Space City Saturday w Dan Mathews 10-5-24

Dan Mathews talk about the Astros lost and what we can expect for next year. Dan speaks on possible trades and free agents. Dan interviews Ari Alexander and talks football mostly about the Texans. Dan gives his opinion on Astros Dana Brown, and express his feeling son comments made by Altuve and Bregman. Also, a interview of Jeremy White all packed in this show.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcomeboard, Welcome to another Space City Saturday on Sports Talk
seven ninety Dan Matthews Live and local h town breakdown
of the world that matters to you, the Houston sports world.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
All these great Houston fans here.

Speaker 3 (00:23):
We love you all, So finish up on that to
do list.

Speaker 1 (00:28):
Flute up the cooler, because you can't drink in talk
sports all day if you don't start.

Speaker 3 (00:34):
Now bear me the eight. This is Space City Saturday.
It's insane. Here's seven nineties Dan Matthews.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Get away.

Speaker 4 (00:48):
We go here for Space City Saturday. Now until noon
right here on your home of the Astros and the Rockets,
Sports Talk seven ninety Dan Matthews here with you as
there's a lot to get into with the Astros. Obviously
the season coming to a what we thought was a
premature end, but it is a conclusion. Nonetheless, we're not

(01:12):
used to that at this time of the year. I mean,
right now, you know, we should have Gordy and Ross
up in Cleveland. We should be getting you ready for
Game one of the Alds today. But in the words
Justin Verlander just was not in the cards this year
for the Stros. So some uncertainty, some things that we
know everything kind of in between there with the Astros

(01:34):
this year. We'll get into it here on the show today.
If you want to weigh in, you can do so.
Sub one three two one two five seven ninety. Once again,
that's Sebone three two one two.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
Five seven nine zero.

Speaker 4 (01:47):
As the Astros falling to the red hot Detroit Tigers
in the wild Card round not exactly what we wanted
to see. Three to one in the first one, five
to two in the second one. I mean, you know,
you just kind of do the autopsy off the wild
Card series. It's pretty simple to point to what did
not work for the Astros, and unfortunately, I think it

(02:11):
was kind of the sum of all fears with this team.
I mean I think that you know, we saw a
team all season long that seemingly with runners in scoring position, bases,
loaded situations, pretty much anything that was not a two
out RBI opportunity. The Astros just were not that team
this season, and it came to fruition. I mean, you know,

(02:31):
Game one, you faced a really tough one in Trek Scoogle.
You were really unable to get to him, and through
eighteen inting as of baseball, that was just the case
with this Astros team one extra base hit, this entire
two game postseason run for the Astros one for them,

(02:51):
everything else singles. And I talked about it all season
long that the unfortunate truth was with this team is
that they were a team of solo home runs and
singles all season long. And you know, kind of just
the go ahead and just you know, kind of do
the inventory of why they lost. I mean, let's just

(03:13):
take a look at the Astros huge run scoring opportunity
there in the seventh inning, they loaded the bases, they
scored two runs. They scored two runs in Game two
on a fielder's choice that was not handled at home
plate by Jake Rogers. So you get the run to
tie the ball game up. And then you get a
risky sacrifice fly that Jeremy Pania able to slide across

(03:37):
home plate. Darniar slid off the home plate dirt right
there and almost at a backstop there with the momentum
he had carrying him across home plate.

Speaker 2 (03:46):
But he gets that run. And then you get the.

