Latest / Foul Territory / Astros winter report w/Chandler Rome: Framber market, Paredes trade block? Altuve/Correa out of WBC mix

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Astros winter report w/Chandler Rome: Framber market, Paredes trade block? Altuve/Correa out of WBC mix · Foul Territory

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Crush City Territory host Chandler Rome and Astro's reporter for
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: the Athletic joining us right now. Chandler, good to see you.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: And the Astros are fresh off there fan Fest, so
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: we want to get some insight from that, but I
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: want to make sure that anyone tuning in that's not
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: an Astros fan stays locked in. It appears as if
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: there's still a chance that the Astros have a trade
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: chip or two that could be very valuable for another team.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: So Chandler, I want to start there. Let's go to
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: ESSOC parades. How do you think this plays out? And
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: what would you do with the infield logjam that they're
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: dealing with.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: Well, Scott, I've been saying for the last week or
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: so that I'd be surprised if they break camp from
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: West Palm Beach with this glut of infielders on the roster.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: It just seems untenable to a point where you don't
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: have everyday playing time for both ESOC Paradis and Christian
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: Walker Joe spot Are reaffirmed at FanFest that Josel Twoveyle
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: spend most of his season at second base. You're on Alvarez,
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: Will spend a majority of his season at DH. Now,
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: both of those guys can play some left field, and
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: they will play some left field, but the majority of
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: their time are going to come at those two positions.
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: Those are really the only other two positions Esach Paradis
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: can play now. Yeah, sure, Carlos Korea could use a
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: day off at third base every now and then, Paradis
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: can play there. If Jeremy Pania needs a day off
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: at shortstop, maybe they stick Paradus. There should be noted
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: that Panya was on track to play one hundred and
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: sixty two games last year before he broke his ribs,
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  Speaker 2: So I don't envision the left side of the infield
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: coming off the field much. So you're looking at two
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: guys that are going to make about thirty million dollars
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: between the two of them, and you're looking at a
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: time share at first base, and I wonder, how how
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: is that a prudent use of resources for a club
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: that has already been pretty mindful of its luxury tax
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: positioning This winner, so obviously Estoc Paradis will bring more
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: value back than Christian Walker would on the trade market.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: Christian Walker also has a limited no trade clause that
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: allows him to void trades to six teams. I don't
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: know what those teams are. As far as what I
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: would do, I would, you know, I would look and
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: see what makes the twenty twenty six Astros best, because
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: at the end of the day, this is a team
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: that is in win now mode. This is not a
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: team that is planning for the future. This is not
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: a team that's trying to Stockpilot's farm system and retool.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: This is a team that is trying to win now.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: Aana Brown is in the last year of his contract
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: as a general manager, Joe spot is in the last
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: year of his contract as a manager. They are trying
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: to win a championship in twenty twenty six. I would
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: do whatever it takes to ensure that the twenty twenty
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: six Astros are the best that they can be.
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: Okay, So then either of those two Christian Walker or
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: Escac parades, what do they bring back? What is the need?
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: Because I mentioned it earlier that possibly maybe a Jared
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: Duran if the Red Sox don't figure out third base
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: or second base before opening day.
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: Well, it was interesting to hear Dana Brown talk at FanFest.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: He reiterated that he is trying to acquire a left
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: handed bat. Only the Angels took fewer plate appearances by
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: a left handed hitter last year than the Astros, and
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: Victor Karattini took half of those for the Astros. He's
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: now with the Twins, so obviously having Jordan Alvarez back
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: for a full season will help. They want to get
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: some run out of Zach Cole, their left handed hitting
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: rookie outfielder. That'll help, but this is still an unbalanced lineup.
