Latest / Sports Avenue Twisted Podcast / Episode 54 feat. RG Chav - Correa being an Astro again, the Astros remaining relevant, and the remaining schedule

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Episode 54 feat. RG Chav - Correa being an Astro again, the Astros remaining relevant, and the remaining schedule · Sports Avenue Twisted Podcast

0:26
Welcome to another edition of the Sports Ave.
0:28
Twisted podcast. We have a guest in here who who,
0:31
who knows a thing or two about the Houston Astros.
0:35
Thomas Chevaria, AKARG, Chef, welcome to the show.
0:40
Just let the world know what you do and everything else.
0:43
Thanks guys. I really appreciate you having
0:45
me. I'm a huge Houston sports fan.
0:50
Whether it's whether it's the Texans, the Stroh's, the rocks,
0:53
doesn't matter, the Dynamo, if you're into soccer, I'm here for
0:56
it. All right now, the Astros are
0:59
are in the midst of of a tight battle for the division.
1:04
So we're here to talk a little Stroh's today.
1:07
Yeah, man, it's great to have you.
1:08
It's, you know, it's another good season for the Astros and
1:12
they're they're playing well again.
1:15
You know, as expected this, the expectations are always high in
1:18
Houston. So it's it's a good time to have
1:21
you on talk about what's going on with the team and everything
1:24
else. So thanks for joining us today.
1:26
Hey, thanks so much for having me.
1:28
I mean, it's it's always a great opportunity for me to talk
1:32
Stroh's with anybody, any fan bases.
1:34
I know you guys said y'all are playing, y'all are playing the
1:36
Pirates night, you know, so, so interesting.
1:40
Interesting to hear about your squad as well.
1:42
Yeah, for sure. All right, Let's get this thing
1:44
started. This is the this is, this is the
1:47
first question I had to ask. And this is this is, you know,
1:50
the obvious one is Carlos Correa reuniting with the Astros once
1:56
again. And you know, you, when you,
1:59
when you think of a situation like that, because he was a
2:01
homegrown guy. He was drafted number one in
2:03
2012 and he was a Astros guy. Like he was part of the core of
2:07
that team. And then obviously money was the
2:09
problem. And then, and then he went
2:12
through a detour with with the with the Giants, then the Mets
2:17
with the whole contract thing and they had the health issues.
2:20
Then he ended up signing with the twin.
2:22
But this trade deadline, he's, he's an Astro again.
2:25
And in that moment, where were you at that time when that trade
2:30
happened? I'll be very honest, I I was
2:33
kind of like, there's no way right there.
2:35
It's just it, it sounded too good to be true.
2:38
I think for a lot of Astros fans, they never wanted to see
2:41
Carlos go. I mean, he was, you know, raised
2:45
groom everything Houston. So for, for him to not be an
2:49
Astro, you kind of felt like back when he came up that him
2:53
and Altua were just going to ride off into the sunset
2:55
together, their best friends, you know, the, the, the infield
2:58
duo, the the double play team. And it just, it wasn't meant to
3:02
be. Obviously Carlos had, you know,
3:04
aspirations of, of big contract, you know, maybe leading his own
3:08
club and he went out, tried to do it.
3:12
I don't, I don't think he wanted to leave Minnesota.
3:14
I think it was like Minnesota decided they weren't going to be
3:17
good and the Astros swooped in. I love the fact that they were
3:20
able to get Minnesota to pay some of his contract.
3:23
I mean, when you get a $33 million guy for $20 million, you
3:28
really did a great service to your team.
3:31
So Dana Brown, I can't say enough about Dana Brown going
3:35
out and making this happen. Obviously Jim Crane had to pull
3:39
the trigger on that as well, which is which is awesome
3:41
because you know, this owner has came out and said the window is
3:45
never closed for Houston as long as I'm only owning this team.
3:48
And every year they feel like, ah, that's just kind of like lip
3:51
service. I'm just saying that to sell
3:52
tickets. And then he goes every year and
3:54
makes a move to make this team better.
3:56
And, and I can't, I can't think of enough for Carlos Correa
3:59
because he's been great since he's been here.
4:02
Yeah, he's been awesome since he's come back.
4:06
They also made a couple other editions of the trade deadline,
4:08
which I thought were pretty good low key editions and and Jesus
4:11
Sanchez and Ramon Arias. How important have those
4:14
editions been to the team as well?
4:18
It's it's it's something that's like weird, right?
4:20
Like those two guys are not going to get talked about, But I
4:23
think they're really, really key additions because the Astros are
4:27
very right-handed. Jesus Sanchez being left-handed,
4:30
being able to play one of the corner outfield positions
4:33
really, really, really big for the Astros to be able to have
4:36
that because you could just run run lefties at them all all you
4:41
wanted and and they didn't they didn't have a left-handed bat or
4:45
they didn't have the the left-handed bat they needed.
4:47
So to go get him was really big. Erias, I think was really like,
4:51
I don't I don't know how it's going to work.
4:53
I don't I I think they got him before the Korea deal and then
4:56
the Korea deal happened. Now looking into the future,
4:59
obviously with Peretis out right now, it doesn't seem like a big
5:03
deal. I think when he comes back, if
5:05
he's able to come back this season, definitely next season,
5:07
you have this huge logjam in the infield.
5:09
So I like the player. I love what he's done so far as
5:12
an Astro. He broke up a perfect game the
5:15
other day. He had the walk off hit the
5:17
night or night two nights after that.
5:20
So he's come in and provided a spark that they needed.
5:23
But I just, it's a lot of infielders they went on got.
5:28
I have a question here. So The thing is that you guys
5:30
got 2 bats and was there like a bigger name that you thought
5:35
that the Astros were going after?
5:36
Because I know that Luis Roberts name was floated around and you
5:40
know thinking that there was other bats were available but
5:43
the asking prices were high. Like, did you ever consider
5:47
thinking about like the Astros going after bat besides those
5:50
two like before those acquisitions happened?
5:54
I really feel like the the offense absolutely need
5:56
something at that point. I don't know if you if you
5:58
remember what the roster looked like going into the All Star
6:01
break. They had half a Sugar Land
6:03
playing for them, which is their AAA club.
6:06
So they definitely needed some guys.
6:08
Some guys were nicked up. And I think if there was a bat
6:12
that was out there that was available, I think the Astros
6:14
were tied to him and I, I just always thought the prospects
6:18
were going to be too high. I mean, the Jesus Sanchez deal
6:22
costed Ryan Gusto or it took them Ryan Gusto to get it done.
6:26
It was a really good pitcher for the Strohs.
6:28
You know, it just came up and, and, and was pitching, you know,
6:31
big games for them. So I really think like they
6:35
didn't have the prospects or they didn't want to part with
6:37
the prospects, I should say, to, to get a big name.
6:41
And they're, they're really trying to get their farm system
6:43
back. It's it's, it's always been at
6:45
the bottom, which I think that's an MLB thing.
6:47
Astros fans will tell you that our farm system is way better
6:50
than it's ranked, but to try to keep some guys around because
6:53
every year they were adding, you know, key players.
6:57
Last year, if you remember, they made a huge trade for Yusei
7:00
Kikuchi. It costed, you know, three young
7:03
prospects. So they were just constantly
7:05
digging into that pool. And I think this year they
7:06
didn't want to do that. So the the Astros were looking
7:12
into pitching and there was a a plethora names that was floated
7:15
around like a Sandy Alcantra was thrown around.
7:19
Pete Fairbanks was another name. And there are so many pitchers
7:23
that were that were not traded at the end of the day because
7:25
the asking prices were so astronomical and the way the
7:29
market was going. And did you feel like the Astros
7:32
need to go after a starting pitcher or even a reliever?
