July 30, 2025 • 11 mins
Less than 48 hours now until the MLB trade deadline concludes, the Astros' amongst many others look to piece and assemble together the most suitable roster and lineup for a shot at making the postseason and the World Series. Answering a few questions and expecting their core players back soon, Dana joins and shares a few things pertaining to the trade deadline and possible moves he's looking to make aiming to make the roster a bit better than the first half of the season.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Sports Talk seven ninety shots Salisbury Show. It's that time
a little just a little earlier. I'd imagine he's semi busy,
a little bit going on in baseball Astros GM for
his weekly visit. We love having him on. Dana Brown
joins us. Dana, welcome in. So let's get to the
first things first, because wins matter, and they're tough to
come by. The struggles over the five games previous, but
(00:21):
got back at it and a little healthier. Having paying
you back. That must have felt good energy wise into
the building for you last night.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Yeah, I mean, we should get paying you back here
by the end of the week. And so you know
he's going to rehab assignment. That's outstanding. So we feel
good about that. We could really use him, you know,
with all of these injuries that we have. But look,
we're still optimistic. The team is, you know, still fourteen
games over, four games up in first place despite all
(00:50):
of these injuries, and I think the boys are showing
grit and they're getting after it.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Dana, what's been before we get to the trade deadline
and talking about what's Kenny keep you obviously busy here
in the next twenty four to forty hours. Well, what's
then the biggest aside from the grit just to maybe
just the actual production, what has been the most impressive
thing about your team this year?
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yeah, I think the big thing is, uh, you know,
the coaching staff has really done a really good job.
These guys have kept their boys calm and you know,
steady and stay focused. And you know, we we any
any major league club is going to go through the
ebbs and flows of ups and downs, and you know,
I just think the leadership that Joe A Spot has
(01:36):
shown down in the clubhouse has been you know, outstanding,
and and so you know, the don't panic, Let's keep
playing our game, play our style of baseball. And I
think the pitching has really kept us in, you know,
for the most part, the pitching and defense and then
and through it, through it all. You know, we've got
we've gotten some timely hits. So uh, you know, it's
(01:57):
a collective thing that it's with good teams, do you
know when they're when they're under the stress of injuries.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Tata Brown Astros GM here on a Wednesday, a little
earlier than normal normally at nine thirty. Great to have
him on, Dana. Is there any chance that you do
nothing between now and the end of the trade deadline tomorrow,
does that exist?
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Look, I'm going to remain optimistic to do whatever we
can do, you know, to make this club better. And
so you know, without getting into any of the hypotheticals,
we're more focused on trying to make this club better.
And you know that's our focus right now. And we
get locked in, you know, the trade deadline, and you know,
of course you have to deal with other teams, and
(02:41):
you know, sometimes you're at the mercy of making this
trade or that trade depends on you know, if you
can get get things to match up. But we're optimistic
about making a club better.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Yeah, And it's that seems that has been your approach
every year, which has been great. So with this tied
into injuries and doing everything you can to upgrade and
give your team a chance to be back in and
win a World Series. So for instance, and I know
we can't get into specific names, we're not allowed to
with the tampering part of it, but positions, if you
were to go out and get a corner infielder, does
(03:13):
that tell us that Parades is very, very severe injury wise,
if it happens to be that corner of infielder.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Listen, here's what I would say. We're going to get
a second opinion update on Perettis and then we'll know
a lot more, you know, about his status. But right now,
you know, we're just focused on making this team better.
You know, it's maybe potentially trying to add a bad
if we could, you know, and you know, if we
can add an arm, that would be great too. But
the whole goal is to make this team better. You know,
(03:43):
we we still have to get an update on Parretic.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Okay, So with that goal, is the priorities exist? Is
it the pitcher first, starting pitcher first, or the bat first?
If you only had one, which way would it go?
What's the priority?