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: So I think Dana, if he had his druthers, he
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: would go to find a left handed bat. What do
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: the Boston Red Sox have a lot of They have
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: a lot of left handed hitting outfielders that are kind
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: of expendable. So connecting the dots, it does make some
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: sense to link the Red Sox and the Astros for
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: a Paradus sort of deal. The Red Sox can use
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: some help at third base. Estoc Paradus would rake in
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: that ballpark given his poll tendencies. He also rakes at
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: diik In Park. So what I have been able to
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: ascertain is that the Astros like will You're a bray
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: you probably more than Jaron Duran that there They are
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: much more intrigued by him for good reason. He used
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: to be in the Astros farm system. He was part
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: of the trade in twenty twenty two that went to
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: the Red Sox in exchange for Christian Vasquez, so they
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: know him well. He's making less money. Jared Durant is
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: gonna make about seven million dollars this year. Will you
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: or a brad You's still making the league minimum. He's
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: a two time Gold Glover in right field. They value
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: that defense. I tell you, I think they are much
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: more intrigued by will you er a bray you than
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  Speaker 2: Duran in any conversations that they're having with the Red Sox.
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: Obviously this was in an Astro's publication or you didn't
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: say this, But when you look up the projected lineup
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: on the Internet of against right hand, right handed pitchers,
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: they have Cam Smith sitting. Is there an environment where
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: the twenty twenty six Houston Astros aren't good or are
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: good without Cam Smith getting every day at bats? My
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: contention was he should be somebody righty's or lefties that
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: should get six hundred at bats this season.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: Well.
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: Cratzy Dana Brown has said on numerous occasions that that
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: Cam Smith is not guaranteed a roster spot going to
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: spring training. He's gonna have to win one. You know,
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: an argument could be made that he should have probably
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: been in the minor leagues for the last two months
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: of last year. He was not an everyday player. By
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: the end of last year. The struggles really started to
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: mount on him. But the Ashers had so many injuries
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: and they have no real help at the upper minor
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: leagues that it really would have made no sense to
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: send them to the minor leagues by that point. So,
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: you know, I think if Cam goes to West Palm
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: Beach and does what he did last spring, I don't
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: think we're having this conversation. I think he sails on
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: to the team. I think he's pretty comfortably entrenched in
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: right field and we're not having this discussion. But he's
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: got to prove himself. He's got to prove himself in
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: spring training. That's something that he talked about at FanFest.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: To hear twenty three year old have this sort of perspective,
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: he said. You know, we asked him how it hit
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: him when he heard that Dana Brown said that his
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: spot's not guaranteed, and he said that's business. It's nothing personal.
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: It's I got to go, I gotta go play, I
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: gotta go compete, And I think the other thing cratzy
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: that could enter this calculus. They do still have Hayesu
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: Sanchez on the roster. They are fielding trade interests in
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: Haesu Sanchez. He did not have a good tenure with
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: the Astros after being acquired from the Marlins at the deadline.
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: He is, however, a left handed hitter and he is
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: his most natural position is right field. So if they
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: don't trade him, and if he goes to camp and
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: he maybe shows some flashes of what they thought he
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: was going to be last year and Cam Smith struggles
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: in spring training, Dana Brown's already told you they need
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: a left in a bat, they need more balance. Maybe
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: that's from within the team.
• 7:05
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• 8:06
  Speaker 4: Damn, that's a lot of pressure to put on a
• 8:08
  Speaker 4: twenty three year old kid who was traded obviously for
• 8:11
  Speaker 4: Kyle Tucker and and was supposed to be the big
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: piece in that trade.
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: Why would they do that to him?
• 8:16
  Speaker 4: Why why not be Dana Brown and say hey, we're
• 8:18
  Speaker 4: not sure, Like, why would you want to throw all
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: this pressure on Cam Smith? You gotta go out and
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: have a great spring training, man, because if you don't, guess, well,
• 8:27
  Speaker 4: you're going back.
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: I think Triple A is in Round Rock. They're going
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: back to round Rock, right.
• 8:31
  Speaker 4: Like, why not just say hey, we'll just see how
• 8:33
  Speaker 4: it goes and maybe it'll all work out like most
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: gms do.
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: Sugarland A j. Don't don't disrespect Rock.
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: Are they still the sugar Land Skeeters.
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: No, they're the Space Cowboys.
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: Oh jeez, come on.
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: Some people call them the Space Cowboys.
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: Some people call me the Gangster of Love.
