"We Need To Cut This Lead In Half By The End Of July" Astros GM Dana Brown

Now ten games back, still on the chase to five-hundred the Astros have arrived at another production plunge followed with a few major and minor injuries. With Verlander going back on the IL and still no update on Kyle Tucker, Astros GM Dana Brown sheds a bit insight on the major headlines displayed.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
The Sean Salisbury Show continued, Yeah, for his weekly visit every Wednesday at
nine thirty. Grateful to have DanaBrown on joining us. Now, all
right, Dana, let's start here. You know, and you've mentioned it.
We've talked about the sense of urgencyand in truth, every game has
to be played with it feels likeplayoff atmosphere needs to be part of what
the Astros are thinking. How doyou explain rookie giving they only get two

(00:25):
hits, shut out the Astros inChicago for a team that's got nineteen wins.
Explain your feelings about last night?Yeah, I mean, sometimes you
get these rookies that come out andthey pitch and you don't have much information
on them. And I think hedid a good job of keeping us off
balanced, and you know, gotthere late in the game. Guys started

(00:48):
to try to do too much andnever got anything going until the last inning.
And then you know that last inning, late rally with two outs just
wasn't enough. And so you gothrough this game and you get two runs
and it's frustrating, but you know, ultimately, you know you got to
got to win the series again.I mean, my whole thing is you

(01:11):
got to win the series to getback to five hundred, and once you
get back to five hundred, that'swhen you go on your runs. Dana,
this team you mentioned about, youknow that you just got to get
the clutch hit and trying to dotoo much. It's kind of been a
theme of the team all year.How do you fix that? If that's
been the modus operandi for the teamall year, how do you all of

(01:32):
a sudden flip the switch on thatand flip the script. Yeah, I
don't know if it's like flip theswitch. It's more like, look,
once these guys start to realize that, look, let me, I don't
have to do too much here.Let me just get let me get a
rally started, you know, letme take this walk, you know,
let me get this runner over fromsecond, you know, let me drive

(01:56):
a base at the right field andscore to run. We have to start
doing those little things. And I'mnot saying that these guys aren't trying,
of course, you know, theseguys are professionals and they're getting after it.
But it's just every now and thenthere's a lack of concentration where we
really got to focus and on maybejust getting that quality at bat and you

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know, getting a rally started.Dana with that. Dana Brown astros GM
for his weekly visit, joins usDanny. You mentioned about just getting that
hit, not to just making sureyou get that hit and when they when
it kicks. In veteran team,a lot of great players. This is
a talent you and I both knowwith a list of injuries, I get
it. But how has this teamnot figured that out already? With these

(02:38):
veterans, They've done it so manytimes in the past. Why are they
having trouble figuring out just to makeit simple to get that simple hit,
not trying to pull everything or dowhat you're saying. How have they not
figured that out? Eighty you know, we're pushing the halfway point of the
season. Yeah, I mean Ithink they know what they have to do.
I think executing it is whole differentthing. And that's you know,

(03:01):
that's been the struggle, you know. You know, I know I got
to get this runner over. Iknow I got to get this base hit.
The point is, uh, youknow, you got another guy out
there on the mound that's competing againstyou. You've got you have to execute
it, you know, just likea pitcher may have to execute a pitch.
You have to execute this as batand have a quality at bat,

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a lot of early contact. Yesterday, I think one of the things we
need to do is, you know, we we probably have to talk about
like taking more pitches, you know, grinding out at bats, taking more
pitches make forcing the pitcher to work. And I think last night we may
have had a different outcome if wewere just started to take a little bit

(03:43):
more pitches, you know, andeven if you go down oh two,
I don't think the guy that pitchedagainst this last night had enough stuff where
he could blow us away. Ithink if you start to take some pitches
there, you get in position thatyou know, you may get us get
his back against the wall. Danny, you I asked you this about six
weeks ago, so I'm going torevisit it. We talked about sense of

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urgency, and you echoed what wehad said about Yes, it has to
be you believe your team knew it, but it had to kick in.
Well, here they are seven gamesunder five hundred, and you want to
get the five hundred first, asyou had mentioned before the All Star break,
and ten games out. So dothey recognize the sense of urgency.
Even with the number of games left. Yeah, I definitely think they recognized

(04:29):
the sense of urgency. You know, you got eighty nine games left.
There is a sense of urgency.I think our guys know it, and
I think, you know, wehave to get after it. We have
to get on this run that I'vebeen talking about that we fail to get
on. And so the sense ofurgency is there. And I think when
you combine the sense of urgency withplaying in these games, that's when these

