Astros Manager Joe Espada Says José Abreu 'Sounds Like He's Ready To Go'

Manager Joe Espada joins The Matt Thomas Show following the Houston Astros losing 7-9 to the Los Angeles Angels on Monday at Minute Maid Park. Framber Valdez started on the mound and set up the Astros with a 6-1 lead through four innings. However, the fifth inning brought trouble as Valdez gave up seven runs and sent 10 Angels to the plate. Valdez tied his career high for runs allowed with eight, and the Astros would lose 9-7, their largest blown lead of the season. After the game, catcher Yainer Daiz, Valdez and Espada all said Valdez deviated from the game plan and shook Diaz off on some pitches. "It's a learning experience for both guys." When asked why Valdez was left in the game, Espada said "we've been going through our bullpen pretty heavily here" during this homestand, and "it's asking a lot," so starters need to go deep into games. Monday's outing was one of the worst of Valdez's career; however, Espada still has confidence in the starting pitcher's ability. "He has one of the best sinkers in the game." Jose Abreu was demoted to the Florida Complex League on May 1, but during the weekend series against the Milwaukee Brewers, general manager Dana Brown said José Abreu will play a few more minor-league games and could join the Astros in Oakland this weekend. Abreu "has a much cleaner swing" and "he sounds like he's ready to go...I think it will be beneficial" for Abreu to play in a minor-league game. Espada also talks about Kyle Tucker's spot in the batting lineup, Jake Meyer's recent success, getting players back from the injured list and Joey Loperfido's value as a left bat.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Houston Astro Astro Astro. This exclusiveAstros segment on Sports Talk seven ninety is
brought to you by Memorial Hermann MettercareDatage. Yes, Let's go, Hey,
Let's go guys, twelve thirty onSports Talk seven ninety it is the

(00:22):
Matt Thomas Show. Let's spend elevento twelve minutes with our friend, the
manager of the Houston Astros, Joespotted with us here on the show Skip
Power Things on this Tuesday. Doit well, guys, Thank you for
having me, Hey, thank youfor joining us. I thought yesterday was
a learning lesson for a couple ofpeople, especially a young catcher, about
the relationship between a pitcher and catcherand shaking off. Do you learn?

(00:44):
Does he learn? Does Framber learnfrom those experiences? Because let's face it,
even though Yannier has been with theteam a couple of years, it
has been a long time where Fromerhas thrown to Yan here in the last
couple of seasons. Yeah, youknow, I think both as a learning
experience for both guys. You know, you know that happens, you know
all the time, and you knowsometimes pitchers, you know, have feel
for certain pitches and and they wantto, you know, execute whatever they

(01:08):
think it's right at the h inthat precise moment. And uh, you
know yesterday in the fifth inning,you know, I think, I think
don't then go the well Framberg wantedto, and I think it's a good
learning experience for both of them.You know, we Boom will make adjustments
and we'll make sure that you knowthat Framburg is ready to go and for
his next start. And I'm goingto assume that because it happened so quickly,

(01:32):
and I've talked a lot about thiswith the postgame audience yesterday that as
much as you want to get anarm ready to go, that takes time
for those guys in that bullpen toget warmed up. Guys, listen,
you know we we've been going throughour bullpen, you know, pretty heavily.
Here we we we played what thirteenfourteen games in a row. You
know, we need we need ourstarters to take us deep in the game.

(01:55):
You know, if you go inthe bullpen in the fourth inning,
you know, I want to aska bullpen to give me four plus innings.
You know, it's it's it's tasking, you know, it's it's asking
a lot at the time we wereup by five, you know, we
left the game. You know,Framber left the game where we're down by
by two, has a two nothinggame in the fifth. You know,
I trust our offense and our bullpento give us give us a chance to

(02:17):
win the game. And just onFromber in general, what is it that
that he needs to do when he'sat his best, and especially and we
talked about the pitch clock coming intoplay and him trying to help himself calm
himself down out there. Just uh, what what tools does he need to
use to be at his best.Well, he's got one of the best
tools in the game, which ishis sinker ball. You know, anytime

