July 18, 2024 • 10 mins
Following the draft earlier in the week and with no games scheduled amid the All-Star break, Astros GM Dana Brown still joins for his weekly segment and shares his thoughts on the kickoff of the second half of the season for the Astros, along with a few player and injury updates.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
We've the Sean Salisbury Show continued astrosGM Dana Brown for the weekly visit.
You got me Ross here Dana.Unfortunately Sean having to step out, but
we still of course have to theshow goes on and we'll discuss a number
of things here coming back from theAll Star break. Now a little bit
(00:22):
different from a general for a generalmanager, you know, the players like
the off time, the coaches aswell. Is it business as usual for
you? You don't get to kickup your feet and get a little bit
of that Naple wine or what?What what's the All Star break like for
you? Yeah? All Star breakis you know we still of course,
we had the draft Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, so right toward the end
(00:43):
of the you know, the lastgame we had with Sunday, so we
went right until day one of thedraft, Day two, day three on
Monday and Tuesday, and uh,you know there's you know, trade conversations
starting up, you know on Wednesday. So and then here we are,
so we you know, we staypretty busy. Yeah, what is it
like for you just as the calendargoes on with the draft and is do
(01:07):
you think that's when the focus turnsas far as if conversations, let's just
say one to ten right before thedeadline, maybe conversations are heating up close
to a ten. Where would youput them right now? Yeah, I
mean it fluctuates, to be honest. You know, you know some days
you feel like, oh, yeah, we're making progress. The other day
(01:29):
just like you know, we're notmaking as much progress. So I think
the key is what it's trade deadlineis you have to keep discussions going and
you have to talk to other gmsand you know, try to work out
something that makes sense for your cluband their club. You keep the ball
moving, and of course conversations canfluctuate depending on team needs. Do you
(01:52):
do you feel like there's more ofan urgency for starting pitching with the squad
with the Luis Garcia and Landsmick juniornews. Yeah, I mean, well,
like I said before, we're alwaysin the market of pitching. It's
all about pitching, pitching, pitching. But you know, we definitely want
to do something at the deadline withpitching. So you know, one of
(02:15):
the problems is other teams are alsolooking for pitching, and so there's probably
going to be a lot of peoplein the market for pitching, but there's
not enough pitching that are around,and so you know, we'll try to
be aggressive and we're in conversations youknow, every day, So pitching is
very important. Yeah, pitching,of course, very important. I mentioned
those two guys, do you havesome updates on them? And then also
(02:37):
justin Verlander, Yeah, I meanVerlander is starting to throw sides. You
know, that's a good thing withno issues. So that's a you know,
like I said, that's a reallythat's a good thing. Mccullors has
had somewhat of a setback, sohe's not throwing that right now. He's
being evaluated each day. And Garciais you know, he's throwing seventy five
(02:57):
feet and you know he's going toget back on the boat, uh,
throw it back on the mount ina couple of days here, So he's
back to making some more progress.So you know, I was looking at
the light, the lights looking alittle brighter for Verlander and Garcia. We're
still, you know, sort ofday to day trying to figure out m
colors. Astro's general manager Dana Brownwith us here on the Sean Salisbury Show.
(03:23):
Do we have a clear time timelineon Kyle Tucker. No, not
a clear timeline, but I wouldsay that, you know, he's playing
catch and hitting in the cage.Uh So, he's playing catch on the
field, hitting in the indoor cageand outside, he's doing a little bit
of light baseball activity as far asbaseball movements. Uh So, he's getting
(03:45):
there, not not feeling as muchof the issue as before, and so,
uh, you know, hopefully wecan get him back here soon.
We're definitely gonna need him here forthis stretch run on the second half.
So, uh, he is makingprogress. Joe Spot had mentioned at some
point, depending on how much timeKyle missed, possibly a rehab assignment.
