The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Joe Espada Discusses the Astros Outlook Heading Into the Summer

Episode Date: June 2, 2026

Joe Espada Discusses the Astros Outlook Heading Into the Summer

Those of you on hold, we'll get to you in a couple of moments. It is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Gordy has left me. Ross is on vacation. It's just me and the manager. Joe Spotted doesn't know this, but Skip, you're going to co-host the last 90 minutes of my radio show with me. How are you, sir?

I'm doing well, sir. How are you? Hey, by the way, congratulations. The Carolina Sports Hall of Fame and Carolina, Puerto Rico. That's a nice little accolade that you're now joining it. You're in a selective club, are you not? Yes, yes. First one was Roberto Clemente.

Obviously, it's my hometown. I grew up, played Little League there, and just to be recognized by, you know, this commission that I've known a ton of them, you know, some of them coached me during the, during, doing Little League. And I don't know, it was just a great day, great honor. It was, I wish I would have been there, but I was represented by some really close friends of mine. And it looked, they sent me videos of the event.

It looked like it was a special evening. But again, it was an honor. What did 13-year-old Joe Espada know about Major League Baseball growing up in Puerto Rico? Dream, bro. Just a dream, and I followed it, man. I never stopped dreaming, never stopped working. My parents really make sure that I was making the right choices.

Not today. Joe Spada with us here on Sports Talks, everything. and congratulations on that honor. Joe, it is 3-2 Astros going to the top of the ninth inning. You need a closer for the ninth inning. Who are you going to tonight? My ask? Oh, you can say it.

I'm so happy. We had a contest. We were going to say Josh Hader's name? I'm very happy. That's good. I had a feeling that you were going to ask. Hey, what have your conversation has been like within the last. a few days and how has the rehabilitation

appearance has gone for him? No, it's been good. He keeps mentioning that he needs that extra adrenaline just to finish the whole rehab off, right? You know, he feels good on the mound.

The pictures, they feel good, but, you know, he just needs the big crowd, you know, the walkout song, that one, that three two lead, just to push him, you know, and really see that, you know, everything is completed. And he feels, you know, but physically and mentally, he feels great. So we are excited to welcome him back today.

You have brought back athletes before, whether you were managing a team or coaching, been around on a clubhouse all your life. What is it like? What is the psychology about getting a guy out there, giving him his first chance to swing a bat or, in this case, throw a pitch, and knowing that it's okay to go full throttle? What you were expected to do is something you did before the injury. Yeah, you know, well, that goes with the individual.

You know, the mindset of the individual also plays a big role into what you just ask. You know, Josh Hader is one of the best ninth innings pitchers in the league. So he already has the mindset. He already knows I can let it eat and I need that extra boost by the fans, by a team. It's a one-nothing league to protect that lead. so he's already coming in already prepping for that some other players are a bit more hesitant when he comes to you know when to push it how to spin the ball Josh he's been he's been trained for that so I'm not concerned about that you know it's just keep it and close eye on

him number of pitches back to back days so we have to constantly be in communication with Josh to make sure that we build him up properly. You have asked your bullpen to assume a variety of different roles because of Josh's situation. And obviously, Jose, Brian's this year has not been to what he's wanted to do. But is there any sense of relief or maybe just an extra arm can indirectly build confidence with the rest of the guys that have had to inherit a lot of high leverage innings for you this year?

Yeah. And just not any arm, right? We talked to me one of the best arms in the game. So by him being joining us, there is a sense of relief from the rest of the guys that, okay, now we have an extra arm that we could count on another high leverage spot. It will put the rest of the guys in their spots where when we started the season, that's what we envision, right? Going out of spring training, this is how we envision our business.

bullpen to be to be and now you know with a hundred games left we can we feel like it's coming it's coming together and it's a sense of relief for everyone in the bullpen now it just we just got to be you know careful and make sure that Josh you know it's able to you know build up and and feel strong to give us you know the push that this team needs a few more minutes with Astros manager Joe is spotted with us here on Sports Talk 790. I was always afraid, Joe, that somebody in this division was going to take off. And right now, it's the team in Seattle that won seven consecutive games. You have dodged a bullet because the division is not really separated itself.

