Latest / Foul Territory / Lone Star State Team Report: Where do the Astros and Rangers stand?

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Lone Star State Team Report: Where do the Astros and Rangers stand? · Foul Territory

0:04
Speaker 1: Chandler Rome, Let's welcome them on from the athletic and
0:07
Speaker 1: also crush city territory. What's going on with the Astros, Chandler,
0:10
Speaker 1: They're just all they got to do is stay like
0:12
Speaker 1: one or two games above five hundred and they're gonna
0:15
Speaker 1: win this division.
0:17
Speaker 2: Oh, they may win by five games if they stay
0:20
Speaker 2: one or two games above five hundred. Look, I mean,
0:23
Speaker 2: you do have to give them credit for winning games
0:26
Speaker 2: they are supposed to win. But I mean, they just
0:28
Speaker 2: played three games in San Francisco where the Giants gift
0:32
Speaker 2: rap them. Two of those three games, they were pretty
0:35
Speaker 2: close to getting swept in that series, and all of
0:37
Speaker 2: a sudden, they went to out of three. They're coming
0:40
Speaker 2: home for a nine game home stand against all AL
0:43
Speaker 2: West teams, which is a good thing for the Astros.
0:46
Speaker 2: They play the Mariners this weekend for three and then
0:48
Speaker 2: they get the Angels and A's back to back, two
0:51
Speaker 2: of the worst teams in the American League. This is
0:53
Speaker 2: a soft portion of their schedule that they can really
0:56
Speaker 2: make some hay here if they can just kind of
0:58
Speaker 2: hold serve on this homestand win all three of these series.
1:03
Speaker 2: With the way the divisions wrapping up and way it's
1:05
Speaker 2: shaping up, they may not have to do much more
1:08
Speaker 2: than that to give themselves a pretty comfortable cushion atop
1:11
Speaker 2: this division, all.
1:13
Speaker 3: Right, make it? Make it makes sense?
1:15
Speaker 4: Very top heavy lineup. Starting pitching hasn't been good, Like
1:18
Speaker 4: how are they finding ways to even be relevant? And
1:21
Speaker 4: they obviously hunta Brown missing some time this year doesn't help,
1:24
Speaker 4: But how have they even put themselves in this position?
1:29
Speaker 2: KP. Their bullpen has been incredible since about May first,
1:34
Speaker 2: and they don't get probably the credit that they deserve
1:37
Speaker 2: for how good they've been since May first. They have
1:40
Speaker 2: a two point eighty six bullpen era. Only the Red
1:43
Speaker 2: Sox have a lower one in Major League Baseball. Josh
1:46
Speaker 2: Hater has been unhittable since coming off the IL on
1:50
Speaker 2: June Thirty's allowed three earned runs all season since June thirty.
1:54
Speaker 2: Just made his first multi inning appearance this weekend this
1:57
Speaker 2: week in San Francisco, which is a good thing for
2:00
Speaker 2: the Astros because there were some questions as to whether
2:02
Speaker 2: he be able to throw multiple innings coming off of
2:05
Speaker 2: the bicep injury and the shoulder injury last season. But
2:08
Speaker 2: I don't think it's gonna be a regular occurrence. But
2:10
Speaker 2: it's something he's going to you know, he has told
2:12
Speaker 2: them he will do in certain situations. Brian Abray, You
2:16
Speaker 2: them getting him back to normal has been a godsend.
2:20
Speaker 2: He's got a one point eighty seven ERA since May third.
2:24
Speaker 2: He was awful in April, but they've they changed some
2:27
Speaker 2: things with his delivery. They stopped they told him to
2:30
Speaker 2: stop throwing on flat ground. So he's doing all of
2:32
Speaker 2: his work on the bullpen mounds between between outings. I
2:37
Speaker 2: mean he's wearing high socks. That his superstition is now
2:40
Speaker 2: that he wears high socks to pitch every time. He's
2:42
Speaker 2: been unhittable since then. So they've got those two guys
2:44
Speaker 2: pitching well. But they've got aj Blueball who has been
2:47
Speaker 2: a breakout kind of middle relief sensation as a rookie.
2:51
Speaker 2: He can give them multiple innings, he can get them
2:54
Speaker 2: once to re line up that they need. They can
2:55
Speaker 2: do bulk rolls like that. Steven Okert has been so
2:59
Speaker 2: value both on the field and off the field, kind
3:02
Speaker 2: of keeping this bullpen together. He's become a clubhouse leader.
3:06
Speaker 2: But their bullpen has really kept them afloat to where
3:09
Speaker 2: they are because look, they their rotation is very thin.
3:12
Speaker 2: They trust maybe two or three starters in this rotation,
3:16
Speaker 2: Peter Lambert, Hunter Brown and Hayden was Nesty's had a
3:19
Speaker 2: couple of nice starts off with Tommy John and then,
3:21
Speaker 2: like you mentioned at KP, their lineup is about as
3:24
Speaker 2: top heavy as it can get. And you saw on
3:27
Speaker 2: this past road trip Jeremy Panie was in a three
3:30
Speaker 2: for thirty eight funk, Jordan Alvarez has at humbered in
3:33
Speaker 2: thirteen games, and Estak Paratus has just kind of been okay.
3:36
Speaker 2: When those three guys are not playing at an elite level,
3:40
Speaker 2: it is really really hard for this offense to score
3:43
Speaker 2: any runs.