7:35
Because like there was names that the the Astros were linked
7:38
to even at Dylan CS name was voted about.
7:41
But you saw what happened and what AJ Priller was asking for
7:45
was ridiculous, right? So what are your thoughts on
7:48
that and what's your mind now like with the way the pitchers
7:51
going now going forward? Well, you know that that old
7:54
saying hindsight is 2020 right now.
7:56
There's a lot of people that are upset that they didn't go out
7:59
and get pitching because as of late, the pitching hasn't been
8:02
good. They've had to run some guys out
8:03
there. Lance Mccullers, who's coming
8:06
back from, you know, being away from the game for three years,
8:09
he's been very hit or miss, more missed than hit since he's come
8:13
back. He's recently dealing with a
8:14
blister injury. So so he's rehabbing, trying to
8:17
get that back. You've got Luis Garcia, get that
8:20
right. Yeah, Luis Garcia, he's he's
8:22
coming back. You got Christian Javier who
8:25
just now got back so that the feeling was that the the the big
8:30
league club needed a starter because you just didn't have the
8:33
depth there. And Dylan sees was the name that
8:36
that a lot of national media members were like, oh, no, it's
8:40
probably going to happen. And you know, I think Dylan sees
8:43
went right is is a Cy Young type guy.
8:45
So the strikeout numbers are so good.
8:47
I was pulling for that move more than Alcantra, who, while he had
8:51
a really, really phenomenal season, I think two years ago,
8:54
hasn't been the same dude as of late.
8:56
And they did, they did a work with Kikuchi, but I don't know
9:00
if they were going to be able to do that again, especially
9:02
without the offense. I think Kikuchi had great
9:04
support last year. I know right now the offense is
9:07
struggling. Jordan can't get back fast
9:08
enough. So I think the pitching was, it
9:11
was, it was a concern, but the price was too big.
9:14
And they just like, look, we're going to, we're going to run
9:16
what we got. So even though the Astros traded
9:21
away their star player in Kyle Tucker and, and Bregman walked
9:27
away at the end of the season, in the offseason, I mean, they
9:32
really haven't missed a beat. Again, It's, it's, it's quite
9:36
fascinating, especially with all the injuries that they've gone
9:38
through. How have they managed to
9:41
continue to, to just keep this ship running and continue to
9:46
just, you know, just win year after year?
9:49
And, and really in a year that's just been crazy, especially with
9:54
the underperformance of, of, of Christian Walker for a good half
9:58
a season almost. I mean, they just continue to
10:00
keep winning. How have they done this?
10:03
I mean, I'm starting to question it a little bit myself.
10:05
Do you start talking about all the names that have been out
10:08
this season? I think right now they have the
10:09
most guys on the disabled list for a team, like their team has
10:14
the most number of guys on the disabled list.
10:16
It's just it's it's a really a credit to to you know, Joe
10:20
Espada, it's a credit to Jim Crane.
10:23
It's a credit to Dana Brown willing to make the moves to
10:27
tweak this team at the at each break to be able to do stuff
10:30
like that. Every year they go into the off
10:33
the offseason looking to make moves.
10:35
You spoke about Christian Walker.
10:37
I think a lot of people thought that was finally going to be the
10:38
guy that fixed first base. First base since Julie Guriel
10:41
was done has been just as black hole.
10:44
I mean, people don't even want to talk about a Bray you anymore
10:47
because it was just such a bad ordeal.
10:50
So I, I got to believe that the clubhouse, you know, some people
10:55
talk about the clubhouse mentality being like, not a big
10:58
deal. But I really think with Houston,
11:00
the way that clubhouse just embraces this mentality of, you
11:04
know, we're supposed to be good, we're going to be good and
11:07
everybody comes in like embraced.
11:10
I, I really think that has something to do with it because
11:12
you hear guys talk about coming in the clubhouse, whether it's
11:15
Christian Walker or, or, you know, anybody that they bring
11:19
in. And, and I don't know if you've
11:21
caught a lot of Astros games. Jesus Sanchez has this grin on
11:24
his face from ear to ear the entire time he's playing.
11:27
And, and I, I, you know, I show my age a little bit, but he's
11:31
like that, you know, Pedro Serrano from like Major League 2
11:35
where he's just where he's just like found Buddha, you know,
11:38
he's just found Buddha and he's like, man, I am so happy to be
11:41
here. He hasn't hit a lick.
11:43
He's in, he's in the midst of like an over 21 or 22, something
11:47
like that. You would never know it by his
11:49
body language. And I just feel like there's no
11:51
pressure. I mean, they, if, if there's
11:53
pressure, they don't, they don't, they don't wear it.
11:55
They don't show it. They come out, you know, Altuve,
11:58
you know, stirs a drink. He leads them and they just find
12:01
ways to win. And I, I, I wish I could tell
12:05
you that. Oh, well, it's this or it's
12:06
that. I, I don't even know really.
12:08
I mean, there are days where I look at the lineup and I'm like,
12:10
how are these guys going to get a dub?
12:12
There's a bunch of dudes on there that are unproven.
12:15
There's, you know, the pitcher may not be that good.
12:17
He's coming off of something. Whatever.
12:19
And he goes out and pitches. I mean, Jason Alexander is a
12:22
dude that I don't think anybody had on their bingo card as being
12:27
a a key starter for the Astros. He shoved the other night, got
12:29
him the only win in that Baltimore Oil Series.
12:32
Wow. So with that being said, and
12:38
there's thinking that the way their injuries have gone, it's
12:43
just that it's insane to think that with with the forefront,
12:48
how many injuries you guys have, like 16 or something.
12:50
I don't know. It's it's a crazy number.
12:52
And I'll mention some of the name.
12:53
Starting off with Romel Blanco ended up with Tommy John.
12:57
I thought that he was going to have a hell of a year and and
13:00
and she just and he was he was over to use last year.
13:03
Hayden was nest. He looked like a promising guy,
13:06
a guy that the Astros could fix him because I've watched him in
13:09
the Yankees organization. He was really good for them.
13:11
And you know what happens when the Cubs when you go to Cubs
13:14
things go differently self right So right and then Eric Getty
13:19
with the fractured like a freak fractured hand injury in minute.
13:23
Was it in Minnesota, I believe or or or in another play.
13:26
Christian Javier just came back and he was, he just went through
13:30
under the weather. Like what's going on?
13:32
Like, like, how do you guys go through with all these injuries
13:35
and still be sustainable the way the Houston Astros baseball team
13:40
is going? Well, if you looked at their fan
13:42
base on social media, they're, they're going through it.
13:45
And like, like when I tell you, like, there's a lot of these
13:48
guys that they weren't they, I, I, I don't want to put them on
13:51
blast too much, but they weren't around when the strokes were
13:54
losing 100 games a season for three years in a row.
13:57
And it shows that the expectations are high.
14:00
I, I don't know, like, like I said, that every guy that comes
14:04
into that clubhouse, whether it be from Sugarland, whether it be
14:06
from Corpus, whether it be a trade, they just, they just come
14:09
in and they're immediately embraced you.
14:12
You can tell that like some of them press.
14:14
I think Christian Walker early in the season, he pressed and
14:17
now he's starting to find his groove a little bit.
14:19
But those guys all find a way to, to contribute somehow,
14:22
someway, and just little by little, they just piece
14:24
together. I'm, I'm super proud of this
14:27
team. You know, I, I see people that,
14:29
you know, a bad loss and, and you see them on social media and
14:32
they just lose it. And like this team is
14:34
embarrassing. I'm like, man, you have no idea
14:36
what embarrassing it is. Like these guys are in the first
14:39
place in their division and they have an All Star team.