(04:06):
But also we've seen you guys justplug people back into the lineup. Do
you do you have any as faras discussions about that. Yeah, it's
probably gonna be a rehab assignment,so you can get his timing right,
you know that that's that's probably youknow, he's been out for a while
since the beginning of the June,so it's gonna it's gonna require you know,
(04:27):
some some some rehab games, maybein sugar Land. But yeah,
I would definitely foresee uh, youknow, a few games at least,
just to get his timing back.All right. We we of course talked
about the starting pitching, and asyou said, pitching, pitching, pitching,
you can never have too much pitching. The bullpen has been very good
lately, but you've also got someguys high usage as far as you know,
(04:48):
Taylor Scott throwing more than he has, Brian Bray going out there a
lot, Josh Hater, Brian Presley, what is that for you, like,
as far as monitoring those guys theirusage, and then also maybe wanting
to add a bullpen arm if youcan. Yeah, we can add a
bullpen arm. That would be gravy. Uh, you know, help out
some of the workload of those guys. They've been carrying us in that first
(05:11):
half. We're hoping to get youknow, some uh, some good innings
out of Dubin, some good inningsout of King, who we called up.
You know, Seth Martinez has beensteady all year, so you know
we've been getting you know, somegot some some help from you know,
calling up King and uh, youknow, getting Dubin back in the in
the pen. So uh, butif we can add something there that would
(05:34):
be that would be nice. Maybetake off the workload of some of the
other guys. Yeah, what whatis that? By the way, what
kind of a magical lickxter you guysgot up there? I mean you got
run out Blanco having the season thathe's had. You mentioned Brian King,
He's been effective, Taylor Scott,I mean has just been straight up lights
out. What is it about thethe the pitching, the gurus that you
(05:57):
guys have that it just seems likepeople that we maybe haven't heard of or
weren't on our radar performing so wellthis year. Yeah, I mean it
starts with Matt Hogan. I mean, Matt Hogan runs our pro department.
He overseas player personnel, you know, he puts some of these guys on
the radar for us, you know, and you know we and then we
you know, of course try togo after him. You know. I
(06:19):
think he was one of the onesthat really, you know, put the
highlight on Scott. You know,actually our you know, big league booking
coach, you know, put thehighlight on King. I think we acquired
King on that Rule five draft.So I mean we have you know,
we we were working constantly, youknow, to find some edges just based
(06:40):
on our information and you know,we take a look from a scouting standpoint,
We put the data in there,and then we do a check on
the makeup, you know, thosethree checklist things that we always do.
And when these guys check off,you know, we go after them.
So I think they're doing a goodjob. Astros general manager Dana Brown with
us on the Sean Salisbury Show.Uh mentioned some we have talked about pitching,
(07:03):
and also you have some guys whoI haven't you know, they're not
necessarily in this day and age ofbaseball going to go out there and just
throw you two hundred innings easily.What is it like for you as far
as if you could plan things outperfectly, Renel Blanco, Hunter Brown or
Getti, those types of guys watchingtheir innings and in a perfect world,
(07:24):
would you like to go to asix man rotation? Yeah, at some
point, you know, we mayhave to go to a six man even
without you know JV being back,you know, just to monitor the workload.
