DALLAS — On the day he dealt his best player, Dana Brown delivered a promise to those peeved and perplexed, those confused by the kind of trade the Houston Astros rarely make and those concerned about a championship window they’ve been promised will never close. Trading Kyle Tucker does nothing to widen it, but Brown believes in the long haul.
“Make no mistake, we’re still going to compete,” Brown said Friday afternoon. “This is probably one of those moves that, in the future, people will see and understand like, ‘Yeah, wow, I understand it now. I get it.’”
Patience is at a premium in society or sport, so Brown’s words will fall on deaf ears. A franchise that prioritized pennants to prospects authored an about-face on Friday, thrusting the Astros into a conversation they’ve never had and an echelon they’ve long tried to avoid.
Eight consecutive seasons of pushing all in precipitated a crossroads that Brown began to confront this week at the Winter Meetings. Discussions about significant trades began shortly after the season, Brown said, but acknowledging on Monday night the Astros would “listen on anybody” started a feeding frenzy among desperate teams with deep farm systems.
What transpired will define Brown’s tenure as Houston’s general manager. Trading Tucker is a logical decision. He will command at least $400 million next winter in free agency — a sum the Astros would never have paid him. Still, moving him is the antithesis of how the Astros have conducted business during their decade of dominance.
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It runs counter to much of Brown’s braggadocio upon taking this job two years ago, a period in which he promised a plethora of contract extensions and told owner Jim Crane to “fasten your seat belt, because it’s time.” Brown once had enough confidence to convince the baseball world Tucker would never leave, even if nothing in Crane’s past suggested it was realistic.
Two years later, Brown held enough conviction to trade him away. Whether that should cause alarm for the team’s other young players, be it budding ace Hunter Brown, dynamite setup man Bryan Abreu or reliable shortstop Jeremy Peña, is a legitimate question.
“We’re still going to be in the business of trying to extend guys if we feel like we can extend them and if it makes sense for the organization,” Dana Brown said.
“I don’t think it sends the wrong message. These types of things happen in sports enough that you know sometimes clubs will make a trade with one of their big chips and try to bring in more to reinforce and sustain long-term winning.”
That Brown even convinced Crane to execute this plan is another example of the trust he’s built with an owner who can be difficult to work under. Crane’s frayed relationship with James Click is the reason Brown is even here in the first place.
Thank you for everything, King Tuck. Best of luck in Chicago. pic.twitter.com/VCgimxrf8Z
— Houston Astros (@astros) December 13, 2024
Brown may have formed a far better rapport, but even that may not change Crane’s aversion to massive contracts or his wariness of the luxury tax. Brown was adamant on Friday that “finances had nothing to do with” the team trading Tucker, but moving him frees at least another $15 million from a payroll bloated by Crane’s brief cameo as general manager.
Cot’s Contracts approximates Houston is now $23.5 million under the first luxury tax threshold without Tucker. The team remains in search of a reliever, starter and a left-handed-hitting outfielder to fill the vacancy Tucker leaves behind.
“We definitely have our eyes set on improving the offense. That can certainly happen over the next week or so,” Brown said. “We’ve said from the outset we wouldn’t take anything off the table. If there is some type of opportunity where we feel like we can continue to keep this 2025 club strong and get even stronger in the future, we’ll listen.”
Few moves in the club’s modern history are more fascinating than this one. The Astros had not parted with a reigning All-Star player since Ed Wade dealt Michael Bourn and Hunter Pence within two days during the 2011 season. They resisted offloading Carlos Correa or George Springer or Alex Bregman before they tested free agency, appearing all right with receiving a compensatory pick and nothing more.
It’s apparent the club can no longer afford such a setup. The Astros’ farm system had fallen so far that it needed immediate action to address it. Infielder Cam Smith, the centerpiece of Houston’s return for Tucker, will immediately become the organization’s best prospect — a low bar to clear, but notable nonetheless. On Friday, Brown called him an “impact bat with power.”
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“He’s got a chance to play third, first or right,” Brown said. “We’re probably going to play him in all three of those positions, and if his bat comes really quickly, we’ll move him quickly. Whichever position he’s playing the best, we’ll put him in that position as he moves up.”
Smith is the type of high-end prospect this farm system sorely needed, but this era of Astros baseball is not about propping up good prospects. Postseason runs are the standard, not putting all hope in prospects. Brown displayed it during August’s trade deadline, parting with three prospects for two months of Yusei Kikuchi — a once-derided trade that paid dividends during Houston’s run to an American League West title.
Brown’s latest decision is just as daring, one he and his lieutenants believe can keep the 2025 team competitive while enhancing the future. They’re giddy over three more years of Isaac Paredes, whose pull power is perfect for a ballpark with a short left-field porch. They hope a homecoming from Houston native Hayden Wesneski will unlock the potential he always showed as a back-end starter.
Faith in all of that feels founded. Brown must hope it manifests.
“It’s tough in that first year to stomach because Kyle Tucker has had such a great career here, he’s such an outstanding player and played on some really good teams, won a championship,” Brown said. “All that can be true at one time. I would say this is more to strengthen our opportunities down the road without losing any footage in the current year.”
(Photo: Michael Wyke / Associated Press)
