The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Joe Espada Talks About The New Line-Up After Trade Deadline

Episode Date: August 5, 2025

Joe Espada Talks About The New Line-Up After Trade Deadline

Let's spend 12 calling him in a minute to the manager of your Houston Astros win last night over the Miami Marlins. Joe is spotted with us here on the show. Skip, I was talking to Ross a minute ago, and he got mad at me because I've called Rockets games in Miami for in the last nine years. I've never gone to the beach. Have you gone to the beach in a trip to Miami lately? Yes or no. Tell the truth. No. Thank you.

That's all I needed to hear. Oh, he's busier than you are. No, stop. No, that's ridiculous. I think the manager of the team's busier than you, Matt. That's dumb. Don't listen to it. Sorry, we're fighting.

Skip, Sandi Alcantara was about to throw a no-no until things got crazy. What happened? And by the way, thank you for that because it became a different ballgame after that first go-round through your lineup. Yeah, I think we made some adjustments, you know, someone like Alcantara, you know, you have to make, you know, you really got to get him away from you. if you, you know, beat his sinker on the ground, it's going to be quick a batch, just going to get ground balls. So I think the guys made a good adjustment trying to see stuff out over the plate. And then that's when you start seeing, you know, Pena double.

You start seeing some balls now being hit in the air. We drive in the ball. And that's when that's when we were able to capitalize. You have been able to win games this year with a variety of different lineups. And having this squad now, and look, you hopefully will have even more guys, coming back in the not too distant future. But it feels like you've been given some more things to go to the toolbox in terms of different lineups and whatnot.

What is it like having Carlos back? What is it like not being able to pencil in Correa? And then you've got Jesus Sanchez. I mean, there have been some nice auditions here that kind of deepens your lineup a little bit now. Yeah, yeah, it does. You know, you mentioned Carlos. You know, he's someone who's just going to give you quality of bats after quality of bats.

He can walk. you know, he can drive the ball. We've been seeing how hard he's hitting ball. And also he's sharing his knowledge and helping, helping some of our young players prepare ourselves for this August, September, dog days of, you know, playing meaningful games. So Carlos has been able to do that. Sanchez has been a great addition, too.

Can really give us a good, you know, good outback from the left side, can really drive the ball. I feel like he sees a ton of pitches. and we're able to have guys like Rias on the bench that can allow me to be flexible and pinch it and take shots when I need to and having him and Dubon that can cover pretty good to play everywhere on the field has been a nice addition. Joe, you've given some Cam a little bit of time off. Obviously, the struggles have been probably for a couple weeks now.

Is it a byproduct of maybe there's intelligence on him now? Or is it this is a young man that has played a whole lot of baseball games in the last 12-calendar months, that this is kind of what guys go through when they start to hit that 110, 120 games over a certain stretch of time? Yes, and this is part of, you know, a young player learning the league, learning himself. You know, I've been giving him more off days. My plan is just to be more proactive with him, giving him some blows here and there. he's a bat's got better the last couple of games. So, you know, it's been, it's just helping him through this process.

He's, you know, he's a plus defender in right. He can give you some really good at bats. And we're just trying to find him where he is comfortable again, getting good pitches to hit, swinging at good pitches to hit. But I think we've got to be, we've got to be cautious and smart of how often we throw him out there. And I think a blow in there will help him get back on his speed and understand how long the season is.

What is that like for you dealing with a personality like Camp Smith and you've had it with Bregman and others? I mean, there's a lot of guys in this team throughout the years, love baseball, want to be there out there every day to kind of just have that conversation with them and let them know it's more about the long term and the marathon rather than the sprint. Yeah, and it's daily, you know, he knows, like in Kansas,

he knows that this is a very long year and we have a lot, still a lot of baseball left and not because you're not starting the game, doesn't mean that you're playing that day, you know. He still stays ready and I need to give blows to some of the next, you know, in the next couple of weeks, some of these guys need some rest. So it's about being smart. and trying to find time just to get these guys off their feet so we could be in a good position and make a push year in August and September.

Joe is spotted us here on Sports Talk 7-90. You mentioned the leadership of Carlos Correa. Can you expand on that a little bit? Like, what does he bring? We've seen him already getting in mound visits as far as, I don't know, pre-game planning or just going throughout us everything. Can you just tell us more about that? Yeah, he's involved.

He's involved in everything, you know, our prep. work, our pre-game meetings. You know, I know we've probably noticed this, but every time there's a, there's a visit, a mound visit, Carlos is the first one there. You know, he's smart. He sees what's going on during our hitters meeting. He pretty much leads the conversation, and it feels like he has never left our clubhouse. I share a lot of, you know, ideas through him.

how the next couple of weeks shoot some of my thoughts. And, you know, he's got some really good feedback. And, you know, his presence, it's incomparable. How, you know, what he brings to the table is incredible. I've never seen anything like it. Joe, if you need to give Jeremy a day off here and there, because whether it's just making sure that he doesn't overtax himself or the cramp that he had in the lane over Boston,

do you envision Karea being your shortstop? on days that you don't start, Jeremy? Or is that kind of still up in the air at this point? Yeah, I know, I think Carlos, it's obviously, you know, he's planting a glove winner in short. And so, you know, if Jeremy meets those few off days in the next, you know, 50, 50 games, you know, Carlos is more capable of doing that. So my plan is just to do that for the time being. I go to my ESPN app, Skip, and I see that Undecided is making today's start. Tell me about him. I don't know much about Undecided.

