Good morning. It appears as though the Astros have their new manager, and will announce Joe Espada as the 20th manager in franchise history at a press conference today at 11am. Espada was hired by A.J. Hinch from the Yankees to be Alex Cora's replacement as bench coach. I got it wrong, I didn't think the Astros would be willing to hire Espada.
Obviously this is going to be good news for Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, Justin Verlander, Ryan Pressly, and anyone else who has been with the Astros since 2018 because it provides continuity. There's (probably) not going to be this massive change in style and culture, since everyone knows what Espada is about, and he already knows absolutely everybody. If winning is the standard in Houston, Espada already knows what goes into that level of winning. I think it's a great hire, and I'm happy for the previously-perennially-second place Espada.
*Espada will be the second Latino manager in Astros history, first since Preston Gomez in 1974-1975.
*Chandler Rome lists the four main challenges Espada will face as the new Astros manager: Alignment with front office/ownership; first-year pitfalls; reminding the Astros how to do the fundamentals (defense, baserunning, things of that nature); who plays where in the outfield.
*MLB.com's Mark Feinsand is reporting that "4-5 teams" are interested in Martin Maldonado for 2024, which means that Martin Maldonado's agent told Mark Feinsand that 4-5 teams are interested in Martin Maldonado for 2024.
*The deadline to add prospects to the 40-Man Roster to protect them from the Rule 5 Draft is tomorrow (Tuesday) at 5pm. The Astros have a number of their MLB.com-listed Top 30 Prospects that would need to be added. They include: Colin Barber, Kenedy Corona, Justin Dirden, Miguel Palma, Zach Daniels, Shay Whitcomb, Jaime Melendez, and Misael Tamarez.
*The Astros unveiled their plans for an entertainment district around Minute Maid Park.
*Someone in Florida won $5.5m on a parlay when the Texans beat the Bengals yesterday.
*Texas Monthly: A Texas teen is introducing the pedal steel to a new generation.
*A Musical Selection:
