Dana Brown is out as Astros GM, and two trades with the Blue Jays are part of the story.
Houston and Brown mutually agreed to part ways Monday, ending a tenure that started in January 2023 and included two division titles.
What it didn't include was the sustained postseason success Houston built its reputation on.
Brown's contract was set to expire after this season anyway, leaving him in a lame-duck spot even as Houston sat tied atop the AL West.
At 65-66 after a 3-6 homestand, the results simply weren't matching the standard Jim Crane's ownership has set since 2011.
The Astros were 58-56 and riding an 8-2 stretch on Aug. 3. Since then, they've gone 7-10.
Their headline deadline move that day sent Spencer Arrighetti to Toronto for Daulton Varsho, a swap that hasn't transformed Houston's lineup the way it needed to.
Why the Blue Jays connection cuts deeper than one trade
This wasn't Brown's first swing at fixing a need through Toronto. Two years earlier, he acquired Yusei Kikuchi from the Blue Jays for a real price.
Houston sent Jake Bloss, Joey Loperfido, and Will Wagner to Toronto for a pending free-agent rental starter.
Kikuchi delivered short-term value, throwing 60 innings with 76 strikeouts and a 2.70 ERA over 10 regular-season starts. He didn't pitch in the playoffs after Houston got swept by Detroit in the Wild Card round.
Toronto walked away with a real pitching prospect in Bloss and two near-major-league bats, turning a rental into legitimate organizational depth.
Houston later got Loperfido back in the Jesus Sanchez trade, but the overall math on the Kikuchi deal still favors Toronto.
Before running baseball operations in Houston, Brown spent nearly a decade in Toronto's front office under Alex Anthopoulos, later following him to Atlanta before landing his first GM job.
That history makes his exit sting with a bit of irony for Blue Jays fans who remember him fondly from those years in the building.
Neither trade alone sank Brown's tenure. But once Houston's season started wobbling, the Blue Jays deals were the ones that came up first when explaining why.
Should Dana Brown be blamed for the Astros' Blue Jays trades not working out?
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