The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Astros Manager Joe Espada Joins The Show After A Big 7-0 Game vs Blue Jays

Episode Date: April 22, 2025

Astros Manager Joe Espada Joins The Show After A Big 7-0 Game vs Blue Jays

Let's talk to our friend Joe Spada. He is the manager of your Houston Astros with us here on Sports Talk 790 at 136. Skip, it's Matt Ross. Thanks for joining us. Hey, I felt like last night listened to you in the postgame show, somebody said, hey, what do you think about Hunter Brown? You were like measured because you couldn't think of more superlatives. The guy's been lights out for you.

Have you had a chance to really boast now that you've had 24 hours away from the ballpark? You know, he is, Matt, he's been really, really good. And the beauty of it is that there is potential to get even better. Like, he's overall game, right? I think once you reach this level where he is now, where we know he's got this stuff and, you know, you've got all the teams talking about facing Hunter Brown. Now he's creating that consistency where you show up every single night and you give your team an opportunity to win the game.

Like, you know, it's doing that. He's becoming that guy now is, you know, long term, right? Hunter Brown is becoming that ace. And I've been watching them transform into this guy where we, you know, we lean on him. Like, dude, you know, we got an opportunity to win a game and an opportunity to win another series at home. I feel great about, you know, we all feel great. about Hunter Brown getting the ball in game on. That's where he's at right now.

Skip, it was literally last night, it was like him throwing darts at a board and hitting the bull's eye. I mean, when he was missing, he wasn't missing by much. No, and the thing is that when he, when pitch, you know, when hitters are following pitches off,

he's like, you know what? Shit, here you go. He's 99 down the middle. Like, like, when you have confidence and I'm just going to just challenge you with my best in the heart of the plate. I don't care if I get hit, but I'm not going to walk you. Once when you reach that level of confidence, now you're doing some stuff, right?

Now it's when you're like, oh, my God, this guy is real. This guy's not afraid of contact. This guy is actually coming at you against a really, really good lineup. And, you know, he's just becoming one of the best in the game. You also made a lineup change yesterday, moving Yordon to the second spot. initial thought about that, got on base a couple of times, including the obligatory intentional walk, which I'm more than okay with. And it helped out a little bit because you got a crooked number and then in the middle

of the game, which was a nice surprise as well. Yeah, you know, Paredes right now, he has been our best hitter. We've made in scoring position. And, you know, the more traffic we could get on in front of them for him to get big hits like the night before where he got the big hits to center against San Diego, He did it again last night after their walk, Yordan. He really has a feel for RBIs. So I'm just trying to create some moments there

where our best guys come up to the play often and try to give our offense spark and trying to give our starter, Hunter Brown in this case, and our bullpen opportunity to pitch with the lead. And he worked out really well last night. Yeah, I'm a big fan, Joe, of, Alvarez hitting second, and it happened last night in that seventh inning when he was able to come up and knocked his Inzo in. What is that?

Is there anything you talk to him about it? How does Yordon feel about it? He's just say, hey, put me wherever, and I'm going to hit. Yeah. You know, yeah, he is. He's like that. He puts me wherever type of, you know, he's so good. I, you know, I look at it this way and I present it to him this way.

If you look at the best lineups in the game, the tool hitter are, you know, we're talking about the, But we would junior or so at the world, the Vladimir-Garerrero's, the Mookie Betts, the Aaron Judge. You know, those are the guys, when the game is on the line, and you're going to hear me say this all the time, seven-eighth inning, that two-spot, right behind Al-Tuvae, it comes up all the time. Having someone behind Al-Tuvae with a presence that, okay, this guy's pretty also helps out Al-Tube get better pitchers. And now, you know, both of our best hitters are getting, you know, big, bats getting pitches to hit in high leverage moments. Asha's manager, Joe Espotted with us here on Sports Talk 790.

