NEW YORK — At 4:13 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Houston Astros owner Jim Crane exited a closed-door meeting with manager Joe Espada inside Yankee Stadium’s visiting clubhouse. Crane dismissed Espada’s boss, general manager Dana Brown, on Monday morning.A day later, Crane reiterated to Espada that he will manage the remainder of the season. Like Brown, Espada is in the final year of his contract. The last time Crane took questions from reporters — in January after introducing Japanese right-hander Tatsuya Imai — the 72-year-old owner said “we’ll go through this year like we always do, evaluate and make a decision at the end of the year” on both men.Crane went against that claim on Monday morning, parting ways with Brown with two months remaining on his contract. After doing so, Crane traveled to New York and met the Astros at Yankee Stadium.Shortly after leaving Espada’s office, Crane conducted his first group interview since January. What follows is a transcript of the 10-minute conversation with a small scrum of reporters. Questions have been lightly edited for clarity.Jim, what led to the decision to part ways with Dana Brown and why was (Monday) the day?There’s no good time for any of that, when you let someone go. I think just out of respect for Dana, we thought that was a time to give him a little space and regroup. He’s a great talent. He’s been in the business a long time. (It) gives him a little more time to get settled and get back to work somewhere else.Will Joe (Espada) remain as manager the rest of the season?Oh, yes. Yes. I don’t know where that got mixed up, but that’s the same answer I’ve given since the first of the year.Has there been any decision made on beyond this season for Joe?Not yet. I told him we’d deal with that at the end of the season. We’ve never changed that answer all year long.Have you met with Joe since parting with Dana?I just talked to him for a little while.Did the performance on the homestand, especially how Sunday went, did that play a part in your decision at all?No. That didn’t have anything to do with it. We’re focused on winning the AL, winning the division and that’s our focus. But that didn’t have anything to do with it.The Astros were outscored 54-37 while going 3-6 on a nine-game homestand against the Mariners, Angels and A’s, all of whom entered Daikin Park at least seven games under .500. In the homestand finale, the Astros blew a six-run lead against the A’s.Dana Brown was in the final year of his contract. (Karen Warren / Associated Press)What is the timetable on finding a replacement now for Dana?We’ll take our time. We’ve got a little more time. It’ll probably stretch into, who knows. There’s not a lot you can do right now — everyone is playing — but we’ll look at it at the end of the season. We’ve got plenty of time to do that.What’s the biggest reason you think the last two years haven’t gone the way they usually have in Houston?You guys are watching the box scores just like I am. We expect better. We still have a chance to win the division and get this team on track. This year, (there’s) a lot of injuries in the pitching and we got off to a slow start. That hurt us. I think you can look at all of it. We’re not where we want to be, but we have a good chance to win the division.Was there any consideration to making a move on Dana either before the draft or before the trade deadline?Not really, no. I think once all of that was done, we just took a hard look at it. And, again, out of respect for him, I thought that timing would be better for him. And he agreed with that — to do it early.How was your conversation with (Brown) whenever that took place?It was a tough conversation. They’re never easy. I think he was disappointed, but he was very professional and he handled it accordingly.What will you be looking for in your next GM?We haven’t got that far. But all the important things that you guys have seen the great GMs do. Things change over time. We’ll work on that profile.Is Jeff Bagwell a candidate to become the full-time GM?We don’t have any candidates at this point. We haven’t even started looking. Jeff’s in the same role he’s always been — he’s a senior adviser and he works with the (assistant general managers) and myself and assists when necessary.What was the biggest reason for the move with Dana?I think we just needed a change. We weren’t where we wanted to be. Dana did a good job in a lot of areas and it was just time to move on.Jim Crane on Tuesday said Joe Espada would continue as Houston’s manager this season. (Troy Taormina / Imagn Images)As you look at your philosophies and how you’ve run the team the last nine or so years — and as you see baseball going in the direction it is going — do you think you can continue to run it as you’ve run it in terms of not wanting to go crazy in free agency, not wanting to give long-term deals, do you think that’s still a viable path for this team to keep its window open?I think you’re