Astros pitchers and catchers will report to spring training in only two months. Time sure does fly when you’re wiping a bad taste from your mouth.

In the Astros case, not making the World Series, and watching the Texas Rangers win the title, still is hard to swallow.

When the umpire shouts “Play Ball” for the 2024 season, one thing will be loud and clear – this is general manager Dana Brown’s team. There will be changes, ones that will please most Astros fans. No longer will Brown have to grit his teeth and shrug “Dusty makes the lineup.”

From the moment former manager Dusty Baker “resigned” back in October, Brown has been undoing Baker’s vision of the Astros – and Brown isn’t even pretending that’s not what he’s doing. He’s done seething afternoons when Baker announced his starting lineup with Martin Maldonado catching and batting ninth. He’s finished shaking his head when Maldonado came to the plate in late innings of a close game and strikes out with runners on base. He had it up to here seeing Chas McCormick’s butt on the bench during critical games down the stretch.

Listen to Brown shout it from the mountains that McCormick will be a fixture in the Astros lineup henceforth (awesome word).

“Chas McCormick will play every day, splitting time between left field and center field,” Brown told Astros writer Brian McTaggert. Brown added, “McCormick is going to be out there.”

Remember how Baker exiled Jake Meyers to baseball Siberia in late 2023 and left him off the Astros ALCS roster? And if new manager Joe Espada thought there would be open competition for the starting center field job, well, let’s just say that Brown isn’t tip-toeing around Espada like he did with Dusty Baker.

Brown says, “We’re going to give Meyers a chance to play every day. Meyers is a really good defender. Hopefully we can make some adjustments with the bat, but we’re going to give him a chance to play. The defense is really special. If you can prevent runs, that’s a big part of winning.”

Espada won’t gripe too much about Brown's authority over personnel choices. Espada probably has Brown to thank for getting him the manager’s job.

When the Astros began searching for a new manager to replace Dusty Baker, there was curiosity about who had more influence in the organization. Would Brown get to pick the new field boss, or would it be owner-whisperer Jeff Bagwell calling the shot?

Brown wanted Espada and got his man.

Now, as Maury Povich might put it, “in the matter of Martin Maldonado – you are NOT the Astros catcher next season!”

For all the wishful chatter you heard about the Astros bringing back free agent Maldonado, it was never going to happen. Brown didn’t need any help from anguished fans pleading for the Astros to play talented rookie Yanier Diaz instead of Maldonado last season.

To drive that point home, Brown is making sure that new manager Espada won’t have the chance to do a Dusty and put Maldonado behind the plate.

Baker had barely cleaned out his office when Brown announced, “Diaz is going to be the main guy next year. We’re going to have to get a backup guy for Diaz.”

It won’t be Maldonado, who still is available on the free agent market. Hard pass. Instead, Brown went out and signed veteran Victor Caratini to be the Astros second string catcher. Caratini’s contract is for two years and $12 million, probably twice what it would have taken to keep Maldonado.