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guys start, you know, theytry to do too much. I think
they need to step back, realizethat this is a good ball club.
We've been selling good seeds in thisorganization for a long time. Let the
crop just develop. And so ultimately, you know, we have to get
into that thought process, and uh, you know, when it happens,

(05:12):
we'll get on the road. Youknow, seven games back is now.
You know, seven seven games belowfive hundred is not a ton of games.
I think once you get back tofive hundred, you'll see the number
of games back decrease. Once thatnumber of games back decrease, are going
to be in a good position.We've got Seattle team games up You're going
to play those guys six more timesand at some point we'll break through.

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We need to get it sooner ratherthan later. But we need to get
it. When is it? When? When is later? Dana? For
you? Sooner rather than where.Where's that threshold? Yeah, the threshold
for me is you need to geton this run, you know, before
the end of July. I've saidthat before. You you know you can't.

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You can't get into late July andyou know be you know, seven
to ten games back. You know, you just can't. You know,
you have to close that gap.You know, at some point when you
get to mid July, right aroundthe All Star break, you know,
that lead has to dwindle. Whetheryou get it down the six or five

(06:20):
or four, you know, youhave to get it down, you know.
And you don't want to wait untilmid August to start getting hot,
even though I've seen teams blow leadsseven game leads in September. That can
happen, you know, but youdon't want to wait for that because if
you wait for that, that's whenyou end up on the wrong side,

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you know, in the win column. So ultimately we need to cut this
lead in half, you know,we're ten back. We need to cut
it in half, you know,by the end of July, and then
I think you'll see this club roleonce we get that second when things will
change. But we need to makeno mistake, we need to cut this

(07:01):
lead in half by late July.We have to. And you know,
at that point we'll get some guysback coming off the IL, and you
know things will start to turn.I mean, we've got six starters on
the IL right now, which isfrustrating. Yeah, Astro's GM Dana Brown
for his weekly visit here on SportsTalk seven to ninety. All right,

(07:23):
and I'm gonna get to those injuriesin a second, but let's talk about
this closing that gap before mid July. Do you you yourself, as you're
the man running this team, doyou have to have a sense of urgency
to go find players outside the buildingbefore the trade deadline? No, I
don't think there's a sense in anurgency to do that. I mean,

(07:44):
I think we have a good team. Are you guys good enough to you're
good enough to win a World Serieswith? If you would it be a
mistake not to make any move beforethe All Star break, or would you
be okay with that or before thetrade deadline. Well, well, it
depends on how how many of ourguys are going to cut back. And
let's say, for example, ifGarcia is on the brink of coming back,

(08:05):
that's a that's like making a treeright there. That's getting one of
your big starters back. You know. If you're gonna get mccullors in early,
you know, August, that's likemaking a tree. That's two big
guys coming back, even if youdon't know they're gonna be good overcoming injury.
You're counting on guys that are gonnathat you're not gonna be able to
work deep into into games, correct, Dana, Or are you gonna how's
you know, the the the wondermentof if they're going to be fully ready

(08:28):
to do it. You're counting oninjured guys. Are we counting on Garcian
mccullors to make a major contribution inthe second half of the season. Yeah,
I mean I would say that we'recounting on them. I mean,
at the end of the day,we have Garcia and mccullors, who both
have postseason experience. They've been throughthis, Yeah, they've been through this.
This is this is look, youwhen you're a veteran, you come

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back. I mean we expect youknow that you could step it step it
up, you know. I mean, I don't know if you're gonna be
you know, the m colors andthe Garcia of old. But we need
to get at least ninety percent ofthat. And you know, if we
get that, that's going to bebig for us. Now, I've mentioned

(09:13):
before, we're always in the marketof trying to get a starter. If
we can get a starter that makessense, we'll get a starter. I'd
like to get a bat. Ifthere's an opportunity for us to get it
back to hit in the middle ofthe lineup, we're going to do it.
So it's not that we're not havingthese conversations, but I would say,
make no mistake, this team isdefinitely good enough to get the postseason

(09:33):
play and get back deep into thepostseason as it is right Okay, without
a trade as it is, wecan make the postseason and get back deep
into the postseason. Right now,in terms of winning the World Series,
you know, you know, wemay have to make a move here or
there that would really you know,give us a better opportunity to win the

