Astros’ fate all but sealed for Dana Brown after doubling down on tired trade deadline trope

One year removed from turning in an unpredictable trade deadline effort that saw the Houston Astros reunite with Carlos Correa and add a different look to their bench with the arrivals of Jesús Sánchez and Ramon Urias, Dana Brown had a largely quiet deadline this time around.

The talk was that the Astros moved Lance McCullers Jr. early, in part, to have the financial room to upgrade their starting rotation at the deadline, and their only move of consequence turned a weakness into an even bigger weakness. Sure, they found a left-handed hitting outfielder in Daulton Varsho, but it came at the expense of Spencer Arrighetti.

Of everything that has gone wrong for the Astros' pitching staff this season, Arrighetti was one of the main reasons why the team was able to stay afloat through the first four months of the season.

Considering that Jim Crane already interfered with Brown's deadline efforts and rejected one deal that had been in place with the Minnesota Twins, the biggest indication from this weeks' activity is that the veteran general manager is headed toward being out of a job at the end of the season.

There's no greater indicator of that reality than how Brown tried to explain away the Astros not finding a rotation upgrade at the deadline, suggesting that returns of Ronel Blanco and Hayden Wesneski are like a trade acquisition.

Dana Brown tried to pull a fast at the trade deadline, and it won't work for the Astros

Through his first three starts upon his return, Blanco has given up 12 runs on 11 hits and eight walks. To be clear, this isn't a case of Blanco having one blow-up start in the middle of two good ones. He issued three walks and two home runs in each of his first two starts, and while he only gave up one home run in his outing on August 1, he didn't make it out of the fifth inning. A true case of "Hey Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play last weekend?"

Wesneski, meanwhile, has been fine through his first two turns in the rotation. He's reached the sixth inning in each start, and done enough to keep the Astros in the game. It's a very low bar, considering Blanco already had a -0.3 fWAR, but he's certainly been the better of the two.

Perhaps, if Varsho was the version of himself that posted a 123 wRC+ with 20 home runs last year, this wouldn't have mattered. Instead, there's been significant regression across the board, and there's no indicator that spending the final two months with the Astros will change that.

As has been the case since the offseason, Brown is moving in very strange way. It's hard to defend anything he has done, and falling back on the deadline stereotype of "a returning injured player is like making a trade" just feels like credits are getting started to roll on his time with the Astros.

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