14:42
You could probably make an argument that they have an All
14:44
Star team on their injuries 1. More question I want to ask you
14:49
is because I know Brendan Walter, she just had a set back
14:54
and and The thing is like you look at him and he was an
14:58
aberration. I think he was with the Red Sox
15:00
organization. And then you guys just find guys
15:03
and make him two guys like another guys like Jason
15:05
Alexander, like like coming off the scraps getting these guys
15:11
like how do you guys do it? How do you guys do it?
15:16
A lot, a lot of credit has to go to the two pitching coaches,
15:19
right? Those guys, from what from what
15:22
I heard with especially with the Kikuchi deal, right, because he
15:24
came in and was a totally different monster, got
15:26
absolutely paid in the offseason.
15:28
What they what they've been able to do so far for a lot of guys.
15:31
And, and it's really like something that I think even
15:33
Verlander spoke to right before he left the analytics department
15:37
really does a good job of identifying what you're good at
15:40
and what you're not good at, the pitches that you should throw
15:44
versus the pitches that you shouldn't throw.
15:46
And they really curtail a game plan to that as opposed to just
15:50
going, oh, well, I'm a four pitch mix guy and I'm just going
15:53
to let you go out there and throw all four pitches.
15:54
They're going to be like, look, your cutter gets absolutely
15:57
obliterated. Let's not throw the cutter.
15:59
And then it's like, yo, this four seems really, really good.
16:03
Let's lean into the four seam. Kikuchi is like a perfect
16:06
example. I can't remember the exact
16:08
pitch, but there was a pitch he was throwing like 60% of the
16:11
time and was just getting tattooed and there was AI think
16:15
it was his curveball that he wasn't using or, or something of
16:18
that effect. And they're like, look, this
16:20
pitch is really good and they they made that little that
16:23
little switch. And Kikuchi was like a different
16:26
animal once he became an astral. I think he's still been decent
16:30
as as an Angel, but not nearly to the same clip.
16:34
Earlier in the season, you guys lost a key player of your
16:37
offense in Jordan Alvarez. But good news this week he's
16:43
he's set to restart rehab with Corpus Christi from a fractured
16:47
hand and I guess he'll DH this week.
16:50
So that's great news. What does that mean for the
16:53
offense going down the stretch run, especially into the
16:57
playoffs, to get a guy of that caliber back?
17:00
I don't think you can say enough about, you know, one of the top
17:04
getting adding one of the top, you know, I'll say top ten.
17:08
I'll be I'll be, you know, I want to say top five, but maybe
17:10
top 10 hitters in all of baseball and just plugging in
17:14
back in the middle of the year lineup.
17:16
You know, you look at the Yankees and if you took away
17:18
Aaron Judge or you look at the Dodgers and you took away Shohei
17:22
Otani, you know, what would that do to their offenses?
17:26
The Astros since may have been without their Judge, their
17:30
Ohtani type guy in the middle of their their lineup.
17:33
So to be able to add that guy to the middle of this lineup to
17:37
move everybody down a peg, to take some of that weight off of
17:41
some of these guys shoulders. I, I can't, I can't state how
17:45
huge that would be. I don't, I don't know a big
17:47
enough way to describe it. Obviously he's got to come back
17:51
and produce right being away from that long.
17:54
I I really hope the fan base is patient with him.
17:57
I don't know that he's just going to show up and just start
17:59
raking immediately. I believe it's going to take a
18:02
couple weeks, but I think if he's healthy all the way
18:04
healthy, no, no, no, no hand issues and is able to get back
18:08
to the dude and just just give the balance of the lineup from
18:12
the left, right, left perspective.
18:14
I think this offense is going to go from, you know, struggling to
18:17
find, you know, two and three runs to giving you 4-5 runs a
18:22
game consistently just because adding, adding another guy that
18:27
a pitcher has to struggle to get through, you know, because he's
18:30
very good with, with plate discipline as well.
18:32
He's not just up there hacking just makes now you're into the
18:36
bullpen earlier, now you're into, you know, the starters
18:40
only going 4 innings instead of 6.
18:43
All all those things favor A-Team no matter what.
18:47
So if you can do that because of Jordan, I just really feel like
18:51
they're going to have better at bats, that the offense is going
18:53
to click and you know, now you're not batting somebody like
18:57
Cam Smith up and down the lineup all over the place.
18:59
That guy becomes your 9 hole hitter.
19:02
And I think that's awesome for a young guy to be able to not have
19:05
to, you know, create offense for a team.
19:09
You know, you know what The thing is like if you think about
19:12
this with Jordan, you guys without Jordan, you guys are in
19:14
first place. And I think the Dodgers would be
19:18
a team that could still be salvageable, salvageable with
19:20
their lineups without Ohtani. But with the Yankees, I mean,
19:24
without Judge, I don't know what the Yankees would be overall.
19:27
Just like the Seattle Mariners was Cal Riley or the Jays with
19:30
Vlad Guerrero Junior, right? Like those, all those guys are
19:33
such * players on this team and so crucial, especially in the
19:37
middle of the lineup, because it's always that that one key
19:39
element for those star players that that are so important, I
19:43
think. And those guys are always going
19:45
to be MVP type levels no matter what, what year they're in,
19:49
right? And that's why I think it's
19:50
important. Would you agree with that?
19:53
Oh, absolutely. I think anybody would agree with
19:56
that. Those guys are the middle of
19:58
your lineup for a reason. The you know the the.
20:02
The boppers, the the run producers, those are those guys.
20:05
When it becomes when it goes from Judge to I'll just I'll,
20:08
I'll use the Yankees and, and, and this isn't a knock on
20:12
Stanton, but when you go from Judge to Stanton, it's it's,
20:14
it's a drop off. Then you go from Otani to say,
20:17
you know, Freddy Freeman, it's a drop off.
20:20
So the Astros, I would say even more like the drop off is bigger
20:24
because you know, the guy that would be the, the, the, the next
20:29
guy up normally would be Kyle Tucker.
20:31
He's no longer an Astro. The guy that would be the next
20:34
guy up after that would probably be Alex Bregman.
20:36
He's no longer an Astro. So just just for those guys to
20:40
be in the middle of the lineup and, and now you take them out
20:44
and for them to still be afloat. I, I mean, it's, it's, it's
20:47
pretty awesome to be an Astro strip.
20:50
So the sorry, go ahead, go ahead, Rob.
20:53
Just how important is it for this for for the team as a whole
20:56
when they get Jordan back from confidence perspective, a
21:01
clubhouse perspective and and you know, like, you know, say it
21:06
takes him a little bit to get going.
21:08
I still think with with him coming back that you got a
21:12
figure just to get him back in the clubhouse on a daily basis.
21:16
It's got to be huge, right? Oh, I think the mental boost
21:20
will be humongous. I mean, just to see him out
21:23
there, I think you're going to get guys that are going to get
21:26
better pitches because guys aren't going to want to pitch to
21:29
him. You know, the whoever is in
21:31
front of him stands to benefit because Jordan Alvarez
21:34
reputation precedes him. You know, the resumes there.
21:37
So for a guy maybe say Christian Walker, I don't know what the
21:41
lineups going to look like. Maybe it's Carlos Correa.
21:44
Now he's getting a better pitch selection to hit because Jordan
21:46
is behind him to protect him. I mean, I can't see a scenario
21:50
where that isn't better for the whole team.
21:52
You know, even if it takes him, you know, 10 days, two weeks,
21:56
whatever to get right. So I want to talk about this
22:00
player and he doesn't get talked about enough.
22:03
And he's a center fielder and I thought that he was going to
22:05
break out this year. He looked like the player that
22:10
center fielder would look like. And it's Jake Myers.
22:12
And you know, every two of the first two months, every year
22:18
that Jake Myers plays out his mind and then he just falls off
22:21
immediately after, after June for some reason, right?
