The word is, with the Houston Astros getting knocked out of the playoffs and reports surfacing of Dusty Baker not returning next year, all questions point to who will be the next skipper in Houston.
Bovada, has compiled odds on who will be the next manager of the Houston Astros for game 1 in 2024:
Joe Espada -200
(Espada served as the hitting coach of the Greensboro Grasshoppers of the Class A South Atlantic League in 2006.)
Will Venable +700
Buck Showalter +700
Don Mattingly +700
A.J. Hinch +700
Craig Counsell +750
Walt Weiss +750
More on Joe Espada and word on his time with the Greenboro Grasshoppers….
Josue Espada (born August 30, 1975) is a Puerto Rican professional baseball coach and former minor league player who is the current bench coach of the Houston Astros of Major League Baseball (MLB). He was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Espada was the third base coach for the Miami Marlins. He then joined the New York Yankees as a special assistant to General Manager Brian Cashman in 2014. Prior to the 2015 season, Espada was named the Yankees’ third base coach. The Astros hired Espada after the 2017 season.
Playing career
Espada attended the University of Mobile, where he played college baseball for the Mobile Rams. He set a Mobile record with a .442 batting average. The Oakland Athletics selected Espada in the second round, with the 45th overall selection, of the 1996 Major League Baseball draft.
The Minnesota Twins selected Espada from the Athletics in the 1998 Rule 5 draft, but he failed to make the Twins’ Opening Day roster and was returned to the Athletics. Espada played in Oakland’s system through the 2000 season.
A free agent in 2001, Espada signed with the Florida Marlins, and was traded to the Colorado Rockies for Juan Acevedo in August 2001. He later played for the Kansas City Royals, St. Louis Cardinals, Texas Rangers, and Tampa Bay Devil Rays organizations. In 2004, Espada played for the Pensacola Pelicans in the Central Baseball League, an independent baseball league. He retired after the 2005 season, reaching Triple-A, but never playing in the majors.
Coaching career
After retiring, Espada became a coach in the Marlins’ organization. He served as the hitting coach of the Greensboro Grasshoppers of the Class A South Atlantic League in 2006 and for the Jupiter Hammerheads of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League in 2007. Espada spent the next two seasons as the Marlins’ minor league infield coordinator.