July 31, 2024 • 21 mins
Houston Astros General Manager Dana Brown talks about the team post-Trade Deadline, following their acquisition of Blue Jays starter Yusei Kikuchi, in exchange for prospects Joey Loperfido, Jake Bloss and Will Wagner.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back to the Seann salas Very Show here on
(00:01):
Sports Talk seven.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I need Sean Salasberry, Brian Lima, Manuel Elmore. Let's welcome
in Astro's general manager Dana Brown.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Of the show.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Yeah, for his weekly visit nine thirty every Wednesday, Dana
Brown joins us Astros GM. You think we got anything
to talk about, Dana, welcome in. Let's start here. How
long was Kakuchi on your radar? And was he the
guy all the way for you guys in this trade deadline?
Speaker 1 (00:28):
You know, we had a lot of guys in mind ultimately,
but Kukucci was definitely a guy that we targeted so
and we felt like he would be a big piece
and a big addition, you know, to this organization and
to this rotation. So he was already he was always
(00:49):
the primary target. Why just because he's got power stuff.
We want guys you know with swing and miss. Our
vision is to you know, get a guy in a
rotation who could log innings and and really get the
swing and miss. So that was a big factor. Guys
with power stuff. He's ninety three to ninety eight, and
(01:11):
you know those are just postseason types of talents that
you'd like to bring into an organization.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Dana, when we look at the numbers of his career,
are we missing something? Because you know, if people sit
at home look at the e er A and the
wins and losses, what are we missing about him? Or
fans missing about him? And you telling them why Kakuchie
was your number one target aside from swinging miss.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
Well in terms of what are they missing about him?
Speaker 1 (01:42):
You know, ultimately, you know when you get a guy
like this, it's very important to a rotation. When you
get a guy you know who could give you innings,
he could get strikeouts when he needs strikeouts, and the
fact that he has power stuff. You know, those those
are guys that you want in your organization, particularly when
(02:05):
you're when you're making a run for the division and
you're making a run for the postseason and you're making
you're trying to go deep back into the postseason. So
you know, this guy, Uh, you can't always go on
un run average. You know, swinging miss is a big
part of what we do. You know, we have a
really good defense, so I know our defense is really good,
(02:26):
and so you can't always go on unrun average. It's
not the it's not the telltale, you know, the telltale
is how much swing a miss is you're getting? You know,
is he giving you innings? And and can you hand
him the baseball every five days? That's very important for
the course of you know, finishing out of season.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Is he a top three rotation guy? Do you believe
you got you talking about some back end of rotation.
Is he a frontline, top three rotation guy for you?
Speaker 4 (02:55):
Yeah, we see him as a third starter. You know,
that's that's what his talent is. And you know those
kind of.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Guys they end up pitching in the postseason, and you know,
we see him definitely as a third starter.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Okay, you were talking.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
I asked those GM Dana Brown for his weekly Visit
nine thirty visit here on the Shaan Salaz Regio Sports
Talk seven ninety. We talked about this was not a
knee jerk decision. That it's basically and those are my words,
but it was like a you know, a week to
ten days or longer working on this deal. When you
first started this deal, what was Toronto asking, Well, we
(03:32):
don't get.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Into any of our specifics of you know, you know,
what we're going through when we're trying to you know,
acquire players. I mean that's like front office, in house,
in house stuff. But ultimately, you know, we we were
we were speaking to many clubs because we of course,
uh you know, you never know where your deal was
(03:54):
going to come from. And so, uh, you know, while
it may take a week for ten days to put
things together, you know, you start early in the trade deadlines,
but you know, as you get closer, you know, teams
may realize that they become you know, uh sellers, you
know instead of buyers, and and so that's when certain
(04:16):
things start to come alive. But you know, you you
always have your targets, and you know, he's definitely a
primary target, uh, you know for most clubs, and he
was at primary target for us as soon as we
found out that, you know, Toronto was going to become.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Sellers and there was more teams involved trying to get him.