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Yeah, the priorities You look for impact first, right, want
to impact the major league team. And if if the
impact is the bat, you take the bat. If the
impacts an arm, you take the arm. And so with
these trades, they could get tricky, and so you look
for impact because whatever impact you get, that's going to
help the major league team the most. And so let's
look for impact first. That's the priority.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Hey, Dana Brown, astros GM A couple more minutes here
on Sports Talk seven ninety Dana, do you when it
comes to at this time, it's got to be difficult
because you're looking at injuries saying, well, with the Javier
and Garcia and Payna close and the names that are close,
but it's got to effect because it's the trade deadline's
going to end before you can maybe make get some
(04:36):
of those guys back. How deep into this do these
injuries have with the current roster and you're making a
deal to impact the team that's got to come into
play correct, Well, here's what I would say.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Look, at the end of the day, we feel very
comfortable about getting our core back, you know, whether it's Penia,
whether it's Arroghetti, where there's Xavier, whether it's Alvarez, whether
it's Mayer. You know, we feel really comfortable about getting
our core back and waiting on more from Pretis, but
ultimately we do have a good core of guys coming back,
which is going to be very important to his team.
(05:12):
Once these guys come back, we're still going to have
a good amount of games left to make a push
or a run, and so that's where our focus is.
And so when you take that with all the all
the players that we have coming back, and now if
you could just add some type of impact at the
trade deadline, that's really improving this club. And this is
the club that's in first place. We're four and a half,
(05:34):
we're four games up, I'm sorry, and you know we're
fourteen over five hundred. So that's the whole goal. The
goal is to get better as you get later, and
as you get later in the season, you get better
that things will happen.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Also means bodies. Dana Brown a couple more minutes here
on Sports Talk seven ninety Dana, how close do we
think without you? I know, it's hard to put a
deadline on that with the injuries. How is Jordon Alvarez
to being up with the big club?
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Yeah, I mean we project that, you know, he could
be back with the big club as soon as the
middle of August. I mean, he's starting to hit right now.
We're building up the intensity to get him going, and
so you know, we'll give him a day off here
and a day off there, just to you know, let
the hand rest because things are going well right now,
(06:26):
and we'll you know, we'll just have to see. It's
tough to put a deadline in terms of a date,
but you know, we feel good that you know, it
could be somewhere in the middle of August, and he's
making a lot of progress.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
And Dan, if it turns out the way you want
with these injuries, getting right and getting your core plays,
and you've talked in the past about hell, getting yord
On or Hoavier and those guys back is like making
a big trade at the deadline because bodies you haven't
had in a while, and some longer than a little bit.
So with that in mind, Javier and Garcia and Arraghetti
and I know we speculate you got the job to do,
(07:01):
but from our vantage point we do. Then I guess
it's a good problem to have to be able to say, well,
we got now, we got a surplus and we're getting healthy,
when other teams are struggling with their health. Then what
do you do with the decisions? If you had the
conversation about decisions now we got eight starting pitchers, about
how you're going to go that distance and how you're
going to go that way if it presents itself.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Yeah, absolutely, Look, you know we're gonna get a decent
core of these guys back, right, and so it's going
to create some competition, and it's also going to create
you know, this depth that you have depth deep into
the season is your friend, and so you we we
need that depth, and you know, we may have option
(07:43):
a guy here or there, but we're having constant communications
and roster talks and one of the big things is
we just really have to make sure that we build
these guys up in the right way because we don't
want to want them to experience any more injuries. And
so we'll we'll pick our time to make these roster adjustments.
But make no mistake, the depth that's coming is going
(08:06):
to be your friend, not your enemy.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Dana, do do do people call often about getting one
of your pitchers? I don't care if it's bullpen or starting,
no name necessary, But do you get a lot of
calls or more calls on pitching or your everyday players
right now?
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Yeah? Look at the mix of what you get calls on.
You know, one week, it could be you're getting more
calls on pitching. Another week could be you're getting more
call on the back on the hitters, and so you know,
it varies. But you know, we have a good core
of players with a really good team, and so we
get hit up for our players and uh, but ultimately
we'd like to keep this good corps together. We'd like
(08:45):
to try to add to it and and and make
it a little bit better for this run and this
stretch of trying to get back to the postseason and
get deep into the postseason.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Are you seeing are you seeing more? For the more
that you like to see from Christian Walkers. It's starting
to come into play for you, Dana that this Okay,
we're starting to He's starting to rear it's head a
little bit more.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Oh well, Christian walker has been really good.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
He's been Yes, yeah, he's.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Been really good. He's been coming through for us. And
you know, that's what the true professionals do. You know,
when some of the stars go down, you know, they
carry that that workload and they really turned the corner.
