KANSAS CITY -- Things are about to get busier for Astros general manager Dana Brown, who was with the club in Anaheim earlier this week but will skip the trip to Kansas City so he can scout for the MLB Draft, which is less than a month away. Then comes the Trade Deadline, which promises to be interesting considering the Astros are still contending in the American League.
Brown took some time Monday prior to the series against the Angels to answer a few questions from MLB.com about the state of the club, including his thoughts about the Deadline:
The team has played better in the last six weeks or so. What do you have to do to take the next step and make a big push?
“I think we're playing better because we've stabilized the rotation. We're getting a little deeper into games. We protecting the ‘pen a little bit better. We're not at the full mark yet, but we feel like when [ace pitcher] Hunter Brown comes back, that's going to add what we need to stabilize the rotation and put us in a position to go on our eight-to-10-game run. And so, you know, that's kind of where we're locked in.
"We're also trying to think of ways to get more offense out of our outfield, whether it's making adjustments with the current guys that we have or signing guys such as LaMonte Wade Jr. to help bolster that. But ultimately, we're locked in on those two things, and if we could somehow add some bullpen help that would be good as well. We're locked in. It's still early. The team is moving in the right direction. And we feel like good things are going to happen.”
The offensive production from the outfielders ranks among the worst in the Major Leagues. How can you address that on the fly?
“I mean, things could change if, for example, Cam Smith heats up, right? Cam Smith, he's learning right now, and he's learning at the Major League level. You see clips of coming attractions when he goes on his hot streaks, but we need a little bit more consistency, so that could be something that's huge for us. ... But we need those kinds of things to happen in order to get the offense moving in the right direction, and to get some length in the offense at the bottom.”
Hunter Brown (who made his final Minor League rehab start Wednesday night) is set to join the rotation next week against the Tigers. What kind of impact do you think the return of your ace pitcher will have on the team?
“Look, he was third in Cy Young Award voting last year, and we all know how important Hunter Brown is to this team. And at the end of the day, getting him back into our rotation will stabilize the rotation, stabilize the bullpen, because we won't have to use as many guys out of the ‘pen. Right now, we're working our ‘pen pretty hard. We're not overworking them, but we're working them pretty hard.
"And so if we could pull back a little bit -- we're still not even halfway through the season and we're grinding our ‘pen a little bit. Hunter Brown getting back to the rotation will help to stabilize the rotation, and firm up the bullpen, and pull back on some of those guys' innings.”
Have you decided what your strategy will be the Trade Deadline -- buyers or sellers?
“Yeah, in terms of the Deadline, we're just kind of like highlighting some of the needs that I mentioned earlier. If we could find some offensive outfield help at the Deadline, that would be great. If we could find some bullpen help, that would be great. Those are two big things. We feel like we got some starters coming back [from injuries], whether it’s Hunter Brown, whether it’s [Cristian] Javier, whether it’s [Ronel] Blanco, whether it’s [Hayden] Wesneski. We got that group that's coming back, as well. So a big focus would be offense in the outfield and getting some offensive production. And if we could firm up the ‘pen a little bit more, because we're working our ‘pen pretty hard right now.”