Kukuchi am I correct their data to your knowledge absolutely absolutely.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
When you when you know, when you're in the market
for a starter, you know there's other teams that are
in the market for a starter, and so you know,
the competition is real. This is Baseball is a competitive sport,
you know, and particularly when you're trying to you know,
get deep and back to the postseason. So this is
(05:01):
all competitive. I mean, this is this is an all
night texting thing and a lot of phone calls. You know,
you do a lot to get deals done, you know,
I know, you know, we see the deal and we
talk for you know, five minutes with our media clip
or whatever we do. But there are so there's so
(05:22):
much that go into, you know, getting a deal done.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
I asked you, Dana, about six weeks ago, if you
were a postseason team, as you said, and you said yes.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Then I asked if you're a World Series team.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
You said you think that you probably had to get
something done on a pitching staff or two to get
it to be that team. Are you now a World
Series major threat that you added Kakuchi?
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Yeah, I think we we're definitely a major threat, you know,
we you know, and particularly too if we get you know,
justin Verlander back, you know, I mean, can you imagine
that rotation so only you know this really you know,
sets us up and it gives us the pieces that
we need. First of all, you have to do one
(06:09):
step at a time. First of all, we need to
win the division. You win the division and then you
start your march and your journey to get deep back
into the postseason, back to the CS, back.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
To the World Series.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
And so that's basically, you know, the path. That's our goal.
But we you know, our ultimate goal is get back
to the World Series and win, but we have steps
that we have to take before that.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
When Dana Brown astros GM joins us each Wednesday, and
we're fortunate to have him on and trade deadline has
passed the second part of the season ruling along. Now, Dana,
did you because he's a rental, how much did that
play into this? And did you overpay to get pitching?
Because sometimes it's going to sting in this one and
(06:58):
we'll get the low Ferfeito and his second this one
for some things.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
So did you overpay for rental?
Speaker 1 (07:06):
No? I mean, look, the market is the market, you know,
I mean when you acquire I mean if you look
out through all all the trades that take place, not
only this year, years before. Uh, you know, the market
is the market. If you want to acquire uh, really
good pitching at the deadline, it's going to cost. And uh,
(07:27):
you know, winn income at a cost, It comes at
a cost. And so you know, You can't just show
up and the major leagues and say, oh yeah, we're good. Well,
you know we're going to be good to this year
next year. There are trades throughout every organization each year
that you're going to have to make in order to
be good down the stretch. And you know if you
(07:51):
if you don't make these trades, then you know your
team possibly could fall off and and you know no
one wants that. And so when you're dealing with other teams,
you know, these guys are these guys are smart baseball man.
You know, you can't trip teams into taking less talent.
You know, teams, you know, know that they have to
(08:12):
do what's best for their organization, and ultimately winning comes
at a cost, you know, and if you if you
don't put the work in and if you don't acquire
the talent, you know, there's there's a good chance it's
going to be even more difficult to win. And so
I felt like, look, if we're going to get back
(08:33):
to the postseason and get deep into the postseason, and
you're sitting here right now with six starters on the
I L and you know, you go through this trade
deadline and you don't make a move and you have
six starters on the I L and then you feel like, look,
your rotation is beat up a little bit. And then
all of a sudden, you know, you meet those tough
(08:54):
games and at don't days of August, and if you're
sitting there seven eight, nine games back in August, that's a.
Speaker 4 (09:03):
Difficult place to be in.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
And so winning comes at a cost. And sometimes you
have to make these trades. And these trades are not
new to baseball. It happens, it's part of what we do.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Was the was the the rental of Kokuchi tough for
you to did that come into play?
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Thinking?
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Man, of course, if you pitches well, you look to
the future to resign him. But for now and getting
rid of three guys that that you know, Wagner and
low Berfdo and Bloss that the two of them been
on the major league roster and one of them's got
pretty bright future.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Was the rental hard for you to pull the trigger?
Or was it easy?
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Dana?
Speaker 4 (09:41):
Here's what I would say. I would say, I spent.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
My entire career acquiring talent. Absolutely, so I feel like.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
You know, when you're in this position and you have.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
To make these decisions, sometimes you're gonna end up making
decisions to are rental. Sometimes you may make a decision
to acquiring guy that you may have for a year,
two extra but ultimately you're gonna have to give up prospects.
