Two Blue Jays-Astros trades didn’t exactly help Dana Brown’s case in Houston

The Houston Astros made one of the more surprising front-office decisions of the stretch run Monday, parting ways with general manager Dana Brown while still technically sitting in the American League West race.

According to the team, Brown and the Astros mutually agreed to part ways, ending a tenure that began in January 2023 and included two division titles, but not the kind of sustained postseason success Houston had grown accustomed to during its previous run of dominance.

Brown’s contract was set to expire at the end of the season, and he spent the year in a lame duck situation and even with Houston entering the week tied with the Texas Rangers atop the AL West, the Astros aren't playing the kind of baseball Owner Jim Crane and the fans have been used to.

Since Crane bought the Astros in 2011, they have been perennial World Series contenders outside of a couple of years. But at 65-66, and after a 3-6 homestand the writing was on the wall. It's weird timing considering we're not even a month past the trade deadline, but it might be the results of said deadline that did him in.

The Astros were 58-56 on Aug. 3, and 8-2 in their last ten. They have gone 7-10 since then and their only real move that day was to acquire Daulton Varsho from the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for 26-year-old RHP Spencer Arrighetti. It's not the first time he's made a move with the Blue Jays to try and fix a need at the deadline.

Two years ago, Brown acquired Yusei Kikuchi and fans and insiders alike had some very strong opinions about the deal the moment it happened. That's because of the price Houston paid for a guy that was a rental starter. The Astros sent right-hander Jake Bloss, outfielder Joey Loperfido and infielder Will Wagner to Toronto.

To Brown’s credit, Kikuchi helped Houston in the short term. The Astros needed rotation help, and Kikuchi gave them useful innings for a team still that was still trying to extend its competitive window. That is the kind of move contenders need to make and in ten games in the regular season, Kikuchi pitched 60 innings, had 76 strikeouts and posted a 2.70 ERA. But he didn't appear for Houston in the playoffs after they were swept in two games by the Detroit Tigers in the Wild Card series.

But Toronto walked away with three young players, including a legitimate pitching prospect in Bloss and two near-major-league bats in Loperfido and Wagner. Even if the entire return has not become a finished product yet, and the Astros got Loperfido back (in the the Jesús Sánchez trade) the Blue Jays turned a pending free agent into a multi-player package with both depth and upside.

The Varsho trade was also easy to understand on paper from Houston’s perspective. The Astros needed a left-handed outfield bat and a stabilizing defensive presence, and Varsho checked both boxes. But the early impact has been modest. Varsho has not been a disaster in Houston, but he hasn't transformed the Astros’ lineup in the way they that Brown needed a guy like him to.

Meantime, Arrighetti has given the Blue Jays another controllable arm, while Houston took on the risk that Varsho won't be with the team beyond this season.

The Blue Jays irony is hard to miss after Dana Brown and the Astros mutually part ways

For Blue Jays fans, though, Brown’s exit comes with an added layer of familiarity. Before running baseball operations in Houston, Brown spent nearly a decade in Toronto’s front office under Alex Anthopoulos, then followed Anthopoulos to Atlanta before landing his first GM job with the Astros.

That Blue Jays connection is a cruel bit of irony for Brown. Neither trade ruined the Astros but, neither did enough to make Brown’s case more defensible once Houston’s season started wobbling. Of course the entire system is different from the one that Brown helped build when he was in Toronto. While Brown has made other moves that preceded the dismissal the ones with the Blue Jays immediately come to mind as deals that didn't work out the way he was hoping they would.

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