Yeah, he's still undecided. You'll find out here pretty soon. He's going to be one of our left-ender relievers. Oh, now we get the guessing game after you leave us. I like kind of like that. Take us through that because, you know, AJ and I would talk quite a bit about this, about using the opener. Is there a lot of menaceing?

maneuvering once the game goes on or is it a pretty well set I think I can get this guy to get me six outs, this guy to get me three and six or do you have to kind of watch and see how the game goes before deciding, you know, how your rotation goes in terms of who's going to go next? Yeah, you know, you try to, you map it out and you put like two different scenarios, right? The opener, you know, let's just say you want them to give a four or five outs or it would be great if it gives you six out. And then, but if there is traffic, who's going to be that first guy up, you know, out of your bullpen?

So you map that out. And then also once you get to, once to the lineup, who's going to give you, you know, the bulk and how many pitches that person is going to give you most of the bulk, you know, how many pitches you want him to get you. And then, you know, your hope is, So when you get to the fifth and six, you have to lead and you can deploy your back end on the bullpen. So there is some planning that goes into it.

You know, you want your offense just to give you some early runs. So the execution of the game plan will be a little bit more, it would be much easier. But, you know, this is a team in mornings that they have some really good left-enter hitters. And they have some guys on the bench that they're, you know, their depreckel. early in the game if they have to. So, you know, we're just going to try to be ready and put our relievers in the best position for them to succeed. We did not speak to you since the trade deadline is coming past. And I think you guys were off that Thursday.

So let me, let's go through what your final two hours were like. You get Correa, you have Urias, you get Sanchez. I know there were some other deals that were pondered and discussed. How was your last afternoon before the dead? line came before because I'm curious what the manager's role was during all this big beyond the beyond the I'm just on the phone and talking to Dana no yeah I'm constantly you know text messages not only with Dana but someone who his front office personnel trying to figure out if we are part of this player um how would it how would it fit in our roster um so the constant this constant text

message I try to take those those last two or three hours I went to the movies with my girls they were in Boston and you know I missed the last 45 minutes off the movie because that's when we think got really heated and we're really close to acquiring Carlos and Sanchez. So, you know, I had to leave the theater so you could get, you know, these conversations with Dana and his staff. And but it's, it's fun. You want to be in that position where you're actually acquiring players and not saying, not saying goodbye to family members. and we acquire some really good players, and I'm excited about it. I have to ask.

What movie was it? The name was Bad Guys. It's a kind of a cartoon movie, and we were watching it. It's Bad Guys, too, I believe, is the name. It was fun. We were looking forward to potentially just, you know, spend those two hours there, you know, just watching a movie and eating popcorn and hanging out. but, man, the last 30, 45 minutes for me, I had to leave the room.

Skip, I don't know how you did it, honestly. I applaud you as a husband and as a father because I guarantee you, if I'm in your spot, I'm like, kids, go see whatever you want. How about here's the credit card, you know, the popcorn you can possibly handle it. I may have a completely different roster in about two and a half, three hours of play. Yeah, you know, it's important for me to be present with my family. I need that piece of mind being able to get away from the game and try to do the best I can just to be there for them for my wife. And I know it's a big moment during the season, but it's important for us to be present with our kids.

And for them to see that even during these very important times during our job that we have time for them. Because at the end of the day, that's my biggest responsibility is taking care of my kids and my wife. Two last questions, and we applaud you for that mentality. To this opener situation, do you envision this being a one-time thing? Could you see yourself doing this for a couple of weeks? I know you've got some reinforcements coming, but let's frankly be honest, they're probably going to be on a pitch count here for at least a while, and that could ultimately mean that guys may need to skip a start.

Yeah, you know, we are, this is, you know, it's, you know, day by day, I'll be honest with you. We see how today goes. We have Spencer coming back tomorrow. You know, he's going to be somewhat on a pitch count. You know, he can take us 80 pitches or plus. But you just never know, right? So we are taking one day at a time.

We've been very conscious of who can we pitch, who can give us multi-moronies, who could pitch back-to-back games. So it's all hands on deck. But right now, it's just one day at a time and see what we're focusing right now on winning today's game. You also sent two players back to the minor leagues in Melton and Matthews. Any messages in particular for those two gentlemen? Yeah, you know what? For me, it's more, you know, they need, first of all, they did a tremendous job.

You know, Bryce Matthews pretty much won us a series in Arizona. Melton, you know, he provides coverage, you know, three outfields. He's super athletic. He's defense. He's plus. But I told them that, you know, for them right now, it's going back down to AAA and playing every day. I want these young players to play every day. They're part of our future.

And it's important for them just to go and play. And stay ready because, you know, you never know what could happen here in the next couple of weeks. And injury can occur. And then, you know, I want them to be ready. I want them to be getting every day at bats. Thank you for the visit, as always. Enjoy South Florida. Enjoy New York.

And we'll talk again next week. And thank you for the opportunity to visit with you. Thank you. You got Joe Spada with us here on Sports Talk 7.09.