Speaker 4 (03:49):
Double play right there by Kyle Tucker to get out
of the inning, and the flip side of it, because
you get the bases loaded after the while pitch to
tie the ball game up. Andy Ibanya's as a pinch hitter,
and what does he do, Well, he does what you're
supposed to do in that situation. He clears the bases
with a RBI double right there. Three runs coming in

(04:09):
on that double, and that was again right there where
you just kind of look at it at that point
and say, Yep, not your year. If that team is
doing that to you and you're not able to do
that to them, then that's kind of what you get.
And I mean, the unfortunate truth is with this Astros team,
it was just a tale of what we saw all

(04:32):
season long. I mean, you know, I understand that people
are upset with Kyle Tucker, as I've talked about numerous
times the week long that I've been on with Ross
Villa Reale. I mean, I know, it's the Matt Thomas
Show with Ross, but I think at this point, you know,
it's kind of becoming the Dan and Ross Show in
some sort of incarnation, either on the Nightcap slash tenth

(04:53):
Inning show like we did on Tuesday and Wednesday from
Minute Made Park, or even to the Nightcaps that we
did this.

Speaker 2 (05:00):
But you know, with Kyle Tucker. You know, it's kind
of tough to.

Speaker 4 (05:03):
Say in a two game series like we saw, it's
such a small sample size. And I understand that people
are going to throw his postseason record at him from
last year where it was a little bit longer, obviously
getting all the way to seven games in the ALCS,
and he just was not good in that postseason. But
he's been good in the past. I mean, as Ross

(05:25):
and Matt pointed out yesterday, I believe in twenty twenty
one he hit two seventy nine, So I mean, that's
nothing necessarily to be upset about in terms of what
he was able to do in that postseason run or
actually I believe that was twenty twenty two.

Speaker 2 (05:39):
It was one of the two.

Speaker 4 (05:40):
But regardless, he still swung the bat pretty well in
that postseason. And not only that, I mean, you know,
I think we can probably agree. I mean, you even
saw it if you were watching him run down the
first base line on that double play, he looked like
he was trying to run full speed, but he was
not able to run full speed. And in Game one,

(06:01):
remember he comes in, he was trying to get the
ball in the corner there on that double down, the
right field line off of I believe Parker Meadows hit it.
If I'm not mistaken, I was either him or Riley Green.
I can't remember who hit it off Josh Hater in
that spot. But still, I mean, you know, I saw that,
and I saw that ball getting down, and I saw

(06:22):
him trying to run after it, and I remembered where
I was sitting there at minute, made park saying he's
not going to get there, and sure enough he didn't.
Jumped over the wall for a ground roll double ended
up not hurting you really in the long run. But still,
I mean, I think you saw a guy that just
again was unable to really get to that full sprint
that we're accustomed to seeing Kyle Tucker get to. So

(06:44):
I think he's a guy that obviously benefits from an
off season. And you're on Alvarez as well. I mean,
you know, he pretty much said as much the other day.
I believe it was Christy Reekan of the AP that
asked him, if this were a regular.

Speaker 2 (06:59):
Season game, would you have played?

Speaker 4 (07:01):
And his response, after a slight pause through translator Jen
Looy Herrera, was that's a good question. I don't know,
and I think we can probably agree. The answer would
have been no, he would not have played, so you'd
on Alvarez banged up as well.

Speaker 2 (07:19):
And look, I.

Speaker 4 (07:19):
Mean you don't want to use injuries as an excuse,
but I mean it is what it is when it
comes to the Astros. You had a less than one
hundred percent Kyle Tucker, you had a less than a
hundred percent. You were on Alvarez, And I get to
what some of you out there might be saying as
you're driving around listening to this right now, Well, Dan,
nobody's at one hundred percent. I get that, but I
mean you also want those guys to be as close

(07:41):
to it as possible, and they weren't. And I mean
it was pretty evident, and they're at bats I think
even showed as much as well. I know that Kyle
Tucker when he came back from the injury, was swinging
the bat pretty well, I think, probably better than any
of us could have really hoped that he would have
at that point. But he just was unable to really
be in every day one hundred percent guy for you,

(08:03):
and that kind of hurt this team. And not only that,
but also Jordon Alvarez not necessarily being able to put
one hundred percent into his swings. I know he had
a couple of really hard hit balls in that first game,
and he had the double there in the ninth inning,
which was again the only extra base hit the Astros
had in this short series. But still, you know, I