You've withstood the injuries. And look, this is still a marathon. You've got a lot of games left. But is there a little part of you in the back of your mind? It's like, all right, we're getting our guys back. We got us a little bit of a softer month, at least with record-wise. you got to push the pedal a little bit harder because you don't want to fall too far behind

Seattle here in this division. Yes, yeah, of course. And, you know, we are paying attention. You know, we watch and we know that May was better than March and April, right? 15 and 14. We won seven in our last 10. So we are playing better baseball.

we need a better June than the May we have. It's the reality. And our guys understand that. The better we play each month, the better we put ourselves in a position where once July comes around, we know how proactive our front office is, and we can get the pieces that we need to make that final push. But we have to continue to build on the good main,

play good baseball, win series. You know, you mentioned the June schedule on paper. Yes, but it's the big leagues. A lot of these teams are not playing to their capability. So it's still, you still got to be, you still got to win games. You still got to play your game. So I'm very encouraged at how well we play in May, better in May. We just need a much better June.

Joe, your left field situation, you've had a variety of different guys out there. Lova Fido sounds like he's going to be coming back in the not too distant future. Where do you want that thing settled down? Do you kind of, look, everybody wants us pencil on the same starting nine every day, but you've not done that at any point this season. And you may never do that. Who's got to take that spot? And I don't, you know, I just don't know right now if that's going to be the case. You know, I envision that to be a platoon spot for the time being.

You mentioned Loper Fido coming back. you know, we have opportunities for the dissensos and Matthews and Trammell. You know, Jake would need some time off. So there's an opportunity to play a lefty in left field and another lefty hitter in center. And I envision this to be like that for the time being. You know, you're done in the next, in this next six games, maybe getting a gaming left. So I could get Paredes and walk her up their feet. you know, that's also a possibility.

So I see that as a fluid kind of platoon spot for now. And obviously, you know, somebody takes over and it starts raking and starts playing really well. They'll get most of the playing time. How often does Yordaun, by the way, bother you about left field? I'm presuming it's quite a bit. Would that be fair to say? You know what? No, not at all, actually.

I think that Yordaun, you know, he likes playing less. But also he, you know, we all recognize that by him, VH, and we've been able to keep them, you know, fairly healthy throughout the season. You know, and that's important, you know. I am, you know, I am going to ask him here in the next few days to play some left, and he's always open to that. He loves going out there. But right now, keeping our guys healthy and,

keeping, you know, a good offense on the field to try to make up for the ground that we need to make up. I think he's being okay with it. But again, he, you know, he loves playing left. And, you know, eventually, once we get out of two of it back, you know, he'll play some left field so I can rotate some of those guys just the way we have planned before Hosey went down. Two last questions, both pitching. One on Burroughs going against his old team today. do you think there is any advantage to Mike Burroughs being a Pittsburgh pirate knowing what they know about him and maybe altering what he would do in terms of pitch selection or am I just throwing stuff against the wall seeing something sticks? No, no, no, I see the other way around. I think he knows his ex-teamates very well. He knows, you know, where to go with some of these hitters.

So, yes, they do know Mike, but a lot of those guys have never faced Mike. right? They, they may be in live BP's when he was in Pittsburgh. So, you know, maybe a same game. But Mike has studied those players. He's seen hundreds of outbats of those guys. So he knows what those guys' tendencies are. And again, Mike has been throwing the ball better.

And I expect them to be, to be good today. All right. And back to a hater for a second. Back to back situations. Are we going to hold on that for a while? We want to see how tonight goes. Is it pitch count? I mean, tell me some factors that would say if you have back-to-back situations,

which hopefully you will have for some save opportunities. So it's day-to-day. You know, he goes out there today, saves the game. He comes in tomorrow. Let us know how he feels. Okay, so we could we could do it. We could do it. If he's like show not today, you know, based on the number of pitches or based on how you're drilling in, right,

Today he's going to be like, you know, he's, it's going to be an extra boost in there. So tomorrow morning, we'll see how he feels. So he's going to be like that for the next, for the, you know, the first week or two of his, of him joining us. And then we go from there. But I don't want to say, yeah, he's going to be back to back. And no, it's, it's very fluid listening to him, listening to his body and, you know, making sure that we do it, we do it the smart way. thankfully you're getting guys back joe thank you for the time i'll see you tomorrow night best a look this evening against the pittsburgh pirates all right guys thank you thank you