Houston Astros owner Jim Crane announced that manager Joe Espada will remain in his position for the remainder of the season, a day after the team dismissed general manager Dana Brown.

The Astros moved on from Brown, whose contract was set to expire at the end of the season. The team characterized the decision as mutual. Senior adviser Jeff Bagwell and assistant general managers Charles Cook, Gavin Dickey, and Connor Huff will assume Brown's duties during the transition, with Crane overseeing baseball operations.

"There’s no good time for any of that, you know, when you let someone go," Crane stated. "Just out of respect for Dana, we thought that was a time that would give him a little space to regroup. He’s a great talent. He’s been in the business a long time to get settled and to get back to work somewhere else."

Brown was hired in January 2023, succeeding James Click. During his tenure, Brown was part of a team that reached the American League Championship Series for the seventh consecutive time, ultimately losing in seven games to the Texas Rangers. The Astros missed the playoffs in 2024, their first absence since 2016, finishing three games behind Seattle in the AL West and losing a tiebreaker for the final wild-card spot.

Despite a challenging start to the current season, with the team at 20-31, the Astros recovered to win 40 of their next 66 games. However, they entered Tuesday having lost nine of their last 14 contests. Crane indicated that this recent performance did not factor into the decision to dismiss Brown, stating, "That didn’t have anything to do with it. We’re focused on winning the AL, winning the division and that’s our focus."

Espada, who was promoted from bench coach after Dusty Baker's retirement following the 2023 season, has led the Astros to a 240-214 record. Crane reiterated that Espada's status was always planned to be addressed at the end of the season.

"I don’t know where that got mixed up, but that’s the same answer I gave since the first of the year," Crane said. "We told him we’d deal with that at the end of the season and we’ve never changed that answer all year long."

Espada acknowledged the difficulty of the situation, particularly regarding his relationship with Brown. "We worked together very closely for three and a half years," Espada said. "He gave me the opportunity to be manager of this team. It was tough. It was a tough conversation, but he was grateful for the opportunity and I’m grateful for our relationship and how we grind through this together, but it was emotional. It was a lot of emotions behind our conversation."

Following his meeting with Crane, Espada focused on the immediate task at hand. "Focus on winning today, that’s how I left that," Espada said. "My responsibility is to lead this team. We have a very important stretch of games here. So I walk out of our office ready to go."