Dana Brown spoke candidly about Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman
Spring Training is here! Pitchers and catchers have reported to the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, and we've even seen early arrivals from some position players. Jeremy Peña, José Abreu, Michael Brantley and Yordan Alvarez all arrived at camp a week early.
The Astros hosted Cristian Javier's contract extension press conference this morning. This was Javier's first appearance in front of the media since signing his deal. Dana Brown had high praise for Javier, but he also touched on other extensions he may be cooking up, most notably for Astros legends Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman. He shared that there were no new updates on contract extensions for either, but gave a glimpse into his approach to negotiations.
"I just made it clear to them, and in some communication to Scott Boras because he has both players, that these guys should retire here. They should be Houstons for life. We value their abilities. We think that Altuve has still got some gas in the tank. Of course Bregman is still pretty good. We're trying to sustain the winning. Some guys we're going to get done sooner and some guys we're going to have to wait. But we are constantly in communication to try to make sure that we get these players secured."Dana Brown
In other words: our faces of the franchise aren't going anywhere.
This is exceptional news and Brown continues to be candid and honest to the media, a refreshing change of pace from how Houston has historically operated when no negotiations were disclosed and every injury was deemed "discomfort."
As Chandler Rome pointed out, Brown spoke for nine minutes and publicly disclosed more information than either Jeff Luhnow or James Click did when they were over baseball operations.
Now, if the extensions aren't in fact handled, this will be all talk for nothing. It's safe to assume extensions for Altuve and Bregman are a top priority, and we may even see them wrapped up before Opening Day.