How the F does anyone know other than Crane who the second choice was unless there were contracts being discussed based on contingency?
So happy this position is finally filled and that they got a guy who many believe is going to do a bang-up job. As to the discussion of whether or not he's going to be a guy who takes risks and recognizes untapped value in the market. Really all he needs to do is be willing to listen to the ideas of others and act on them, if good. He's got the nerd cave to come up with ideas. He's got lots of input from smart people. Every team in the league has people that are paid to recognize talent and acquire it. But Brown has done really well with that in the recent past with the Braves. That typically doesn't happen if he's someone that is just following the tried and true process and not attempting any innovation. I have faith that he is going to do well. What I really, REALLY hope is that he brings some of that player extension magic over from Atlanta, because we have several players that need it and I would love if we could get them to accept such reasonable extensions as the Braves have doled out recently.
They were successful for 3 years following his departure which is about where the Astros are at. His players were still having impact.
The point was he wasn't solely responsible. Just like Brown isn't solely responsible for the Braves. But each has a very strong pedigree in the areas where the Astros needed help the most back in 2011 and now again in 2022. And that foundation can hopefully continue to keep the window of contention open even well after the current core has moved on.
I grew up in the 80s. Every time I hear about Dana Brown, my mind will always think "there is no Dana, only Zuul". Sorry if this redundant and overused.
But it's more than simply experience though. Both Luhnow and Click began working for MLB orgs years after Brown and rose much faster than Brown within their respective orgs. Brown has been working in MLB since 1994 and is just now landing this opportunity. It seems that talent rises fast in this field if you look at the background of the current crop of top execs, why wasn't that the case for Brown? Maybe it was due to racism, or maybe it was due to him being a good worker bee but not necessarily someone with obvious talent for managing orgs of this size and scope.
And hence he was hired smartly... when he wasn't really on anybody else's radar as other teams were continuing to go with re-treads.
Could have been a myriad of reasons... race certainly being among them or maybe he wasn't really gunning for that position. His time as a scouting director does somewhat mirror Luhnow's (2002-2009), and he's been along side Anthopolous since. I also don't know how "obvious" the talent was when Luhnow wasn't really a popular choice for GM or sought after by other teams when the Astros hired him... but I'm sure glad they did. Click probably wouldn't have been in a VP position on a lot of other organizations... credit the Rays, and their market issues, for giving baseball prospectus guys a chance. Will also remain to be seen how long it takes him to get another GM job.