And because I.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
Spent my entire year a career acquiring.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Prospects, I feel like with our staff and with my
leadership and what I've done in the game, I've developed
a reputation of acquiring talent. And so you know, you
have to replenish every year, and that's what it's all about.
And and some of these guys are gonna make it
and get to the big leagues and play.
Speaker 4 (10:36):
For you, and some of the guys are.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Going to be uh traded. I mean, it goes with
the territory. It's uh, it's part of the business. And
it's what we do when you when you when you
want to win. And so ultimately it's a very difficult
thing to to give up prospects. But certainly when you're
(10:59):
giving up that's for a rental, you know, it makes
you think twice. But you have to realize when you
do that, you also have to replenish, and you have
to have a vision to replenish the talent and the organization,
and that's what you do in order to be successful
and to continue and sustain long.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Term winning, no doubt about it.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Dana with with Joey Lo Brafito, you know, this city
a fan base. You can imagine the calls that we've
we've got and the support and they love his energy,
love him as a player, and didn't want to part
with him. So was he the piece that you had
to give away to close this deal out?
Speaker 2 (11:36):
For Kakuchi?
Speaker 3 (11:38):
How big a play was it early on him? Was
he a laid ad to it? Was he the piece
that was able to get you the picture? And in truth,
how tough was it for you to get for him?
For you to part with him? Was Bill on your
major league roster?
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Yeah? Look, all three of those guys were key pieces
in this trade, and you cannot you can. You can
try to persuade other teams and deals to you know,
on this player or that player, but you know, teams
get locked in on certain players and you know, these
(12:13):
three players were a big key in this trade, and
so you know we had to part ways with the player.
Parting ways with players it's very difficult, particularly you know
the makeup the energy of a of a Joey Lopaffido.
You know, it's it's it's it's very difficult when you
have to part ways with players. It's part of the
(12:35):
business and we all understand that, but it is a
difficult thing. And uh, you know, Joey Lopafito is a
really special human being. And ultimately when you part ways
with these players, you do it with the organization in mind,
and you try to stay focused on continuing the winning
(12:57):
and you try to stay focused on we have to
replenish even with talent once we part ways with with
with with this type of talent, and all the old
saying goes, when you get a good player, it's gonna hurt.
And that's why winning comes.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
That are called if you and you've been in a
long time, Dan, and it may not even be a
fair question, what the hell that I got to ask it?
If you don't, we're looking for you know, everybody's looking
like in an NFL draft or even in a major
league draft and you draft somebody were like, well, how
many years does it take before we know this draft
was a good draft in the NFL. So we're trying
to figure out, how will we know it's a good trade.
(13:34):
If I say to you, if you don't win a
World Series, was it a bad trade? What's your response.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
This year? This year, the ultimate goal is to win
the division? First is it?
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Let me ask you.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
In order to get the ultimate goal is to win
the division to get into the playoffs in order to
win the World Series. The ultimately the final goal. The
final goal is to win the World Series, no doubt
about it. And so we try to do things to
(14:10):
get to our final goal in winning the World Series.
But you have to take it step by step. You
have to win the division, and in winning the division,
you have to have the proper rotation to get there.
And you know, ultimately these are very important steps that
we take to get back to the postseason, to get
(14:30):
back to the World Series. And parting ways with players,
it's very difficult. I would say that over and over again.
There are going to be more joy little cafedos all
throughout our industry that you have to part ways with
in order for your organization to get better and to win.
And it's a very very difficult decision. I totally understand
(14:56):
where the fan base is on this one. I fill
the absolute same way I also have to put the
organization first and say, look, what do we have to do.
We have to do the best thing to get back
to the postseason and to win a World Series.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
Dan, is your team better today than it was before
the trade?