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying, Steve Miller Ki, You know
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: I agree with what you're saying.
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: AJ.
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: I get the gist. But like, they've already put so
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: much pressure on this kid. I mean, they debuted him
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: at the big league level last year, having played thirty
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: two games of professional baseball. Like he has shown just
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: in the way that he handled everything last year and
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: the way that he handled the way he blew up
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: in spring training and then the first couple of months
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: in the season when he was a really good hitter,
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: when he was a productive member of this team. You
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: never saw him get too high. You never saw him
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: get to well. I think that's the one thing that
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: they feel comfortable about with Cam Smith is the makeup.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: It's what's between the ears. He is wise beyond his age.
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: He's wise beyond his years. He's got an outlook on
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: things that most prospects his age do not have. So
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: I really don't think they're concerned about maybe the pressure
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: that they're putting on him, because I don't think cam
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: Smith feels a ton of pressure. But you know, it's
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: a valid point, and it certainly begs the question, you know,
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: why they took the route that they did last year
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: putting him on the roster to start the season, because
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: you know, it was funny. I was listening to Hein
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: Bloom give an answer about JJ Weatherholt the other the
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: other day about whether JJ Weatherholt will be on the
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: Cardinals opening day roster, and heim Bloom just outright said,
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: I don't. I'm not going to care what he does
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: in spring training. I'm not going to care about stats.
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: I'm not going to care what he does in greape
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: Fruit League play. Dana kind of took the opposite approach
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: with cam Smith. Cam Smith tore up the grape Fruit
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: League last year, just absolutely. His stats were incredible, and
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: he played his way onto the roster in part because
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: of what he did in grape Fruit League play. So
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: was that the right course of action? I'm not sure
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: but you can't argue with the first few months that
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: Cam Smith had in the major leagues. He was he
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: was a valuable, you know, one hundred plus ops plus guy,
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: an above league average player for the first couple of
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: months of the season. You wonder how much fatigue set
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: in towards this back half of the year, and you
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: wonder just how much, you know, pitchers adjusted to him.
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: And this is a game of adjustments, and Cam just
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: couldn't make the adjustment quick.
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: Enough, by the way, And Krats will tell you, and
• 11:09
  Speaker 4: he'll agree with me on this. The most overrated month
• 11:11
  Speaker 4: of the season, well, there's two, but it used to
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: be too, but now it's only one spring training and
• 11:15
  Speaker 4: it used to be September when you had a forty
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: man roster, but that's changed. The most overrated time to
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: evaluate somebody spring training. And I know crowds agrees with me,
• 11:24
  Speaker 4: because you get choppers that go for hits, you get
• 11:26
  Speaker 4: guys that aren't you're not playing against the best team
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: the best guy.
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: So that's why I'm just like, why do that to
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: the kid? Good for Hunt?
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and even if you looked at who he was
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: facing in Great Fruit League play last year, he faced
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: some big league guys, and he had some success off
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: some big league guys, but a lot of his damage
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: and great Fruit League play last year came off of
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: a ball guys double a like guys that he should
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: have been facing as a twenty one year old kid
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: with thirty two games of professional experience. So yeah, it's
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: just a different way of evaluating it. And Dana is
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: Dana comes from a scouting back. He comes from a
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: player evaluation, on field results kind of background. He values that.
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: That is what he values. And you know, they made
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: the decision that they made, and now they're going to
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: have to navigate a spring training with him that is
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: going to be completely different than the last one.
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: But Taydler, what if he comes into spring training the
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: best shape of his life. They love the way he's
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: moving around. All those cliches save it. If you think
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: he's good enough, he'll be on the team. If you don't,
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: they made a reason for him to be on the
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: team last year. We get it. Somebody who was on
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: the team last year non anymore, is now a free agent.
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: You've watched Framber Valdez for years. You've watched the fact
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: that they had to always say, well, we're bringing Martin Maldonado.
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: He's there because Martin Maldonado knows how to control Framber.
