The Astros are currently in first place and have been on a tear since getting swept by the Orioles after the All-Star break. While the team has played well, it still has obvious flaws, none bigger than its lack of starting pitching depth.
Many fans wanted Dana Brown to trade the organization’s top prospects for a middle
rotation starter to bolster the playoff push. When the deadline passed without a move, the reaction was predictable: frustration.
I think Brown made the right call.
The Astros already have one of the weakest farm systems in baseball, with only two top
100 prospects, both of whom rank in the bottom half of those lists. Meanwhile, the major league roster will soon need an infusion of young talent.
Despite leading the division, this isn’t a dominant club. The Astros have spent much of
the season with a negative run differential, suggesting they’re more lucky than good.
Brown likely concluded that this roster is not one starter away from becoming a true
World Series contender. Trading away scarce prospect capital for a few months of a mid-
rotation arm would have sacrificed long-term health for only a modest increase in
championship odds.
That isn’t always a popular decision, but it may have been the responsible one.
If anything, Brown deserves credit for resisting the temptation to chase a short-term fix.
He will likely be out of Houston next year, and it took a lot of integrity to prioritize the
long-term health of the club over doing whatever he can to keep his job.
Feature photo from Astros on X
An original article by MCN reposted in this site debunked the popular idea that the Astros farm system is weak. The article didn’t claim that our farm system was strong, just not weak when compared to the Dodgers’.
Arrighetti’s trade is bad. Not because DB traded Arrighetti, but because Arrighetti has much more value than a has-been-rental-defense-first-outfielder.
Varsho may turn into Joe DiMaggio in the next two months, but it is a bad trade on its face value.
For context, the Kikuchi trade was bad too, even though Kikuchi morphed from a 4.75 ERA pitcher with the Jays to an ace with the Astros.
DB’s 3 years tenure with the Astros is unimpressive. Maybe he was limited in his functions as a decision maker, we may never know, but looking at the results alone, he is not leaving the Astros better than how he found them.