Latest / Foul Territory / Ken’s Inside Scoop: Yordan injury, Schwarber's looming free agency, Bochy Manager of the Year case

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Ken’s Inside Scoop: Yordan injury, Schwarber's looming free agency, Bochy Manager of the Year case · Foul Territory

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: How about this from Chandler Rome, who of course is
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: on the Astros podcast that we do here on the
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Foul Territory Network. Yourd on Alvarez just exited the Astros
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: clubhouse on crutches and with his left foot in a boot. Well,
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: that's not good, the team spokesman said. Alvarez did not
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: want to speak to the media until he knows more
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: about his condition. You can certainly learn more on Crush
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: City Territory. This is bad news, you guys, or done.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Olivarez just coming off the ail not that long ago.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: A huge bat in that lineup, of course, is the
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: dh AJ. How does this affect the Stros moving forward.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: Well, it's a big It's a big blow depending on
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: how long he's out if they get into the postseason,
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: losing their their top option at dh left field, wherever
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: they want to put him is a huge blow. He's
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: one of the best bats in the American leagues. Basically
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: had a wasted hear because he's missed most of it.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: Something new for Astros to not talk injuries, because you know,
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: he had that hand thing and nobody could get figure
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: out why he was out for so long. So it's
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: a bad it's a bad thing for the Astros and
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: they're missing a bad man if he's out for a while. Hey,
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: did you did you wear moldeds? Did you wear moldens
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: or metals? I always wear molded Did you ever slip
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: like that? Because I never wear mold I wore moldens
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: one time in a spring training game and I got
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: the second base on the double and I stepped on
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: second and it's in my foot slid just like his
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: foot slid on home plate like that. No I was.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: I was light on my feet, So no, I didn't.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: You're athletic.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: Wait, tell me what you guys are talking about. What
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: are you ask and if he, if he were, what explained.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: The lastic or metal spikes? Plastic or metal spikes? Molded
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: or plastic? Yeah, mold were molded pretty much right.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: Ken rose Thal is next. We'll talk about the Astros
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: and much more coming up. Time now for the inside
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: scoop with our friend Ken Rosenthal. We appreciate you, Ken
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: as always being here the busiest man in the game.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: Let's start with the Houston Astros and how this may
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: affect the Astros moving forward. Your on Alvarez, you heard it,
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: Ken Aj said he's missed most of the season with injury.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: He's such a huge piece of that puzzle. What did
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: the Astros do if he's out for an extended period
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: of time.
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: Well, last night Zach Cole stepped in home run RBI single,
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: so they'll have him, and he's a former tenth rounder.
• 2:16
  Speaker 4: He's had a little.
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: Run here so far with them and it's been pretty good.
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: Now he's not your on Alvarez, obviously. The only thing
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: I will say in a positive sense for the Astros
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: if you're done is out for any length of time,
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: is that they played for nearly three months without him
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: and played really their best baseball of the season.
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: And they were not just without him.
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: Of course, Paanya was down for a month during that time,
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: all these different starting pitchers, so they've showed an ability
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: to withstand injuries all season long, and now they're a
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: bit stronger because of what they did at the deadline
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: with Correa and Urius and of course Jesus Sanchez coming over.
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: So listen.
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: Obviously, losing eurot On Alvarez for any length of time
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: in the middle of a Pennant race would not be good.
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: Losing him for the postseason would not be good, But
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: The Astros do have this resourceful way about them, and
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: even last night they showed it the way they performed
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: after the Alvarez injury in beating the Rangers.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: Anyway that this speeds up, the recovery time speeds up,
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: how quickly they get estoc Parades back on the field
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: or the Astros. We never know anything about injuries, if
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: it's a lower body, if it's a hand, or what
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: it is.
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: Well, that's certainly true about zoc Parades and whether he
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: can come back, and whether the Astros will reveal.
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: The injuries or whatever they are going to do. He
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: is on the mend.
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: I don't expect they're going to accelerate it because of this.
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: He is a guy that they are perhaps counting on
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: at some point before the regular season is over. What's
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: interesting about this is they didn't have a position for
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: him until this would happen, or until this happened. Remember,
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: Kore is now at third base. Ezac Parades was at
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: third base before, and I don't know where exactly he
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: was going to play. If he came back and your
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: Don was healthy, that's still a question. If you're Don
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: is just a few days, for instance, But when you're
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: leaving a walking boot last night. I sort of doubt
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: it's going to be a few days, probably more than that.
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: So in a way, and I should have mentioned this
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: when you first asked the question. This could be as
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: far as the roster spot for ezac Parades is concerned,
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: a blessing because it opens up the DH spot.
