The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Astros Manger, Joe Espada Joins the Show

Episode Date: April 1, 2025

Astros Manger, Joe Espada Joins the Show 

1231 here on Sports Talk 790. Rosvi-Rial with you on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Matt Thomas is out traveling. Coming back with the Rockets after the late night loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. Wow, that's a tongue twister here. On Sports Talk 790, we've got Hunter Brown coming up at 130. Adam Wexer joining at 1. But right now, pleased to be joined for the first time all year.

Astros manager, Joe Espada, who's going to join us on Tuesdays at 1230 as his schedule allows. Joe, no mat today. Appreciate you hanging out with us. How we feeling so far, two and two in the early season? And just you in your second season as the manager, as the lead guy, are you feeling more comfortable? Yeah, you know, well, first, thank you for having me on the show.

Looking forward to hanging out with you guys on Tuesdays. But yeah, you know, out to a really good start. I think we have done a nice job this first four games. Way better start than we did last year. That's for sure. But, you know, I thought that we have thrown the ball really well. Our starters have done a really nice job, giving us an opportunity to win. And, you know, looking forward to my second season as the manager, really learn a lot from our club, from myself.

We had a really incredible spring training, and I think the boys are ready to, put together a heck of a run. Starting pitching has been a strength for the team early on. The first three guys really spectacular. Rinal Blanco, a little bit of issues there, but I thought looked really sharp early on. Yes, he did. I thought he threw the ball really well.

You know, we always want those guys just to give us five, six quality innings, and I think Ronell Blanco did that. You know, we got into some walk issues last night, a couple two-out walks that cost us throughout the game. But I think for the most part, we're throwing the ball really well. Jose Al-Tuvae back at second base, just like home. What are your conversations like with him? And what exactly is the plan for him and how much do you want him to,

or is it a fluid situation? And who are you leaning on to talk about these types of things, about where to put him on a day-to-day basis? Oh, it's a conversation between me and Altuwee. It's my decision. and, you know, it's a fluid conversation every day. He knows that we're going to need him to play some second base. You know, that's his home.

I mean, it's like running a bike for him right over there. Yesterday he played a really nice second base. You know, but, you know, he's going to get most of his starts in left field. That's the plan right now. He's done a nice job early on in the season. And what's that like for you balancing it? Like wanting him to get in left field, wanting him to take the lumps and learn all the ins and out to that, but also maybe wanting to play other guys there as well like you did last night with Dubon.

Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. I think having him being able to play, both positions allows me to be a little bit more flexible and play some of our young players in the outfield and also have Dubon and Rogers play some second base. So, you know, that's the plan early on. And hopefully, you know, we can find some consistency. throughout the lineup. But early on, I like how giving everyone an opportunity early on just to contribute, you know, we're going to need this lineup, this team, all these players to contribute

it at some point. Astros manager Joe Espada with us here on Sports Talk 790. Three games in for Cam Smith. My first takeaway from him, despite the, well, you got the one hit, of course, in his first AB, but it seems like he's got a really, really good, I mean, for as young as he is, He's got a really good handle of the strike zone. Yes, he does. And as a hitter, that's half the battle right there, right?

It's controlling the strike zone, swinging the strikes, not, you know, being able to fight back into account once you get O2. And he's done a nice job of that early on. He showed that ability in spring training also. What are your conversations been with him? That's kind of something, I mean, new for, I mean, what he's doing right now is basically unprecedented in the Astros organization history. So for you as a manager, of course, as you know, a big part of your job is dealing with

personalities, talking with guys. What has it been like with you working with Cam Smith? You know, it's a daily conversation. I want to make sure that he's in a really, I want to make sure that he's in a good place. You know, it's a big jump in his career. And I want to make sure that I protect him, that there's a conversation that he knows that we all have his back. you know, it's constant observation, evaluation, how he's handling day by day in right field, and he's a bat.

But so far, so good. I really like his approach offensively, you know, his conversation with our hitting coach, his work he's doing in the outfield. My job is just to make sure that the work doesn't get too overwhelming for him. But, you know, he's got a pretty good head on his shoulder, so I think he's going to be just fine. Speaking of guys that are doing a good job judging the strike zone, Isok Paredes has been getting on base. You haven't got a whole lot of hits from him and some of the other guys as well,

but he's really done a good job working counts as well, and is that why you have him in the two-spot? Yeah, I do. I like his abats in that two-spot. You know, Jordan, he's finding some traffic early in the season with both Altuio, getting out to a hot start in Peretti. You know, just he's walking and his ability to see a lot of pitches. And that's the plan behind my decision,