That may mean calling up if youdon't make the trade sooner, may
mean calling up you know, aJ Bouball, maybe Ryan Gusto one of
(07:46):
those guys, you know, justto get into a six man to get
these guys a breather, or evenif it means skipping a start, you
know, just sometimes you you know, you just have to give these guys
a breather because we gonna need himdown the stretch, and that second half
is going to be a grind.You know, it's going to be a
grind. You know, where fourgames over were one game back, and
(08:09):
so it's it's it's gonna be agrind. And I mean we're going to
start right out of the gate playingSeattle, so you know, we we
we want to definitely give these guysa breather so they could be ready all
the way down the stretch because itwill definitely be a grind in September as
we race for the division, allright, Dana, And then before we
get you out a first base.Of course, we've talked about a lot
(08:30):
this season with the jose A brawthing. And then now, how are
you feeling about the John Singleton,what he's been able to do and possibly
exploring other options either internally or externally. Yeah, Singleton's had a nice little
stretch, you know. Yeah,he's had a stretch of hitting over three
hundred with an eight hundred ops.You know, we give him a breather
(08:52):
every night and every now and thenversus the lefties, you know, whether
we put dubon over there, youknow, so right now, you know,
he's really stepped it up for us. You know, we hope he
can continue to play well, buthe really has stepped it up since he's
been getting some every day playing timesvery difficult. This sport's very difficult to
(09:13):
hit right, and so sometimes whenyou're playing off the bench, it's really
really difficult. It gets more difficult. So ultimately, you know, he's
he's had a little bit of arunway where he's been playing mostly every day
and he's you know, he's answeredthe call and so we hope that he
can keep that up and you know, we'll continue to rest them, probably
(09:35):
against lefties at times, but we'vebeen very excited about what he's done at
first base and he played played playeda really good defense too as well.
Yeah, yeah, it's definitely beenmaking some plays over there. That's Astros
manager General manager Dana Brown. Dana, we understand it's very very busy times
around this time of year, soreally appreciate you joining us and thanks for
the time. Absolutely absolutely, We'recoming to Astro, hanging there with us.
(10:01):
All right, there we go,one game back, That's what I'm
talking about. Big series this weekendagainst Seattle. Thanks to Dana Brown,
the conversations heating up after the draft. We'll see what happens next couple of
weeks under two weeks now before thetrade deadline. Here on the MLB calendar.
All right, seven one three twoone two five seven ninety is the
phone number if you want to getin. Sean Salisbury unfortunately under the weather,
(10:24):
had to duck out. I'm hereat ros View Real with you until
ten o'clock. You want to getin seven one three two one two five
seven ninety. React to anything Danahad to say Texans of course in training
camp. One segment left with youuntil ten o'clock and then it'll be next
up with Chris Gordy and Stan Norfleethere on Sports Talk seven ninety your home
for your shows.
We've the Sean Salisbury Show continued astrosGM Dana Brown for the weekly visit.
You got me Ross here Dana.Unfortunately Sean having to step out, but
we still of course have to theshow goes on and we'll discuss a number
of things here coming back from theAll Star break. Now a little bit
(00:22):
different from a general for a generalmanager, you know, the players like
the off time, the coaches aswell. Is it business as usual for
you? You don't get to kickup your feet and get a little bit
of that Naple wine or what?What what's the All Star break like for
you? Yeah? All Star breakis you know we still of course,
we had the draft Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, so right toward the end
(00:43):
of the you know, the lastgame we had with Sunday, so we
went right until day one of thedraft, Day two, day three on
Monday and Tuesday, and uh,you know there's you know, trade conversations
starting up, you know on Wednesday. So and then here we are,
so we you know, we staypretty busy. Yeah, what is it
like for you just as the calendargoes on with the draft and is do
(01:07):
you think that's when the focus turnsas far as if conversations, let's just
say one to ten right before thedeadline, maybe conversations are heating up close
to a ten. Where would youput them right now? Yeah, I
mean it fluctuates, to be honest. You know, you know some days
you feel like, oh, yeah, we're making progress. The other day
(01:29):
just like you know, we're notmaking as much progress. So I think
the key is what it's trade deadlineis you have to keep discussions going and
you have to talk to other gmsand you know, try to work out
something that makes sense for your cluband their club. You keep the ball
moving, and of course conversations canfluctuate depending on team needs. Do you
(01:52):
do you feel like there's more ofan urgency for starting pitching with the squad
with the Luis Garcia and Landsmick juniornews. Yeah, I mean, well,
like I said before, we're alwaysin the market of pitching. It's
all about pitching, pitching, pitching. But you know, we definitely want
to do something at the deadline withpitching. So you know, one of
(02:15):
the problems is other teams are alsolooking for pitching, and so there's probably
going to be a lot of peoplein the market for pitching, but there's
not enough pitching that are around,and so you know, we'll try to
be aggressive and we're in conversations youknow, every day, So pitching is
very important. Yeah, pitching,of course, very important. I mentioned
those two guys, do you havesome updates on them? And then also
(02:37):
justin Verlander, Yeah, I meanVerlander is starting to throw sides. You
know, that's a good thing withno issues. So that's a you know,
like I said, that's a reallythat's a good thing. Mccullors has
had somewhat of a setback, sohe's not throwing that right now. He's
being evaluated each day. And Garciais you know, he's throwing seventy five
(02:57):
feet and you know he's going toget back on the boat, uh,
throw it back on the mount ina couple of days here, So he's
back to making some more progress.So you know, I was looking at
the light, the lights looking alittle brighter for Verlander and Garcia. We're
still, you know, sort ofday to day trying to figure out m
colors. Astro's general manager Dana Brownwith us here on the Sean Salisbury Show.