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: There's another team in their division to Mariners, who we
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: thought it crumbled because they went east of Spokane. It's
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: kind of my running joke. If they go east of
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: you know, Idaho, they can't play right. But now all
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: of a sudden they're ahead of the Astros and their
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: turnaround it as soon as they got home it was
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: a different team. So is this something they're worried about
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: going forward in the postseason? And why is it so drastic?
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: And don't give me the travel because everyone travels. The
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: Red Sox travel far too, so teams do this. But
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: why does it always seem like the Mariners have this problem.
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: I'm not exactly sure. I touched on this in my
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: notes Calmn today age eight. They're splits at home and
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: on the road, are revealing they're much better from pitching
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: standpoint at home, much better from a hitting standpoint on
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: the road, and it's because t Mobile Park is the
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: most difficult run scoring environment in the majors, So that
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: is a challenge for them. And you would think at
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: the same time they should be able to pitch better
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: on the road than they have. They've got quality arms
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: starting rotation and in the bullpen one of the best
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: staffs in baseball. So it is curious that this has
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: occurred the way it has, especially this season. At the
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: same time, I sort of expected if they get to
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: the postseason, even if they don't have home field, whatever,
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: they'll be fine. It's a different animal in the postseason.
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: But yes, for sure that they've struggled, particularly going east
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: on that last trip Tampa Bay, Cleveland, Atlanta.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: And also when your notes call, I'm talking a little
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: bit about future Hall of Famer Bruce Bochi in terms
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: of getting into Cooperstown as a manager. Could he be
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: a Manager of the Year not only a candidate can
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: but a recipient. It's an award he hasn't won since
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: nineteen ninety six. And does it matter if the Rangers
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: make the postseason or not.
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: It certainly matters, Alana if they make the postseason. In fact,
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: the entire premise is based on the making the postseason,
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: because they were not a team that anyone was particularly
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: excited about for five months. And the case for Bochie
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: would be they struggled all year long. They had a
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: massive set of injuries mid August to the end of August,
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: and yet they still found a way to get to
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: the postseason. If that happens, that's the case. What's interesting
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: about the American League is there are a number of
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: really good manager that year candidates, And I started off
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: that story talking about a Spata Joe Espada, the Ashers manager,
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: because of the way that they have overcome their injuries,
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: not to mention the loss of Kyle Tucker or the
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: trade of Kyle Tucker and loss of Alex Regman to
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: free agency. So to me, he's the front runner, and
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: if the Astros get in, he probably should win. But
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: you can certainly make a case for Ajhnchrin Detroit, John
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: Schneider in Toronto, Alex Cora and Boston even Steven Vote
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: with the Guardians. They're three out in the wild card
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: and doing it with an offense that no one would
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: find to be particularly dangerous.
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: So it's an interesting race.
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: The most interesting thing about this to me with regard
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: to Bochie, was simply that, like you said, Alana, he
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: has not won this since nineteen ninety six.
• 7:32
  Speaker 4: It's almost thirty years.
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: He's won four World Series in that time, but he
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: hasn't won a Manager of the Year because, of course,
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: this award is based on regular season performance only.
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: Ken, John Snyder's gonna win. Okay, let's just I know
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: you like to forget about the team up north, Ken,
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: but John Schneider's gonna win. Okay, He's gonna win this
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: award just because he's They're in the Al East, and
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: everyone's gonna look at him, say, oh, the Yankees in
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: Red Sox, but the the Blue Jays. But hey, that's fine. Again,
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: you forget about him sometimes, Oh I got you, I
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: got whatever you say about.
• 8:06
  Speaker 5: It, Crats, I'm gonna steal a line right from the
• 8:10
  Speaker 5: top here about me undis a cut for every butt.
• 8:15
  Speaker 5: I took a line that I feel like you would enjoy.
• 8:18
  Speaker 4: But then you.
• 8:19
  Speaker 5: Stole my thunder with show and tell.
• 8:21
  Speaker 4: What do you have there.
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: Besides a huge Baduka dunk. This is my pair of
• 8:27
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• 9:08
  Speaker 2: The Brewers. We just did the Brewers game on Saturday,
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: and in your notes you'd mentioned them the way they
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: gave up. They didn't give up on platuning, but they
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: let their young kids hit left on left freelick terang
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: and now they're actually doing okay against lefties. Why don't
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: more teams do this? Why don't more teams allow their
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: lefties when they come up to just hit against lefties
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: and maybe learn, especially for teams that aren't competing.
• 9:31
  Speaker 4: I don't know.
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: And teams the way they see it is we want
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: to max out every day. We want to give ourselves
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: the best possible chance of winning every day. So if
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: it's a left on left matchup with a young player
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: and we have a veteran right handed hitter on the bench,
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: or even not a veteran right handed hitter, let's go
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: with that player and give ourselves the best platoon advantage
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: in this particular circumstance. We all understand that, and on
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: a day to day basis, perhaps that is the best
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: way to go. But that note stemmed from a conversation
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: I had with South Freelick over the weekend, and he
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: mentioned to me that he believes he has become a
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: better hitter overall because the Brewers have allowed him and
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: Bryce Terrang to go left on left pretty much all season.