watching some pretty good teams that don’t have big payrolls. That’s certainly something we’ll study very hard. We were able to add as we went along and keep the team in a winning mode and we’re still in a winning mode. I think we’ll need to make some adjustments (and) look at how other people do things. There’s always something to learn. We do spend some money. We’re right there at the cap and been over a little. We’re in the top quartile of people spending money and we try to spend it wisely.While you’re without a GM, how involved or how much more involved do you plan to be personally in baseball operations?I’ve always been involved in one way or another. I try to help the guys in any way I can and, at the end, sometimes at the trade deadline, I’m not afraid to pick up the phone and call a player. I’ve done that numerous times. But I let the guys do their job. If they need help, I’m there to help. I sit in the meetings so I can understand what they’re doing sometimes, but we’ve got three good assistant GMs that know what they’re doing and we’ve got Jeff (Bagwell) there. I’ve learned a lot from him over the years. I’ve just got to help when I can.Will there be a front-facing member of the baseball operations department? I know you’re overseeing it, but just on a day-to-day basis, will there be one person?The AGMs will continue to do what they do, which really covers off most everything. Jeff is around on a daily basis as an adviser and they know, if they need me, they can call me.Given the potential labor uncertainty this offseason, will you want to have someone in place before the CBA expires?We’ll kind of tend to business as usual and get the team lined up, ready to go next year and hope for the best.You had the run — seven ALCSes in a row, four pennants, two championships — what’s been the hardest thing about sustaining that level of expectation and excellence?Not everybody has been able to do it. It’s a good run and we hope to keep it going. We had a little hiccup last year when we didn’t make the playoffs, but we’re right there. I think (with) a few adjustments, we can get back to that and some good decisions and certainly we have to keep working on it. The expectation that I have is we’re in the playoffs every year. It’s hard to win every year, but you have to get there.Your last three GM hires had never been a head of baseball operations before. This time around, would you look for someone more experienced in that area and how do you view experience as you vet candidates?Experience is valuable but not necessary. We’ve had a pretty good run with the guys we’ve had one way or the other. All of that is measured. Experience in business, experience in baseball always helps. You’ve got a lot of that with your manager and your coaches and your GMs. I think that’s a bundle-type talent that you’re talking about. In a run, everything has got to go right. A lot of times, we’ve had a lot of injuries or I think we’d be in a better space. Everybody has injuries, so you just can’t count on everything all the time. We’ll work hard to get back on the run and this year is still alive. We’re very focused on trying to win this division.The division has been really interesting this year — no teams over .500. What do you make of the AL West and the opportunity you still have?I really haven’t studied it that hard other than when you look at our competitors, they had a lot of injuries, too. You’re not seeing everyone at full strength and then it’s maybe a different story. Everyone has to deal with it — the Yankees have (Aaron) Judge out. Baseball, I think, the injury thing we really have to study. There’s a lot more injuries, particularly all the pitchers throughout the league. We’ll see what we can do about that.In general what have you thought of the job Joe has done managing the team?“I think Joe is doing what he can do with what he’s got. You get three or four starters down, you got to really scramble. He’s a good manager. He keeps an eye on things. I just talked to him and he’s ready to win a game today.Have you been disappointed by the overall performance of the team this year?We would like to be 10 (games) up but we’re not. But we’re right there. I’m not really disappointed. I would like to see us win the division. That’s the goal right now and everybody is focused on that. I can be disappointed all I want, but we’re at where we’re at and the expectation is to win the division.It seems like for years the Astros were always a step ahead. Do you feel like that is still a place where you’re ahead of the industry?I think once you come up with something new — (like) the shift. We were heavy on the shift, then everybody does the shift and then they eliminate the shift. I think everyone has kind of caught up on some things, but there’s certainly some teams we’re going to do some studying on that have been able to win with not the payrolls that the rest of us have and have been pretty successful. I think we’ll take a look at that.