(08:27):
don't think that we were seeing the full swings, the
full legs underneath that swing that we could have seen
from Jordon Alvarez. And I mean, as I mentioned, singles,
that's pretty much all you got in this series, and
that's what it was for the Astros this season. I
know that she and Laromee brought this up during the
end of season press conference with both Jospoda and Dana

(08:48):
Brown of talking about the swing rate was up for
this team this year, the chase rate was up, and
also too, slugging percentage across the board was down for
this team this season as well. And if there's one
thing we've known about the Astros during this eight plus
year run that they've been on in the postseason, that
that's a huge part of their game. The long ball

(09:10):
is a huge part, and it is what is predicated
and needed for this offense, and they really just at
times did not have it this season. And that is
why I think across the board you saw the offensive struggles,
so a bad combination of not a ton of extra
base hits, more strikeouts. That's not a winning formula and

(09:31):
that is a huge reason why the Astros are back home.

Speaker 2 (09:35):
So, like I said, it ended the way that we
all feared.

Speaker 4 (09:39):
I mean, you know when it came down to it
this season, and it was talked about a little bit
both with Dana and Joe on Thursday, and we'll let
you hear a little bit of that as the show
goes along. But not only that, also to channel of
Rome's visit with us on the A team earlier this week,
might let you hear a little bit of that too
as the show goes along. But this is a lineup

(10:00):
that I think this offseason, as Dana Brown goes through
and tries to build up this roster to be ready
for another postseason run in twenty twenty five, that is
going to be looked at and highly scrutinized by Dana
and his group and maybe even Jospota and his coaching
staff as well as they meet and try to evaluate

(10:21):
the season and also try to identify where they need
to be able to make improvements to this roster going forward,
because you were playing the season for the most part
without a true first baseman, at least somebody that you
could count on there at first base.

Speaker 2 (10:35):
And what do you need from first base?

Speaker 4 (10:37):
I mean, let's be honest here, I think first and foremost,
you want to be able to have some sort of
offensive threat at first base. That is a huge part
of what you're looking for out of that position. It
is a position that defensively, I think you're looking more
for adequate defense over there.

Speaker 2 (10:54):
You don't need a goal glover.

Speaker 4 (10:55):
You don't need somebody that is going to be just
an absolute dynamite fielder over there. That's not the position
that you're looking for that out of. You're looking for
somebody that can provide a little bit of power and
also can be a good bat at the plate. And
that is something that I think is going to be
one of the priorities this offseason for this team. I
don't know if that is through trade. I don't know

(11:16):
if that is through a off season move. I really
am just trying to rack my brain about how Dana
Brown is going to go about doing that. But I mean,
you know, I think we can all agree what off
season priority Number one is, it's go ahead and reach
a conclusion either knowing he is here or knowing he
is not here with Alex Brugman. And of course we

(11:37):
will talk about that as the show goes along, but
just to kind of get us going here in the
first segment, I mean, the question is, was this season
of success?

Speaker 2 (11:47):
Yes? I mean the Astros are what.

Speaker 4 (11:49):
The Patriots were during their run in the NFL, what
the Spurs were during their run in the NBA Alabama,
what I guess they continue to, you know, aspire to
be on the college love. That's you know, they are
those teams of Major League Baseball. Anything short of long
postseason runs and championships is deemed a failure by many.

(12:09):
But I would also venture to say that this season
was different.

Speaker 2 (12:12):
It was a.

Speaker 4 (12:13):
Sprint in the middle. You fell way behind at the
beginning of the season.

Speaker 3 (12:17):
I mean, you.

