Brown, Espada to return as Astros GM, manager in 2026 (source)

HOUSTON -- Astros general manager Dana Brown and manager Joe Espada will return to their roles with the club for 2026, a source told MLB.com on Tuesday, putting to rest any speculation about their futures. The team has not yet confirmed the news.

Brown recently completed his third season at the helm of the Astros, and Espada finished his second season as manager after spending the previous six years as Houston’s bench coach. Last Tuesday at the team’s end-of-season press conference, Brown said he expected to be the GM of the Astros moving forward, while saying Espada was under contract.

Still, some speculation persisted about the futures of both men, even though they already had contracts for 2026, the source said. That gives the Astros some stability heading into an important season following Houston’s first season without making the playoffs since 2016.

Brown took over as general manager of the Astros in January 2023 -- two months after Houston won the 2022 World Series -- and promoted Espada from bench coach to manager 10 months later. The Astros lost the 2023 American League Championship Series in seven games to the Rangers under Dusty Baker and last year were swept in the AL Wild Card Series by the Tigers in Espada's first year as manager. Espada is 175-148 in his two seasons and won the AL West division title in 2024.

This season, Houston went 87-75 and tied with Detroit for the final Wild Card spot, but the Tigers advanced because they won the season series over the Astros, 4-2. Houston had a seven-game lead atop the AL West on July 6, but a slew of injuries proved to be too much for the club to overcome in the final two months of the season.

The Astros had 28 different players on the injured list this season, with 2025 All-Stars Jeremy Peña, Josh Hader and Isaac Paredes missing substantial time and three-time All-Star Yordan Alvarez playing in only 48 games. FanGraphs estimated the Astros lost more potential value on the injured list than any other team.

Brown said last week injuries are an “industry-wide issue,” but said he will take a look at every aspect of baseball operations this winter.

“There’s guys throwing harder, there’s guys chasing spin,” Brown said. “I don’t think there’s a magic bullet as to why there were so many injuries. I know we were affected big-time from it, and I think it cost us the postseason from all the injuries. I figure we’d get two or three more wins if we had all of our guys.”

This should be a fascinating offseason for the Astros, who have a key free agent in starting pitcher Framber Valdez. Brown said the club would like to bring back backup catcher Victor Caratini, who will be a free agent, but Houston will have to add some starting pitching depth and address an abundance of position players. Brown said the Astros will be in the market to trade for an arm.

“It’s going to be a fun offseason for us trying to figure all this out and trying to put the best team on the field,” Espada said. “I’m looking forward to it.”

Espada said last week he plans to have dinner with third baseman Carlos Correa in the coming days to talk about Spring Training and how the team should move forward personnel-wise this offseason. Correa was traded back to the Astros from the Twins in July and immediately stepped back into his role as a team leader.

“I personally like to empower some of our leaders to have a say in how we’re going to address the aspects of our game that we need to address, so Carlos will be in the middle of those conversations,” Espada said.