And he's been that guy that he's starting to turn
the corner. It's been fun to watch and I think
the best is still yet to come. And you know, well,
(09:31):
it'd be great if he could just really continue this progress,
get red hot right toward the end of the season,
carry that into the postseason and had to be a
beautiful thing for the Astros. Dana.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
You know, I don't think we talk about this guy much.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
You do it.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
I know how much you love him, and we talk
about him on the show all the time. And this
has absolutely nothing to do with trade or not trade,
just simply the guy. I don't think Victor Carrottin is
a backup catcher in Major League Baseball on most other teams. Right,
You're fortunate with the depth and with Yin or here.
I mean, I don't know, I just I just get
your thoughts on Victor Carrottini's game all the way around.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Yeah, look, see vict can play a lot on other clubs.
You know, as you mentioned, we do have depth. You've
seen teams win the World Series with a guy like
Victor Carrattini behind the plate, A veteran guy, switch hitter,
guy who do a few things. And so yes, he
is a really good player. And you know, if he
was on some other team, you know, he probably would
(10:29):
be getting you know, most of the time behind the plate.
And oftentimes you realize, like, look, these players love to
be part of winners, and he knows he's going to
get a lot of the bats here. He loves it
here in Houston, and look it's a good place for
him to be. He loves it here. We need him,
we want him. He's a great backup.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
All right. I'll ask you this before I let you go,
because I know you got stuff to do, and I
appreciate your time, my man, and moving this up so
we could get you and accommodate you and get you
on here because we needed it. Will your team tomorrow
be improved by the end of tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
That is the goal. We're locked into it. We're focused,
we're dedicated. We're having a ton of conversations, and that's
the goal. The goal that the deadline is to improve
the team, and the priority is to try to get impacts.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Can't wait to see it. And we appreciate your time.
Thanks for moving it up so we could get you
in today, and good luck not only the rest of
the way, but good luck in these next thirty hours
or so with what you got to do, my man.
I don't envy it, but I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
We appreciate you, absolutely, We appreciate you as well. Let's
go astro fans returning the corner.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
There, you go. Appreciate it, Dana, that's Danon Brown. We'll
come back and discuss. I think that you know that
something's going to happen between Dow tomorrow. The question is who, what,
and how many Sports Talk seven ninety
Sports Talk seven ninety shots Salisbury Show. It's that time
a little just a little earlier. I'd imagine he's semi busy,
a little bit going on in baseball Astros GM for
his weekly visit. We love having him on. Dana Brown
joins us. Dana, welcome in. So let's get to the
first things first, because wins matter, and they're tough to
come by. The struggles over the five games previous, but
(00:21):
got back at it and a little healthier. Having paying
you back. That must have felt good energy wise into
the building for you last night.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Yeah, I mean, we should get paying you back here
by the end of the week. And so you know
he's going to rehab assignment. That's outstanding. So we feel
good about that. We could really use him, you know,
with all of these injuries that we have. But look,
we're still optimistic. The team is, you know, still fourteen
games over, four games up in first place despite all
(00:50):
of these injuries, and I think the boys are showing
grit and they're getting after it.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Dana, what's been before we get to the trade deadline
and talking about what's Kenny keep you obviously busy here
in the next twenty four to forty hours. Well, what's
then the biggest aside from the grit just to maybe
just the actual production, what has been the most impressive
thing about your team this year?
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yeah, I think the big thing is, uh, you know,
the coaching staff has really done a really good job.
These guys have kept their boys calm and you know,
steady and stay focused. And you know, we we any
any major league club is going to go through the
ebbs and flows of ups and downs, and you know,
I just think the leadership that Joe A Spot has
(01:36):
shown down in the clubhouse has been you know, outstanding,
and and so you know, the don't panic, Let's keep
playing our game, play our style of baseball. And I
think the pitching has really kept us in, you know,
for the most part, the pitching and defense and then
and through it, through it all. You know, we've got
we've gotten some timely hits. So uh, you know, it's
(01:57):
a collective thing that it's with good teams, do you
know when they're when they're under the stress of injuries.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Tata Brown Astros GM here on a Wednesday, a little
earlier than normal normally at nine thirty. Great to have
him on, Dana. Is there any chance that you do
nothing between now and the end of the trade deadline tomorrow,
does that exist?
