Joe

Espada

He’ll take the job vacated by Joe Espada when he was promoted to be the Astros’ manager following Dusty Baker’s retirement. Lopez has spent the past 25 years working in the Astros’ organization — including 12 seasons managing in the minor leagues. He has worked alongside Espada on the big league staff for the past four years in the role of first base coach.

It’s the first managerial gig for the 48-year-old. Espada spent the last six years as the team’s bench coach, working with both A.J. Hinch and Dusty Baker. Before that, he played nine seasons as a minor league infielder and coached for the Marlins and Yankees.

The deal isn’t official but Houston has set a press conference for Monday morning where it is expected that the 48-year-old will be announced as the Astros’ 25th manager in franchise history. Espada has been the Astros bench coach since 2018 and has interviewed for numerous managerial positions over the past few offseasons. Espada has big shoes to fill as the Astros won two World Series championships and made the ALCS the last seven seasons.

Espada is a candidate for both jobs. The oddity here is that, as The Athletic’s Chandler Rome reports, Espada’s contract with the Astros expired on Oct. 31, allowing him to do whatever he’d like. Yet GM Dana Brown still said Tuesday that the Brewers were being denied permission to interview in Milwaukee.

Rosenthal adds that Brewers bench coach Pat Murphy, Blue Jays bench coach Don Mattingly, Dodgers first base coach Clayton McCullough, Astros hitting coach Troy Snitker and former Braves infielder Rickie Weeks are also candidates, according to sources briefed on the club’s thinking. The sudden departure of manager Craig Counsell has opened up a vacancy in Milwaukee and it doesn’t sound like they’ve quite narrowed down their field of potential candidates.

Brown added that the search to replace Baker, who retired last week after four seasons at the helm in Houston, will be thorough. However, he declined to offer a specific timetable to fill the position. The Astros are expected to interview bench coach Joe Espada, who has been a finalist for other managerial vacancies the last few years. There have been rumblings that the club has expressed interest in Brewers manager Craig Counsell, whose contract is set to expire this week, but it’s unclear whether he’ll interview for the vacancy at this juncture. There should be a list of potential candidates at some point in the coming weeks.