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Yes, yes, we are better. Uh and we're we we've
uh we we we've created a little bit more depth,
not only in our rotation but in our bullpen. And
so ultimately we're better. Uh. And and we had to
set this up because you know, as I mentioned before,
the six starters on the I l. If we don't
(15:40):
have six starters on the I l uh, maybe we
don't have to make this trade. But when when your
rotation is beat up, you know, you have to do
things to continue the winning. And and sometimes, as I
mentioned earlier, I can't say it enough. You know, winning
come at a cost, and that's just part of that's
(16:04):
part of life, that's part of baseball, and that's part
of long term winning.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
But the cost wasn't too high for the run, is
what you're saying. I mean, you did not overpay, you
felt it was fair. Do you got a good deal
out of this is my point?
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Correct?
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Well, ultimately, you know we always talk in this way.
You know, people would say, Okay, how do you rate
this trade or how do you rate that trade? You know,
there's there's two ways. There's two ways to look at that, right.
You know, you have a first report card and you
have a final report card. You know, first report card.
(16:41):
You know, you look at this and you say, Okay,
what kind of trade it is. It's going to be
all kinds of opinions from all kinds of people. That's
your first report card. The final report card is yet
to be seen. And so but we felt like making
a trade that's us up to have a good final
report card. And that report card is going to be
(17:02):
based on good, good starting rotation, firming up your pen,
getting some guys back off the il in order to
get that good report card.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
And win the World Series. And so that's how.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
You have to look at this. I understand all the
emotion that's wrapped around trades and in these type of acquisitions.
It's it's part of the game, and it's part of
what we do. And you know, I've been doing it
for thirty five years, and so I've seen a lot
(17:37):
in baseball, and I've seen a lot of players come
and go. I've seen good trades, bad trades. Nobody bats
a thousand. You don't bat a thousand on your job.
I'm not going to bat a thousand on my job.
But I will tell you this. We will continue to
do what we think we need to do in this
organization to continue to sustain the winning. And part of
(18:03):
being good and part of sustaining winning is that you're
gonna have to make trades. And as I mentioned before,
winning is going to come at a cost. And ultimately,
we want to win, and we want to do what's
best for the organization, and even even when it's tough
decisions that have to be made.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
And I'll let you go on this, and I sure
appreciate you giving us extra time today on an emotional
obviously Wednesday for everybody, and we sure appreciate it. And yes,
I'm just trying to hit six hundred instead of a thousand,
so I figure I'm good on that side.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
I'm with you, my man.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
All right, you say you say we feel meaning the
ASHOS organization. You're the you're the big dog, you're the
decision maker, You're the GM, and rightfully so, how many
voices had to say or or mister Crane obviously what's
the order of like Joe Joe aspata you who has
to give okay thumbs up? Or how many people gave
(18:59):
thumbs up to say yeah, pull this trigger?
Speaker 2 (19:01):
How many people are involved in that listen.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Ultimately, I bearied a responsibility as their general manager of
the Houston Astros. I totally bearied a responsibility. I think
there's wisdom and a multitude of council. So I will
ask people on my staff, hey, what do you think
about this? Or what do you think about that? And
(19:26):
we will collaborate to try to make the best decisions
possible for this organization. But I have to make the
final decision. This is a decision that was made by
me through collaborating with other members on my front office staff.
(19:46):
And so you know, we made the decision, you know,
as we talked through it, like look, if we're going
to win, we have to get stronger in the rotation.
And then finally I had to make the final decision
to say, look, I know it's going to a cost,
but winning comes out of costs, and you know, we
have to get strong on our rotation. Therefore we have
(20:07):
to make a move to do it.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
And we made the move good on you and for
feeling so convicted towards this and we're looking forward to
the World Series. Ring decisions aren't easy and we appreciate
you and coming on and answered all these questions for
the emotion that runs wild in a city that is
used to winning, and we're grateful you do that for us,
and thank you and congrats on getting this deal done.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Man.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
We look forward to talking to you next.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
Week and let's get back on the winning ways for
the current team going on right now, right, let's do
that too.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
It starts you get.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Yes, I love in respect as you say, Astros fans.
I love the energy, I love the emotion, and you
know I would ask the Astro fans absolutely for their support.