22:25
But this year it looked like it was different for him.
22:28
Seems like he made the adjustment.
22:30
He made some work. He did work and he looked like
22:33
he was going to play consistent baseball until unfortunately, he
22:35
had that injury and and he seems like he's about to come back as
22:40
well. And how?
22:42
How much of an X Factor could he be in this lineup, both
22:46
offensively and defensively? I don't think I have to speak
22:50
much on his defense. You know, this is a gold club,
22:53
Gold Glove caliber guy. He's got one of the highest
22:58
outs, above average, I believe, for an outfielder in in
23:02
baseball. So I think the defense from that
23:05
that obviously I think the other guys have played well in his
23:08
stead, but I think that's a boost there.
23:10
And then you talk about his offense.
23:12
I I think you hit it perfectly. There's been some adjustments
23:14
he's made to not be behind in counts.
23:19
He's worked really hard to try to get ahead in and counts to be
23:22
able to get the fastball, to be able to have the better batting
23:25
average. I mean, he's he's really changed
23:28
his game around for the for a long time.
23:30
That was the ever since he got hurt.
23:32
I want to say it was two years ago, three years ago with the
23:34
shoulder injury banging into the wall like the confidence wasn't
23:38
there. He was, it seemed like he was O2
23:41
every time he came up to bat. Now he's he's laying off a lot
23:44
of some of these first pitch off speed stuff and he's getting
23:48
into hitters counts. He's taking advantage.
23:50
So again, for an offense that's kind of struggling right now,
23:53
kind of spluttering a little bit to get a guy like Jake Myers who
23:58
is having this kind of season, who's who's changed some things
24:00
to be more of a dude on the base pass, it's only going to make
24:04
this team better. I want to talk about the three
24:09
rookies that have been in your line up and I'll even throw in
24:12
Zach Disenzo when there's a fourth.
24:14
But first of all, Cam Smith, how important is he?
24:18
What what do you think of ceiling is as a player and how's
24:22
he played so far this season in your in your opinion?
24:25
And then you could throw Bryce Matthews and Jacob Belton in
24:28
there as guys that have come up, you know, when they've needed
24:32
them interchanged guys from, you know, coming up, getting sent
24:35
down, coming up, you know, just the depth of this team and how
24:39
important those guys have been to to really your your overall
24:44
success this season. I don't know where this team
24:47
would be right now without the aircraft carrier, as they call
24:53
him, Cam Smith. Cam Smith was the prize of the
24:58
the Kyle Tucker trade. He was the centerpiece.
25:01
The other guys you talked about, Hayden Westeski, I think he's
25:03
going to be phenomenal when he comes back from TJ Issac
25:06
Parades, probably the MVP of the team if he doesn't get the
25:11
hamstring injury that he's dealing with right now trying to
25:13
rehab and come back towards the end of the season.
25:15
I mean, he led the club in every offensive metric you could lead
25:18
them in for a while. But Cam Smith was asked as a
25:22
third baseman to just go out and play right field and replace a
25:25
dude in Kyle Tucker who was one of the faces of the franchise.
25:29
I mean, it's it's I know that's kind of crazy to say, but Kyle
25:33
Tucker had his own area. You know, it was King Tuck's
25:37
court behind right field. Like he was literally the guy
25:41
for a lot of people. Like, you know, he was the guy
25:43
they put right behind or right in front of Jordan.
25:47
So he was a big run producer and Cam Smith is basically just came
25:53
in and they haven't skipped a beat.
25:54
The offense has been there, his defense has been there, which
25:57
for a guy that never played right field, you'd never know
26:00
it. Incredibly athletic, has a huge
26:02
cannon for an arm. He's even gotten, you know, like
26:05
the respect from other teams where they don't run on him.
26:08
And and that's crazy to think of because this guy was at Florida
26:12
State in college a year ago and now he's a big league ballplayer
26:16
one year in and they're not running on him, which is wild.
26:20
But it's just been so great. Dana Brown, I can't give him
26:25
enough flowers for making that trade.
26:27
At the time, it did not look good.
26:29
I was a lot of fans were upset. They did not appreciate that.
26:32
You know, they didn't try to keep him and Kyle Tucker, keep
26:36
him in an Astros uniform. And he was a wizard because he
26:41
saw everything go down. Kyle Tucker starting to sputter
26:45
a little bit like he's done in the past and now the trade looks
26:49
amazing for the Astros. The second guy you named Bryce
26:52
Matthews, he's currently at Sugarland right now.
26:54
But when he came up, he was electric.
26:57
He's been one of the top prospects for the Astros.
27:01
I think he's the future at second base.
27:04
I didn't want to see him go back down, but I understood it.
27:07
You know, they went out and got some guys that are that are more
27:10
big league ready, giving him some more time to develop.
27:13
He's still only 23 years old. He's super young.
27:17
I, I think the Sky's limit for Bryce Matthews.
27:20
Jacob Melton, you just spoke about it.
27:22
Jacob Melton is in center field tonight at a diving play not too
27:25
long ago to end an inning. He was incredibly hot early on
27:31
and then he had an injury to go with all the other injuries.
27:35
He just recently got back. So I, I love to see him in the
27:39
output. He's only 24 for for a farm
27:42
system that gets no love from from Major League Baseball, the
27:45
national media guys, the Astros have done a pretty damn good job
27:49
of just constantly bringing up guys that go in and and they're
27:54
they're they're instant impact guys.
27:56
You know, Jeremy Pena wasn't anybody's, you know, shortstop
28:02
of the future. Can't miss prospect anything
28:04
like that. Jeremy Pena's about to get paid.
28:07
I don't know if it's from the Astros.
28:08
I don't know if it's another team.
28:09
Jeremy Pena's about to get paid. He's playing an amazing
28:12
shortstop this year. All Star I mean, I don't know
28:17
what else to say. I I those three guys have been
28:20
huge for the Astros. They've kept them for Zach
28:23
disenzo. I didn't want to forget about
28:24
big ZI think that's another guy. If Cam Smith wasn't what Cam
28:29
Smith is, we'd be talking about Zach disenzo in the same breath.
28:33
Dude plays first base. Dude plays both the corner
28:35
outfields left-handed can rake. I I think if he didn't get hurt,
28:40
he would have been huge for this team as well.
28:42
But in in the theme of the season, you can't be an astral
28:45
unless you got some kind of injury.
28:49
I want to talk about it. Such a bizarre situation is
28:53
Yaider Diaz, like, you know, a lot of people think that he was
28:58
going to break out this year. He was he's only 26, right?
29:01
I believe so. And the catchers for catchers,
29:03
it takes a lot more longer to develop and, you know, turn out
29:08
to be the players in their primes around that age.
29:10
And I don't know what's going on with him.
29:12
He's been fluctuating all year and he's been not consistent
29:16
enough. But Carantini's been playing a
29:19
lot better baseball this year. And I think he's a free agent
29:21
after this year. Like, how do you look at this
29:23
catcher situation? Because I know that Dana Brown
29:26
drafted Walker Yannick last year.
29:27
And I want to know what's the plans on those, right?
29:30
And then I believe you guys have.
29:31
Cesar Salazar is another one as well.
29:33
So talk to me about this whole catcher situation because
29:38
because like with Yano Diaz, I heard something that I don't
29:42
know if it's true is if it's rumored that he could be on the
29:44
block in the offseason, but talk about him and and see where
29:48
those guys fit all together. I really don't understand the
29:52
people that are are like not Yaner Diaz fans.
29:58
I get the play discipline is a thing that that that's probably
30:03
where a lot of this stems from, right?
30:05
He's very free swingish. He strikes out a lot there.
30:10
There's there's no, there's no sugar coating any of that.