Speaker 4 (12:17):
Started off the season zero to four, after losing those
first four games to the Yankees, and then you get
the no hitter right there from Renel Blanco. You take
two out of three from the Blue Jays. But then
you found yourself seven and nineteen twelve and twenty four,
and you had some crucial injuries in the middle of
the season. You lost Kyle Tucker for three months of

(12:38):
this season. You lost Justin Verlander for a couple of
months of this season, and when he came back, he
was a shell of what we expect Justin Verlander to be.
He was not the same guy. And you had numerous
injuries to the pitching staff, either guys that you did
not get to see throw this season or guys that
you hoped we would get to see, and you eventually
lost in terms of hose Aikidi and also Christian Hovier

(13:02):
and what can be expected from them going forward, and
then a sprint at the end. You were down ten
games to the Mariners in the middle part of this season,
it looked like you had no chance at being able
to come back and win the American League West. You
were able to overtake them, you were able to win
the American League West, and I think when it was

(13:22):
all sudden done, all that kind of got to this
team and the holes that you had in this lineup
and just this team not being as deep as teams
that we've seen in the past. That's eventually what got
to this Astros team and is a reason why here
in early October. We're talking about twenty twenty four in
the past, not twenty twenty four in the present, and

(13:44):
that is again a huge reason why we are doing
and speaking of.

Speaker 2 (13:49):
This team the way that we are.

Speaker 4 (13:51):
But it also too I heard some of the calls
yesterday on the Matt Thomas Show with Ross the run
is over. You're meaning to tell me that you still
have Jose al two A, Kyle Tucker, Jordan Alvarez, JANR.
Diaz from ber Valdez, Hunter Brown, Brian Obray, you Josh
Hater on this roster and that that's it.

Speaker 2 (14:08):
You know, we're just gonna go ahead and pack it up.

Speaker 4 (14:09):
I mean, I heard somebody else yesterday say it's gonna
be a triple A roster in twenty twenty five. Again,
like I said last night on the night Cap, I'll
say it again right now. I don't know if it's alcohol.
I don't know if it's chemically induced. I don't even
know if there is a gas leak where you are
right now. But if it's either of those three, either
put the other two down or get away from the

(14:30):
last one because it is unbelievable. Where if nothing else,
you're being ruled by emotion right now, and take the
emotion out of it. Again, this was a good season
for this team. This was a season that was definitely different.
I get it, But also though too, it was not
a complete failure. And I think you're doing yourself a

(14:51):
huge disservice. And I think also too, you're being a
prisoner of the moment. If you're going to go ahead
and say, oh it's over, go ahead.

Speaker 2 (14:57):
And pack it up.

Speaker 4 (14:57):
I mean, you know some people acting like you're going
to go back to being the twenty tens early twenty
tens astros. That's not happening. There's way too much talent
still on this roster. There's way too much talent that
they can still add to this roster. It is a
chance for them to be able to recalibrate and given
another go next season. Now, again, like I've said, and

(15:18):
I did say on the final one that we did,
the nightcap ten ending on Wednesday, is it going to
be different? Can you expect alcs's every single year? No?
And this is case in point that you can't expect
that to be the case every single year. And that's
why I think that run is one that you should
look back on incredibly fondly. But does it mean that

(15:39):
the Astros say next year the year after can't get
back to that point. No, there is zero reasona believe
that they cannot get back to that point. So they
can absolutely get back into deep postseason runs. And that
is going to be the goal of Dana Brown and
his staff this offseason. And Dana Brown's going to be
at work this offseason. He told us as much on Thursday,

(16:00):
and I believe him because we saw a guy that
did some serious work this year to put this team
in position to even be able to win the American
League West. And I think we can all agree for
the most part, his moves that he made were incredibly
valuable to accomplishing that goal.

Speaker 2 (16:17):
So I don't think that.

Speaker 4 (16:19):
He is going to sit on his hands this offseason, obviously.
I think priority number one, like I said, is Alex
Bregman get some sort of conclusion either he's back here
or he's somewhere else, and you try to find a
third baseman. I don't believe that it is in your
system right now. I've heard people bring up Shae Whitcomb,
and I'm not saying because of the game he had
in that final one against the Mariners. But that is

(16:40):
not a third baseman for a championship team, not right now.

Speaker 2 (16:44):
I don't believe that he is.

