Joe Espada's continued reliance on Jose Abreu could be his Astros undoing

The Houston Astros have had a miserable start to their season, playing sub-.500 baseball, losing several starters due to injury, and seeing other star-level players underperform. It has been a rough go for first-year manager Joe Espada who certainly doesn't deserve all of the blame for Houston's rough start, but he's also not blame-free. He showed that again on Monday.

Despite all that has gone wrong, Houston won four of five entering Sunday's game against the Los Angeles Angels. They blew that game in dramatic fashion, and hoped to bounce back on Monday against the San Francisco Giants. Things looked good to start, as Spencer Arrighetti pitched very well, but the bats were silent.

It was a 1-1 game in the ninth and Houston was threatening against the hard-throwing Camilo Doval. They had runners on the corners with two outs, and Espada had a dilemma on his hands. He could choose to send up the struggling Jose Abreu who had gone 0-for-3 on the day and hadn't done anything at the MLB level all year, or he could use Joey Loperfido off the bench who in over 70 fewer MLB plate appearances has just one fewer hit than the former MVP.

Espada went with Abreu, and the result, predictably, was a strikeout. The Astros stranded those runners and despite taking a tenth-inning lead, lost another heartbreaker in extras to fall to 30-37 on the year. While again it isn't all Espada's fault, he certainly deserves some blame for this recent loss.

Joe Espada could cost himself his job if he continues to rely on Jose Abreu

It's important to preface this by saying it's hard to know if Espada actually has free reign here. It's entirely possible that owner Jim Crane or GM Dana Brown is forcing Espada to use Abreu as if he is still a reliable player, but if this is Espada's doing, yikes.

Abreu starting games at this point is frustrating enough. Sure, he's been better than he was before he was sent down, but he could not have been worse than he was before the demotion. He's still hitting .180 since his recall. The Astros had a player in Loperfido who in a microscopic sample size has shown way more than Abreu. They could've hit for Abreu with Loperfido in the ninth to try and win the game right there. Doval is very good, Loperfido might've failed to get the job done, but he probably wouldn't have swung through three pitches like Abreu did.

What makes matters worse is in extra innings when Abreu was supposed to be Houston's free runner, Loperfido ran for him. This wasn't even about the Astros needing Abreu to play first base. It was about Espada and the Astros trusting Abreu to hit in that huge spot over Loperfido or literally anyone else.

If the Astros want to start Abreu because of the massive contract he's on, that's one thing. Relying on him in key spots is not going to work. He hasn't come through all season. Espada and the organization simply have to adapt. If they don't, not only will it hurt the team, but Espada can hurt his own job security.