I don't think the next 9 months define anything about Dana Brown. He is in a difficult position of having to lie to the media all the time, because that is what his boss wants while having to deal with the boss's constant meddling in personnel decisions with his cabal of HOF players that know shit about fuck about putting a winning team on the field.
I have been advocating trading Pena and Alvarez because there is no money to make a real addition to the roster because Crane has pissed that away to shitty players time and time again. This team is about 2 years away from being a complete dumpster fire like when Crane bought the team. You can course correct and try to avoid that fire, or you can steer straight into it, too many fans appear to want to go back to the 2008-2010 version of the Astros, except MLB has changed the rules to try to negate multiple seasons of tanking.
People keep saying Alvarez is a MVP level bat, but he's never put it together and is now 29 years old. He's never hit 40 HRs, and he has driven in 100 once in his career. I'd sell high on Pena especially in this shitty offseason for SSs.