(02:39):
he needs the ground ball, heneeds to induce contact. He's one of
he has one of the best thinkersin the game. So anytime he runs
him too trouble, you know,he just got an execute his sinker down
on the zone and and and andground balls. You know what happens,
and and that that wasn't the caselast night. Anytime you see balls in
the air against Ramber, that makesthe execution. It's that day. And

(03:00):
that's what happened in the fifth.Well, I'll say this as down trying
as everybody was in a shell shock. We all were. You had your
spot in the ninth inning, andthat's what I want. I think the
fan base understand is this is along marathon. You want every game to
be pretty. If you lose agame, you want to be three to
two. Sometimes it doesn't happen thatway. So I would assume the gentlemen

(03:21):
in that clubhouse, and especially theguys in the battery last night, well
we'll do their best to shake thatoff as quickly as possible. Autely.
Absolutely, guys, listen, youknow we have one another, one fifteen
to go. There's a lot ofbaseball left. You know, you can
take away to fight from our guys. Even though we were down, but
we had an opportunity and we wantone swing of the bats to win in

(03:42):
the game last night, like ourguys will fight to the end. You
know, we're playing our best.And just because that game got out of
our ants the way you did,it doesn't mean that he will linger to
the next day. No, weturned a page and we'll get ready to
go out there and win a gametonight. You have had to juggle the
line for a variety of reasons,whether it's players or moving guys up and
down the order. On a brightnote, to Kyle Tecker, looks like

(04:05):
he's embraced that number two spot.That has to be as good of a
feeling for you as a manager tobe able to go to that lineup card
at whatever time you do and putthose top two spots. And I didn't
think twice about it at this point. Yes, you know, you know
how you know it don't matter whereyou hit him, He's always just going
to contribute and be shown the lastyears, that last couple of years that

(04:27):
he's one of the best hitters inthe league. And you know, getting
that production out of that two spotbetween your done and altub it has been
has been huge for us. Andwe you know, we're getting some we're
getting some guys getting hot at theright time. So I'm you know,
I'm really excited about about about that. You had to work with a picture
down because of the Blanco suspension,and we talked about the bullpen and bringing

(04:48):
guys up and having to use them. Is that an extra check these days
because you're not going to even seethat first off day until Thursday, correct,
you know, and you and wehad Pressley down for for a few
days because of his finger. Soyou know, we've been, we've been,
We've been asking a lot from ourguys, so he has not been

(05:08):
easy to manage, uh, youknow, to navigate this this last couple
of weeks. But you know,we have one, you know, a
few series in a row. Ourstarting pitchers has done a tremendous job.
Are often starting to get some bighits. So you know, I like,
you know, I don't want tobring up last night game too much
because he's in the past. Weare focusing on the future, which is

(05:30):
today's game, and we playing.We're playing really good baseball, like the
way we are playing. Yeah,for sure, you've made up a lot
of ground so far in the AmericanLeague West in a very short period of
time. It feels like to me, Skip and this is a good problem
to have, that you're about toget a log jam bringing back some players
or Katie Chazz And it sounds likeJose could be right around the corner as
well. I would assume at thispoint there are some very difficult intelligence meetings

(05:54):
going on right now between you andDan and the rest of your organization.
Yes, you know, we're gettingsome good play years back and and and
that's that's that's that's huge. Andwhen you play a long season like the
way, like like ours, youneed a lot of players to contribute.
You need a lot of personnel.You need a lot of hands on deck
who help us to get what wewant to get to and you know,

(06:16):
getting chats back, getting a broback. There's our players that can help us
contribute. Will give all the playerssome some rest time, you know,
we could mix and match, youknow, is a really good problem to
have. Astro's manager Joe spotted what'shere with us here on Sports Talk seven
ninety and Joe, since he cameup a few years ago, I have
on this show named myself the presidentof the Jake Myers fan Club. So

(06:40):
I've really been been happy with whathe's been doing lately. I'm curious just
what do you think is unlocked forhim? And what what is going right
for Jake Myers. He did gooh for four last night, had some
hard to contact though. Just what'sbeen working for him? You know what
I think he's he's not missing hispitches. You know, we we know
there, we know there's power,we know and he stays in the zone,