We're going to continue to move forward and try to
do what's best for this organization even when these decisions
are going to be tough.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
Sure are don't envy what you got to do, man,
but I sure can't wait till the end result. We
look forward to it again next week and good luck
against Pittsburgh today. And thanks for taking the time, Dan,
and we appreciate it, no problem.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Thanks, thank you.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
That's you, bet, That's Danton Brown, GM Brian
Welcome back to the Seann salas Very Show here on
(00:01):
Sports Talk seven.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I need Sean Salasberry, Brian Lima, Manuel Elmore. Let's welcome
in Astro's general manager Dana Brown.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Of the show.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Yeah, for his weekly visit nine thirty every Wednesday, Dana
Brown joins us Astros GM. You think we got anything
to talk about, Dana, welcome in. Let's start here. How
long was Kakuchi on your radar? And was he the
guy all the way for you guys in this trade deadline?
Speaker 1 (00:28):
You know, we had a lot of guys in mind ultimately,
but Kukucci was definitely a guy that we targeted so
and we felt like he would be a big piece
and a big addition, you know, to this organization and
to this rotation. So he was already he was always
(00:49):
the primary target. Why just because he's got power stuff.
We want guys you know with swing and miss. Our
vision is to you know, get a guy in a
rotation who could log innings and and really get the
swing and miss. So that was a big factor. Guys
with power stuff. He's ninety three to ninety eight, and
(01:11):
you know those are just postseason types of talents that
you'd like to bring into an organization.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Dana, when we look at the numbers of his career,
are we missing something? Because you know, if people sit
at home look at the e er A and the
wins and losses, what are we missing about him? Or
fans missing about him? And you telling them why Kakuchie
was your number one target aside from swinging miss.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
Well in terms of what are they missing about him?
Speaker 1 (01:42):
You know, ultimately, you know when you get a guy
like this, it's very important to a rotation. When you
get a guy you know who could give you innings,
he could get strikeouts when he needs strikeouts, and the
fact that he has power stuff. You know, those those
are guys that you want in your organization, particularly when
(02:05):
you're when you're making a run for the division and
you're making a run for the postseason and you're making
you're trying to go deep back into the postseason. So
you know, this guy, Uh, you can't always go on
un run average. You know, swinging miss is a big
part of what we do. You know, we have a
really good defense, so I know our defense is really good,
(02:26):
and so you can't always go on unrun average. It's
not the it's not the telltale, you know, the telltale
is how much swing a miss is you're getting? You know,
is he giving you innings? And and can you hand
him the baseball every five days? That's very important for
the course of you know, finishing out of season.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Is he a top three rotation guy? Do you believe
you got you talking about some back end of rotation.
Is he a frontline, top three rotation guy for you?
Speaker 4 (02:55):
Yeah, we see him as a third starter. You know,
that's that's what his talent is. And you know those
kind of.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Guys they end up pitching in the postseason, and you know,
we see him definitely as a third starter.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Okay, you were talking.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
I asked those GM Dana Brown for his weekly Visit
nine thirty visit here on the Shaan Salaz Regio Sports
Talk seven ninety. We talked about this was not a
knee jerk decision. That it's basically and those are my words,
but it was like a you know, a week to
ten days or longer working on this deal. When you
first started this deal, what was Toronto asking, Well, we
(03:32):
don't get.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Into any of our specifics of you know, you know,
what we're going through when we're trying to you know,
acquire players. I mean that's like front office, in house,
in house stuff. But ultimately, you know, we we were
we were speaking to many clubs because we of course,
uh you know, you never know where your deal was
(03:54):
going to come from. And so, uh, you know, while
it may take a week for ten days to put
things together, you know, you start early in the trade deadlines,
but you know, as you get closer, you know, teams
may realize that they become you know, uh sellers, you
know instead of buyers, and and so that's when certain
(04:16):
things start to come alive. But you know, you you
always have your targets, and you know, he's definitely a
primary target, uh, you know for most clubs, and he
was at primary target for us as soon as we
found out that, you know, Toronto was going to become.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Sellers and there was more teams involved trying to get him.