30:13
And I, I won't do it. But when you go from Martin
30:17
Maldonado who can't hit anything anywhere ever to Einer Diaz,
30:23
who's a 254 batting average with a 700 OPS and seventeen home
30:28
runs. I'm I'm OK with that.
30:31
Now, you could you could argue about the defense and and I
30:35
would tell you that a lot of the Astros pitchers are slow to the
30:37
plate. So he's not going to throw out a
30:39
ton of guys. Victor Carrotini's not throwing
30:41
out a ton of guys. I really think it's just a what
30:45
have you done for me lately thing with the people that have
30:47
an issue with Einer Diaz. I don't see him going anywhere.
30:51
I think that if Walker Yannick comes up, I think it's it's to
30:57
to replace Carrotini. And then I think eventually you
31:01
talk about maybe moving Giner to first base.
31:04
Christian Walker's on a three-year deal.
31:06
So I don't think, I mean, he's 34 right now.
31:08
So I don't think he's the future.
31:11
Obviously a lot, a lot of things could change.
31:13
Caesar Salazar, I think he's a nice platoon guy for a guy.
31:20
Some people call him that the dude, the dude produces
31:23
everywhere he's at, but he's never gotten that call up.
31:27
He's had different cups of coffees with the Stroh's but
31:29
never gotten a ton of run. So I don't know if he's in their
31:33
plans long term, but I don't see the Astros rushing Yannick up.
31:40
I mean, I think I think they're going to be smart with him and
31:43
and slowly bring him through the system because they don't have
31:47
to that, you know, it's it's not one of these things where it's
31:50
like, Oh no, we we need a catcher up here right now.
31:53
If you're telling me that Yannick Diaz's numbers aren't
31:55
serviceable, you must. You must.
31:58
Or like a Cal Raleigh or bus guy because show me other catchers
32:02
that are that are producing at that clip that you have an issue
32:05
with. Yeah.
32:07
No, no, you're not wrong. And I think it's important to
32:10
let everybody know how hard it is to play that position as
32:12
well. So, no, I understand in, in, in
32:15
your forefront like and and with Carantini, could you see him
32:19
come, come back on on another two or three-year deal because
32:23
he's been really well for you guys.
32:26
I would love it. I, I think Victor has fit in so
32:30
well in Houston. I think he likes it here.
32:32
I, I think he the clubhouse thing has, I think has a thing
32:35
to do with it because I really think like, like you said,
32:38
Victor could probably start for a lot of teams.
32:41
It's just, you know, being able to come in play maybe every 4th
32:47
day, every fifth day, because they, they the DA Shiner some, I
32:52
don't know how old Victor is right off the top, but I don't
32:56
think he is a spring chicken. No, he's 32, so he's kind of on
33:01
the backside. Oddly enough, he is from the
33:05
same place in Puerto Rico that Carlos Correa is.
33:09
So maybe that's a thing if I'm if I'm digging for a reason for
33:13
him to stick around. I hope he does.
33:15
I I think he's great for this team.
33:17
I love having that that left right option from your catcher
33:21
to be able to play one of them. I mean, he switch hits, but you
33:25
definitely have seen him play a ton for the Astros because he's
33:29
left-handed because they didn't have anybody that was
33:30
left-handed. So Carrotini DH for for a big
33:33
chunk because they just needed left-handed back.
33:38
Let's talk about some other pictures that are in the minors,
33:41
guys like AJ Blubaugh, Miguel Yuloa, Logan Van Way, Colton
33:45
Gordon, Allen Barsanta. Where do those guys stand in
33:51
your opinion, not only now, but going into the future of this
33:54
team? Blue Balls The sexy name Blue
33:56
balls have been up a little bit with the Stroh's.
33:59
He looks the part. That's the guy.
34:02
I think if there was a September call up to put in the pen, he
34:06
touches 97. You know, that's a guy I think
34:09
throws a lot of strikes. Could be a name that could could
34:11
be with the Stroh's this season. A lot of the other guys you
34:15
named, I don't think they're they're in like this year's
34:18
plans, Lola that you talked about.
34:20
He just made it to Sugarland. So that's one of those things
34:23
and he's kind of struggled a little bit.
34:25
Not crazy, but I know he's he's he's carrying like a four one
34:29
ERA and he's 4:00 and 5:00. So not the the sexiest numbers.
34:34
Some of these other guys, I really think they're they're
34:37
just far away. It's, it's, I mean, the Stroh's
34:40
have been known to bring them though.
34:41
So every time you think, oh, well, they can't, you know, that
34:45
guy's not going to be Astra. Anytime I remember when JP
34:48
France came up, I was like, who is this guy and where is he
34:52
coming from? And then all he did was shove.
34:54
So I refuse to sleep on anybody they bring up if they think they
34:59
can, if they think they can pitch bring them.
35:01
Because I mean, Ryan Gusto was a lot of the same thing.
35:04
Like who is this guy? And then all of a sudden that's,
35:07
that's somebody you need in your, your rotation because
35:10
he's, he's pretty good. Yeah.
35:15
So the next question I want to talk about is you mentioned this
35:18
earlier in this episode, is that a whole bunch of positional
35:22
players going on a Marigold round, right?
35:25
So if you look at the names that was called up, sent down DFA
35:30
brought back up like guys like Cooper Homo.
35:32
I think he's signed a minor league deal with the raids.
35:35
Zach Short, Louise Gore Army, Brandon Rogers, John Singleton.
35:39
How many times does he come out? You know, it's like it's like a
35:42
broken in marriage like they just they just always find a way
35:46
to be tethered together from the moment that he was traded from
35:49
Philadelphia in their system to the Astros and it's been in and
35:53
out from him, right. So it's crazy to think that how
35:56
that works, right. So, so talk about those players,
36:02
how important they kept this team afloat all year and looking
36:08
the fact that they had different guys that contributed in
36:12
different ways possible. I think that just speaks to when
36:18
you asked the question, when both of you asked the question,
36:20
how were they doing it? The Hashers are leaving no stone
36:24
and stone unturned. And when you see guys, Brandon
36:28
Rodgers was a dude that nobody wanted and you know, Gold Glove
36:32
defense brought him in, you know, did some things, maybe
36:35
maybe not the the the the best return, but it was it was like,
36:39
all right, well, it's a lottery ticket.
36:41
We'll play it. John Singleton.
36:43
I John Singleton is a huge fan favorite in Houston.
36:47
Like the fans absolutely love him.
36:49
His wife, his wife's on social media, love them to death.
36:53
And and I think if there was a way to make John Singleton work,
36:56
they would. He's just not very good against
37:00
left hand pitching. So you have to like you have to
37:04
like deal with, OK, I can have the guy, the, the the the fan
37:07
favorite or I can make my roster better.
37:10
John is, is going to be somebody that I think will literally be a
37:14
phone call away all the time. Something happens.
37:17
If you're going to see him in an Astros jersey, you're going to
37:19
see him, you know, do a bat flip something like that.
37:22
And and the fans are here for it.
37:24
The fans are absolutely here for it.
37:27
Some some of the other guys you name Zach Short.
37:30
I, you know, guy, guy came out, had some important plays for the
37:34
Astros. All these guys have just chipped
37:37
in little by little. Cooper Hummel kind of felt bad
37:39
for him. He never really got the bat
37:41
going and I think that was the only thing that stopped him from
37:44
being an Astro. You know, right now where Taylor
37:47
Shamel has found a way to hit a little bit and that's why he's
37:50
still on the roster. The Astros have proven that.
37:53
Look, we're willing to take reclamation after reclamation
37:57
and see what we can do around this core to try to make sure
38:01
that I have flexibility all the time.
