Former Blue Jays executive Dana Brown to become Houston Astros GM

Earlier on Thursday, the Houston Astros made it official - Dana Brown is their new General Manager.

Brown will replace James Click who was abruptly let go from his post earlier in the offseason, despite being well-liked and a respected figure around the league and the club.

Brown told reporters in a press conference, "I'm excited about joining the Astros. We played you guys in the World Series in 2021. I know there's some special things going on here now and I want to add to that, I want to sustain long-term success. Baseball is all I know. It's my entire life. I want to empty myself into this city and the fans and let Jim Crane [Astros owner] know he made an excellent pick."

Brown has been around the league since all the way back in 2001, when he broke into the industry as the Director of Scouting for the Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals. Under his jurisdiction, the Nationals signed over 40- players that went on to play in the big leagues; including Ian Desmond, Stephen Strasburg and Ryan Zimmerman, who all went on to be All-Stars.

In 2010, Brown made a move over to the Toronto Blue Jays and served as a special assistant to General Manager Alex Anthopoulos, who was briefly reunited with Brown at his next stop. During Brown's time period in Toronto, the Jays won the AL East in 2015 and earned a Wild Card spot the next season. When the club appeared in the 2015 postseason, it was its first berth since all the way back in 1993.

What Brown is perhaps best known for is his tenure with the Atlanta Braves. He left the Blue Jays after the 2018 season and joined on with the Braves as the Vice President of Scouting. Under his command, the Braves drafted players who are currently blossoming into stars for them, including Michael Harris II, Spencer Strider and Vaughn Grissom.

All around the industry, Brown is lauded as an incredible baseball mind who has a very high baseball-IQ. There is a story on Twitter about how Alex Anthopoulos, also a former Blue Jays exec, was "begged" by Brown to sign Tyler Matzek, who went on to play an integral part of the Braves 2021 march through the postseason.

Say what you will about Brown leaving the Jays for other teams. It happens to everyone, as evidenced by Anthopoulos' moving on. Bob Nightengale of USA Today took to Twitter to share an interesting tidbit; Brown and Dusty Baker are going to form the second-ever Black GM and Black manager pairing in Major League Baseball history.

Congratulations to Dana Brown, it's always cool to see former members of the Blue Jays, regardless of their capacity, going on to big things in the game.