Kukuchi am I correct their data to your knowledge absolutely absolutely.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
When you when you know, when you're in the market
for a starter, you know there's other teams that are
in the market for a starter, and so you know,
the competition is real. This is Baseball is a competitive sport,
you know, and particularly when you're trying to you know,
get deep and back to the postseason. So this is
(05:01):
all competitive. I mean, this is this is an all
night texting thing and a lot of phone calls. You know,
you do a lot to get deals done, you know,
I know, you know, we see the deal and we
talk for you know, five minutes with our media clip
or whatever we do. But there are so there's so
(05:22):
much that go into, you know, getting a deal done.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
I asked you, Dana, about six weeks ago, if you
were a postseason team, as you said, and you said yes.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Then I asked if you're a World Series team.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
You said you think that you probably had to get
something done on a pitching staff or two to get
it to be that team. Are you now a World
Series major threat that you added Kakuchi?
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Yeah, I think we we're definitely a major threat, you know,
we you know, and particularly too if we get you know,
justin Verlander back, you know, I mean, can you imagine
that rotation so only you know this really you know,
sets us up and it gives us the pieces that
we need. First of all, you have to do one
(06:09):
step at a time. First of all, we need to
win the division. You win the division and then you
start your march and your journey to get deep back
into the postseason, back to the CS, back.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
To the World Series.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
And so that's basically, you know, the path. That's our goal.
But we you know, our ultimate goal is get back
to the World Series and win, but we have steps
that we have to take before that.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
When Dana Brown astros GM joins us each Wednesday, and
we're fortunate to have him on and trade deadline has
passed the second part of the season ruling along. Now, Dana,
did you because he's a rental, how much did that
play into this? And did you overpay to get pitching?
Because sometimes it's going to sting in this one and
(06:58):
we'll get the low Ferfeito and his second this one
for some things.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
So did you overpay for rental?
Speaker 1 (07:06):
No? I mean, look, the market is the market, you know,
I mean when you acquire I mean if you look
out through all all the trades that take place, not
only this year, years before. Uh, you know, the market
is the market. If you want to acquire uh, really
good pitching at the deadline, it's going to cost. And uh,
(07:27):
you know, winn income at a cost, It comes at
a cost. And so you know, You can't just show
up and the major leagues and say, oh yeah, we're good. Well,
you know we're going to be good to this year
next year. There are trades throughout every organization each year
that you're going to have to make in order to
be good down the stretch. And you know if you
(07:51):
if you don't make these trades, then you know your
team possibly could fall off and and you know no
one wants that. And so when you're dealing with other teams,
you know, these guys are these guys are smart baseball man.
You know, you can't trip teams into taking less talent.
You know, teams, you know, know that they have to
(08:12):
do what's best for their organization, and ultimately winning comes
at a cost, you know, and if you if you
don't put the work in and if you don't acquire
the talent, you know, there's there's a good chance it's
going to be even more difficult to win. And so
I felt like, look, if we're going to get back
(08:33):
to the postseason and get deep into the postseason, and
you're sitting here right now with six starters on the
I L and you know, you go through this trade
deadline and you don't make a move and you have
six starters on the I L and then you feel like, look,
your rotation is beat up a little bit. And then
all of a sudden, you know, you meet those tough
(08:54):
games and at don't days of August, and if you're
sitting there seven eight, nine games back in August, that's a.
Speaker 4 (09:03):
Difficult place to be in.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
And so winning comes at a cost. And sometimes you
have to make these trades. And these trades are not
new to baseball. It happens, it's part of what we do.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Was the was the the rental of Kokuchi tough for
you to did that come into play?
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Thinking?
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Man, of course, if you pitches well, you look to
the future to resign him. But for now and getting
rid of three guys that that you know, Wagner and
low Berfdo and Bloss that the two of them been
on the major league roster and one of them's got
pretty bright future.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Was the rental hard for you to pull the trigger?
Or was it easy?
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Dana?
Speaker 4 (09:41):
Here's what I would say. I would say, I spent.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
My entire career acquiring talent. Absolutely, so I feel like.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
You know, when you're in this position and you have.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
To make these decisions, sometimes you're gonna end up making
decisions to are rental. Sometimes you may make a decision
to acquiring guy that you may have for a year,
two extra but ultimately you're gonna have to give up prospects.