Speaker 4 (16:45):
I think he's a guy that can contribute, but he's
not in every day third baseman that you can count on.
That needs to be a veteran option over there. If
it's not Alex Bregman at third base, and I think
that that player will be here. Who it is TBD
will have to try to find out. But like I said,
like he did last season, this was a postseason team
because of his work, and he will continue to try

(17:07):
to make it a postseason team going forward. We're gonna
have a live guest here on the show. We don't
have too many live guests that join us here on
Space City Saturday, but my good buddy Ari Alexander from
KPRC two here in Houston, gonna join us at ten thirty.
We'll also get into some Texans as the show goes
along today. Huge one tomorrow against the Bills, and we also,

(17:30):
speaking of that game against the Bills, had a great
guest with us yesterday on the A Team, Jeremy White
from the morning show on at WGR. The Bills flagship
station in Buffalo joined us. We're gonna hear from him
at eleven thirty you of h Football. Nice win last
night for Willie Fritz and the crew, thirty to nineteen
at TCU. Big win for them up there in Fort Worth,

(17:51):
first one since nineteen eighty nine. So it was fitting
that Andre Ware was on the broadcast last night too.
I'm sure he enjoyed that one the Nie Shroff. I
know they were showing some of his highlights from games
that he played there at Amon Carter Stadium, So we
will maybe even have a mention of that game as
the show goes along as well, and coming up in

(18:12):
the eleven o'clock cour NFL players are bringing up something
that I think on its merit sounds like a good idea,
but I really think that it could be far from that,
So we'll get into that a little bit later on
as well as is I'm way over for a break
because coming up next, consider the source when it comes
to Alex Bregman's future. This guy speaking up, it should
mean a lot, and I'll explain next as we continue

(18:34):
along here on Space City Saturday, Dan Matthews, here in
your home of the Astros, and the Rockets. Sports Talk
seven ninety Space.

Speaker 1 (18:42):
City Saturday continues fine Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 2 (18:49):
In your home to the Astros and the Rockets.

Speaker 4 (18:52):
As we are looking back on the season that was
for the Astros twenty twenty four and with us looking
you got to look forward to as well, what will
happen with Alex Bregman. And we'll talk about this a
little bit more in less than ten minutes when my
good buddy Ari Alexander from KPRC two joins us. If

(19:13):
you follow Ari, you know that he is on top
of all things Astros, and not only Astros, he usually
too whenever you find out someone's coming up from Corpus
Christy Sugarland, Ari is usually the guy that is breaking
that news. So he's pretty connected when it comes to
the baseball community here. So we will talk with him
here in just a.

Speaker 2 (19:34):
Few all right.

Speaker 4 (19:35):
Like I said, consider the source when it comes to
the Astros and their attempt to keep Alex Bregman here
in Houston. So this started a few weeks ago from
Chandler Rome, who again, by the way, we had in
studio with us on the A team. If you missed
any that download the iHeartRadio app. You can go check
out that visit. But he kind of did a little

(19:57):
bit of a you know, timeline sequenial timeline here for
you know, just in terms of Jose Altuve speaking up
about Alex Bregman and why it carries weight when it
comes to Jose Altuve speaking about Alex Bregman. A few
weeks ago, they were in Anaheim and Chandler Rome had
a chance to catch up with al Tuove and he

(20:19):
talked about I don't think he's going anywhere, and you know,
just talking about everything he's going to try to do
to be able to keep Bregman here, and he'd continued
to speak along those same lines. I know that we
had a chance to talk with him, I believe before
Game one. I think it was the workout day is
when al Tuove asked again about Bregman and and he

(20:40):
even went even further after their season came to an
end on Wednesday, as they lost that second game to
Detroit and al Touve going as far as to say
after the loss that this club needs Bregman to stick around.

Speaker 5 (20:57):
I don't want to get to the idea of thinking
about last game with Breggy, like I said two weeks ago,
and I'm pretty confidence that he's going to be our
third baseman next year. We have to is you know,
we're not going to be the same organization without him,
So in my mind, there's not a chance that this

(21:18):
is the last game.