3:45
Speaker 1: Chandler earlier this year, I came on here and I said,
3:47
Speaker 1: Joe A. Spotta, I feel bad if Joe A. Spotta
3:50
Speaker 1: loses his job because I feel like he's doing a
3:52
Speaker 1: great job.
3:53
Speaker 3: Do you agree with.
3:53
Speaker 1: Me that Joe Aspota has done a remarkable job with
3:57
Speaker 1: the injuries he's had to deal with the loss of players,
4:00
Speaker 1: the ins and outs of the guys.
4:02
Speaker 2: Is Joe A.
4:02
Speaker 1: Spot have been as good as it looks like he's
4:04
Speaker 1: been from the outside looking in?
4:07
Speaker 2: I think, so, you know, an Asia, you know you
4:10
Speaker 2: you and I both know there's more that goes into
4:12
Speaker 2: managing than just on field tactics and strategy. And there's
4:17
Speaker 2: some stuff that I'm just not privy to that's behind
4:19
Speaker 2: closed doors that I'll never hear about. But I have
4:21
Speaker 2: not heard a bad word about Joe A. Spotta from
4:24
Speaker 2: any of his players, from anyone in this clubhouse. And
4:26
Speaker 2: the fact that he has kept this thing together. Now
4:29
Speaker 2: two of his three seasons, they have had just awful starts.
4:33
Speaker 2: Remember in twenty twenty four, they started twelve and twenty
4:36
Speaker 2: four and things were looking pretty bleak, and that team,
4:39
Speaker 2: he stayed steady, guided them to a division title. Last year.
4:44
Speaker 2: You have to remember Jordan Alvarez played forty eight games
4:46
Speaker 2: last year. If Jordon Alvarez plays in like fifty eight games,
4:50
Speaker 2: that team probably makes the playoffs and maybe wins the division.
4:53
Speaker 2: And then this year they start out twenty and thirty one,
4:56
Speaker 2: they're now, you know, a game and a half up
4:58
Speaker 2: on the Rangers, really two and a half games up
5:00
Speaker 2: because they have the tiebreaker over the Rangers. But I
5:02
Speaker 2: think also you look at the way Joe has had
5:05
Speaker 2: to kind of massage this pitching staff, one that is undermanned,
5:09
Speaker 2: one that has a lot of guys that they counted
5:12
Speaker 2: on in the rotation, Guys that they counted on to
5:15
Speaker 2: pitch well that are not pitching well. He's had to
5:18
Speaker 2: really kind of, you know, adjust his planning. You know,
5:21
Speaker 2: the way they deployed that bullpen game yesterday in San
5:24
Speaker 2: Francisco with Tatsuya Emi only giving them three innings. The
5:28
Speaker 2: way that he has been aggressive with how he handles
5:31
Speaker 2: his bench late in games, to where he makes matchups
5:34
Speaker 2: with his relievers. Like, I think he's doing everything he
5:38
Speaker 2: can with the roster. He has to put everyone in
5:41
Speaker 2: an advantageous position. Now a manager can put a player
5:45
Speaker 2: in a team in an advantageous position, it's still up
5:47
Speaker 2: to the players to execute, so it's on them. But
5:51
Speaker 2: I think Joe's done an admirable job. I think Chad
5:54
Speaker 2: Tracy and Will Venable are going to fight it out
5:56
Speaker 2: to see who wins al manager of the Year, but
5:58
Speaker 2: Joe spottin it gets boats.
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7:03
Speaker 4: Hey is the baseball world not talking enough about the
7:05
Speaker 4: season Jordon Alvarez is having.
7:10
Speaker 2: I mean, I hope they are. I mean, I'm doing
7:13
Speaker 2: my best to kind of say what's out there and
7:15
Speaker 2: kind of, you know, share what he's doing, because this
7:19
Speaker 2: is something unprecedented, almost unprecedented. If he wins the Triple Crown,
7:23
Speaker 2: he will be the first left handed hitter to win
7:25
Speaker 2: the Triple Crown since Carl Yastremsky in nineteen sixty seven.
7:28
Speaker 2: Think about that, Think about how long it's been since
7:31
Speaker 2: a left handed hitter won the Triple Crown. And I
7:33
Speaker 2: think the thing about jord On that a lot of
7:37
Speaker 2: people are starting to learn, but I think we're maybe
7:40
Speaker 2: kind of misunderstood coming into the season. Everyone you kind
7:43
Speaker 2: of see him and you pigeonhole him into like the
7:46
Speaker 2: David ortiz archetype, kind of the big, lumbering slugger. Jordan's athletic.
7:51
Speaker 2: He can get going when he wants to. Now they
7:53
Speaker 2: don't want to put him in left field because theyn't
7:55
Speaker 2: want to risk the injury. But he's more athletic than
7:57
Speaker 2: maybe meets the eye. And also, this guy is a
8:00
Speaker 2: pure hitter, like you can see. I mean, he leads
8:02
Speaker 2: the he leads the American League in batting average by
8:04
Speaker 2: a very wide margin. Like this is not just a
8:07
Speaker 2: strikeout or homer guy. This is not a three true
8:10
Speaker 2: outcome guy. He he is as pure of a hitter
8:13
Speaker 2: as they have in their lineup in terms of pitch recognition,
8:15
Speaker 2: in terms of if a guy throws him something on
8:18
Speaker 2: the outer half and all he has to do is
8:19
Speaker 2: shoot it through the right side. He'll do that if
8:22
Speaker 2: he's not going to try to pull a pitch and
8:24
Speaker 2: he can't pull, he's just gonna wait on the other one.