going to hit him second right now. From the early on in spring training, I was impressed with his bathe's approach. He's able to lay off some tough pitches. And, you know, hopefully once Yordon gets hot here, he's going to find himself with a lot of, you know, with a lot of RBI's

in the RBI column. And what is that like for you? I mean, look, we all know Yordon's going to hit. It's going to happen eventually. For you as a manager, you're like, I'm just going to leave him alone. I'm not even talking to him, or what's your approach with that? No, I love talking to Yordan. I'm always going to talk to Yordan. But when it comes to, you know, where he's at right now offensively,

it's just getting a fuel for the season, you know. He's timing. He's not quite there yet. He's swing. He's not as comfortable in the baddest box. He will like to be, but it's just a matter of time. This is going to click for him. And once he does, you know, our offense will get going.

Yeah, well, the offense and the bats have been struggling. So good luck with Logan Webb. They just never gets. easy of this league, does it? No, it does not. You know, you're always facing quality arms, and you know, hopefully we go out there with a good game plan and execute it

against Logan Webb. On the other side, Hayden Wesniewski tonight throwing for you. What are your expectations for him, and what are you looking to see from him? You know, he's got to go out there and, you know, get ahead of these hitters. A lot of strike ones, you know, and then to be able to use his ausp pitch to put these guys

away. You know, it's, it's, we have to, once we put, once we get ahead of these hitters, we have to execute and put hitters away, you know, keep the load pitch count. That's very important. And, you know, and we need those guys in the middle of our bullpen just to being able to hand the ball off to a braille and a hater. But I think what's Neski's last start of spring was a solid one. I expect them to go out there and have a good game planning, being able to execute it. continuing with Astros manager Joe Espada here on Sports Talk 790.

What did you like from what you saw from Ryan Gusto? And how special was that for him to make his major league debut? It was, you know, especially after last season, you know, he made, you know, waited hours to potentially make that start in Cleveland. And he did not. And but I thought yesterday he handled himself really well, you know, show the explosive fastball that we all know that he's capable of. show every single outing. He's off-speed pitches were really good, too. I think he went through some stretches there where he had to get out of trouble,

and he did. He was poised. He was calm. I thought that was a really good first impression for Ryan Gusto. And keeping him with the pitching side, Lance McCuller, Jr., he had the start over Sunday. You were there in Sugarland to watch that, correct? Yes, I was. Okay.

And then he's going to start this weekend. What did you see from him? Conversations. And how do you approach like this? I mean, this is a guy who's had, of course, multiple setbacks, so you want to make sure everything's good to go when he's going out there. Healthy. You know, we want, you know, I saw a healthy pitcher the other day in Chiragland, you know, up to 95. He struck out this side, his first inning and then pitched out of trouble in the second inning.

So that's what I'm looking for. Out of him, we came in my office yesterday. We talked a little bit about his plan for the next couple of weeks. So we are going to, he's going to start this weekend for Corpus on the road. And once we should be able to go three, three plus innings, depending on the number of pitches. And once he gets through that, he should be, you know, he should be getting closer to pitching here at the major league level. But I'm excited for Lance. He has gone through a lot and he has put himself in a good spot right now.

And we're going to, you know, we're going to need them. We're going to need all these guys to come up at some point and contribute to help us win some games. Yeah, so you have the, with him in rehab, the clock ticks, correct? It's 30 days that he can max out as a rehab. Correct, correct, correct. Correct. We're trying to be smart about those days and not rush this process. We want to make sure he gets his pitches in.

We want to make sure that we give him enough time in between starts to recover and bounce back. and we're going to continue to monitor him closely. All right. Last thing, we'll keep it light for you at the end here, Joe. How do you like those City Connect uniforms you guys had last night? You know what? It was sweet, man. I really like the guys really like the white.

That's the first thing, you know, they like the white. And the material looks feels lighter. You know, I thought the blue was a little bit heavier, thick, and material. That's the way I felt. That's what the players were commenting on. they really dig the hats. I'm digging the hat too. So I got myself one just to kind of cruise around town.

But yeah, you know, hopefully every Monday when we put that union on, we could, you know, be celebrating at the end of the game. Yeah, I don't know why. It's a snake mid on Mondays with those City Connect now for a couple years. I don't know what the deal is. No, we, you know, we'll get it rolling here. We'll get them rolling. All right, thanks.

Joe Spotted with us here on SportsSox. I mean, Joe, thanks for the time as always. and good luck tonight at the ballpark. All right, man. Thank you. All right. Appreciate it. There you go.

Joe Espada Astros manager here on Sports Talk 790.