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: And his point was, when you're seeing balls breaking different ways,
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: it helps you with your swing.
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: Regardless.
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: You have to read it to kind of get the
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: full explanation, but I thought it was really interesting, and
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: I remember this is an extreme example, but Jack Peterson, right,
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: Jock Peterson's been a guy that has been a platoon
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: player for quite some time now. What if at the
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: start of Jock Peterson's career, and I know he did
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: get chances against lefties, but just as an example, what
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: if they played him for three years every day against
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: lefties and ignored this whole thing, would he have been
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: better for it?
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: Now?
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: The team might say, ah, we weren't going to do that.
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: The performance would have not been good enough, and why
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: hurt our team that way? Valid point, But there is
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: something to what Frelick said, in my opinion, something about
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: how it helps you overall as.
• 11:06
  Speaker 4: A hitter to face pitchers from both sides.
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: Jack Peterson's a good example. I mean, people forget he
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: was super athlete coming up through the minor leagues. Thirty homers,
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: thirty stolen bases. Another lefty that has hammered lefties this year,
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: and he's made a concerted effort to do it. Kyle Schwarber,
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: can you talk about what you had talked about based
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: on what maybe his value is going to be next year,
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: which is kind of unheard of as just a DH.
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: Well, it's so interesting here, Eric, because it's very much
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: unprecedented where he is in his career entering the free
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: agent market next year. He's going to be thirty three
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: years old, turns thirty three in March, and he'll be
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: a DH.
• 11:49
  Speaker 4: He doesn't really play the outfield, so we're talking about
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: a thirty three year old DH. There aren't many of
• 11:54
  Speaker 4: those guys.
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: That in recent years have been at Kyle Schwarber's level
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: of play, really none, So you don't have a list
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: of players you can turn to and say, Okay, well,
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: this guy made this, that guy made that. Let's give
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: Kyle Schwarber this, so let's think that's what his value
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: should be. My guess, and it's just a guess, is
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: four years at thirty million dollars per year or even
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: a little bit more than that. I would expect that
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: the Phillies are going to do that because they love
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: Kyle Schwarber as they should, not just forty does on
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: the field, but also in their clubhouse. But again, it
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: is an interesting guy because.
• 12:30
  Speaker 4: Yes, JD. Martinez was a free agent designated.
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: Hitter, but he signed it thirty. Thirty three is different
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: than thirty as we all know the way baseball teams operate,
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: So I'm interested to see how this turns out. But
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: I would not be surprised at all if early in
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: the offseason the Phillies just did it and got it done.
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: At roughly what I was saying four years thirty million.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: Can I want to go back to Jock Peterson for
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: just a minute. I remember distinctly when Jock kind of
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: first came up. I was standing with him in the
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: Colorado Rockies visiting dugout because the daughters were there playing
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: the Rockies, and he was having conversations or being asked
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: questions about not being in the lineup against left handed pitchers,
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: and he was very angry. And this was when it
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: was a very young Jock Peterson. I know his Twitter
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: handle is young Jock six p fifty. But he was
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: angry about it, and he didn't quite know how to
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: handle the media at the time. And we had conversations
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: about how to handle situations like that. And you know
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: a little bit more about Jock Peterson right now as
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: a veteran and dealing with those mental demons. He's been
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: in this league a long time. Now, what more can
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: you tell me about what Jock is battling at this
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: stage in his career A lot.
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: I had a conversation with him, I don't know, a
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: couple of weeks ago, and of.
• 13:42
  Speaker 4: Course he got off to that horrible start this season.
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: He was just coming around when he got hit by
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: a pitch by Bryce Wilson with the White Sox fractured
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: his right hand, and he's slowly since coming back from
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: the injured list, worked his way back to better numbers,
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: not typical Jock Peterson numbers, but he's performed pretty well
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: since coming off the.
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: IL in late July.
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: And what he said was very honest. He said, you
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: know what, I came to a new team. It took
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: me a while to settle in. I kind of draw
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: energy and get good vibes when the team is playing well,
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: and that wasn't happening. The team wasn't playing well. I
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: wasn't playing well, and I had to deal with some
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: mental demons while kind of trying to fight through all this.
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: And I really appreciated just how honest he was, and
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: a lot of just as a't aside. I remember Jock
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: early in his career, like you do, he was not
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: the best interview. He was almost shy or just didn't want.
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: To do it.
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: Awkward would be a good word, yes, And now as
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: a veteran, as so often happens, he's very thoughtful and
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: reflective and as I said, honest, and I just thought
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: His quotes were really interesting, just about what he was
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: dealing with at the time. He didn't say, hey, you
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: know what, man, I just had a bad couple of months.
