Hours after Astros name new GM, Dana Brown lands back with the Braves

The Houston Astros have woken up now that the World Series is over. After a long, obvious courtship with Matt Kleine for the team's open general manager job, Houston made a last-minute pivot and hired Randy Flores to fill the position. That decision certainly checked a very important box for the Astros ahead of the opening of free agency, but we still had the question of where former general manager Dana Brown would eventually land.

Given how his tenure in Houston ended, the odds were extremely low that Brown would immediately get another opportunity to run a front office, especially when you consider how few such opportunities are even available to begin with. However, Brown didn't have to wait long for his new gig, as his former employer, the Braves, just named him as a senior advisor to amateur scouting.

Former Astros' GM Dana Brown gets a quick second act only hours after Houston tabs Randy Flores

Atlanta is a pretty natural landing spot for Brown, though he would probably prefer a more prestigious role. However, Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos isn't going anywhere anytime soon, and one of Brown's former top lieutenants, Ronit Shah, has performed well in his old scouting director role. That said, you can fully expect Brown to play a prominent role in the Braves' scouting operations for the foreseeable future, even if he isn't the only one.

That said, that the Braves were willing to bring Brown back into the fold certainly puts the Astros and Jim Crane on notice. Yes, several of the decisions that Brown made while running Houston's front office aged exceedingly poorly (Tatsuya Imai, Christian Walker, and failing to extend Hunter Brown stand out), but exactly how much of that was actually in his control is about to be tested. If the Astros crater while the Braves' scouting department gets a boost, there are going to be questions.

The one obvious silver lining is that the Astros DID just hire an executive in Flores who is extremely well-respected around the league, and who has as many scouting credentials as Brown. That is obviously far from a guarantee that Flores will turn things around, especially if Crane and advisor Jeff Bagwell prove meddlesome. However, it does create a solid foundation from which to work as Houston looks to get the franchise back on track.

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