CHICAGO — Before the Houston Astros’ longest winning streak since March ended Sunday, general manager Dana Brown doubled down. He has broadcast his intention to buy before the Aug. 3 trade deadline on numerous occasions, despite speculation that a selloff could be coming. In any other season, or perhaps under any other front office, the latter option might make sense.But these are the Astros, led by a GM in the final season of his contract, managed by a man facing the same fate and owned by someone averse to anything associated with a rebuild. Even if there’s reason to believe starting one would be in the franchise’s best interest, asking an executive on an expiring deal to kickstart it would be curious.With Brown’s contract set to expire after the season, this club must make the playoffs if he has any chance to receive another one. Merely playing postseason baseball might not guarantee Brown or manager Joe Espada new deals in Houston, but missing out on it altogether might seal their fates with owner Jim Crane.Earlier this month, Brown called reaching the postseason “the end all, be all.” Expecting him to operate with any other mindset is absurd — both for his own future and for Espada’s ability to hold together a clubhouse that has clawed back to the precipice of playoff contention after a 20-31 start.Who are the top prospects in baseball right now? Keith Law“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 the Astros pregame radio show 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.”Brown’s comments are not a revelation, even if they run counter to MLB conventional wisdom. The Astros have a minus-47 run differential and are three games under .500 following Sunday’s 12-3 loss to the Chicago White Sox. They have not been above .500 since April 6. FanGraphs gives Houston a 27.4 percent chance to reach the postseason. Only five American League teams have longer odds.Dangling shortstop Jeremy Peña, closer Josh Hader or either of the Astros’ corner infielders — Isaac Paredes and Christian Walker — could produce the sort of return package needed to revive a farm system the industry does not hold in high regard. Doing so during a deadline with so few sellers might even increase the value of a potential return.But the team’s appetite to do so seems nonexistent. The 2026 Astros are so depth-starved and reliant on their top-end talent that trading Paredes, Peña, Hader or ace Hunter Brown would all but eliminate their playoff hopes. And getting this team to the postseason is Brown’s foremost objective at the deadline, not stockpiling for a future he might not be around to oversee.