8:26
Speaker 2: And I think the thing about Jordon that is always
8:28
Speaker 2: impressive to me. Do you know he's used the ABS
8:31
Speaker 2: challenge system twice all year and he is a guy that,
8:35
Speaker 2: you know, when you look at some of the underlying metrics,
8:37
Speaker 2: he's a guy that can sometimes get bitten by it.
8:39
Speaker 2: But he just doesn't want to think about He doesn't
8:41
Speaker 2: want to doesn't really care about that much. He just
8:44
Speaker 2: knows innately that he will get his pitch. He knows
8:47
Speaker 2: that he can wait for his pitch and wait to
8:49
Speaker 2: pitch her out. And his pitch recognition is so good
8:51
Speaker 2: that this is as complete a hitter as there is
8:54
Speaker 2: in the sport. And I think, you know, he's used
8:56
Speaker 2: this year to kind of announce that to everyone.
8:59
Speaker 1: Which one chandler if he doesn't win the triple Crown,
9:02
Speaker 1: do you think he I think he's got average locked up.
9:04
Speaker 1: I thought he had him all pretty much locked up.
9:07
Speaker 1: But he hasn't hit a home run in what two weeks?
9:09
Speaker 1: Over two weeks now, I thought this was a luck
9:12
Speaker 1: and now he's tied with home runs with Cam and
9:14
Speaker 1: Arrow in the American League. Is that the one you
9:16
Speaker 1: think that if someone gets him, it'll be in that
9:18
Speaker 1: and have teams just stop pitching to him because his
9:20
Speaker 1: lineup is so top heavy.
9:23
Speaker 2: Well, Adrian, they really haven't been pitching to him since
9:25
Speaker 2: like the middle of May, since like he really started
9:28
Speaker 2: going on the I mean it's been all year that
9:30
Speaker 2: they really haven't started to pitch to him. But the
9:31
Speaker 2: fact that he saw Paradis behind him is you know,
9:34
Speaker 2: one of their better hitters helps, right, It helps that
9:37
Speaker 2: you have Paradis behind him, and you can't just completely
9:40
Speaker 2: walk Alvarez because Paradis can come up and make you pay,
9:43
Speaker 2: and he has in a few instances. But yeah, Jordan
9:45
Speaker 2: hasn't homeward in thirteen consecutive games, which is not his
9:49
Speaker 2: longest career streak, but certainly his longest streak of the season,
9:53
Speaker 2: and with the season he's having, it's kind of remarkable
9:55
Speaker 2: to see that that he hasn't homeward in thirteen straight games.
9:58
Speaker 2: But you know, yesterday San Francisco, he hits a ball
10:02
Speaker 2: to right field there that would have been a homer
10:04
Speaker 2: in twenty seven of thirty ballparks, but instead kind of
10:07
Speaker 2: bangs off that twenty five foot high wall in right field.
10:10
Speaker 2: On Monday in San Francisco, he hit a ball one
10:12
Speaker 2: hundred and eighteen and a half miles an hour off
10:15
Speaker 2: the bat. It was a line drive to right field.
10:17
Speaker 2: He elevates that thing a little bit more. That thing's
10:19
Speaker 2: in McCovey cove. There's nothing wrong with Albert's I don't
10:23
Speaker 2: think you can look at this stretch and say like
10:25
Speaker 2: he's something or anything. I just think, you know, just
10:28
Speaker 2: one of those kind of weird parts of baseball where
10:30
Speaker 2: he just hasn't gotten one out of the ballpark recently.
10:32
Speaker 2: He's still getting hits, he's still getting on base. But
10:35
Speaker 2: to answer your question, yeah, I think home runs is
10:37
Speaker 2: going to be the thing that he's going to have
10:38
Speaker 2: to really try to hold off Junior Camanaro if he
10:42
Speaker 2: wants to win the MLB Triple Crown, which is still
10:44
Speaker 2: a possibility, He's going to have to hold off Kyle
10:46
Speaker 2: Schwarber as well. If you're Jeff Bagwell, you have to
10:49
Speaker 2: be a little happy because Jeff Bagwell owns the Actro
10:52
Speaker 2: single season franchise home run record at forty seven Jordan's
10:56
Speaker 2: at thirty five. Now, I still think there's a chance
10:59
Speaker 2: he could get it. But I thought, you know, if
11:02
Speaker 2: you'd asked me a month ago, I thought Bagwell's record was,
11:05
Speaker 2: you know, already broken. Then now I'm starting to think
11:07
Speaker 2: that maybe just maybe Bagwell hold on to that record
11:10
Speaker 2: throughout the season.
11:12
Speaker 4: Hey, who do you believe is a bigger threat to
11:15
Speaker 4: the Astros, The Mariners or the Rangers?
11:20
Speaker 2: Man KP. I keep wanting to say the Mariners, but
11:22
Speaker 2: they just keep losing and they just keep playing like crap.
11:26
Speaker 2: For no I mean, for Noah, I don't have a
11:28
Speaker 2: better way to describe it. They just keep playing bad baseball,
11:31
Speaker 2: and the Mariners gave it to the Astros earlier this season.
11:35
Speaker 2: The Mariners already own the tiebreaker over the Astros in
11:38
Speaker 2: the AL West, if that even matters late in the season,
11:41
Speaker 2: They've already won the season series over them. I think,
11:45
Speaker 2: if you were to ask me just straight up, I
11:47
Speaker 2: think the Mariners have the best roster in the AL West.