(03:23):
Do we have a clear time timelineon Kyle Tucker. No, not
a clear timeline, but I wouldsay that, you know, he's playing
catch and hitting in the cage.Uh So, he's playing catch on the
field, hitting in the indoor cageand outside, he's doing a little bit
of light baseball activity as far asbaseball movements. Uh So, he's getting
(03:45):
there, not not feeling as muchof the issue as before, and so,
uh, you know, hopefully wecan get him back here soon.
We're definitely gonna need him here forthis stretch run on the second half.
So, uh, he is makingprogress. Joe Spot had mentioned at some
point, depending on how much timeKyle missed, possibly a rehab assignment.
(04:06):
But also we've seen you guys justplug people back into the lineup. Do
you do you have any as faras discussions about that. Yeah, it's
probably gonna be a rehab assignment,so you can get his timing right,
you know that that's that's probably youknow, he's been out for a while
since the beginning of the June,so it's gonna it's gonna require you know,
(04:27):
some some some rehab games, maybein sugar Land. But yeah,
I would definitely foresee uh, youknow, a few games at least,
just to get his timing back.All right. We we of course talked
about the starting pitching, and asyou said, pitching, pitching, pitching,
you can never have too much pitching. The bullpen has been very good
lately, but you've also got someguys high usage as far as you know,
(04:48):
Taylor Scott throwing more than he has, Brian Bray going out there a
lot, Josh Hater, Brian Presley, what is that for you, like,
as far as monitoring those guys theirusage, and then also maybe wanting
to add a bullpen arm if youcan. Yeah, we can add a
bullpen arm. That would be gravy. Uh, you know, help out
some of the workload of those guys. They've been carrying us in that first
(05:11):
half. We're hoping to get youknow, some uh, some good innings
out of Dubin, some good inningsout of King, who we called up.
You know, Seth Martinez has beensteady all year, so you know
we've been getting you know, somegot some some help from you know,
calling up King and uh, youknow, getting Dubin back in the in
the pen. So uh, butif we can add something there that would
(05:34):
be that would be nice. Maybetake off the workload of some of the
other guys. Yeah, what whatis that? By the way, what
kind of a magical lickxter you guysgot up there? I mean you got
run out Blanco having the season thathe's had. You mentioned Brian King,
He's been effective, Taylor Scott,I mean has just been straight up lights
out. What is it about thethe the pitching, the gurus that you
(05:57):
guys have that it just seems likepeople that we maybe haven't heard of or
weren't on our radar performing so wellthis year. Yeah, I mean it
starts with Matt Hogan. I mean, Matt Hogan runs our pro department.
