This story was excerpted from Brian McTaggart’s Astros Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
HOUSTON — Astros general manager Dana Brown has had his work cut out for him this season, navigating his way through countless roster moves, the result of having 18 players on the injured list at one time. The Astros have somehow maintained a lead atop the American League West for most of the season and could be headed to their eighth division title in nine seasons.
Brown, who was hired a few months after the Astros won the World Series in 2022, took some time to answer some questions about the Astros, who are three games ahead of the second-place Mariners with 23 games remaining:
What do you think of where your club is positioned inside four weeks to go?
Brown: “Well, look, it was good to see the offense come alive [Monday]. You know, I think we’re going to need our offense here down the stretch. Pitching’s been pretty good and the defense has been good. So if we can get the offense turned around, I think we’re going to put a lot of wins on the board. We’ve got [23 games] left. We’re up three games. We control our own fate right now, and it’s go time.”
You’ve had some guys come off the IL pitching-wise the last few weeks and have some good starts under their belts. How much better do you feel about your starting pitching than you did about a month ago?
Brown: “I feel really good about our starting pitching. [Cristian] Javier’s last start, he looked like the Javier of old. He was 92 to 95 [mph], the fastball was taking off at the top of the strike zone, breaking ball looking really good. He had the six no-hit innings. [Spencer] Arrighetti’s turning the corner right now. He’s still got some walks, but look, he’s starting to record those outs and make the pitches when he has to. We all saw last night [Monday] what [Luis] Garcia did. He still didn’t have his best stuff, but he got through six innings, made a couple mistakes, but battled through six, gave up three [runs], and worked it out. And so that makes me feel really good that those guys have come off the IL and they’re really turning the corner, and I feel like we’re in a good position to make this run for the last [23].”
Third baseman Isaac Paredes (right hamstring strain) and closer Josh Hader (left shoulder capsule sprain) are hoping to return by the end of the season. Is there any clearer pictures on whether they’re going to have a shot to come back and impact the team?
Brown: “We’re going to get information on both later today or early [Wednesday]. I think we got a good chance that Paredes may be doing some activity, but … I’m fired up about that because I felt like when Paredes went down our offense suffered. He was seeing so many pitches. He was setting a tone for us at the top of the lineup. And so getting him back would really make me feel even better about the offense that broke loose [Monday].”
What do you see as Lance McCullers Jr.’s role over the next four weeks and into the playoffs?
Brown: “Look, the best thing I can say about Lance is I know he’s going to give us 100 percent, and if he could continue to come out of the ‘pen and give us all that he’s got, I think he could be an addition to this team. The rotation seems to be solidifying itself and with him in the ‘pen, we feel good if we have to go get him and throw multiple innings. And so that could be a good thing for us coming out of the ‘pen.”
As a general manager, what’s this time like for you? Do you watch the scoreboard? Are you nervous during games?
Brown: “I mean, for the most part, I try to focus on our game during the game. And then at the end of the night, I kind of look at what the box scores say. So you do some scoreboard-watching this late in the season. It’s September [and] every game, every loss, every win counts big-time, you know? We need to control our fate. The ball is in our court. We’re up three with [23] to go, and we just have to play good baseball.”