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Look, I'm going to remain optimistic to do whatever we
can do, you know, to make this club better. And
so you know, without getting into any of the hypotheticals,
we're more focused on trying to make this club better.
And you know that's our focus right now. And we
get locked in, you know, the trade deadline, and you know,
of course you have to deal with other teams, and
(02:41):
you know, sometimes you're at the mercy of making this
trade or that trade depends on you know, if you
can get get things to match up. But we're optimistic
about making a club better.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Yeah, And it's that seems that has been your approach
every year, which has been great. So with this tied
into injuries and doing everything you can to upgrade and
give your team a chance to be back in and
win a World Series. So for instance, and I know
we can't get into specific names, we're not allowed to
with the tampering part of it, but positions, if you
were to go out and get a corner infielder, does
(03:13):
that tell us that Parades is very, very severe injury wise,
if it happens to be that corner of infielder.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Listen, here's what I would say. We're going to get
a second opinion update on Perettis and then we'll know
a lot more, you know, about his status. But right now,
you know, we're just focused on making this team better.
You know, it's maybe potentially trying to add a bad
if we could, you know, and you know, if we
can add an arm, that would be great too. But
the whole goal is to make this team better. You know,
(03:43):
we we still have to get an update on Parretic.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Okay, So with that goal, is the priorities exist? Is
it the pitcher first, starting pitcher first, or the bat first?
If you only had one, which way would it go?
What's the priority?
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Yeah, the priorities You look for impact first, right, want
to impact the major league team. And if if the
impact is the bat, you take the bat. If the
impacts an arm, you take the arm. And so with
these trades, they could get tricky, and so you look
for impact because whatever impact you get, that's going to
help the major league team the most. And so let's
look for impact first. That's the priority.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Hey, Dana Brown, astros GM A couple more minutes here
on Sports Talk seven ninety Dana, do you when it
comes to at this time, it's got to be difficult
because you're looking at injuries saying, well, with the Javier
and Garcia and Payna close and the names that are close,
but it's got to effect because it's the trade deadline's
going to end before you can maybe make get some
(04:36):
of those guys back. How deep into this do these
injuries have with the current roster and you're making a
deal to impact the team that's got to come into
play correct, Well, here's what I would say.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Look, at the end of the day, we feel very
comfortable about getting our core back, you know, whether it's Penia,
whether it's Arroghetti, where there's Xavier, whether it's Alvarez, whether
it's Mayer. You know, we feel really comfortable about getting
our core back and waiting on more from Pretis, but
ultimately we do have a good core of guys coming back,
which is going to be very important to his team.
(05:12):
Once these guys come back, we're still going to have
a good amount of games left to make a push
or a run, and so that's where our focus is.
And so when you take that with all the all
the players that we have coming back, and now if
you could just add some type of impact at the
trade deadline, that's really improving this club. And this is
the club that's in first place. We're four and a half,
(05:34):
we're four games up, I'm sorry, and you know we're
fourteen over five hundred. So that's the whole goal. The
goal is to get better as you get later, and
as you get later in the season, you get better
that things will happen.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Also means bodies. Dana Brown a couple more minutes here
on Sports Talk seven ninety Dana, how close do we
think without you? I know, it's hard to put a
deadline on that with the injuries. How is Jordon Alvarez
to being up with the big club?
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Yeah, I mean we project that, you know, he could
be back with the big club as soon as the
middle of August. I mean, he's starting to hit right now.
We're building up the intensity to get him going, and
so you know, we'll give him a day off here
and a day off there, just to you know, let
the hand rest because things are going well right now,
(06:26):
and we'll you know, we'll just have to see. It's
tough to put a deadline in terms of a date,
but you know, we feel good that you know, it
could be somewhere in the middle of August, and he's
making a lot of progress.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
And Dan, if it turns out the way you want
with these injuries, getting right and getting your core plays,
and you've talked in the past about hell, getting yord
On or Hoavier and those guys back is like making
a big trade at the deadline because bodies you haven't
had in a while, and some longer than a little bit.