(09:54):
World Series. But in terms ofgetting back to the postseason and getting deep
into the postseason, this team isreally good. I said, if we
can cut this lead in half bytowards the end of July, you know,
I think everyone in Astroland will seegood things happen. Are your best

(10:16):
players doing enough? Yeah, Imean our best players have to you know,
step it up a little bit more, you know. I mean ultimately,
uh, they would even tell youthemselves they're not having the years that
they they've had in the past.And so you know, when these guys
start to you know, heat upa little bit, I think that,
you know, it's going to affectthe club. Of course, you know,

(10:39):
I don't. I don't think that, you know, the veteran guys
are you know, falling apart oryou know, they're not in that range
where you know they look like thereat the end of their career. But
I think we we have guys thatwill tell you themselves that you know,
they're they're not playing up to theability that they've played played in the past.

(11:01):
So if you know, once theseguys start to heat up, I
think you'll see a different club.Of course, so U but ultimately we
got to cut this lead in half. And we have eighty nine games,
so you know, you won't seeme panic until we get into late July
early August and we're still in thesame position. All right, Yeah,

(11:24):
that's when I think there may betime to panic. But right now we're
still in position to cut this leadin half. You cut this lead in
half, you're going to run.That means you'll be You cut the lead
in half, you're back of fivehundred, you're going to run. You
take over first place, and they'regonna have to play a lot better baseball
to cut it in half. Asyou and I both know, and you've
discussed. Okay, real quick.I know you always are kind and giving
us extra time. Verlander did goingon the as I'll catch you by surprise

(11:48):
a little bit. Did you expectit to be as I don't want to
say severe, but as grinding ofan injury as it is, and how
long? Yeah, I mean,I just think it's next nex discomfort and
ultimately it's it's going to be afifteen day I l hopefully when he comes
back, you you know, maybehave to you know, throw maybe an

(12:09):
inning here and an inning there,A couple of innings here, a couple
in there and Triple A. ButI think it'll be back within you know,
the fifteen to eighteen days or whateverwe got. Uh, maybe it's
one rehab start or something in tripleA. But ultimately, uh, he
may not even need a rehab start. You know, it just depends he's
already feeling a lot better. Youknow. Sometimes you know, you just

(12:33):
need rest. You know, particularlywhen you're a little older and you're towards
the end of your career, youjust you may just need a little bit
of a breather, and you getthat rest, you know, the next
discomfort goes away and you come backyou know, uh, you know,
blowing shedder. So yeah, ultimately, uh, you know, we got

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guys that, once they get healthy, will be in a lot better shape.
You know, we are deep intoour depth in our pit and in
our rotation. I'm sorry, sowe're deep into our depth in our rotation.
There's no question about it. Youknow, we're going to have to
rely on you know, a youngkid here, a young kid here there
to step it up, you know, because we're deep. When you have

(13:18):
six starters on the il, you'redeep into your depth of your rotation.
So you know, at some pointwe're going to have to have a young
kid step it up. With KyleTucker, he's sixteen days now. It
was a bone and you had said, man, it hits off the bone,
it hurts. But Joe Spotta hadsaid there's no bone damage. So

(13:39):
and he's not even doing baseball activityyet. How deep is this injury?
And how worried should we be ifthere's no bone damage and he's still not
playing. Yeah, I mean I'ma little surprised AT's taking this long.
But you know what happens is whenyou follow a ball off that bone,
and you know, it gets somuch soreness that it limits your mobility and

(14:05):
activity. And so I just Ididn't see it, you know, being
this long. But you know KyleTucker, you know he's a big man,
and you know you have a bigman like that. You know it
takes sometimes it could take a littlebit longer, and I think, you
know, he's not moving around asas as good as we would like him

(14:28):
to move around. But you know, there's no fracture, there's no damage.
It's just a lot of soreness.And so once you get that,
you can't you know you can't pushit, and so there's no doubt about
it. We miss his bat andso you know that's that's a difficult thing

(14:48):
right there. There you go,Dana, appreciate it. Man. Good
luck in this one today, andwe'll look forward to next Wednesday's conversation.
Hopefully they'll be on a little bitof a role when we talk to you
next week. That'd be great.Yeah, we got to continue to win
series and then if we do that, we cut that lead in half and
then we'll be on our way.Appreciate you, mo man, enjoy thank
you so much. All Right,thank you, thank you. That's Dana

(15:09):
Brown. We'll come back and visitthe final segment of the show talk about
what he discussed.