(07:01):
in his zone, knowing his strength, stringing the pictures that he can
handle, he can he can dosome damage. And I think that's been
the key for Jake. He canreally hit fastballs. He's one of the
best basketball hitters in the big leagues. And you know, when he stays
and he gets them and he stayswith his ace wing and he's able to
repeat it, you know, wewe get we get that production that we're

(07:26):
getting, you know, out ofhim. You know, we all know
about his defense, but right now, you know, he's playing, he's
playing with a lot of confidence.He's hitting some both hard, he's driving
the ball. You know, he'she's he's doing he's doing some damage,
which which we need him to tocontinue to do. Here Joe Spotta with
us here on Sports Talk seven andskip uh. The conversation obviously the last

(07:47):
couple days has been about Jose andwhat he has done down in Florida.
You've relied on Jeff, You've reliedon text, you rely on maybe even
a phone call or two with Jose, and we've not asked a whole lot
about him. But we were alittle surprised that the decision was made and
maybe the could bring him up laterthis week. What have your conversations been
like that you can share with us, and what has he said that in
his mind he thinks was broken andmaybe hopefully he has been fixed with some

(08:09):
time down in West Palm. So, you know, he he played yesterday,
He had five of bats, playedsome first base, he hit a
double. Actually, you know,when you look at his overall swing,
that the changes he's made, Ithink he's in a much better better place
when he comes to be able torecognize pitches, see pitches and put an

(08:31):
a swing off right. You know, he's a much cleaner swing and and
that's important. Also, he's he'shis mindset like he is in a much
better place. He's been around hisfamily. Uh. You know, he's
been controlling the workload. Uh,you know, being able to concentrate and
take his time in between reps,in between workouts. Uh. We we

(08:56):
have a really good staff around himto support him down in West Palm.
So I think we've done some reallygood things to put him in a better
place. And our conversations have beengreat. You know, he sounds up,
Pete. He sounds like he's readyto go, and we you know,
We are excited to have him back. We really need to see the
hotep bro that we got h youknow, late last year and in the
post season. I asked you yesterdayif there was a thought or two about

(09:20):
maybe him going to play a minorleague game or two before you guys go
out to Oakland. Has there beenany further discussion about whether he can go
right from West Palm to join youguys or does he want to get at
least one minor league game in.So we're still having those discussions. I
think it will be beneficial for himto do that, you know, but
he is getting He is getting aton of a bat, you know,
down down in West m We wouldlike to get him, you know,

(09:43):
on a higher level to get himto play, but just that conversation that
we continue to have with him.Uh. And there are some joey little
Barfedo fans out there that are worriedabout the time that, you know,
when Chaz comes back. And Iknow that the data may have hinted towards
it's the guy that needs to playfive six days a week. How how
are you evaluating his performance knowing thatit's very hard to squeeze it in with

(10:03):
all those other guys trying to fightfor that playing time, especially the fact
that Kyle you know, basically playsninety five percent of the time. Yeah,
well, you know, I'm alsoa Lowperfito fan. So for all
the fans out there, I Iyou know, I'm I'm a big fan
of Joey and he what he didn'tspend training really cut the eye of a
lot of people. And then Ithink there'll be some opportunities for him to

(10:26):
play. You know, I thinkhe can. You know, that left
bat is very valuable, you know, having Chess back, you know,
knowing that he's a right handed hitter, and we know that he handles right.
He left he's very well he's donein years past. But there's always
some matchups there for Operfito that wecan that we could get him, get
him going, you know, chashe's coming back from a hamstring injury,

(10:48):
so we want to we want tomake sure that we control the value right
off the bat, the volume rightoff the bat, So there'll be chances
for Lottrafito. But you know,if we really want to find out what
this kid can do, you know, you know, playing every single day,
getting him every day of bats.He's always kind of the best way
to go with younger players. Butwe're excited to have him here right now
and and i'll you know, lookfor spots for him to get him in

(11:11):
there and get him playing some plainingtime. Thank you for the visitors,
always great material and the good luckto tight against the Angels. We appreciate
the visitors always all right, thankyou, we got it. That's a
Joe a spot of joining us hereon The Matt Thomas Show.