11:50
Speaker 2: It's just they have not played anywhere near that capability.
11:54
Speaker 2: So I mean, I'm gonna stop saying the Mariners because
11:56
Speaker 2: I keep saying them and they just keep proving me wrong,
11:59
Speaker 2: So I got someone have to say the Rangers. Even
12:01
Speaker 2: though the Astros have really had the Rangers number all
12:06
Speaker 2: season and they've already won the season series over the Rangers,
12:10
Speaker 2: there was some thought that, you know, the Astros sweeping
12:13
Speaker 2: them in early in late July would have sent the
12:16
Speaker 2: Rangers in the cell mode. But instead they kind of
12:18
Speaker 2: just stood pat. I know they trained Josh Smith, but
12:20
Speaker 2: they just sort of stood Pat. But with a Valdi
12:24
Speaker 2: on the il with an elbow, that's never a great sign.
12:27
Speaker 2: The Astros have weirdly fared pretty well against Jacob de
12:30
Speaker 2: Grom this year. That line, there's a lot of parallels
12:34
Speaker 2: I think between the Rangers and the Astros, just in
12:37
Speaker 2: terms of top heavy lineup, in terms of a rotation
12:40
Speaker 2: that really only has two or three starters you can
12:42
Speaker 2: really count on. I think the Astros have a far
12:44
Speaker 2: better bullpen, But I'm going to say the Rangers. But
12:49
Speaker 2: at this point, you know, I think this is the
12:50
Speaker 2: Astros division to lose. It is all in front of them,
12:53
Speaker 2: and like I said, they have a very soft schedule upcoming.
12:56
Speaker 2: If they can seize advantage of that, then maybe they
12:59
Speaker 2: put this thing out of reach. You know, maybe by September.
13:03
Speaker 1: Okay, Well that's that's not that far away, Chandler. So
13:06
Speaker 1: if it's out of reach by September, then the Mariners
13:09
Speaker 1: and Rangers both collapse. But that's a whole different We'll
13:13
Speaker 1: have plenty of time to discuss that. Adrian Hauser the
13:16
Speaker 1: other day pitched and you had an interesting note about
13:19
Speaker 1: second round picks. He's the last Astro second round pick
13:23
Speaker 1: to produce a positive Major League.
13:27
Speaker 2: B war War right.
13:28
Speaker 1: B war House was drafted in twenty eleven and accrued
13:32
Speaker 1: all of his war with other teams. Did the Astros
13:35
Speaker 1: only hit on their first round picks and they just
13:37
Speaker 1: skipped the second round every year?
13:40
Speaker 2: Well, it's interesting they really haven't hit on their first
13:42
Speaker 2: round picks either. But when you hit on Alex Bregman
13:45
Speaker 2: and Kyle Tucker in the same draft, it kind of
13:48
Speaker 2: masks your first round pick problems recently. But here's the thing,
13:54
Speaker 2: and I had a had lively discussion with a couple
13:57
Speaker 2: of people on social media just kind of about that
13:58
Speaker 2: and about how there are other teams that have not
14:01
Speaker 2: farewell with second round picks. I think the Cubs will
14:04
Speaker 2: pointed out, I think the Phillies will pointed out here's
14:07
Speaker 2: the difference between those teams and the Astros in Jim
14:10
Speaker 2: Crane's ownership Senior. The Ashros have never given a hundred
14:13
Speaker 2: million dollar free agent deal. They don't spend money in
14:16
Speaker 2: free agency. They do not build their teams through free agency.
14:18
Speaker 2: That's not how it works. So they can't really get
14:22
Speaker 2: away with being as bad as they have been in
14:24
Speaker 2: the first and second round of drafts. This is a
14:27
Speaker 2: draft and develop type organization. This is an organization that
14:31
Speaker 2: will spend money on contract extensions for homegrown talent. They
14:34
Speaker 2: did it with Bregnant, they did it without Tuove, they
14:36
Speaker 2: did it with Alvarez. But this is not a team
14:40
Speaker 2: that generally goes out and spends to cover up its
14:44
Speaker 2: drafting deficiency. This team has to be good at drafting.
14:47
Speaker 2: As part of the reason they hired Dana Brown. It
14:49
Speaker 2: was because of his draft acumen and at his previous stops.
14:53
Speaker 2: So but they have made up for some of their
14:56
Speaker 2: early round debacles. They've made up for it by drafting
15:00
Speaker 2: Hunter Brown in the fifth round. By drafting you know,
15:02
Speaker 2: Chas McCormick was a breakout guy. They drafted him in
15:05
Speaker 2: the twentieth round. They've had some mid to late round
15:09
Speaker 2: picks really hit for them that have helped to offset that.
15:11
Speaker 2: But it's more crucial for the Astros to hit on
15:14
Speaker 2: their first and second round picks and maybe some other
15:17
Speaker 2: teams just because that's how they've run their franchise. They
15:19
Speaker 2: have not run their franchise as a club that spends
15:23
Speaker 2: lavishly in free agency, and to this point it's worked
15:26
Speaker 2: for them. But they're now at a point where their
15:28
Speaker 2: farm system's pretty ranked, pretty low. They held onto all
15:32
Speaker 2: of their prospects during this deadline and hopes that these
15:35
Speaker 2: guys that the lower miners can can keep developing and
15:38
Speaker 2: work their way up. But yeah, they've got to be
15:41
Speaker 2: better in those first and second rounds, all.
15:44
Speaker 1: Right, Jane, their last one. I have a fan question.