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: Then you had the catching incident or the catcher incident
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: with say Sar Salzar. What exactly if the narrative that
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: this free agent year right now, this free agency is
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: they are afraid of what the character things about Framber are?
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: What did you see? What did you see from Framber?
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: And what could teams actually be afraid of?
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: You know, I can only go off you know, Kratzy
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: and aj. You guys know, media is only in the
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: clubhouse for about hour a day, and trying to glean
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: anything off of the hour that we're in the clubhouse
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: a day is foolish. So I can only really go
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: off of what the people that spent the most time
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: around Fromber here have to say. And I got to
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: tell you he was really well liked by his teammates.
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: He was well liked by Joe Aspada and the coaching staff.
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: They they constantly said that no one works harder than Fromburn.
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: I mean, if you look at the guy too, I
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: mean he doesn't skip chess day, he doesn't skip armed like.
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: He is a put together individual and he works about
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: as hard as anyone. Now, it's pretty obvious that he
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: had to do some image rehabilitation, maybe in free agency.
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: You know, you look at the video that his agency
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: put together aout him, you know, extolling his character, kind
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: of giving you a little bit of background of where
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: Fromber came from, of allowing him and his family to
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: kind of tell the story in his own words. It
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: was also a little anomalous that he went to the
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: GM meetings to meet with teams face to face. You
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: see guys do that at the winter meetings. Sometimes. I
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: don't think I've ever seen a guy go to the
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: GM meetings and do that. Maybe I could be wrong,
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: but that was a little bit. You've always gotten the
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: feeling that he's going to have to explain that, and
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: he's going to have to, you know, come up with,
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: you know, some ways to talk about that. It should
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: be noted too that, you know, he worked with a
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: sports psychologist in the ASTROS system named doctor Andy Nunez,
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: a guy that is at the Dominican He's based in
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: the Dominican at their facility, and he doesn't just work
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: with Fromber, he works with a lot of their Latin
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: American pictures. He works with a lot of their Dominican pictures,
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: and he has really come a long way since his
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: rookie year. A lot of the things you see him
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: do on the mound, the breathing exercises he does. If
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: you watch him pitch, sometimes he'll like, if he throws
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: a pitch he doesn't like, he'll just come off the
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: mound completely, walk a lap around the mound to calm
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: down and then get back. That's something that doctor Andy
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: taught him how to do. So he has evolved a
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: lot maturity wise since he first got into the big leagues,
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: as you would imagine any any pitcher or any any
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: player would as they get older and as they settle
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: into major league life. But as far as why he's
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: still unsigned, you know, I don't know what's going on
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: with the negotiations. I don't know what offers he has
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: or doesn't have, but it's you know, as the days
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: dwindle and as you see you know, spring training and
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: get closer, it's hard to say with certainty that what
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: happened with Ceysar salas are and maybe what happened and
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: just character questions, it's hard to it's hard to say
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: that that's not having some impact. I think he'll still
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: get paid a very handsome salary. He's still really really good.
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: He can still roll out of bed and for one
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: hundred and ninety innings at a sub three five era.
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: That's really hard to do and that's really valuable. But
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: it's hard for me to look at this and think
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: that that's not having at least some impact on his market.
• 16:09
  Speaker 4: I agreed, it sucks, but you know what, we all
• 16:11
  Speaker 4: make decisions and they all have to pay for it,
• 16:13
  Speaker 4: so it is what it is. Chandler, here's my thing.
• 16:17
  Speaker 4: The Astros rotation isn't good enough right now with Hunter
• 16:21
  Speaker 4: Brown and Ami. What's am I going to give him?
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: They put in weird and sent us for eighty ninety
• 16:25
  Speaker 4: and one hundred innings. Usually those are much higher numbers.
• 16:29
  Speaker 4: Is there a free agent out there? There's an old
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: guy out there that would look kind of nice in
• 16:33
  Speaker 4: this rotation. He's pitched in Houston a couple of times.
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: You know, he's done some cool things in Houston. Is
• 16:39
  Speaker 4: there a signing out there we could see for the Astros?
