HOUSTON — Operating without a president of baseball operations interested Dana Brown, who spent most of his front-office career working under one.
Upon Brown’s arrival in February, Houston’s first-year general manager acknowledged the Astros’ straightforward front-office structure “intrigued” him while lauding the value of a direct line between a general manager and their owner.
Advertisement
Could Jim Crane disrupt it? Last week, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon reported the Astros have spoken with David Stearns, the free-agent executive who started his front-office career in Houston before spending seven seasons running the Milwaukee Brewers’ baseball operations department.
On Sunday, Brown said Crane has not approached him with the idea of hiring a president of baseball operations, nor has he mentioned any interest in Stearns. “In fact,” Brown added, “I read these articles and I thought, ‘This is weird to me.’”
“If Jim wants to hire a president, I’ll be fine,” Brown continued. “I enjoy being able to go directly to Jim. I’ve always worked under presidents in my entire career, but I just enjoy being able to go to Jim. I think that’s a good thing, but if he decides to hire a president, I’d understand it.”
The New York Mets are believed to be “down the road” with Stearns, the 38-year-old native New Yorker who has long been viewed as a logical choice for Mets owner Steve Cohen to pair with general manager Billy Eppler.
GO DEEPER
Why some rivals say David Stearns would be an ideal fit for the Mets
Before he hired Brown, Crane had interest in Stearns during his general manager search last winter, people with knowledge of his thinking said, but Stearns was still under contract with the Brewers and teams wishing to interview him needed permission from Milwaukee to do so. A day before hiring Brown, Crane said he had not requested permission from the Brewers to interview Stearns.
Stearns became eligible to speak with other clubs on Aug. 1, according to Rosenthal and Sammon. The ties between Stearns and Houston are obvious: He served as one of former general manager Jeff Luhnow’s top lieutenants from 2012-15 and Stearns’ wife, Whitney, is a native Houstonian.
Still, the Mets are viewed as the most logical landing spot for Stearns. If Cohen does land him, it’s unclear whether Crane would continue his pursuit of a president to pair with Brown, a first-time general manager working with a baseball operations staff he inherited.
Advertisement
Crane promoted Luhnow to president of baseball operations during the 2018 season, but never named a standalone general manager to work under him.
Third starter solved?
Sunday’s 12-2 dismantling of the San Diego Padres gave the Astros a 2 1/2 game lead in the American League West and a 99.1 percent chance to make the postseason, according to FanGraphs. Nine of their next 12 games are against baseball’s two worst teams: the Oakland A’s and Kansas City Royals.
The Astros still must stave off the Seattle Mariners to win the division, but conversations can now shift from playoff prospects to projecting their plans once October arrives. Nowhere is uncertainty bigger than the starting rotation, where holes behind Justin Verlander and Framber Valdez are glaring.
The four candidates to fill them all appeared during this weekend’s series. Two of them are approaching workloads they’ve never had in their professional careers. Another, Cristian Javier, has already required a break to address arm fatigue.
Still, Houston will call on one of Javier, Hunter Brown, J.P. France or José Urquidy to start the third game of either a wild-card series or the American League Division Series. Neither Brown nor Javier finished five innings against the Padres. Urquidy threw four innings in relief of Brown on Friday, allowed four runs and watched his ERA balloon to 5.98.
France may have cemented his chances for a playoff start with six innings of one-run ball in Sunday’s series finale. The 28-year-old rookie right-hander lowered his ERA to 3.61 after 22 major-league starts. Thirteen of them have been quality starts.
JP France, Nasty Changeups. 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/kesmdQ8C8P
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) September 10, 2023
France faced a Padres lineup missing both Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr., issued five walks and navigated constant traffic, but his pitch efficiency and ability to strand baserunners is something neither of his three competitors can match.
France also appears to be handling his increased workload better than either Javier or Brown. Sunday’s six-inning start gave France 146 1/3 frames between the minor and major leagues this season. He’d never thrown more than 114 in any professional season preceding it.
Advertisement
“My body feels really good,” France said on Sunday. “I’ve always prided myself on being a workload guy. All the way from high school to college to now, I’ve always been able to be a guy that just eats up innings. My main goal every time I go out there is just to eat up innings and give our guys a chance to win.”