15:46
Speaker 1: It's from Bennett Scroley. Her name Jocelyn in Oakbrook, Illinois.
15:52
Speaker 1: She wants to know is Jeff Blum. She's a White
15:54
Speaker 1: Sox fan. Is Jeff Blum finally getting the national recognition
15:58
Speaker 1: that he deserves actually as a White Sox, White Sox
16:02
Speaker 1: legend in the World Series.
16:03
Speaker 3: Not Astros.
16:05
Speaker 2: He's coming for you, ag. I think he's gonna be
16:08
Speaker 2: bring it, Jeff, bringing on g Off. He's gonna be
16:11
Speaker 2: on the mantle with you as the five White Sox
16:13
Speaker 2: that are most known out there and booths. But no,
16:17
Speaker 2: Blumber did the Sunday Night baseball game in San Diego
16:20
Speaker 2: this past weekend. He's gonna do the Sunday night baseball
16:22
Speaker 2: game again this Sunday, alongside Jason Bennetti from dyk In Park.
16:26
Speaker 2: It's Astra's Mariners. Blommer's the best man, Like, he's really
16:30
Speaker 2: good at this. And if you're in Houston, if you
16:33
Speaker 2: subscribe to Space City Home Network, you've already known this.
16:36
Speaker 2: You know how funny he is. You know the personality.
16:39
Speaker 2: But I mean, this dude knows ball like and if
16:41
Speaker 2: and I think the thing about Blumber that I really
16:44
Speaker 2: appreciate and AJ you know this a little bit from
16:48
Speaker 2: being in broadcasting, Like it can be hard when you
16:51
Speaker 2: work for a team, when you're on a rights holder
16:54
Speaker 2: and RSN broadcast, it can be hard to be honest
16:57
Speaker 2: on those things, right, Like you always kind of have
16:59
Speaker 2: to put lips on a pig. You have to say
17:01
Speaker 2: things are going great when they're not going great. I
17:03
Speaker 2: think Blummer does a great job of being honest about
17:06
Speaker 2: what's going on while not disparaging or putting anybody down
17:11
Speaker 2: or and keep in towing the line of you know,
17:13
Speaker 2: knowing that he's working for, you know, an ASTROS broadcast.
17:16
Speaker 2: So I think he does a phenomenal job of that,
17:18
Speaker 2: having data analysis, having stats, and having just his professional
17:22
Speaker 2: experience to be able to back that stuff up. Yes,
17:24
Speaker 2: he's gonna get more notoriety and he should. I hope he's. Uh,
17:27
Speaker 2: I hope he's next to you on a national game
17:29
Speaker 2: pretty soon.
17:30
Speaker 1: AJ No, because he'd be mad because then he couldn't
17:32
Speaker 1: take that Saturday off. So every time I come to Houston, yes,
17:35
Speaker 1: he's not there, jet Plum because he's home doing nothing right,
17:39
Speaker 1: sitting on a couch, combing his hair, drinking a beer,
17:42
Speaker 1: whatever Jet Plum does on his off days. Every time
17:45
Speaker 1: I come to town, Blum does not show his face.
17:47
Speaker 1: So at least at least I can say that, uh,
17:50
Speaker 1: you know, he gets nice off days. It's usually a Saturday.
17:52
Speaker 1: So Chandler, we appreciate it, buddy, Thanks for everything. Listen
17:56
Speaker 1: to more Chandler on Crush City Territory on YouTube wherever
17:59
Speaker 1: you get your pods.
18:00
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19:07
Speaker 1: All right here we are with the better looking by
19:10
Speaker 1: far of the two Dallas News beat reporters of the
19:13
Speaker 1: Texas Rangers. Evan Grant had to take a day off
19:16
Speaker 1: he usually is our guy from the Dallas News. He's
19:18
Speaker 1: probably polishing his five head he has, but I don't
19:21
Speaker 1: know what you call the top of your head, Sean,
19:23
Speaker 1: but he's probably either stuffing his face or polishing his head.
19:26
Speaker 1: So in Ranger Land, they just hover around five hundred.
19:29
Speaker 1: They've been five hundred for about three years.
19:31
Speaker 6: Now.
19:32
Speaker 1: What's the take on the team from the Dallas side
19:35
Speaker 1: of things?
19:37
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean, I think sometimes you can be fooled
19:40
Speaker 7: by a record or fooled by what you see, but
19:43
Speaker 7: this is a five hundred baseball team. They've been I
19:47
Speaker 7: guess officially one game under five hundred to start the
19:50
Speaker 7: last season. They've been an average offense and average rotation
19:55
Speaker 7: and average bullpen in The only why that has not
20:02
Speaker 7: hurt them more is this is just a rough division
20:04
Speaker 7: this year, and they've been able to get by with
20:06
Speaker 7: being average. But it's it's hard to look at their
20:11
Speaker 7: sixty and sixty one record and say anything other than
20:14
Speaker 7: that's kind of exactly who they've been this year.
20:17
Speaker 3: Yeah, but here's the thing.
20:18
Speaker 1: I just did a Rangers game a couple weeks ago,
20:21
Speaker 1: and White Langford was as hot as anyone could be
20:24
Speaker 1: on the planet. And now he's what six for fifty
20:27
Speaker 1: four something like that. I know he said he's been
20:29
Speaker 1: really bad, but is it fair for this team?
20:32
Speaker 3: Really?
20:32
Speaker 1: They rely so much on Langford Seeger to be hot, right,
20:36
Speaker 1: They just rely on these two guys mostly to carry
20:39
Speaker 1: this entire team.
