Inside the Astros

Astros Ownership Does Not Extend Contracts as Brass Enters Final Contract Year

Astros owner Jim Crane has not offered a contract extension to his general manager Dana Brown and manager Joe Espada heading into the final year of their deal.
Jeremy Gretzer|
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Following a bitter end to the 2025 season, a year in which the Houston Astros missed the playoffs for the first time since 2016, rumblings of the job status centered around general manager Dana Brown and manager Joe Espada became uncertain.

As of October 7th, 2025, Brown, who was asked about him and Espada's job status, sternly mentioned that as far as he knows, he is still the GM and Espada will be the manager for 2026. The following season will be the final year of each of their contract. As of January 6th, 2026, there is no official discussion of a contract extension with the two managers.

How Espada and Brown Got Their Jobs

Joe Espada Dana Brown
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Espada signed in the offseason of 2023 taking over as manager replacing Dusty Baker and Brown took over as GM succeeding former GM James Click before the 2023 season.

Click took over as GM in 2020 after Crane fired Jeff Luhnow following the infamous sign-stealing scandal story going global. The former Astros GM miraculously put this touchy situation behind him and helped the Astros remove a stain on their 2017 championship by winning another ring in 2022.

Click was then surprisingly let go by Crane after his contract ended by "parting ways" with the team following a championship. Rather odd at face value, Click and Crane did not see eye to eye throughout their three-year relationship behind the scenes. The conflict reached its boiling point after 2022, which led to Brown's signing.

Brown and Espada's Struggles

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Which brings us to 2026. Under Espada and Brown's tenure, the Astros have yet to make another appearance in the World Series. As the defending 2022 champs, they came close in 2023 against the Texas Rangers in the ALCS but were one win away from making a third straight World Series appearance.

2023 saw cracks in the armor, but 2024 saw it completely break down, snapping a record eight straight years appearing in the ALCS. The Astros won the division but fell to the Detroit Tigers in a Wild Card sweep.

2025 continued the downward spiral for Brown and Espada's team. Houston had a decent lead in the AL West at the end of June, but saw everything come crashing down in the final two weeks of the regular season, missing the postseason entirely.

Both Have Done A Great Job

They haven't been completely awful in their jobs. Espada's record as manager is 175-148 thus far and, in both seasons, the Astros have been competitive. Brown's made very savvy moves since taking the helm, such as acquiring Hayden Wesneski, Isaac Parades and Cam Smith, via the Kyle Tucker trade. Parades and Smith in particular both made significant impacts on the team during their first year.

Don't forget drafting Brice Matthews, who has immense potential given his small MLB sample size, and recently signed Tatsuya Imai to a bargain of a deal.

Here's the thing however: A team's slow decline following endless success usually issues a cause for concern to make some moves in the front office. Teams in the past see the writing on the wall and take action to fix the issues on the team. So far, the Astros did a complete overhaul on their hitting and health department. Yet, as Brown said, they still have their jobs.

Brown has mentioned many times that he and Espada intend to retire here in Houston. According to Chandler Rome of the Athletic, the Astros owner has not discussed contract extensions to both Brown and Espada.

During the Crush City Territory podcast with Rome and Tyler Stafford, Rome said that they do not have a contract beyond this coming season. According to him, Jim said "we probably wont do an extension before the season. I'm not arent ruling it out."

Based on this, there is an indication that Crane wants to see how the overall season unfolds before making a contract decision.

It's happened before, with previous manager Dusty Baker and GM James Click serving the final years of their deal then subsequently brought back after Crane reviewed the final year of their contract season. To surmise further, 2026 is the inevitable make or break season for the Astros managers. If they fail to reach expectations for the second straight year, then it's very likely Crane lets them walk.

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Jeremy Gretzer
JEREMY GRETZER

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