The Houston Astros are now leaving their mark in baseball. On Saturday afternoon, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported that former Astros general manager Dana Brown has accepted a job with the Atlanta Braves, where he was before he landed in Houston. Brown will be a senior advisor to Braves President of Baseball Operations Alex Anthopoulos in the scouting department.

It was time for the Astros to part ways with Brown, and it's good to see him land in a spot where he was not the main man in charge. Landing back where he started was Brown's best-case scenario after how his Houston tenure went.

About Brown's Role

Brown will be valued in Atlanta's front office. As a general manager in Houston, Brown drafted the likes of Brice Matthews, who looks like he could be a legitimate MLB-level player.

Brown's struggles with the Astros came on additions, or lack thereof, on the pitching side. Sure, he signed Josh Hader to a big deal to be their closer, but overall, the additions he made to the pitching staff were poor. Since Brown took over in January of 2023, the Astros rank 13th in baseball in ERA, sitting at 4.01, but the numbers get worse from there. Houston ranks 20th in FIP, or Fielding Independent Pitching, with a 4.22 FIP.

The Astros might have been tight on money, with owner Jim Crane reluctant to go over the second luxury tax threshold, but the on-the-margin moves were not good either. The best example was bringing in Nate Pearson last offseason, his failing, and moving on from him in mid-July.

Adding Tatsuya Imai might not have been fully Brown's decision, but so far, that has not been the best decision for the Astros. When he was pitching, he was largely ineffective, so the Astros moved him to the bullpen, where, if he pitched once every 10 days, that was a lot. In general, it was a poor allocation of resources.

The offense for the Astros led baseball in home runs in 2026, despite Carlos Correa missing most of the season. Their offense was far from the issue. Brown deserves another chance to be a general manager one day, but going to Atlanta and learning from one of the top front offices in the sport is far from a bad thing for Brown's career. It gives him a chance to learn some new philosophies and carry them elsewhere.