And because I.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
Spent my entire year a career acquiring.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Prospects, I feel like with our staff and with my
leadership and what I've done in the game, I've developed
a reputation of acquiring talent. And so you know, you
have to replenish every year, and that's what it's all about.
And and some of these guys are gonna make it
and get to the big leagues and play.
Speaker 4 (10:36):
For you, and some of the guys are.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Going to be uh traded. I mean, it goes with
the territory. It's uh, it's part of the business. And
it's what we do when you when you when you
want to win. And so ultimately it's a very difficult
thing to to give up prospects. But certainly when you're
(10:59):
giving up that's for a rental, you know, it makes
you think twice. But you have to realize when you
do that, you also have to replenish, and you have
to have a vision to replenish the talent and the organization,
and that's what you do in order to be successful
and to continue and sustain long.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Term winning, no doubt about it.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Dana with with Joey Lo Brafito, you know, this city
a fan base. You can imagine the calls that we've
we've got and the support and they love his energy,
love him as a player, and didn't want to part
with him. So was he the piece that you had
to give away to close this deal out?
Speaker 2 (11:36):
For Kakuchi?
Speaker 3 (11:38):
How big a play was it early on him? Was
he a laid ad to it? Was he the piece
that was able to get you the picture? And in truth,
how tough was it for you to get for him?
For you to part with him? Was Bill on your
major league roster?
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Yeah? Look, all three of those guys were key pieces
in this trade, and you cannot you can. You can
try to persuade other teams and deals to you know,
on this player or that player, but you know, teams
get locked in on certain players and you know, these
(12:13):
three players were a big key in this trade, and
so you know we had to part ways with the player.
Parting ways with players it's very difficult, particularly you know
the makeup the energy of a of a Joey Lopaffido.
You know, it's it's it's it's very difficult when you
have to part ways with players. It's part of the
(12:35):
business and we all understand that, but it is a
difficult thing. And uh, you know, Joey Lopafito is a
really special human being. And ultimately when you part ways
with these players, you do it with the organization in mind,
and you try to stay focused on continuing the winning
(12:57):
and you try to stay focused on we have to
replenish even with talent once we part ways with with
with with this type of talent, and all the old
saying goes, when you get a good player, it's gonna hurt.
And that's why winning comes.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
That are called if you and you've been in a
long time, Dan, and it may not even be a
fair question, what the hell that I got to ask it?
If you don't, we're looking for you know, everybody's looking
like in an NFL draft or even in a major
league draft and you draft somebody were like, well, how
many years does it take before we know this draft
was a good draft in the NFL. So we're trying
to figure out, how will we know it's a good trade.
(13:34):
If I say to you, if you don't win a
World Series, was it a bad trade? What's your response.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
This year? This year, the ultimate goal is to win
the division? First is it?
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Let me ask you.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
In order to get the ultimate goal is to win
the division to get into the playoffs in order to
win the World Series. The ultimately the final goal. The
final goal is to win the World Series, no doubt
about it. And so we try to do things to
(14:10):
get to our final goal in winning the World Series.
But you have to take it step by step. You
have to win the division, and in winning the division,
you have to have the proper rotation to get there.
And you know, ultimately these are very important steps that
we take to get back to the postseason, to get
(14:30):
back to the World Series. And parting ways with players,
it's very difficult. I would say that over and over again.
There are going to be more joy little cafedos all
throughout our industry that you have to part ways with
in order for your organization to get better and to win.
And it's a very very difficult decision. I totally understand
(14:56):
where the fan base is on this one. I fill
the absolute same way I also have to put the
organization first and say, look, what do we have to do.
We have to do the best thing to get back
to the postseason and to win a World Series.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
Dan, is your team better today than it was before
the trade?
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Yes, yes, we are better. Uh and we're we we've
uh we we we've created a little bit more depth,
not only in our rotation but in our bullpen. And
so ultimately we're better. Uh. And and we had to
set this up because you know, as I mentioned before,
the six starters on the I l. If we don't
(15:40):
have six starters on the I l uh, maybe we
don't have to make this trade. But when when your
rotation is beat up, you know, you have to do
things to continue the winning. And and sometimes, as I
mentioned earlier, I can't say it enough. You know, winning
come at a cost, and that's just part of that's
(16:04):
part of life, that's part of baseball, and that's part
of long term winning.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
But the cost wasn't too high for the run, is
what you're saying. I mean, you did not overpay, you
felt it was fair. Do you got a good deal
out of this is my point?