• 16:42
  Speaker 4: You know, Jim Crane plays golf with this older fella
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: and all of a sudden Boom. He's a Houston Astro again.
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: Should be noted. AJ they played golf together this weekend
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: and at Jim's course in Palm Beach because Jim was
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: hosting a charity event there. There's a lot of baseball
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: players that Kyle Tucker was there, Camp Smith was there,
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: Justin Burl was also there. Look, I think they're done
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: adding to the rotation. You never say never, and I
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: don't think they would ever just completely turn their nose
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: at pitching. You can never have enough pitching. But I
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: think with what they've done, I think if they wanted
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: Justin Verlander, I think if Jim Crane wanted Justin Verlander,
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: I think it probably would have been done by now.
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: I think there was some interest in that maybe earlier
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: in the offseason, but now that the Astros have made
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: all these additions, I'm just not sure that, you know, fiscally,
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: they're going to get where Justin maybe wants his contract
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: to be. He made fifteen million dollars last year, had
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: a very nice second half. You could you could maybe
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: make the argument that he deserves maybe the same salary,
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: if not maybe a little bit less, But you know,
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: I right now, I don't see that happening. But I'll
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: always say, with the caveat if Jim Crane wants it,
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: because he and Justin Verlander are that close. If he
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: decides that, you know he can make it work, and
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: he wants to make it work, you know it surely
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: could happen. But is this rotation good enough? I think
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: the answer and I don't want to put it all
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: on one guy, but I think the answer really lies
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: with the Christian Xavier. I think if Christian Javier can
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: recapture the form that we saw him have in twenty
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: twenty two. You got to remember that he missed all
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: of twenty twenty four with Tommy John and surgery, came
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: back the middle of last year, and you guys know
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: when you come back from Tommy John surgery, those first
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: few starts, that first you know, half a season back
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: never goes well. It's always kind of the reacclamation period.
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: This is his first healthy off season in a while.
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: This will be the first normal season he'll start from
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: you know, Game two or three, whenever they start him
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: till the end. You know, this is a guy that
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: they thought enough of to give a sixty five million
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: dollar contract extension to He has started two combined no hitters,
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: one in the World Series and one at Yankee Stadium.
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: At his best, Christian Javier can be a number two,
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: borderline number one starter if they get him back to
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: form and put him behind Hunter Brown. I think this
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: rotation is good enough. But if they can't get him
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: back to that twenty twenty two form, then yeah, you've
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: got Hunter Brown as your ace, and you've got a
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: lot of guys that while they have a lot of upside,
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: there's a lot of question marks and there's a lot
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: of uncertainty as to what's going to happen. I think
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: the Astros rotation viability and how good they're going to
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: be it really does live with Christian Hobbier.
• 19:23
  Speaker 4: Okay, that's that's fair. You Recently, we just had Nolan
• 19:26
  Speaker 4: Arnado on the show and he's going to play for
• 19:29
  Speaker 4: Team Puerto Rico in the WBC. Is that why Carlos
• 19:31
  Speaker 4: Krea decided not to play because he's like, uh, Nolan
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: Arnado is coming over from USA and we know Puerto
• 19:36
  Speaker 4: Rico's not beating USA.
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: Well, Nolan could play first. I know there were some
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: teams that wanted him to play first. When he was
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: on the trade block, but no, Carlos isn't going to
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: play in the WBC, and nor is Jose l Twove
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: for Team Venezuela because they could not get the proper
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: insurance on their contracts to make it to where if
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: they were to get hurt in the WBC without the insurance,
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: they would forfeit some of their regular season salary if
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: they would miss any time due to those injuries. Remember
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: Jose al Tuove broke his thumb in twenty twenty three
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: in the World Baseball Classic when he got hit by
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: a pitch. Make no mistake, both Jose al Tuve and
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: Carlos Carrell want to play. They wanted to play for
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: their countries. They both talked about it at FanFest on Saturday.
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: Joseel Tuve even said, I've done everything I normally do
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: to play in the WBC, but this year doesn't seem
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: like it's up to me. And Carlos Correa said he,
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: I mean, I talked to him today. He said he's
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: been taking live vps now for two weeks because he
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: was going to get be ready earlier, to be ready
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: to play in the WBC. These guys wanted to play.
