Let longtime baseball executive Dana Brown serve as a reminder of just how spoiled Houston Astros fans have become.
Upon arriving in 2023, Brown inherited an Astros team fresh off its second championship in the Jose Altuve era. Houston had won four pennants and rattled off seven postseason appearances over an eight-year span, and the expectation was understandably that the Astros would remain a powerhouse.
Instead, the Astros haven’t won a playoff game since the 2023 ALCS, and they’re at risk of missing the postseason for a second straight year. So it shouldn’t have been overly surprising when Brown and the Astros mutually parted ways last week, even as they look to hold off the Rangers in the AL West chase.
During a Tuesday appearance on “Foul Territory,” Brown revealed that he hoped to extend shortstop Jeremy Peña and starting pitcher Hunter Brown. However, he also implied that owner Jim Crane preferred not to make those moves.
“We’ve allowed some star players to walk out in the past and that’s what it is,” Brown said. “We don’t do long deals here. I have high respect for Jim Crane; he’s been a successful owner, and he doesn’t like to do bad deals.”
Did Dana Brown hint that the Houston Astros are headed for a rebuild?
Brown’s comments that Crane doesn’t want to do “bad deals” come two years after the Astros signed Altuve to a five-year, $125 million contract. The nine-time All-Star has provided the team with a .743 OPS and 0.7 bWAR since the start of 2024, and he turned 36 in May. Talk about a contract that’s aging wonderfully.
In both Crane and Brown’s defense, the Kyle Tucker trade hasn’t been a total disaster. Third baseman Isaac Paredes has been worth 5.5 bWAR in his two seasons with the Astros, whereas Tucker had a frustrating end to his lone season in Chicago. His repeated struggles with the Dodgers speak for themselves, and he’s become a liability ahead of their latest playoff push.
But if the Astros seem reluctant to extend their top young players, then what is the endgame? They’re likely stuck with Altuve until the end of his contract, and Carlos Correa is under team control through 2028. However, he has vesting options for 2029 through 2033, all of which automatically kick in if he meets certain plate appearance totals.
Outside of Brown, none of the Astros’s homegrown pitchers have impressed, and Japanese import Tatsuya Imai has looked visibly uncomfortable in his first season stateside. At their current pace, the best-case scenario is the Astros take advantage of what remains a mediocre AL West.
Crane deserves credit for his aggressiveness, and the Justin Verlander trade in 2017 was instrumental in bringing home the Astros’ first championship. That said, it’s difficult not to look at the team’s current state and wonder whether they’re destined for baseball limbo. Houston hasn’t missed the postseason in consecutive years in over a decade, and the Astros woke up on Wednesday with a one-game lead over the Rangers in the AL West.
Good luck finding anyone who’ll feel sympathetic toward Altuve and the Astros, though. A sign-stealing scandal and subsequent lack of meaningful punishments don’t exactly earn you much goodwill among fans.
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