New Astros General Manager Brown Focused On Locking Up Key Players With Extensions

Dana Brown has only a few weeks under his belt as the new general manager of the Houston Astros but is already moving strategically to sign key players to contract extensions.

New Houston Astros general manager Dana Brown held a press conference Thursday and said that he’s focused on signing some of their key players to contract extensions.

Brown cited Alex Bregman, Jose Altuve, Kyle Tucker and Cristian Javier.

“You guys will realize that we are getting closer to (signing) some of our guys,” Brown told reporters. “At the end of the day, that’s an important part of what we do, and coming from Atlanta, we did that well. We probably handed out more years than anyone in baseball, if you did the math. That’s a big part of what we should do. We owe it to the fan base to keep the players in the city.”

Bregman, who signed a five, $100 million deal in 2019, is inked through ‘24. The 32-year-old Altuve signed a five-year, $151 million deal that goes through '24.

“After 2024, we have some players that we have to sign,” Brown told reporters. “We are already engaged in conversations to get these players signed. It’s very important to the franchise and going forward. I hate to see good players walk out the door. Good players become my family and it’s heartbreaking, even for the fans, to watch good players walk out the door.”

Brown noted that he discussed these types of longterm deals with owner Jim Crane.

“I talked to Jim -- fasten your seatbelts. It’s time,” Brown said. “If you don’t want players to walk out the door, you have to really be locked in to how good this player is, what do you project his future to be, and try to get him locked up. I think the players are motivated to get it done, sometimes the agents are motivated (to get) it done, and I think we can meet somewhere in the middle, that you can continue to sustain the winning if you can continue to sign good players.”

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