Brown crossed the 140-inning threshold during his start on Friday, too. He’s never thrown more than 129 2/3 innings in any season. One opposing scout who watched Brown on Friday mentioned it would behoove both Brown and the Astros to skip his next turn in the rotation to give him a breather. Asked after his start how he felt, Brown replied “physically, I feel good.”
Brown, who is scheduled to start on Wednesday against the A’s, has a 6.08 ERA since the All-Star break. Javier’s is 5.58 — and that is after Houston skipped his final first-half start to monitor his workload. France has a 4.01 mark in 11 second-half appearances, enough to almost hand him a playoff start, barring a total collapse.
Another factor could be Yainer Diaz, France’s catcher during five of his past six starts. Diaz is not going to catch either Verlander or Valdez and finding a spot for him in the lineup when they pitch has been difficult.
Diaz has started only one of Verlander’s seven starts since the trade deadline. He’s started twice when Valdez has pitched in that same timeframe. Going three playoff games without starting Diaz seems ill-advised. Pitching France would make it easier.
Can the Astros keep Neris?
Former Houston farmhand Josh Hader never pitched this weekend, but Minute Maid Park still hosted the best available reliever on this winter’s free-agent market.
Might the Astros employ the second?
Hector Neris continued his wonderful walk year with another escape act during the sixth inning of Saturday’s 7-5 win, stranding the bases loaded with two popouts and preserving a two-run lead Kendall Graveman almost gave away.
Advertisement
Neris lowered his ERA to 1.84 across 62 appearances. Of the seven qualified relievers with a lower ERA, only Toronto’s Tim Mayza has more appearances. Neris has not been scored upon in eight consecutive outings. Since the All-Star break, opponents are slashing .167/.277/.347 against him.
“I feel great because I’m feeling strong,” Neris said after Saturday’s game. “I don’t think about the moment. I don’t think anything I don’t have control of. The next day is the most important.”
Neris signed a two-year contract before the 2021 season that contained an $8.5 million club option for 2024. Because Neris has made 110 appearances across 2022 and 2023, the option converted into a player option that the 34-year-old will almost certainly decline in favor of a multi-year free-agent deal.
Exploring one should be an objective for Brown this winter. Neris should have a number of suitors, especially in a market that does not have many household names outside of Hader and Philadelphia Phillies closer Craig Kimbrel. Chicago White Sox closer Liam Hendriks has an $15 million club option, too, but will miss most of 2024 after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
Bryan Abreu, Rafael Montero, Kendall Graveman and closer Ryan Pressly are all under contract with Houston next season.
Brown and the Astros should shop for at least one veteran to join them, especially with Ryne Stanek and Phil Maton entering free agency alongside Neris. It could be argued that relief help will be the Astros’ foremost winter priority.
Houston will return eight starting pitchers — two of whom will miss at least some of 2024 while rehabbing injuries — and eight of its nine everyday players. The one not under contract, catcher Martín Maldonado, will be replaced by Diaz, the rookie sensation who’s already slugged 21 home runs.
Advertisement
Neris is as beloved in the clubhouse as he is on the mound. He has become a mentor to Houston’s many young Latin pitchers and, during both of his spring trainings, has organized a dinner for any and all Latin minor-leaguers who want to attend.
A reunion with Neris makes logical sense, but Houston will have competition to complete it.
Tucker’s trajectory
Kyle Tucker’s numbers are skyrocketing, and so is the price tag to extend him.
Tucker stole his 27th and 28th bases of the season on consecutive pitches during Sunday’s win. He now needs four home runs and two stolen bases for the Astros’ first 30-30 season since Hall of Famer Jeff Bagwell did it in 1999.
Tucker tripled twice during the sixth inning, too, becoming the second man since 1962 to tally two three-baggers in one inning. He exited Sunday with an American League-leading 103 RBIs while slashing .290/.375/.513.
Tucker is the first player in franchise history to author consecutive seasons with at least 25 home runs, 25 stolen bases and 100 RBIs. He and Bagwell are the only two Astros to accomplish it twice in their careers.
For a franchise that’s never guaranteed more than $151 million during Crane’s ownership tenure, it’s worth wondering if Tucker is pricing himself out of the long-term extension Brown has long hoped to broker.
(Top photo of Brown: David J. Griffin / Icon Sportswire via AP Images)