38:04
One of the things that I think that Dana Brown has done a
38:06
really good job is he's always maintained flexibility with
38:10
being able to bring the eyes down, up, whatever, and, and not
38:13
like penciled himself into too much of A corner where it's
38:16
like, well, I've got a guy I can't use.
38:19
You know, The thing is that because like you said, like it's
38:22
just different guys contributing on different dates.
38:26
Would you give credit to Alex and Sean and Troy snicker on how
38:29
they, you know, worked with these guys and try to make these
38:33
guys into contributing factors and no matter what the injury,
38:36
injuries have been for the Astros positional players all
38:39
season. Sir, you're asking me to endorse
38:43
the hitting coaches? People will stream me.
38:46
Out. Everybody wants to fire hitting
38:48
coaches. No, but all all jokes aside, I
38:52
think they've done a really good job.
38:54
You've seen you've seen Jose Altuve be more selective at the
38:58
plate, and I don't think that's up to him.
39:00
I I think, you know, there's a lot of analytics that they that
39:03
they provide. The Astros are very analytical
39:06
team on on on the pitching side and definitely on the hitting
39:10
side. So I really think that they're
39:12
doing a really good job of trying to help hitters be in the
39:16
best possible situations. Jeremy Pena was a strikeout
39:21
like, I don't know, two or three times a game because of the low
39:25
and away slider. Could not layoff it just had to
39:29
swing at it. And this season they've got him
39:31
off that low and away slider and the dudes an All Star and and
39:35
batting over 300. That's probably the best hitter
39:38
on the club. And I got to give some of that
39:40
credit to the two guys you name because he he wasn't doing that
39:44
before. Yeah, you mentioned Jeremy Pain.
39:50
Yeah, actually it's a great segue to the to the topic.
39:53
I want to talk about him a little bit.
39:54
I mean, he's arguably some people think he he could be, you
39:59
know, considered as like an an MVP of this team.
40:02
I mean, the guys like you say, is hitting 3/12/13 home runs, 45
40:07
RBI, 17 stolen bases with an A50 OPS.
40:10
And he and he's an All Star this year.
40:13
But like he's how integral has he been to this team?
40:17
And recently, I think it was a month ago, he switched agents to
40:22
Boris Corp. So how?
40:23
How? Integral is that when it comes
40:26
to trying to extend Jeremy Pena for the long term.
40:32
So I'll start I'll start with the easy question and that's,
40:36
you know, what he's done for this team.
40:39
And and you know, I think a lot of what what he's been able to
40:42
do has played in part with him being moved up into the lead off
40:46
position totally different hitter absolute monster at the
40:49
lead off. It's, it's changed his game.
40:53
I think he's changed his approach and he always had the
40:57
Gold Glove defense, but I think now, you know, with the hitting
41:00
to go with it, he's just a complete player now.
41:02
So the, the, the second part of that question, the, the Boris
41:06
thing, Astros fans are terrified because Boris has a history.
41:12
He has a, a style that he likes to with all his free agents.
41:17
I need to get to free agency. I need to have all the teams bid
41:19
on you and we create the bidding war and whoever spends the most
41:24
money wins. That's a Scott Boris MO.
41:27
The only exception to the rule has been Jose Altuve, who
41:30
basically said I want to be an Astro deal with the Astros, make
41:35
me an Astro. And and that's been The only
41:37
exception that I've ever seen with Scott Boris.
41:39
Scott Boris has always put his player out there to be shopped
41:43
and and just used all the leverage to get the most money.
41:48
So when Jeremy Benya decided to get with Scott Boris, a lot of
41:52
people feel like that's a sign that, you know, Jeremy Ping is
41:55
not long for this team. So that makes Bryce Matthews
41:58
important. That makes, you know, these
42:01
these moves that they made with Arias and Korea now with, you
42:08
know, those guys being under control for multiple years makes
42:11
you wonder is, is Pena going to be looked at in the same vein as
42:15
Kyle Tucker, a guy they couldn't sign?
42:17
So let's move him for the best possible return so we can keep
42:21
the window open, keep this thing rolling.
42:23
It's definitely something that you see talked about in some
42:26
Astro Circle social circles and we'll just have to see how it
42:29
plays out. Isn't there another guy that's
42:32
also represented by Boris that's also sudden extensions to Lance
42:35
Mccullers junior too? And I get the whole injury
42:37
thing, but I mean, he's won two World Series without him.
42:40
I mean, I mean, he was a big part of those Championship years
42:44
too, right? Is any also represented by
42:45
Boris? I think so, but I mean he got
42:49
Max money. Like I feel like Lance got
42:52
exactly what he was valued at the time.
42:54
So I don't think they got like a discount because Lance wanted to
42:57
be. You know, Lance is famous for
42:59
saying bury me in the H you know, they put it on shirts
43:02
around town, stuff like that. But I he still got paid and
43:06
people don't forget about how much money he's making because
43:09
right now they don't feel like he's, you know, turning it.
43:12
So I really think like nobody feels that a Boris represented
43:18
player is going to do any favors for the Astros.
43:23
So you look at the team that's in the periphery, so that's
43:28
behind you is the Seattle Mariners right now.
43:30
And they made a couple interesting acquisitions at the
43:32
trade deadline. And I think they're, what, 1 1/2
43:35
game, two games back somewhere around there.
43:37
And look at the fact that I believe you guys play them one
43:40
more time. Like, how important to try to
43:44
win the division, especially, you know, with Seattle starting
43:46
to play some better baseball lately.
43:47
But I think they lost two out of three to the Mets.
43:49
But like, how important is to, you know, play some meaningful
43:53
baseball, especially when you got to play the team like
43:55
Seattle, try to win the season series with them.
44:00
Yeah, it's it's huge, man. Seattle's 1 1/2 games back, They
44:04
were 7 back when, when the All Star break happened and you
44:08
know, Astros fans felt pretty good about, you know, where they
44:11
were standing how, how, how they were going to be able to manage
44:15
the second-half of the season. You know, everybody talked about
44:18
their strength to schedule being very, very easy.
44:21
So it was just basically like, you know, just get to the finish
44:24
line healthy because health is the the huge topic with anything
44:29
Houston to the point where Astros fans are ready to fire
44:34
the entire training staff for the Astros.
44:37
Just there the way they handle the players, the way they're
44:40
reporting it, everything all bad.
44:44
Seattle for the first time that I can think of decided, Hey,
44:48
we're we're we're going to go out and and and make this team
44:51
complete. Because for the longest time
44:53
Seattle had this crazy rotation. They had no offense, they had
44:57
Julio Rodriguez and a bunch of guys.
44:59
Now they went out. I mean, obviously Cal Raleigh's
45:02
doing his thing, but they went out and added a couple huge bats
45:05
and Eugenio scores, who surprisingly hasn't done much
45:09
since he was acquired. And Naylor both from both from
45:13
Arizona and they're they're they were white hot up until
45:16
recently. Hopefully, you know, this is
45:20
something where Jordan comes back.
45:22
The strokes get rolling and that that series in September doesn't
45:26
matter because it's literally one of the last series of the
45:29
season. September 20th, I believe, is
45:32
when the Astros play Seattle in Houston.
45:35
And I don't want that to mean anything.
45:38
I don't want them to have to worry about what that means
45:41
right now that that there's a lot that that could happen in in
45:45
that series, you know, if it goes the wrong way.
45:49
I I, you know, a lot of Houston fans don't want to respect
45:52
Seattle. You know, Seattle is little
45:54
brother and you know, I mean, you could say that I refuse to
45:58
just go out there and act like they're not there and and that
46:01
they can't come and get this division.
