New Houston Astros general manager Dana Brown says team will prioritize signing homegrown talent over adding free agents

Three weeks into his tenure as the new general manager of the Houston Astros, Dana Brown addressed the media Thursday. Among the topics he discussed was the team's philosophy going forward regarding retaining young, homegrown talent for the long term.

"We’ll try to avoid free agency as much as we can, but sometimes it’s unavoidable," Brown said.

A well-regarded longtime scouting executive, Brown was hired by the Houston Astros to succeed James Click, who had been Houston's GM since 2020. Click vacated his role by mutual agreement after the Astros won the second World Series in franchise history last season.

Brown spent the last four years as the Atlanta Braves' vice president of scouting. He oversaw the team's drafts that helped create one of the best young teams in all of baseball. Before his role with the Braves, he spent nine seasons as a special assistant to the general manager with the Toronto Blue Jays from 2010 to 2018.

He also served nine years as director of scouting for the Washington Nationals and Montreal Expos. He further was a part of the Pittsburgh Pirates' scouting department for eight years.

Those positions geared Brown towards a mindset of building talent from within over acquiring players through free agency. In his time with Atlanta, the Braves have locked up several of the team's young stars to long-term contracts with hopes of maintaining a top roster for years to come without breaking the bank.

Framber Valdez of the Houston Astros prepares to deliver a pitch.

Houston Astros, Brown already looking to lock up homegrown trio

Brown now looks to bring that Braves philosophy to the Houston Astros, where the team is already seeking to sign outfielder Kyle Tucker, along with pitchers Framber Valdez and Cristian Javier to contract extensions. All three are products of the Houston farm system and have shown great promise at the major league level.

"Tucker, we've been in conversation," Brown told Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. "Some of the stuff was started prior to me coming. We had some talks with Tucker, of course, because it's coming up on the arbitration hearing, and Javier, he's also coming up on the (arbitration) hearing.

"We've been in contact with some of the agents to get some thought process."