a little bit. According to some recent MOY odds on FanDuel, Espada isn't even likely to be a finalist, with the Royals' Matt Quatraro, Guardians' Stephen Vogt, Red Sox's Alex Cora (lol), Twins' Rocco Baldelli, and Orioles' Brandon Hyde all being more favored.

Look, Quatraro and Vogt in particular deserve all the love they are getting, as neither of those teams were predicted to be anywhere near as good as they have been this year (Cora's inclusion is still objectively insane). It is also true that Houston players were already highly regarded, and it is hard to get credit for their good work. Nonetheless, it is still pretty disappointing to see Espada not get the love that he rightly deserves.

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