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Correct?
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Well, ultimately, you know we always talk in this way.
You know, people would say, Okay, how do you rate
this trade or how do you rate that trade? You know,
there's there's two ways. There's two ways to look at that, right.
You know, you have a first report card and you
have a final report card. You know, first report card.
(16:41):
You know, you look at this and you say, Okay,
what kind of trade it is. It's going to be
all kinds of opinions from all kinds of people. That's
your first report card. The final report card is yet
to be seen. And so but we felt like making
a trade that's us up to have a good final
report card. And that report card is going to be
(17:02):
based on good, good starting rotation, firming up your pen,
getting some guys back off the il in order to
get that good report card.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
And win the World Series. And so that's how.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
You have to look at this. I understand all the
emotion that's wrapped around trades and in these type of acquisitions.
It's it's part of the game, and it's part of
what we do. And you know, I've been doing it
for thirty five years, and so I've seen a lot
(17:37):
in baseball, and I've seen a lot of players come
and go. I've seen good trades, bad trades. Nobody bats
a thousand. You don't bat a thousand on your job.
I'm not going to bat a thousand on my job.
But I will tell you this. We will continue to
do what we think we need to do in this
organization to continue to sustain the winning. And part of
(18:03):
being good and part of sustaining winning is that you're
gonna have to make trades. And as I mentioned before,
winning is going to come at a cost. And ultimately,
we want to win, and we want to do what's
best for the organization, and even even when it's tough
decisions that have to be made.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
And I'll let you go on this, and I sure
appreciate you giving us extra time today on an emotional
obviously Wednesday for everybody, and we sure appreciate it. And yes,
I'm just trying to hit six hundred instead of a thousand,
so I figure I'm good on that side.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
I'm with you, my man.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
All right, you say you say we feel meaning the
ASHOS organization. You're the you're the big dog, you're the
decision maker, You're the GM, and rightfully so, how many
voices had to say or or mister Crane obviously what's
the order of like Joe Joe aspata you who has
to give okay thumbs up? Or how many people gave
(18:59):
thumbs up to say yeah, pull this trigger?
Speaker 2 (19:01):
How many people are involved in that listen.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Ultimately, I bearied a responsibility as their general manager of
the Houston Astros. I totally bearied a responsibility. I think
there's wisdom and a multitude of council. So I will
ask people on my staff, hey, what do you think
about this? Or what do you think about that? And
(19:26):
we will collaborate to try to make the best decisions
possible for this organization. But I have to make the
final decision. This is a decision that was made by
me through collaborating with other members on my front office staff.
(19:46):
And so you know, we made the decision, you know,
as we talked through it, like look, if we're going
to win, we have to get stronger in the rotation.
And then finally I had to make the final decision
to say, look, I know it's going to a cost,
but winning comes out of costs, and you know, we
have to get strong on our rotation. Therefore we have
(20:07):
to make a move to do it.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
And we made the move good on you and for
feeling so convicted towards this and we're looking forward to
the World Series. Ring decisions aren't easy and we appreciate
you and coming on and answered all these questions for
the emotion that runs wild in a city that is
used to winning, and we're grateful you do that for us,
and thank you and congrats on getting this deal done.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Man.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
We look forward to talking to you next.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
Week and let's get back on the winning ways for
the current team going on right now, right, let's do
that too.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
It starts you get.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Yes, I love in respect as you say, Astros fans.
I love the energy, I love the emotion, and you
know I would ask the Astro fans absolutely for their support.
We're going to continue to move forward and try to
do what's best for this organization even when these decisions
are going to be tough.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
Sure are don't envy what you got to do, man,
but I sure can't wait till the end result. We
look forward to it again next week and good luck
against Pittsburgh today. And thanks for taking the time, Dan,
and we appreciate it, no problem.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Thanks, thank you.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
That's you, bet, That's Danton Brown, GM Brian
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