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January 25, 2025 • 11 mins
Astros GM Dana Brown talks the latest with the Houston Astros from 2025 Astros Fan Fest at Daikin Park.
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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Or either, and in hearing that from Dana Brown, it's
a good opportunity for us to take what we just
shared with you from Dana Brown, the general manager of
the Houston Astros, and bring that into our conversation right
here during Astros FanFest, right here on Sports Talk seven
to ninety, your flagship station for Houston Astros Baseball. Adam Wesler,
Dan Matthews, Rossby Reale here with you. Great to be

(00:21):
with you, as we always are on the day that
for the fans gets them back inside the ballpark, gets
them an opportunity to sit down with a lot of
the fans, a lot of the great events around here
with some of the Q and a's. We already heard
from Jake Myers and Josh Hater down on the field,
had John Singleton joining us here at our table we
are just behind section one oh four, and Dana Brown,
the general manager the Houston Astros, now with an opportunity

(00:43):
to sit down with us.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Busy week already.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
With the fans, and for you, nothing really changes here
in the off season, always a busy time. The latest
on where you think things stand in negotiations with your
former and potentially future third Basement Alex Bregman.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Will hit you with the hard stuff right out. Yeah,
that's a that's a pretty good one.

Speaker 3 (01:04):
Look, you know, ultimately, you know, I spoke earlier and
talked about it's probably a long shot if you had
a chance for Pregnant to come back, but I would
say the door is cracked, you know, not open. But
you know, it's interesting that he's still here on the market. Ultimately,
I think when we made some moves earlier, you know,

(01:27):
to put Perettis at third base, and we signed Walker
and you know, so we kind of solidified the infield.
But the fact that Bregman's still available, you know, I've said, look,
we've had conversations about it, you know, as a front
office and said, look, this guy is still available. You know,
you know, where's it going?

Speaker 2 (01:47):
You know. So those are just some small talks that
we've had.

Speaker 4 (01:52):
Dana Brown with us here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
And let's talk about the other big move of course
the off season, the Kyle tuck Or trade. What winded
of that and now kind of the how the roster
shakes out with that and the guys you've got in return.

Speaker 3 (02:06):
Yeah, so I said initially at the onset of the
off season. I said, look, we're gonna probably get creative.
We're not taking anything off the table. U And you know,
with a guy like Tucker, you know, we we knew
we would probably be able to get you know, some
really good players back and we could extend our winning

(02:27):
you know, and then the fact that he was going
to become a free agent, didn't know which way that
was going to go. You know, a lot of these
guys are you know, testing the market. So you know, ultimately,
what we did was we made a decition to you know,
to trade them. We felt like we got really good return.
We feel like, you know, now we're going to extend

(02:48):
our winning beyond this year, and so you know, it
was just a strategic move to to do that. It's
always tough to part ways with a really good player,
uh but you know, oftentimes you can hold on to
players too long and then you get nothing for him,
and then it sets the organization back. So, you know,

(03:09):
trading Tucker was very difficult because of how good of
a player he is, but we were able to get
some really good return.

Speaker 5 (03:16):
He is astros GM. Dana Brown joined us here on
Sports Talk seven ninety and you know, Dana back to.

Speaker 2 (03:22):
Bregman and two parter here.

Speaker 5 (03:23):
Number one I mean is you know the re engagement
is that to perceive that there's strong interest on his
end to come back. And you know also before the
offseason started, Jose had talked about, you know, just how
much he wanted him to still be a part of this.
Is that still ongoing.

Speaker 3 (03:42):
Yeah, the re engagement is more so internal. We have
not talked to Bregman, but we've had some discussions about
Bregman just the fact, the mere fact that is still available.
You know, what would what will we do if we
were able to you know, sign them back. How would
that you know, shake up our current roster. And so

(04:06):
we we've certainly had those conversations, you know, just for
the mere fact that he's still available.

Speaker 2 (04:11):
And you know, we treated like any other free agent.

Speaker 3 (04:14):
You know, we're having discussions about all these free agents
that are available, and so the fact that you know,
Breakonan is still available available, we had some conversations.

Speaker 1 (04:24):
I'm glad Dan brought up Jose al tuove just out
of our eyesight. Here one of the relentless posters of
a left fielder, Jose al Toovey is sitting up there.
I mean, we all get a chuckle out of it.