Also some good production last night from the back end of the lineup. You mentioned last night in the post game, Zach DeZenzo will be back in the lineup today. Was that something planned or something you're saying, hey, I'm going with a hot hand? No, no, it was planned. I do going to, you know, I've got to wait. This is breaking news. I am going to wait for him. When he slid in second base yesterday on the double,

his second double left field, he kind of jammed his thumb. So I am waiting for him to come in. He's getting treatment right now. He's going to hit in the cage. And hopefully he doesn't need a day to heal that thumb. So I wanted to give him back-to-back days. My plan is to give him back-to-back days, but I am waiting for him to tell me how he feels.

And has it been a little bit of a, not a struggle, but you're always trying to wiggle guys in. You want to make sure that Cam learns right field and get everybody their proper opportunity. You've been balancing left field and the D.H. spot. Is that a tough spot because you want to see him do with a little bit of everything in the infield and outfield

and still get a plenty of the bats? Because look, you hate young players that just don't get the opportunity to get their, you know, two or three played appearances per night if they can. No, no, you do, man. It's a tough balancing act because this are guys that we, this is our future, right? And I want to give these guys opportunities to play. And the best way for you to, you know, to play and get better is by gaining that experience on the field, learning from your mistake, learning from the up and downs of a very long season. So this first month I've been trying, the first three weeks, I've been trying to get everyone opportunities to play. And once it does settle some of these. guys need to have, you know, every day at bat. You know, the Jordans, the Al-Tu, the Jeromys, the Perides, the Walker. Those guys are penciled in there every day, but then it's the other players, the Rogers,

the Dubon, who we know how good Dubon is when he gets every day at batts. His ability to put the ball in play, his defense. So trying to get all these guys in, and we have had every Thursday off, it makes it a little bit challenging, but once we're getting to May when we have 17 straight, now you're going to see more at bats to go to a lot of these players. I think you used the term breather for Christian Walker yesterday, and maybe I'm paraphrasing here, but what is it exactly like for a veteran player

that has had so much success, no matter what uniform he's had, not to have the kind of month he's had for you. What was a breather like for him? And what did you see from his demeanor, just kind of maybe chit-chatting during the course of the game? Yeah, just being able to come in and relax, you know, for me, the best breather was when I brought him in the night before in my office and tell him I was going to give him the breather.

you know, for us to breathe together and talk about stuff. Like, you know, this guy comes in, you know, he comes as a free agent, you know, to expectations are high and he wants to produce. And he is, he's a producer. That's all he's done in his career at the Metro League level. And sometimes coming to a new organization, it could, it could be, it could be a lot. And you can probably try to do too much. And that's understandable.

He wants to do well. And I know he's going to do very, very well. But sometimes you just need to press the pause button and give him a breather and, you know, get him back in there to day. And hopefully that gets him going. Last question, Forrest gives you the two innings last night. You're about to have Skip. And this is a wonderful problem to have a little bit of a log jam in your bullpen. And maybe if Lance comes back in the next few weeks, starting rotation.

So have you started in the back of your mind thinking about, man, what am I going to do here, especially if I can get Forrest Whitland to get me six outs when he pitches for me. Well, I'm telling you, it's not a bad problem in half, Matt. And you know our season, how we went last year, you could never have enough pitching. And, you know, once, you know, Lance gets back, it's going to be doing that stretch. We go 17 straight. So we are going to go into a six-man rotation, and we go in my half to have, you know, one less guy in the pen. So having guys like Forrest who could go multiple innings and he could put.

punch people out is huge, right? So right now, it's not a bad problem. I'm happy that, you know, for us, he's healthy. He's, he's a force when he's in the, when he's in the zone. So it was great for him to give us two innings and I'll stay away from our back end guys. Skip, great stuff as always. I need you to get a different shirt on because your shirts before game one with the Rockas didn't help. So we've got a changing's up a little bit. Can you, can you help us out a little bit? Yeah, give me, give me, give me one and I wear it. Big game tomorrow, right? Oh, my God.

Yeah, you're going to win first and then the Rockers are going to win second. So you need to start things going for the local city if you don't mind. All right, fellas, you got it. Thank you very much. Joe Spotted with us here.