46:03
I'm true choosing to believe that, you know, the pedigree and
46:07
and guys getting healthy because there's some guys that are
46:11
really close. I know we talked about Jordan
46:14
and and he could be back next week, but Luis Garcia is also a
46:18
guy that could be back. JPJP Francis is also a guy that
46:21
could be back. So for a team that's really
46:23
struggling outside of Hunter Brown Fromber to to really have
46:28
like solid options. Eric Getty's been kind of shaky
46:32
since he's come back getting those guys healthy and and
46:36
getting them going. Javier had to leave with an
46:39
illness yesterday, so you're kind of worried about Javier a
46:42
little bit. Even though an illness shouldn't
46:44
be a big deal, just getting all of those pieces back to be able
46:47
to be full strength, That's that's what the hope is.
46:51
What about what about the team like the Texas Rangers?
46:53
And I know that they missed the playoffs all together.
46:55
They went and became buyers and it hasn't really gone their ways
47:00
well, even though they're like what, 7 1/2 back of the division
47:03
as well. And, and I know you all got to
47:05
play them twice in the month of September.
47:07
So do you have any thoughts about them and do you think
47:10
there's anything to it or do you think that they're just whatever
47:13
at this point? They're a bitter rival.
47:17
So it's, it's always, you know, beat the S out of the Rangers
47:23
that they're they put that on stuff all, all the time and,
47:27
and, and that that's not going to change.
47:31
I truly hope that, you know, again, they have nothing to play
47:36
for because I never wish any good for them, just like I'm
47:39
sure you guys don't wish any good for, say, the Yankees or
47:42
the Red Sox or anyone else in. The division, right?
47:44
You know it. So if they lose from here until
47:48
the time we see them, I won't be upset.
47:52
That being said, That being said, their rotation's really
47:55
good. It's their often surprisingly
47:57
that's failed them. They went out and spent a ton of
47:59
money on Corey Seeger and Marcus Simeon and those guys have
48:04
disappeared off the face of the planet and you know, Adolis
48:08
Garcia and and all his juice cannot get them going.
48:12
So I don't, I don't know, I don't feel bad for him.
48:16
I don't, I don't know what it's going to take to fix them.
48:17
But you know, I'm hoping they're, they're 25 games out by
48:21
the time we play them. I love how you threw always
48:25
juice in there, you know, and interpret that as you will
48:28
people. Yep.
48:31
Orange juice, right? Orange juice.
48:33
That's right. But I wanted to bring up the
48:36
upcoming schedule and you guys finished show.
48:39
You guys are playing at Detroit tonight and you go to Baltimore
48:42
and then you come back home for Colorado and the Angels.
48:45
And there's some very key series in in in the month of September,
48:48
mainly at home against New York. You face Texas twice as you guys
48:53
just talked about, you go to Toronto and then you you face
48:57
Seattle and then I think you finish off against, at sacrament
49:03
or at home against Sacramento. Well, the the athletics and, and
49:06
the Angels. So tell us about the crucial
49:09
stretch that is the rest of the season.
49:11
I mean, it, it, it doesn't sound easy.
49:14
It's a lot of division, a lot of good teams you're playing.
49:18
So how important is it to play some good baseball down the
49:20
stretch here? I mean it, it can't be
49:24
overstated. Like the Astros, The Astros have
49:26
to go out and win, you know, series against teams they're
49:30
supposed to beat. Though.
49:32
The names you listed there, there's some good teams in
49:36
there, but there's a lot of bad teams in there too.
49:38
And if they take care of business against some of these
49:41
bad teams, I truly believe the rest will take care of itself.
49:44
The The funny thing about the Astros, though, and it's been
49:47
the way they've been as of late, they play up to the really good
49:51
teams and play down to the bad ones.
49:53
And I can't explain it all the time.
49:56
Sometimes the schedule is the way it is, you know, a day game
50:00
after a night game and you know, you're going against their their
50:03
their good pitcher and you've got your fourth or fifth guy up
50:06
there. I think that that plays into it
50:09
sometimes. Sometimes it's just, you know,
50:12
they expend so much energy against some of these, you know,
50:15
really, really good teams and then, you know, take their foot
50:19
off the gas against some of the other squads.
50:22
Either way, they have to beat teams like the Angels.
50:25
They have to beat teams like the Athletics.
50:27
They have to beat teams like the Rangers because you know that
50:31
the Yankees, the Blue Jays, the the, the Red Sox, the Mariners,
50:36
they're all, they're all fighting for something.
50:39
Absolutely. So the next question I want to
50:43
talk about is the GM of this team, Dana Brown was hired in
50:46
2023 of this organization. He had some big shoes to fill
50:52
the moment James click left and obviously the whole Luna
50:55
situation. But like looking into his time
50:58
so far being in a right now mode, Like how would you look at
51:02
him as AGM so far as an Astros GF?
51:07
I think he's done a really good job.
51:08
I think when you look at trades that he's made, like the Tucker
51:12
trade, I guess if you want to look at the Coochie trade, they
51:17
made the team's better. Like every time he's went out
51:19
and got players, he's got team, got players that made the team
51:22
better. I haven't seen a trade like I'll
51:26
be the first to tell you when he traded the young guys for
51:29
Kikuchi, I didn't like it because I thought the farm
51:31
system was kind of bare already. And those were guys that were
51:34
going to need be needed in key pieces in key positions.
51:38
And, you know, Coochie was really good.
51:41
Some of those guys haven't necessarily panned out yet.
51:44
So I mean, in that sense, I guess it's kind of worked for
51:49
me. The the, the big question with
51:51
Dana, if I have any question is all is like a lot of people
51:55
thought when Dana Brown got hired, he was coming from the
51:57
Atlanta Braves and Atlanta just locked up their whole core.
52:00
Atlanta had locked up, you know, all their good young talent and
52:04
a lot of people thought that Dana Brown was going to come in
52:06
and do the same thing for the Astros, get Hunter Brown sign,
52:09
get Pena sign, get Tucker sign, get all of these good young
52:13
talent guys sign. And so far he hasn't been able
52:17
to do that. Like there there hasn't been a
52:20
contract extension for anybody. That's like, OK, cool, that's
52:25
what we wanted. You know, like and, and, and,
52:28
and maybe it's not his fault. You know, maybe the players were
52:32
never going to do it. Alex Bregman might have always
52:35
had his eye out the door, wanted another challenge.
52:38
You know, Tucker may have told or, you know, his reps may have
52:42
got some like, look, Tucker's going to cost you 400 million
52:45
and Jim Crane's not going to go for that.
52:47
So I, I don't want to put all of it on him for not being able to
52:52
extend or sign guys, but at some point, I think he's got to be
52:57
able to retain somebody. And right now, you know, the
53:02
Astros have done so well. And, and that's one of the
53:05
things that's the one of the biggest things that people talk
53:07
about when they talk about the Astros.
53:08
They lose all of the talent. You know how depending on how
53:12
far you want to go back from Korea the first time to Springer
53:16
to Cole to Verlander, you, you can just go on and on and on all
53:20
the guys that they've lost and found a way, But you know, we've
53:25
never seen them retain anybody. So I think at some point Astros
53:30
fans are going all right, where's the contract for the,
53:34
you know, I think the Altuve 1 is the outlier because Altuve
53:37
basically told his agent, like, I'm not going anywhere, Like I,
53:41
I refused. So the, the, the big question
53:45
now is you're seeing extensions done for some young guys, right?
53:49
Like the dude in Boston, he just got extended.
53:52
Roman Anthony, Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
53:54
And people are going, maybe you should do that for Cam Smith.
53:58
And I don't know if he's going to do that.
54:00
And Cam Smith might cost $500 million by the time he's ready
54:04
because, you know, the kids so young and he's very talented
54:08
right now, and he's only going to get better.
54:10
You know what's so funny? You talk about the Kikuchi trade
54:12
and it's so interesting to say like and The thing is like it
54:15
was it was a solace market. Every year it's solace market.