Speaker 2 (04:34):
We know.

Speaker 1 (04:35):
Enjoy even said this yesterday. Whatever happens, we'll find a
way to make it work. With all the players we
have here we think are.

Speaker 2 (04:40):
Going to help us win.

Speaker 1 (04:41):
I imagine you share that same thought.

Speaker 3 (04:43):
Yeah, I mean, look, yeah, I've I've heard all the
rumors about too Ve, you know, playing left field and
all this other stuff. Look, you never know how it's
going to shake up, you know, Yeah, I remember, you know,
because I played with this guy Craig video.

Speaker 2 (05:00):
He ended up going to the outfield.

Speaker 3 (05:01):
Sometimes when getting your latter years, you end up in
the outfield. But you know, right now, I didn't come
out and say he was going to left field.

Speaker 2 (05:12):
And so I know what maybe some of the fans
and some of the media people are talking about. I
understand what they're saying.

Speaker 3 (05:19):
But you know, he still has his second basements club,
let's put it that way.

Speaker 1 (05:24):
One of the things I'm curious if you're as excited
about is it sounds like the player is Haygen Wasznski
is one of the players that you acquired, and he
has obviously followed this team very.

Speaker 2 (05:31):
Closely, being that he's from Houston.

Speaker 1 (05:33):
He has sounded genuinely excited about working with this staff,
working with this pitching group, the analytics department, on enhancing
what he already believes his major league stuff to take
him to the next level.

Speaker 2 (05:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (05:44):
I mean the first thing I said to him when
he got here to the stadium is welcome home.

Speaker 2 (05:49):
You know.

Speaker 3 (05:50):
I like the fact that he's from Houston. You know,
I love to acquire players that are playing there their hometown.
I think you get a lot more out of these
players just that they learn how to dig deep because
they want to be a big part of something special
that they grew up around. And so you know, the
fact that this guy could throw up to ninety six
and he's going to be at the back end of

(06:11):
our rotation, I felt like, look, this is a good
guy to have. Physically, I think he's still maturing, he's
still putting on weight, and so I think he's got
a chance to really you know, there is.

Speaker 2 (06:22):
Some upside there. He's got a chance to really turn
the corner.

Speaker 3 (06:25):
So and with our pitching group, as you mentioned, you know,
we have a tendency to make guys better. You know,
when we got Kakuchi in the trade, I mean, we
made a few adjustments with him, he bought in and
things turned around really well for him. So that's just
a testament to our pitching group. And our pitching group
is really good.

Speaker 4 (06:45):
How does that factor end for you when you when
you are looking at evaluating pictures that you want to
bring in to say, you don't want to just say oh,
we'll fix them no matter what, but you look for
certain things and then get with the group. And how
what is that process like?

Speaker 2 (06:57):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (06:57):
So the process is we look at the information, the data,
and we say, look, we can get this guy to
do this.

Speaker 2 (07:03):
He has this type of spin.

Speaker 3 (07:05):
You know, we can make this adjustment or that adjustment.
So we it's calculated and it's strategic. I mean, we
go through all the information and we try to make
an evaluation.

Speaker 2 (07:16):
And our guys are very involved, you know.

Speaker 3 (07:18):
I before we make a move, we'll talk to our
major league manager, We'll talk to our major league pitching coaches.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
Hey, what do you think about this guy? Do you
think you could do something different with this guy?

Speaker 3 (07:28):
And you know those who are just using your entire
staff to make adjustments to get better. That's what we do.
I mean, we're committed to winning long term here. This
has been a successful organization. We don't plan on taking
our foot off the gas, and so, you know, we
have to continue to lock in and look for ways

(07:49):
to get better constantly.

Speaker 5 (07:51):
Dana, there's a chance that, you know, as you guys
had to West Palm Beach at number fifty five, Ryan
Presley might not be part of that group. And then
when you guys come back here start the season, that's
a lot of really valuable innings that would not be
part of that group. How do you guys feel about,
you know, how that back end of the bullpen could
shake up if indeed you don't have Ryan here.

Speaker 2 (08:09):
Yeah, I mean right now Presley is part of our team. Uh,
you know, we haven't traded him yet. I know there's
guys talking.

