Houston Astros general manager Dana Brown says he "can't envision" selling at the trade deadline despite his team's 12-22 start to the 2024 season.
"I don't see any chance of us becoming sellers. I think the team is too good," Brown said Tuesday on on MLB Network's MLB Now. "If guys start to turn a corner, good things will happen."
The 2024 trade deadline is on July 30, giving the Astros almost three months to begin their climb out of the basement of the AL West.
"We have a really good rotation, we have a really good bullpen," Brown said. "Our bats are a little bit off a slow start."
Brown called out a few of the team's underperformers, including third baseman Alex Bregman, who is batting .202 through 31 games, and the platoon at first base, from which Houston recently optioned struggling veteran Jose Abreu.
He also mentioned the team's struggles in the outfield, where rookie Joey Loperfido was recently called up to take the roster spot of an injured Chas McCormick.
"With that said, I think the production's coming," Brown said. "I think our guys are true professionals, they're good players. I can't predict any scenario where we become sellers."
Brown said the start to Houston's 2024 campaign reminded him of his 2022 season as general manager of the Atlanta Braves.
During that season, the title-defending Braves were 10.5 games behind the New York Mets for first place in the division as of June 1. Atlanta then mounted a comeback that led them to clinch the NL East title on Oct. 5.
"I think the key here is, win this series, win this series, win this series, get back to .500," Brown said. "Once you get back to .500, and you start to roll, you get a winning streak of five here, seven here, ten there, before you know it you're eight to ten games over .500."
The Astros have dropped two straight games heading into Tuesday but are looking to turn things around with two series on the road against the New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers. Justin Verlander is expected to get the start Tuesday evening at Yankee Stadium.
Read 0 Comments
Download the app for comments Get the B/R app to join the conversation