He overseas player personnel, you know, he puts some of these guys on
the radar for us, you know, and you know we and then we
you know, of course try togo after him. You know. I
(06:19):
think he was one of the onesthat really, you know, put the
highlight on Scott. You know,actually our you know, big league booking
coach, you know, put thehighlight on King. I think we acquired
King on that Rule five draft.So I mean we have you know,
we we were working constantly, youknow, to find some edges just based
(06:40):
on our information and you know,we take a look from a scouting standpoint,
We put the data in there,and then we do a check on
the makeup, you know, thosethree checklist things that we always do.
And when these guys check off,you know, we go after them.
So I think they're doing a goodjob. Astros general manager Dana Brown with
us on the Sean Salisbury Show.Uh mentioned some we have talked about pitching,
(07:03):
and also you have some guys whoI haven't you know, they're not
necessarily in this day and age ofbaseball going to go out there and just
throw you two hundred innings easily.What is it like for you as far
as if you could plan things outperfectly, Renel Blanco, Hunter Brown or
Getti, those types of guys watchingtheir innings and in a perfect world,
(07:24):
would you like to go to asix man rotation? Yeah, at some
point, you know, we mayhave to go to a six man even
without you know JV being back,you know, just to monitor the workload.
That may mean calling up if youdon't make the trade sooner, may
mean calling up you know, aJ Bouball, maybe Ryan Gusto one of
(07:46):
those guys, you know, justto get into a six man to get
these guys a breather, or evenif it means skipping a start, you
know, just sometimes you you know, you just have to give these guys
a breather because we gonna need himdown the stretch, and that second half
is going to be a grind.You know, it's going to be a
grind. You know, where fourgames over were one game back, and
(08:09):
so it's it's it's gonna be agrind. And I mean we're going to
start right out of the gate playingSeattle, so you know, we we
we want to definitely give these guysa breather so they could be ready all
the way down the stretch because itwill definitely be a grind in September as
we race for the division, allright, Dana, And then before we
get you out a first base.Of course, we've talked about a lot
(08:30):
this season with the jose A brawthing. And then now, how are
you feeling about the John Singleton,what he's been able to do and possibly
exploring other options either internally or externally. Yeah, Singleton's had a nice little
stretch, you know. Yeah,he's had a stretch of hitting over three
hundred with an eight hundred ops.You know, we give him a breather
(08:52):
every night and every now and thenversus the lefties, you know, whether
we put dubon over there, youknow, so right now, you know,
he's really stepped it up for us. You know, we hope he
can continue to play well, buthe really has stepped it up since he's
been getting some every day playing timesvery difficult. This sport's very difficult to
(09:13):
hit right, and so sometimes whenyou're playing off the bench, it's really
really difficult. It gets more difficult. So ultimately, you know, he's
he's had a little bit of arunway where he's been playing mostly every day
and he's you know, he's answeredthe call and so we hope that he
can keep that up and you know, we'll continue to rest them, probably
(09:35):
against lefties at times, but we'vebeen very excited about what he's done at
first base and he played played playeda really good defense too as well.
Yeah, yeah, it's definitely beenmaking some plays over there. That's Astros
manager General manager Dana Brown. Dana, we understand it's very very busy times
around this time of year, soreally appreciate you joining us and thanks for
the time. Absolutely absolutely, We'recoming to Astro, hanging there with us.
(10:01):
All right, there we go,one game back, That's what I'm
talking about. Big series this weekendagainst Seattle. Thanks to Dana Brown,
the conversations heating up after the draft. We'll see what happens next couple of
weeks under two weeks now before thetrade deadline. Here on the MLB calendar.
All right, seven one three twoone two five seven ninety is the
phone number if you want to getin. Sean Salisbury unfortunately under the weather,
(10:24):
had to duck out. I'm hereat ros View Real with you until
ten o'clock. You want to getin seven one three two one two five
seven ninety. React to anything Danahad to say Texans of course in training
camp. One segment left with youuntil ten o'clock and then it'll be next
up with Chris Gordy and Stan Norfleethere on Sports Talk seven ninety your home
for your shows.
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