Speaker 3 (08:16):
We've talked to multiple teams about multiple players on our roster,
you know, just to feel to feel like it, look,
is there a chance that we can get strategic go
and make a move here or there? And so Ryan
Presley's had an outstanding career here. He's been pretty much,
you know, one hundred money in the postseason up until

(08:38):
last year, and so we feel like he's a really
good piece and it got a really good part. But
that said, you know, if there's any opportunity with Presley
or even someone else that we can feel like, look,
we could either make this team better or get something
young and extend our winning.

Speaker 2 (08:55):
In the future, then we will.

Speaker 3 (08:57):
We'll, we'll.

Speaker 1 (08:58):
Entertainment, Dana, we asked you a lot of questions about
opportunities and making this team better, or about players you
think they might fit in here, what you hope that
they might do. We haven't asked you about Christian Walker
yet because I don't know that there's anything to ask
because everything about him sounds like, here's what he's been,
here's what he's going to be, this is the kind
of defense he's going to play. And he's our first baseman.

Speaker 2 (09:17):
Yeah, look at it.

Speaker 3 (09:18):
This guy's go glove first baseman with power, and so
he's going to add right to the middle of our lineup,
and you know, it's going to prove us at first base,
you know, one of the spots.

Speaker 2 (09:29):
You know, we weren't get much production.

Speaker 3 (09:31):
At first, and we certainly weren't like at the top
in defense. So now you know we're amongst the top
and we're going to get production at first and so
that feels good.

Speaker 2 (09:40):
You know.

Speaker 3 (09:41):
You know, most of the teams that I've been around
in my entire career, we've always had a good first
baseman and that was part of what I wanted to do,
you know this offseason, you know, add to first base, let's.

Speaker 2 (09:51):
See if we can get better in that area.

Speaker 3 (09:53):
We need another bat and so you know, we feel
like Walker is going to be a big addition.

Speaker 2 (09:59):
To this club.

Speaker 4 (10:00):
So a lot of puzzle pieces still to fit for
the offseason. What about it the outfield? You still look
external there for for addressing maybe some need there.

Speaker 2 (10:09):
And where does Jacob Melton factor in him as well? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (10:12):
I mean we got a young player in Jacob Melton
that might be ready. He's getting very close to being ready.
Outstanding defender with power, there's no substitute for that. We
really need Chas McCormick and I had a conversation with
him that we really need him to return back to
the chats of twenty twenty three when he had over
an eight hundred ops and.

Speaker 2 (10:31):
How do we do that at home runs?

Speaker 3 (10:32):
Yeah, I think he's just got to get locked in,
you know, and stop you know, putting so much pressure
on himself out Ultimately, he's got the ability and talent.
He's still young, and he's working. He's working his tail
off this offseason, and you know, we've had some conversations
and so getting him back to you know, the Chas
McCormick goo would be big.

Speaker 2 (10:54):
You guys say massive.

Speaker 1 (10:55):
You'd be happy with a guy a right handed hitter
who absolutely destroys left handed pitchingnine hundred ops kind of
stuff like Chaz was doing.

Speaker 3 (11:02):
Yes, Yes, I mean we can get that done. You know,
that would be outstanding. I think our guys are focused.
We've been looking at a lot of video and trying
to figure out, Look, what is it we can do
to get him back to where he was, you know,
and and let's take all the guessing out of it,
and let's just really get him locked in. And you

(11:23):
know from talking to him, he's been really working out.

Speaker 2 (11:26):
And he feels like he's gonna get back all right.

Speaker 4 (11:30):
Astros general manager Dana Brown. No rest for the weary.
I'm sure it's been a real busy offseason for you.
It's going to continue. But thanks for making some time
for us.

Speaker 2 (11:39):
Yeah, I enjoy it. Thank you. We love the astrol fans. Man.
I'm glad to have it be here today. It's awesome,
all right, appreciate it.

Speaker 4 (11:45):
We'll talk to you at in West Palm in a
couple of weeks.

Speaker 5 (11:48):
That is, Astros General manager Dana Brown here on Sports
Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 4 (11:52):
Dan Matthews, Adam Weser, Ross Viria gonna take a quick
break on the Astros fan Fest special on Sports Talk
seven ninety
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