Houston Astros Short-Tenured GM Won’t Be Fired Despite Disappointing Results

This year has been anything but expected for the Houston Astros.

Entering the season as favorites in the American League following their aggressive addition of Josh Hader, the team seemed poised to make another deep playoff run after they came just one game short of the World Series in 2023.

Right now, the Astros look like anything but a contender.

Sitting at 33-39 coming out of the weekend slate, they are still a long ways away from being in the playoff picture, trailing the division lead by nine games and the final Wild Card spot by seven.

Houston will need to start ripping off wins in a hurry to put themselves in a position where they can make the postseason, something that was unfathomable to even think could occur for this group just a few months ago.

When teams underperform, there is normally someone who needs to answer for that.

Despite having a team on paper which is clearly compared championship-caliber, there was some feeling that general manager Dana Brown’s seat might get a little hot if they vastly underperform to expectations.

This offseason was the first year that the GM was in charge since he was hired back in January 2023 to take over this role. There has been some information that came out suggesting Brown might not fully be in charge of this franchise, hinting he could be viewed as expendable by owner Jim Crane.

However, even if the season finishes poorly, Bob Nightengale of USA TODAY reports they won’t move on from the short-tenured executive.

“While the Houston Astros are baseball’s biggest disappointment and most underachieving team, GM Dana Brown’s job is safe. He still has two years left on his contract,” he writes.

When Brown was hired, it was thought Crane went in that direction to start rebuilding their pipeline which has deteriorated into being considered the worst in all of baseball, something that is the complete opposite of the ethos that got this franchise into their current dynasty phase.

“The Golden Era” was built through scouting and development, and to chase World Series titles, they largely shipped out the majority of their top prospects for established MLB players who could help them in the immediate.

Despite the disappointment that could be present at the end of the year, it sounds like Crane is still looking at the big picture and will allow Brown to utilize his scouting background to replicate their farming system.

Only time will tell if that actually happens, but Nightengale is confident the Astros will keep Brown around for this third season at the helm.