54:18
And we know that since we're Jason, we could say on the other
54:21
side, it's like if the Blue Jays weren't sellers, we wouldn't
54:25
have done that trade, of course, right?
54:26
Because if you look at it without Kikuchi, we would be the
54:29
Astros winning the division. I mean, that's me.
54:31
I know are tough, but what I was told is that they wanted Jacob
54:36
Mellon and Dana refused. So I mean, give or take, I mean,
54:39
Jacob Mellon's still with that team.
54:41
And also, if you think about it, Drew Drew Gilbert and Ryan
54:45
Clifford were also part of that Verlander deal.
54:47
They haven't really been anything.
54:48
I think Drew Gilbert's with San Francisco now.
54:50
So it's it's interesting. But even though, like you said,
54:53
like even all these trades, like if you wouldn't even want to go
54:56
even further back, like T Oscar Hernandez was trading to the
54:59
Blue Jays, Francisco Lariano. But I mean, you guys won the
55:02
World Series, give or take, right?
55:04
So it's all about, you know, giving up the prospects hurts,
55:08
but it's all about winning, right?
55:09
That's how I look at it, right? So.
55:12
It's funny that you bring up the Oscar because that one hurts me.
55:15
Like, really? I remember, I remember very
55:17
vividly watching the Oscar in the minors, and I knew he was
55:21
going to be good. I knew he was going to be good.
55:23
And at the time I was like, well, you know, they need
55:26
Liriano, but God, we gave up a lot.
55:29
And all he did was ball out for you guys.
55:31
So like I was, I was 100% right. Like he was going to be good.
55:35
I feel the same way about Joey Low Profito.
55:37
The one piece in that trade that I was more upset about than
55:40
anything was Joey Low Profito. And I think he's going to ball
55:43
out for you guys, too. Yeah, he's he's actually been
55:46
pretty good this year. He's been one of our our great
55:49
depth players that have come up and really filled in for us.
55:52
So so thank you I. Understand it?
55:59
Yeah. Yeah.
56:00
But so you talked about and I want to get to this final
56:05
question here, but you, you talked a bit about Cam Smith
56:09
with the extension. We talked about Boris as a
56:12
possible, you know, with what's going on with Pena and his
56:17
extension talks and and whatnot. So all that aside, who do you
56:21
think is next in line for an extension with the Astros?
56:24
Who who who should they focus on if it's if they can't get Pena
56:29
done? The guy they need to find a way
56:33
to lock up right now over anyone else, in my opinion, is Hunter
56:37
Brown. Hunter Brown is JV light.
56:41
Hunter Brown is so good. He's got such a great fire and
56:46
grit. Like he's an absolute bulldog.
56:49
His nickname is Diesel. The dude is just absolute gas,
56:53
tons of energy. He had a he had a quote and and
56:58
for me, it was everything I needed to know.
57:00
I was like, extend him right now because Bregman.
57:04
Bregman signs with with the Red Sox and, you know, obviously
57:08
they wanted instant reaction from all the Astros.
57:12
So Hunter Brown gets up there and he's like, man, I don't know
57:15
how we're going to replace him. You know, he's such a key cog da
57:17
da da da. But you know what?
57:19
I can't wait to face him. And he said the same thing about
57:22
Kyle Tucker. And I'm just like, the fact that
57:24
he wants to go with these guys, sign me up for that all the
57:28
time. You know, he's not backing down
57:30
from nobody wants it from whoever and and he, he did some
57:35
sort of like interview or something and he's like, look,
57:37
I'm out here trying to take souls.
57:39
I'm trying to get mine before he gets his.
57:41
And I, I just, I love that about him.
57:43
I I love his mindset. You know, you see him get
57:46
interviewed after games where he doesn't pitch well and he he
57:49
really doesn't, you know, let it affect him.
57:52
He comes right back and he's really good.
57:55
Hunter Brown for me. I don't know what it's going to
57:57
take. I think he's going to cost a
57:58
fortune. I think he's also a Boris
58:01
client, which is scary, but it's Hunter Brown.
58:06
So, so with Framer Voldez is do you think that he there's a
58:10
chance that they do their due diligence or do you think he's
58:13
they're pretty much letting him walk?
58:16
Man, Framber's so tough because Framber is, you know, Jekyll and
58:22
Hyde all season long and Astros fans around here totally make a
58:27
big deal out of it all the time. Are we going to get good
58:29
Framber? We're going to get bad framer.
58:31
We're going to get the head case.
58:32
And and it's not like, you know, they're, they're picking at
58:35
something that isn't true. Like Framber had like a, a
58:38
mental coach and Framber needs to be calmed down.
58:41
And when he gets excited and emotional, you get like a very
58:45
bad pitcher when he is calm and collected.
58:48
The dude is, is, is an ace. He's, he's 8 innings of, you
58:54
know, ground balls and strikeouts and 87 pitches, You
58:58
know, like he's, he's really, really something else.
59:01
And, and as a left-hander, you know, you just can't find those
59:04
everywhere. But I think he's going to be
59:07
very expensive. I, I think he's going to get
59:10
easily what Max free got. It'll be really interesting to
59:13
see if that number goes over what Max free got.
59:17
I would love the Astros to do it.
59:18
I just don't think they will. But for me, if they're not going
59:22
to sign Framber, they damn sure better sign Hunter Brown because
59:26
you have to keep some some part of this rotation together.
59:29
I know Christian Walker's under Christian Walker, Christian
59:32
Javier is under contract for a long period of time.
59:35
But I mean, he's coming off ATJ. And then you start looking.
59:39
Spencer Getty's having a rough go at it tonight.
59:42
He's been kind of, you know, hit or miss this season with the
59:45
with the freak thumb injury. So I think it's very important
59:49
for them to pick one of those guys to lock up.
59:52
And if I'm choosing, it's Hunter.
59:54
I think if the Astros are choosing it's hunter.
59:57
I think it just depends on what it's going to cost.
1:00:01
Thomas, we had a great time with this episode.
1:00:05
We appreciate your insight, your information and great
1:00:09
information overall. Where can we find you in social
1:00:12
media and everywhere else? Guys, thanks so much for having
1:00:15
me. I'm always down to talk
1:00:17
baseball. I really appreciate it.
1:00:18
If you're looking for me on Twitter at Third Coast, Tom is
1:00:22
the handle. That's where I do the majority
1:00:24
of my shenanigans. You know, I don't I try not to
1:00:28
live tree games, but if I have a take somewhere in the middle,
1:00:31
that's normal where you'll find it.
1:00:32
You know, definitely spend the most of my time on Twitter,
1:00:36
Instagram at TC Tom one there. I do a baseball podcast.
1:00:42
It's called bourbon and baseball.
1:00:43
You can look that up on YouTube where we're in between, you
1:00:47
know, episodes here there there's a lot of life stuff
1:00:50
going on my you know, with with you know, my Co host.
1:00:53
She's just got a new job. So I don't know when those
1:00:56
episodes are coming, but they are coming.
1:00:59
But yeah, definitely love to do this.
1:01:02
Anytime y'all walk beyond, hit me up.
1:01:04
I'm always down. Awesome man, Thanks for joining
1:01:07
us today. It was it was cool to get a get
1:01:10
a guy like yourself's perspective of your team and you
1:01:14
guys are having a great season. It's important stretch run.
1:01:18
So good luck to you guys and hopefully we can get you on in
1:01:21
the and maybe in the offseason sometime man, get you on again.
1:01:25
Sounds good guys. I appreciate it.
1:01:28
We will place a description below where you can find RG
1:01:31
Chef, but till next time, take care, be kind to each other.
1:01:35
Signing off from the Sports Average Twister podcast on
1:01:38
Monday, August 18th, 2025.