So with that in mind, Javier and Garcia and Arraghetti
and I know we speculate you got the job to do,
(07:01):
but from our vantage point we do. Then I guess
it's a good problem to have to be able to say, well,
we got now, we got a surplus and we're getting healthy,
when other teams are struggling with their health. Then what
do you do with the decisions? If you had the
conversation about decisions now we got eight starting pitchers, about
how you're going to go that distance and how you're
going to go that way if it presents itself.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Yeah, absolutely, Look, you know we're gonna get a decent
core of these guys back, right, and so it's going
to create some competition, and it's also going to create
you know, this depth that you have depth deep into
the season is your friend, and so you we we
need that depth, and you know, we may have option
(07:43):
a guy here or there, but we're having constant communications
and roster talks and one of the big things is
we just really have to make sure that we build
these guys up in the right way because we don't
want to want them to experience any more injuries. And
so we'll we'll pick our time to make these roster adjustments.
But make no mistake, the depth that's coming is going
(08:06):
to be your friend, not your enemy.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Dana, do do do people call often about getting one
of your pitchers? I don't care if it's bullpen or starting,
no name necessary, But do you get a lot of
calls or more calls on pitching or your everyday players
right now?
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Yeah? Look at the mix of what you get calls on.
You know, one week, it could be you're getting more
calls on pitching. Another week could be you're getting more
call on the back on the hitters, and so you know,
it varies. But you know, we have a good core
of players with a really good team, and so we
get hit up for our players and uh, but ultimately
we'd like to keep this good corps together. We'd like
(08:45):
to try to add to it and and and make
it a little bit better for this run and this
stretch of trying to get back to the postseason and
get deep into the postseason.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Are you seeing are you seeing more? For the more
that you like to see from Christian Walkers. It's starting
to come into play for you, Dana that this Okay,
we're starting to He's starting to rear it's head a
little bit more.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Oh well, Christian walker has been really good.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
He's been Yes, yeah, he's.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Been really good. He's been coming through for us. And
you know, that's what the true professionals do. You know,
when some of the stars go down, you know, they
carry that that workload and they really turned the corner.
And he's been that guy that he's starting to turn
the corner. It's been fun to watch and I think
the best is still yet to come. And you know, well,
(09:31):
it'd be great if he could just really continue this progress,
get red hot right toward the end of the season,
carry that into the postseason and had to be a
beautiful thing for the Astros. Dana.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
You know, I don't think we talk about this guy much.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
You do it.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
I know how much you love him, and we talk
about him on the show all the time. And this
has absolutely nothing to do with trade or not trade,
just simply the guy. I don't think Victor Carrottin is
a backup catcher in Major League Baseball on most other teams. Right,
You're fortunate with the depth and with Yin or here.
I mean, I don't know, I just I just get
your thoughts on Victor Carrottini's game all the way around.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Yeah, look, see vict can play a lot on other clubs.
You know, as you mentioned, we do have depth. You've
seen teams win the World Series with a guy like
Victor Carrattini behind the plate, A veteran guy, switch hitter,
guy who do a few things. And so yes, he
is a really good player. And you know, if he
was on some other team, you know, he probably would
(10:29):
be getting you know, most of the time behind the plate.
And oftentimes you realize, like, look, these players love to
be part of winners, and he knows he's going to
get a lot of the bats here. He loves it
here in Houston, and look it's a good place for
him to be. He loves it here. We need him,
we want him. He's a great backup.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
All right. I'll ask you this before I let you go,
because I know you got stuff to do, and I
appreciate your time, my man, and moving this up so
we could get you and accommodate you and get you
on here because we needed it. Will your team tomorrow
be improved by the end of tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
That is the goal. We're locked into it. We're focused,
we're dedicated. We're having a ton of conversations, and that's
the goal. The goal that the deadline is to improve
the team, and the priority is to try to get impacts.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Can't wait to see it. And we appreciate your time.
Thanks for moving it up so we could get you
in today, and good luck not only the rest of
the way, but good luck in these next thirty hours
or so with what you got to do, my man.
I don't envy it, but I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
We appreciate you, absolutely, We appreciate you as well. Let's
go astro fans returning the corner.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
There, you go. Appreciate it, Dana, that's Danon Brown. We'll
come back and discuss. I think that you know that
something's going to happen between Dow tomorrow. The question is who, what,
and how many Sports Talk seven ninety
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