Astros' Dana Brown deserves credit for not letting Alex Bregman hijack offseason

Looking to shore up a roster with several evident holes and several bad contracts on the books, the Houston Astros headed into the offseason facing some critical questions. Would they move key players on expiring contracts like Framber Valdez and Kyle Tucker? Would ownership open up the checkbook to keep Alex Bregman in town? How would the team address the corner infield spots?

Facing some potential payroll limitations, Astros general manager Dana Brown had his work cut out for him - especially with a mandate to stay competitive in 2025 in hopes of locking down their eighth AL West crown in the last nine years.

Before Christmas, Brown has answered most, if not all, of those questions, trading Tucker to the Chicago Cubs in exchange for a short-term fix at third in Isaac Paredes, a potential long-term answer in top prospect Cam Smith and right-hander Hayden Wesneski. After talks stalled with Bregman, Houston swooped in, signing longtime Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Christian Walker to a three-year, $60 million deal - all but guaranteeing the end of Bregman's nine-year tenure with the Astros.

"I thought we made a really competitive offer, showing that we wanted him back," he said. "But we had to pursue other options. We couldn't just sit there. We locked in Paredes early in that trade, knowing that he could play third or first and then when the opportunity to add another bat came up, we just jumped on it."

Astros' Dana Brown moved on from Alex Bregman gracefully (and made Scott Boras look like the bad guy)

Brown is walking a fine line, balancing the short- and long-term pictures. Trading Tucker hurts, as does losing Bregman (assuming he walks in free agency). But adding multiple pieces who will factor into the third base picture in the years to come softens the blow, and adding Walker into the lineup and at first, where Houston got some of the worst production in the league in 2024, is a huge win.

As fans, it's hard to not get emotional thinking through these types of decisions. After all, it's hard to not love a guy who helped bring a pair of World Series championships to Houston in Bregman. But Brown has risen above that as a baseball executive, and while it's too soon to know if these moves will pan out, his proactive approach should be praised - because the alternative, getting backed into a corner waiting for Bregman to make a decision, could have been disastrous and left the Astros with no leverage in free agency or trade talks the rest of the winter.