• 14:58
  Speaker 4: He said, No, it was.
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: Bad couple of months because of this, this and this,
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: and that's why I struggled.
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: You know what fixed Jock Rowdy Tiles came in and
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: he had somebody could make fun of. That's what happened, Ken,
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: That's what changed Jock around. Rowdy got there and they
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: both could call each other fat, and then all of
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: a sudden they're both laughing and having a good time.
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: And now look at them both go it's amazing. It's amazing.
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: How you just need that one person, Ken, We all
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: need that one little person that we can have around
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: to have fun with. I got it. Before you go, though,
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: I'm putting you on the spot. And you know I
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: love doing this. Who wins the AL West, who wins
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: the AL Wildcard, and who wins the NL Wildcard? The
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: last obviously, all.
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: Right, I'm gonna go with the Mets to win the
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: NL Wildcard. Those three teams that are chasing them are
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: all around five hundred. It's very difficult for me to
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: conceive how any of them is ultimately going to overcome
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: the Mets, who finally snapped their eight game winning streak
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: on Sunday.
• 15:49
  Speaker 4: Or losing streak, I should say.
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: And to me, still have the best talent by far.
• 15:54
  Speaker 4: You see the standings right.
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: There, Ale Wildcard and AL West Division. I see the
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: Mariners winning the division and I see the Astros being
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: the other wild card.
• 16:05
  Speaker 4: I just don't know that the Rangers are good enough.
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: And now the distance is two games, with however many
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: to play between them and the Astros actually three, and
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: it's just to me a pretty big deficit to overcome.
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: Now they do play the Astros the next two nights,
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: they beat the Astros, then it's one game and let
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: the fun begin. But I just have a hard time
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: seeing it. And with Seattle they're playing better. Houston is
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: obviously gonna have to deal with this Alvarez situation one
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: way or the other. And Houston has not been as
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: consistent a team offensively as we've seen in the past.
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: I didn't check today, but yesterday there were something like
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: twenty fourth in the Majors in runs per game. The
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: Houston Astros with Altuve and Alvarez and Paanya and Korea.
• 16:51
  Speaker 4: All these really good players. Christian Walker's another one.
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: So they have not hit the way they should, and
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: of course they don't have hater who knows how this
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: plays out. The Astros are an incredibly resilient bunch. But
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: if you're asking me to be giving you an answer
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: right here, Seattle for the title, the Astros for the
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: final wildcard Rangers out.
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: That's funny that you say that, Ken, because yesterday we
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: had Jeff Blumm on the show and Eric Kratz asked
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: him do the Astros win the division or miss the playoffs? Entirely,
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: it's crazy to think we have such a wild ride
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: the last couple of weeks of the season. Cardinals not
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: in the postseason picture. But I wanted to ask you
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: this before we say goodbye. Are there changes coming for
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: the Cardinals? What do you think that team looks like
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: in twenty twenty six?
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: Younger, cheaper perhaps, And the reason I say that obviously
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: now I would expect they're.
• 17:40
  Speaker 4: Going to trade Arnatto and he'll be more willing to
• 17:43
  Speaker 4: do it.
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: In fact, he had some quotes last night to their
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: beat reporters to that effect that he knows where they're going.
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: So that's one thing they have younger players that they
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: still want to look at. They still haven't gotten answers
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: on Gorman on some of the others as well.
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: Well.
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: They're going to be younger under HEINM. Bloom in his
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: first year president of baseball Operations, and they're going to
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: try to figure out exactly who their keepers are.
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: I expect it's.
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: Going to be Burlson and Evon Herrera and Mason Win
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: and that's their core. I think they could trade Brendan
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: Donovan two years of control remaining, a guy who teams
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: love and will be in demand and they probably can
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: get something decent for him, because it seems to me
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: that the Cardinals under Bloom are going to take a
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: step back and not go forward for next year like
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: they tried to this year. Remember they took kind of
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: a half step back but ultimately did not trade Hellesley
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: in the offseason, did not trade Eric Fetti, went into
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: the season kind of in this halfway mode. Now they're
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: going to rip the band aid off, I would expect,
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: and then you will see some things happen. They're not
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: going to trade everybody, but a guy like Donovan who
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: has a little more service time and probably won't be
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: part of the next really good Cardinals team unless they
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: extend him to me.
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: That would be a logical move.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: New look for the Redbirds next season. Can we appreciate it?
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: As always, always love catching up with you on the inside, Scoop,
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: don't forget everybody. You can catch a brand new episode
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: of Fair Territory with Ken Rosenthal on Monday, of course,
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: live at ten Eastern, and Thursday with me at twelve
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: thirty eastern. We'll be right back. Foul Territory rolls on