The Astros have already made their position clear ahead of the 2026 trade deadline: they’re planning to buy.
Dana Brown said as much on Sunday, and the message matched the direction Houston was already pointing. With the division and wild card both described as wide open, Brown framed the market as one where a hot team can still make a run.
“The division is wide open. The wild card is wide open.
There’s some parity there. There’s a lot of teams bunched up,” Brown said on Sunday.
“I think the team that gets hot is going to be the team that takes the run. We would anticipate that we’re going to be buyers.”
That stance also shuts the door on the idea of a halfway move that would send out shortstop Jeremy Peña while trying to keep one foot in each camp. Brown’s comments make it sound like Houston is leaning fully into adding help rather than trying to split the difference.
There’s also a bigger layer to Brown’s position. If the Astros buy and still miss the postseason, the same outcome they had last season, it leaves him with no fallback explanation for why he should remain in the job. In that sense, the deadline approach may be as much about Brown’s future as it is about the roster.
Houston also added some catching depth over the weekend by signing former Los Angeles Angels first-round pick Matt Thaiss to a minor-league deal. Thaiss, taken by the Angels in the first round of the 2017 draft, never lived up to that billing in the majors. He posted a .655 OPS with Los Angeles across six seasons, and his brief stint with the Chicago White Sox last season didn’t go any better.
Even so, the move gives the Astros another experienced option behind the plate. Catching depth matters, and Thaiss at least gives Houston insurance if Yainer Diaz or Christian Vazquez misses time.
Another possible change could be coming in the front office. Dan Hennigan’s future is uncertain, and The Athletic’s Chandler Rome reported that a potential role with the university could pull him away. In-season front office moves are rare for the Astros, but this season may be different.
Hennigan has been directly involved in the Astros’ offensive approach this year, and Rome noted that he is well liked inside the organization. Houston is trying to keep him, but the uncertainty around the front office after this season could work against them.
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For Astros fans, the bigger emotion is less about the transaction itself than the sight of a former October contributor trying to rebuild his value elsewhere. Urquidy struggled in the majors this season, but he has looked better in Triple-A, which is why Chicago sees a path to using him as either a back-end starter or a bulk reliever. It is the kind of move that can feel minor in the standings and still hit a little harder for a fan base that remembers what he once meant in Houston. [Read more 🡒]