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: These guys wanted to represent their countries, especially Correa, because
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: as you guys know, I think, JA, you'll be here.
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: There's pool play happening at dyke In Park in the WBC.
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: Puerto Rico is not in the pool that's playing at
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: dyke In Park, but if they advance out of their pool,
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: their quarterfinal round is in Houston. So Carlos Korea could
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: have played fourteen Puerto Rico in Houston, which would have
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: been a real full circle moment for him and his family.
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: That's something that he did want to do, but just
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: I think, as he told me, verbade him today just
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: didn't seem like a good business decision. He did not
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: want to have that large of a risk going into
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: the WBC without insurance on his contract. There you go.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: We talked about it a little bit yesterday and now
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: you hear it here. Insurance holding back those guys, just
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: like it did for Clayton Kershaw years back. And now
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: Clayton doesn't care because he's retired. So they can hang
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: out the team, maybe get an appearance or two in
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: their huge loss though in all seriousness for the Venezuelan
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: team and then for Team Puerto Rico. Chandler Good catching
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: up with you as always, man, Crush City territory for everyone,
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: multiple episodes per week, even in the off season. There
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: you go. It's Chandler, it's Josh Reddick, it's Tyler Stafford.
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: It's the best in the base covering the Astros on
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: podcast platforms and digital show on YouTube part of the network.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: Thanks Chandler, Talk to you soon, man.
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: Thanks guys.
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: We're going to bring it right here to the BENMGM Futures.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: Current win total for the Astros Classic eighty five and
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: a half, just like the Padres yesterday. Kratz, wasn't it
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: eighty five and a half for San Diego? M Okay,
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: this is you first, and do you feel better or
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: worse about whatever selection you make versus yesterday?
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: I feel worse about this one. I think there's just
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: a lot of I mean saying that Christian Javier has
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: to slot in behind Hunter Brown, or the fact that
• 22:47
  Speaker 3: he my what does the industry think? Is he going
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: to be that great? Is that one? You know? A
• 22:54
  Speaker 3: slider from people from scouts I've talked to that saw
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: him a lot in Japan. The slider's legit is he
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: gonna be a slighter A slider, slider, slider starter. I
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: just feel like there's too much question too many question
• 23:10
  Speaker 3: marks in that rotation for me to supremely say yes,
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: eighty six or more wins is what they're gonna get.
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: I just I think they're good. I don't think we
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: they'll be in it. They'll be in it. Let's put
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: it this way. They'll be in it. They show they
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: can make moves at the break. So that's why I'm
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: fearful of going under. It just feels right on the mark.
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: And I love my Padres pick yesterday. I do not
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: love this pick, but I'm gonna take the over. Okay,
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: I'm taking under. I'm going under just because what a
• 23:45
  Speaker 3: chant in the room.
• 23:45
  Speaker 4: Just give us a million different what is so if
• 23:48
  Speaker 4: this goes good and this goes good, and what if
• 23:50
  Speaker 4: this and this and we don't know who's playing here
• 23:52
  Speaker 4: and Altove has to have a better ear and cam
• 23:54
  Speaker 4: Smith needs to make the team, and Alvarez needs to
• 23:56
  Speaker 4: stay healthy and too many as for me, I'm going
• 23:59
  Speaker 4: under it out the way they're.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: Constructed, Rangers just got a little better, and Kenzie Gore.
• 24:06
  Speaker 4: Mariners are there, Rangers are better.
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: I think the A's will be better, and one if
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: the astros don't hit them in that one month, you
• 24:16
  Speaker 3: know where they seem to struggle every year.
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: Who knows.
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: It's close, too close, too close to be confident about it.
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: For me, yeah, I don't know. I'll go slightly under. Yeah,
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: but like I think this is one where you could
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: get hooked where they finish at eighty five or eighty six.
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: So no, thanks, not touching this one. Bet MGM players,
• 24:47
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• 25:02
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• 25:05
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