The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Astros GM Dana Brown Talks Jose Altuve In Left Field, Trading Kyle Tucker, Alex Bregman's Deal And More

Episode Date: February 18, 2025

Houston Astros general manager Dana Brown joined "The Matt Thomas Show with Ross" from the first day of full-squad workouts at spring training in West Palm Beach, Florida. Brown commented on Alex Bregman's free agent signing, trading Kyle Tucker, Jose Altuve's excitement to play left field, his willingness to elevate top prospects and more.

Dana Brown, the Astro General Manager with this little bad time, we show with Ross. Dana, thanks, first of all, for joining us. Secondly, you've used this clutch, clutch phrase and crutch phrase. We all have them. Internal discussions. Please let us end to one day of those. Because, I mean, you had so many internal discussions.

Is that like a checklist? Like you walk in with you, you've got your lieutenants. Is that what that is of, hey, here's what you all saw? Here's happening at camp. What's an internal discussion? I want to hear about that. Yeah, internal discussions are basically, look, we show up here every day, And, you know, we're always thinking of ways to get the team better.

And so we're still having conversations, you know, about players and what we could do to make this club even better than it is right now. We feel really good about the club. We feel like, you know, we can win this division again and get deep into the postseason. We feel like we've got a good group of position players, a good group of starters and relievers. And so, you know, we have these discussions every day we talk. You know, it's amazing that I, you know, I'll always. in and first time I'm saying hey what you guys got today what's going on you talk to any

the other clubs what's going on so that's that's part of what we do internal discussions I don't remember a whole lot of maneuvering this time of year am I wrong about this I mean I know guys can sign some deals I think Justin Turner just signed the day but in terms of just real hot action is there a lot right now I think it is I think what's going to happen is guys get into camp and you start seeing your players a little bit some of the guys have been here for a little bit longer and you start to get that look at them and you say oh man maybe we can upgrade here or you know maybe we have enough in this area and so you know those are part of those discussions that you have and you know before you know it you may make a move so we're always trying

to find some angle where we can improve this club but i think you have to be relentless uh because if you're not that's that day something to slip by you what do you think about i mean of course Breggman signing and it going on for a long time and it happening the last couple years of Jordan Montgomery, Blake Snell and some guys getting signed early, some late. Is that, can you tell me, is that something that's recent? Has it always been like that? But it feels like things have dragged on a little bit more. It's just as a whole, in a picture of free agency.

In your opinion, what do you think about the state of the way things go these days, especially with the way that Bregman dragging on the way that it did? Yeah, I just think it depends on the type of year. Like, how many big boys do you have on the market? You know, I think it's one of those things where sometimes you have so many good players on the market. And, you know, guys are, you know, waiting on deals and trying to do deals and trying to get creative. And, you know, so a lot of things are happening all at one time. There's a lot of clubs that you have to have conversations with.

And so it seems complicated sometimes. But, you know, I think at the end of the day, guys, you know, target who they want. They go after them hard. And if they don't get them, they go to the next guy. But how in the world is a general manager, whether it's you or anybody else in the big leagues, you hold a spot out for a guy that may or may not come? I mean, let's be brutally honest here. We love Bregman very much.

But your life had to move on. You had to go fix this infield right away here, whether he was coming back or not. Yeah, the one thing I learned when I was in Atlanta working under Alex Entopoulos, he used to move really quickly in the offseason. And he would, you know, get his targets, line them up. And, you know, once you shoot at this one, if it didn't work, go to the next one. And so I think what I was trying to do is, you know, hey, we want Gregman to come back. But, you know, we have to think, what if we don't sign them, if something goes wrong?

And so we didn't wait around. You know, we made the trade right away. you know, we, you know, wanted to put Paredes at third. Then, you know, we got Walker for first base. You know, because we were losing two bats that hit one through five, so we wanted to add two bats back, and we wanted to remain competitive. And so you can't sit around and wait. You have to be active, you know, and as, you know, the owner Jim Crean says,

look, our window's always open, so we're always looking to win. We're always looking to make deals. We're always looking to get better. One of the early deals was the Kyle Tucker trade to Chicago, and look, Cam Smith apparently. I mean, everyone's like this guy's built to granite. Can't wait to see him. I want to see him in some spring training games.