20:39
Speaker 3: Is that fair to those guys? No?
20:42
Speaker 7: I don't think it is, and I think you look
20:43
Speaker 7: you like the last fifteen games, they have five different
20:46
Speaker 7: everyday players who are hitting under two hundred. Corey's come
20:50
Speaker 7: back from the IL, and he's looked mostly like the
20:52
Speaker 7: Corey Seger of old, and it kind of hasn't mattered
20:55
Speaker 7: because the guys around him have also not been hitting.
20:58
Speaker 7: You guys know, you can sustain three or four guys
21:01
Speaker 7: in a slump, but when the entire lineup is cold,
21:04
Speaker 7: which this team's lineup has been for two two and
21:06
Speaker 7: a half weeks now, it kind of doesn't matter what
21:09
Speaker 7: Corey and Whyett do if the guys can't hit him
21:11
Speaker 7: in or if there aren't guys on base to drive in.
21:14
Speaker 7: So you know that that's been the biggest takeaway since
21:17
Speaker 7: Corey has come back, is you look at last night.
21:20
Speaker 7: He went three for four, hit two extra base hits,
21:22
Speaker 7: and they lose a one run game to the Angels
21:25
Speaker 7: because no one else in this lineup is hitting right now.
21:29
Speaker 4: I want to ask you about Jock Peterson. You know,
21:31
Speaker 4: I was there for a little bit last year. He
21:33
Speaker 4: obviously had a you know, awful season last year. What's
21:36
Speaker 4: what's kind of led to the turnaround and how much
21:39
Speaker 4: has kind of move into that leadoff spot really kind
21:42
Speaker 4: of changed his approach.
21:44
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think if you ask him, he'll tell you
21:46
Speaker 7: that there's not really any secret turnaround. This is just
21:49
Speaker 7: who he's always been and last year is the outlier, because,
21:52
Speaker 7: trust me, we've asked him a few times this year
21:53
Speaker 7: about what has gone into this flip, and he's kind
21:57
Speaker 7: of an adamant that this is no this is just
21:58
Speaker 7: who I am. But being back in the leadoff spot,
22:02
Speaker 7: I mean it's given the Rangers that kind of leadoff
22:04
Speaker 7: hitter they haven't had since Marcus Simmons was at his
22:07
Speaker 7: best in twenty twenty three. He's been an absolute heater lately.
22:10
Speaker 7: He has this great approach to the plate where he's
22:14
Speaker 7: drawing walks. He's having these hard fought at bats against
22:17
Speaker 7: lefties too. I mean, he doesn't get a ton of
22:19
Speaker 7: reps against lefties. This year, especially now that the Rangers
22:22
Speaker 7: have Justin Fosk, you to kind of flip out for
22:25
Speaker 7: him late in games, but he's put for some good
22:27
Speaker 7: at bats against them, and I think the way he's played,
22:31
Speaker 7: you know, really the last few months has kind of
22:32
Speaker 7: been like an energizer bunny for this team. I know
22:34
Speaker 7: in that clubhouse that's kind of the deal. But even
22:37
Speaker 7: on the field, like the way he's played, like you
22:39
Speaker 7: can tell he's a guy who wants to win here,
22:42
Speaker 7: who wants to get to the playoffs, and you know,
22:44
Speaker 7: the way he's swung the bat kind of shows.
22:46
Speaker 3: That, Yeah, he's been really good. I mean the leadoff spot.
22:49
Speaker 1: Who thought that Jock Peterson is a leadoff guy would
22:52
Speaker 1: would be good for his offense?
22:54
Speaker 3: He's been.
22:55
Speaker 1: He's been really good. One what about Evan Carter. Evan
22:57
Speaker 1: Carter in twenty twenty three came up. He is kind
23:01
Speaker 1: of the darling of the ball right in the World Series,
23:05
Speaker 1: and since then he's been injured, he's had back problems,
23:08
Speaker 1: he can't hit lefties. Now he's just not anybody. Are
23:12
Speaker 1: the Rangers about at that point where it's put up
23:14
Speaker 1: or shut up with Evan Carter?
23:17
Speaker 7: I think the thing they'll look at, is this is
23:20
Speaker 7: the healthiest he's ever been in the single season. He
23:22
Speaker 7: has not gotten this kind of runway yet as a
23:25
Speaker 7: major leaguer. He said, career highs and games played played,
23:29
Speaker 7: appearance is all this. So he's kind of going through
23:31
Speaker 7: his first prolonged slump as a big leaguer that wasn't
23:36
Speaker 7: injury related. If you look at the month of July,
23:39
Speaker 7: he looked kind of like what they thought they'd be
23:41
Speaker 7: getting out of Evan Carter, a good contact guy, doubles power,
23:45
Speaker 7: really quality plate appearances. But since kind of the deadline,
23:50
Speaker 7: he's just sort of fallen off the cliff. The one
23:53
Speaker 7: thing that is going to save him is his defense.
23:57
Speaker 7: He's an unbelievable defender in center for few he has
24:01
Speaker 7: been this season, and I think they see real value
24:04
Speaker 7: in that as like a winning trade even if he's
24:06
Speaker 7: not hitting. But to your point, at some point, when
24:09
Speaker 7: does hitting under two hundred outweigh good defense. He's going
24:13
Speaker 7: to get the rest of this year. I really think that.