On the other side of it, what made them want to get this done? Because in a year from now, he's not committed to Chicago. I mean, why you have to battle the I want him now as compared to, I don't want to give a lot of prospects up so we can lose him in here. What's it like on their end? And what was it like dealing with a squad that knew that you were sending him there knowing that he's going to be a free engine in one season? Yeah, I mean, some teams, you know, they,

they get to the point where they're like really trying to get back to the postseason and i think they were motivated by trying to get back to the postseason and they knew that you know Tucker was you know really good player and so that they would use a guy like that in the middle of their lineup good defender he could still bases so you know he's one of the better position players in baseball and so um i think that was the appeal you know you're getting one of the better positions and one of the better position players in baseball and you're trying to get back to the postseason and you know that kind of motivated them to do what they did and then we felt like look if we're going to trade Tucker we got to get something really good bat you know and we felt you know

like getting those three guys were like really big you know you got two guys that you can put on your major league team right away you got another guy and it's not that far away and so you know we feel like we got impact back astro general manager dana brown was here on sports talk 790 and well dana the thing that we're all been talking about everybody's talking about of course Jose Altuvae and the left field discussion. How did this come about and how does he fit as a piece of the puzzle? Because of course we know Chaz, Jake, maybe Dubon, some Zach to Zenzzo, maybe Jacob Melton down the line as well. How does Altuve fit in this left field puzzle?

Yeah, so it seems to be picking up steam, you know. It's all Houston's talking about it. I mean, there's a lot of things funny about your squad. Everybody's asking us to ask you about it. Jose El Tuva. Yeah, well, you know, we'll give it to him. So look, I think Al Tuve is having a ball out there in left field, first of all. He's excited about it. He's out there like a little kid. It's unbelievable. He's always smiling. And, you know, we wanted to create some versatility. And if you could use him, you know, in left field, you know, that's going to create some versatility. And we think that could be big. And, you know,

we needed a bat in our outfield, so that helps us with a bat in our outfield. But, you know, he's done a great job. He's really taken well to it. And as long as he's having fun, you know what, we don't have to commit to it today, but as long he's having fun and getting better and we feel like, look, he's got a chance to be a really

good defender. Why not? You know, he's doing a good job. I just went out earlier and watched him take some fly balls, and man, he was getting good jumps and getting balls in the gap and coming in. So a goal of what you're telling us then.

If he wins the goal, glove. Our staff, you're going to look like experts. That's true. I'll take a strong average defender at this point. If he becomes that, that's outstanding in our outfit. So he's for sure taken to it very well. And what about Yorda?

How does he fit in a left field pitcher? Yeah, I think we'll get him some time, but ultimately he's our DH. You know, we want him to worry about hitting and driving and runs. and so we will give him some run in the outfield. Joe's made that clear. It's all up to Joe and how many times he wants to put him out there, but he's really our DH, and so he will get some run, and I'm sure Joe has probably talked to him about it and said,

look, we're going to try to protect you because we want you to play as many games as possible, and the way you can do that is you're just de-h it. Is there a metric for that because there are some guys, remember Michael Brantley, He despised being a D.H. He wanted to be in the action. Other guys, I'll go back to David Ortiz. I mean, reinvented himself by getting off of first base.

So do you guys look at numbers of how he batted, how he performed the day after day before he played in left field? No, I just think it's one of those things where, you know, he's going to hit, whether he's a left fielder or a D.H., you know, Alvarez will hit. So I don't think that really had much to do with it. I just think if he's in the dugout, thinking about hitting all the time, he can really lock into what he wants to do, whether he wants to figure out what the pitcher is drawing to him,

study what his patterns are or whatever the case may be. Any time that he could spend on hitting is a good thing, and we want to see big results from him because when he goes, the team goes. It feels like the 26-man roster is just about set. But if it isn't somewhere, where would that be? Would it be a decision on a utility infielder, an extra arm in the bullpen in terms of that? What do you see as you look for the next month when you watch these games? Where is it?

Well, I can go here. I can go here in this particular position. Yeah, I think, you know, obviously the bullpen, you know, with making a move for Presley, you know, trading Presley opened up a spot there, right? Yeah. So we definitely have some room to talk about, you know, what is our pin going to look like. And then, you know, outfield-wise, you know, how are we going to be Patoon, is McCormick, you know, going to really, you know, get back to his 20-23 year. So I think those two, you know, spots like, you know, outfield and also relief pitching is where the room, you know, we have to make our decisions. For a little, you know, I'll get one, Ross get one more question.

One from me, our audience loves this team and is with every intricate move. and they'll always bring up the minor leaguers. Melton, Matthews, and then we'll get to Cam Smith. How much do you think that's going to be a conversation piece internally about when they're going to be ready? Look, nobody knows. You have to take it. Even if they're crushing it to AAA or double A, you still, it's a guess. How much were you intently watching those three guys, especially in the first couple months of the year,

if some of those major leaguers are not performing up to your expectations? Yeah, I'm locked in on them, you know, regardless if the major leaguers are doing well, and if they're not doing well, I'm still locked in on those. guys. Those guys have a chance to help us. I really feel confident that they could turn the corner pretty quickly. And so I'm used to, you know, moving players fast. You know, I mean, I told these guys when I got the job, I sat down and I talked to a lot of the minor league players. I think it's important that you always have good young players coming into the major leagues. I think it reminds the older players that, hey, we got good young players in the minor leagues, and it reminds

the younger players that if I do well, I'm going to get moved up. And I think it reminds I think you want that energy throughout your entire organization. And I'm telling them a firm believer. So I think if these guys are, if they go down there and they're doing well, we will talk about moving them. You know, I don't know how fast or I can't put a timeline on it. But we're not afraid to move them to the big leagues if they're doing very well. Starting pitching question real quick.

What was it like seeing Hayden Wesneski from afar, now getting him in house and working with him? and then as far as the depth Luis Garcia and Lance McHollors Yeah, so Wadsneski, he's fired up, of course, because he's back home in Houston, right? And so he's locked in.

I've had multiple conversations with him. And I think his stuff is going to play very well. I think our pitching guys are really good. And so they're going to get him to his next step in life in this game. And so

I think they could, you know, our guys have a way of finding out what you need to do to make you better. And I think he's been a sponge and hopefully we could help him to make those adjustments. You know, Garcia I think Garcia, you know,

we'll know more as he continues to throw here, but I anticipate him turning the corner somewhere in the early part of this year and so once he starts throwing here, we probably have more of a firm, you know, deadline or target date

whatever you want to call it. And he's going to be some help that we were going to need in that rotation. So we really feel like we got 10 guys total in depth in rotation. And so we feel like we're in good shape. You know, last year we had that period where we lost like five starters at one point. They were all out. So we feel really good about that. And the McCullors, you know, he's been thrown off the mound and he's been participating in, you know,

the PFP drills. And so, you know, that's a good. thing and so once once he starts to throw even harder we'll get a pretty much target date or you know a timeline on him as well and so I feel like both guys should be pitching at some point this season hopefully sooner rather than later Dana thank you very much for the time we really appreciate it and again we'll take sausage peppers bun whatever that sounds good yeah any of whatever they're cooking we'll take us a plate yeah exactly yeah I could actually smell that for you It smells good, right?

It's pretty cool of us. It's frankly better than the questions we've asked you. We're dying out here, man. Yeah, constantly you're smelling that. Thanks, then. We really appreciate it. All right, thank you. Data Brown Astros,

and our manager with us on the Matt Thomas show with Ross Moore here from West Palm Beach in a moment on Sports Talk 790.