24:15
Speaker 7: But you're going into twenty seven with having three big
24:19
Speaker 7: league seasons of kind of under production under your belt,
24:22
Speaker 7: like it is time to show that you can be
24:23
Speaker 7: an everyday player.
24:25
Speaker 4: Yeah, I want I want to ask you about the
24:26
Speaker 4: trade deadline. What's kind of the word on logan of Hoppy?
24:31
Speaker 4: How's he doing in Triple A? When's he going to
24:32
Speaker 4: rejoin the team? And then do you believe that they
24:35
Speaker 4: gave up on a guy like Josh Smith a little
24:37
Speaker 4: bit too soon or is that partially due to the
24:40
Speaker 4: production of Justin Fossho and obviously what Durant has been
24:44
Speaker 4: able to do this year.
24:46
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think on a Hopy like they want to
24:48
Speaker 7: keep him down Triple A. They want to get him right.
24:50
Speaker 7: That's why you see Elias Diaz and Austin Wins getting
24:53
Speaker 7: starts behind the plate right now with Kylelegashioka and Danny
24:56
Speaker 7: Jansen out, I think they like what the potential flyer
25:01
Speaker 7: they have an o' Hoppy. He's hitting well at Round
25:03
Speaker 7: Rock right now. The defense is still a work in progress,
25:05
Speaker 7: but they view that more as a long term play
25:08
Speaker 7: than anything that can immediately help them now. In terms
25:12
Speaker 7: of Josh Smith, look, he got he got a good
25:14
Speaker 7: runway here. He's maybe their best player in twenty twenty four,
25:18
Speaker 7: had some really high highs last year, but he got
25:22
Speaker 7: a runway to be the everyday second Baseman this year
25:24
Speaker 7: and it just didn't take. So I don't think you
25:27
Speaker 7: can say it was for a lack of giving him opportunities.
25:32
Speaker 7: He got that playing time, he got those reps. He
25:35
Speaker 7: just wasn't hitting. And I think to your point, having
25:38
Speaker 7: Foscue helps having Zeke Durand be that utility guy who's gosh,
25:42
Speaker 7: I think he's seventh in al in war right now,
25:45
Speaker 7: you know, as a utility guy like that kind of
25:47
Speaker 7: hurts Josh Smith's value. Nicky Lopez was great, you know,
25:51
Speaker 7: for a month or two when they got him, so
25:53
Speaker 7: it made him expendable and they were able to save
25:55
Speaker 7: a little bit of money in the process too, which
25:57
Speaker 7: I think ultimately is is really what drove that decision.
26:03
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27:02
Speaker 4: All right, give me kind of a holistic view real quick.
27:04
Speaker 4: We know that the Aos has just kind of been
27:07
Speaker 4: a division this year. I'm looking at all these names,
27:11
Speaker 4: and you mentioned some of these names, you know, Higashioka,
27:14
Speaker 4: Josh Young, Dan Janssen, Jack Lighter, Nathan Boldie. Talk to
27:20
Speaker 4: Ranger fans. Are they a team that you believe that
27:24
Speaker 4: can still win this division if all these guys get
27:27
Speaker 4: healthy or if what happens.
27:30
Speaker 7: Yes, absolutely, mean what, they're only a game game and
27:33
Speaker 7: a half out of first place right now. As long
27:36
Speaker 7: as this division continues to be really average, I don't
27:40
Speaker 7: see how you can say this team is out going
27:43
Speaker 7: into the final six weeks here, especially if Corey starts
27:46
Speaker 7: hitting jack lighters, making a rehab start tonight. If they
27:50
Speaker 7: get him back in some role, that's a really valuable arm.
27:53
Speaker 7: If you get the catchers back, that gives you depth there.
27:57
Speaker 7: Josh Young he's going to do some more imaging on Friday.
28:00
Speaker 7: We'll see where that goes. But if you get him
28:02
Speaker 7: back any point, that's a three hundred hitter you're adding
28:04
Speaker 7: back into your lineup. And just the biggest thing I
28:07
Speaker 7: come back to is this has not been a good division.
28:11
Speaker 7: It's there for the taking. The thing is, we've said
28:14
Speaker 7: this so many times with the Rangers this season, that hey,
28:18
Speaker 7: this is a great opportunity to make a push and
28:20
Speaker 7: the division make some separation. They get this week against
28:23
Speaker 7: the Angels and the A's and you say, this is
28:26
Speaker 7: your window to separate yourself from the Astros. And they've
28:29
Speaker 7: gone one and two so far and have looked really
28:31
Speaker 7: bad doing it. So that's gonna be the thing like,
28:34
Speaker 7: can they capitalize on these runs against under five hundred teams?
28:37
Speaker 7: Can Wyatt Langford and Corey Seeger be the aircraft coreat
28:41
Speaker 7: carriers this team needs. Can those injured guys come back
28:44
Speaker 7: and be productive in some way? You don't have to
28:48
Speaker 7: squint to see how it all works out in these
28:50
Speaker 7: final six weeks. It does just feel like we've been
28:53
Speaker 7: saying that a lot this season at different junctures.
28:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, it seems like it's well, heck, the whole Al
28:59
Speaker 1: West talk about the Mariners, right, if they if they
29:02
Speaker 1: get healthy and get going, the Astros, if they get
29:04
Speaker 1: healthy and get going and get going and get going.
29:07
Speaker 1: Mackenzie Gore, though the last month or so has been
29:09
Speaker 1: a bright spot. What has he changed anything in his
29:11
Speaker 1: pitch repertoire and in his in his usage? Has he
29:15
Speaker 1: done anything different than what Mackenzie Gore did before he
29:17
Speaker 1: came to Texas.
29:19
Speaker 7: I think I think it's just a lot of it's
29:21
Speaker 7: more comfort too, and I think they've been kind of
29:23
Speaker 7: imploring him to to use his full arsenal. He's got
29:27
Speaker 7: a lot of really good pitches and it's easy for
29:29
Speaker 7: him to get stuck on that great fastball and that
29:32
Speaker 7: great curveball. But but he's got a really strong, well
29:34
Speaker 7: rounded arsenal, and I know they want him to to
29:38
Speaker 7: diversify that when he can. But I think what you're
29:41
Speaker 7: seeing is the Mackenzie Gore that the Rangers gave up
29:44
Speaker 7: five prospects on. You know, like the natural talent is there,
29:47
Speaker 7: it's just can you avoid that one bad blow up
29:51
Speaker 7: in him. It's kind of derailed him several times this year.
29:54
Speaker 7: I think in his starting in Santaheim on Monday, like
29:58
Speaker 7: get up a home run in the for sad thing
30:00
Speaker 7: and then kind of just settled in, kind of shook
30:02
Speaker 7: it off, which we haven't seen a ton of this year.
30:04
Speaker 7: So if he can do that where he cannot let
30:06
Speaker 7: the two out hit or the home run or the
30:10
Speaker 7: walking the nine hitter completely derail his start, then the
30:13
Speaker 7: Rangers have a really good starter. And that's kind of
30:15
Speaker 7: what they saw when they, you know, gave up a
30:18
Speaker 7: big chunk of their farm system for.
30:21
Speaker 3: Yeah.
30:21
Speaker 4: I want to just my last one for you about
30:23
Speaker 4: Jacob de Gram. Has he answered questions about the trade deadline?
30:28
Speaker 4: Did the front office answer questions about the trade deadline
30:31
Speaker 4: and confirm that he in fact uses no trade clause
30:35
Speaker 4: or is this all just kind of alleged rumors.
30:39
Speaker 7: Neither the front office or Degram have gone on the
30:42
Speaker 7: record saying that. But but that is the case. You know,
30:44
Speaker 7: de Grom did speak the day the trade deadline, and
30:48
Speaker 7: he didn't say the words I invoked my no trade clause,
30:51
Speaker 7: but he made it clear like I want to stay here,
30:53
Speaker 7: I want to win here. I believe in this team.
30:57
Speaker 7: You know, I think this is the core that can win.
30:59
Speaker 7: He talked about seeing this team win in twenty three,
31:02
Speaker 7: which he was on the roster for. He was hurt, obviously,
31:06
Speaker 7: I think that fires him up. So no, not on
31:08
Speaker 7: either side has talked, you know, on the record about
31:11
Speaker 7: the no trade clause aspect. But de Grom did spend
31:15
Speaker 7: five or so minutes talking with us about you know,
31:18
Speaker 7: he wants to be here and he wants to win here.
31:20
Speaker 7: And I think that's kind of galvanized a lot of
31:22
Speaker 7: the team too. The guy has salute him now when
31:25
Speaker 7: they get on base. The day of the deadline, they
31:27
Speaker 7: wrote the general on a piece of tape and put
31:29
Speaker 7: it above his name plate above his locker. So I
31:33
Speaker 7: think seeing a guy liked de Grom, a two time
31:36
Speaker 7: sign Award winner, likely future Hall of Famer say I
31:40
Speaker 7: want to win here. I do think that's how a
31:42
Speaker 7: real impact on this clubhouse.
31:46
Speaker 3: That's right, that's where Sean. Where are you from, by.
31:48
Speaker 7: The way, I'm from Boston.
31:50
Speaker 3: Oh okay.
31:51
Speaker 1: I was thinking Canada because you have kind of a
31:53
Speaker 1: little Canadian accent going.
31:55
Speaker 7: It's Northeast Dish, Northish, so.
31:58
Speaker 1: You don't have like the masshole, don't have like the
32:00
Speaker 1: ca right. But now when you drop the about it's
32:04
Speaker 1: like the a boot.
32:05
Speaker 3: It's like, oh man, he's from Canada.
32:07
Speaker 1: I was like, you know, Kevin Pilara played for Canada,
32:09
Speaker 1: Kevin Pilari, So you're like Kevin Plar You're a Canadian
32:11
Speaker 1: that moved to Dallas.
32:12
Speaker 3: It would have been awesome.
32:14
Speaker 7: No, No, I'm from Boston. I've tried pretty hard to
32:19
Speaker 7: avoid falling into the Boston accent as much as possible,
32:21
Speaker 7: especially when I'm speaking in a public setting. You know,
32:24
Speaker 7: it's I love the accent. I grew out of it.
32:27
Speaker 2: I think.
32:28
Speaker 1: Okay, that's fair, that's fair. That's fair, Sean. We appreciate it.
32:32
Speaker 1: Tell Evan we did not say hi. Please make sure
32:34
Speaker 1: you pass that message along. I'm sure he's probably he's
32:37
Speaker 1: probably at the Golden Corral right about now on his
32:39
Speaker 1: third trip through the through the meats line. So if
32:42
Speaker 1: you want to check out more intel from Sean in
32:44
Speaker 1: the Dallas News, follow him on Twitter at slash x
32:49
Speaker 1: sorry at McFarlane underscore Sean, We'll be right back, Thanks Sean,
32:54
Speaker 1: Thanks guys,