Speaker 4 (21:19):
All right, So not a chance this is the last game.
There's more from al two B because I actually had
the follow up question to him of I think the
question that I think a lot of people want to know.

Speaker 2 (21:28):
You are pretty confident that he is not going to
be gone.

Speaker 4 (21:31):
Why are you so confident when it sounds like everybody
out there is saying it's a foregone conclusion that Alex
Bregmant isn't here.

Speaker 2 (21:39):
Al Tuove gave me his reason.

Speaker 5 (21:41):
The guy he is, you know, he means a lot.
He gave a lot to this organization. So now it's
time for us to assertin this organization to pay him
back and make him stay here.

Speaker 6 (21:52):
Is that something that you will tell Jim Crane.

Speaker 2 (21:54):
Yeah, for sure, there you go. And you know that's
the other part as well.

Speaker 4 (21:58):
As I mentioned the Chandler ro visit with us on
the A team, he talked about how al Tuvey never
talks like this, and I know that some people were
floating this around on Twitter that he said the same
thing about Carlos Korea. Again, I wasn't here for that,
But I've also seen evidence to the contrary where he
wasn't direct in terms of, you know, saying, oh, we

(22:19):
have to have him here. There's no way we can
lose this guy. I'm going to do everything I can
to make sure that he stays here. Any of those things.
But I also think that you need to remember who
Altuve and Brugman are both represented by. They're represented by
Scott Boris, and Scott Boris was here this last offseason
when al Tuove signed his extension with the team, and
also too as well. I mean, pretty much, for all

(22:42):
intents and purposes, al Tuove probably took less than he
really could have if he had stretched this out and
even gone to free agency and gone through some negotiations
everything of the sort and decided to stay with the Astros.
And you have to wonder at that point too, if
al Touve didn't as he signed his contract, looked at
Jim Crane, looked at Dana Brown and say, hey, look,

(23:04):
I'm doing this kind of like what we saw Tom
Brady do with the New England Patriots, all those years
of taking less money to make sure that he had
enough players around him to be able to stay a
competitive and high functioning offense for them to be able
to win Super Bowls.

Speaker 2 (23:18):
And you wonder if he kind of even.

Speaker 4 (23:20):
Said as much of, look, if I'm doing this, stay
committed to us keeping this thing going, and stay committed
to us being able to win.

Speaker 2 (23:27):
So I think that all of that carries weight.

Speaker 4 (23:29):
I mean, al Tuve again is a guy that does
not speak like this very often, and if he is adamant,
then you need to listen for that very reason. It's
like the quiet guy that you have as part of
your friend group or in your locker room or whatever
it is.

Speaker 2 (23:42):
If they get up and speak, you.

Speaker 4 (23:44):
Kind of straighten up because you're like, oh, man, they're
compelled to talk. Like we heard this all the time
from Andre Johnson when he was a player with Texans,
that you'd hear about team meetings on Friday nights before
games that if Andre got up to speak, everybody listened
because they knew, Oh, if he's hell the talk, then
there's a reason for it, because he doesn't do this
very often. Now with Bregman, when it comes to it all,

(24:06):
you know, again, having a chance to ask him personally,
does he want to come back?

Speaker 2 (24:11):
And Bregman says, yeah, I want to be back here.

Speaker 3 (24:15):
I hope.

Speaker 7 (24:15):
So I hope we'll see what happens. I mean, I'm
gonna let Scott and the team handle that. Obviously, it's
free agency and I don't really have never experienced that before,
and I'll let I'll let him and all the teams

(24:36):
handle that name.

Speaker 2 (24:38):
There you go.

Speaker 4 (24:39):
So, I mean, we'll get into this a little bit
more with Ari Alexander as as said coming up next here.
But I mean there's a lot to consider in terms
of what the Astros want to do to keep this
team as intact as possible, but also too, I mean,
you know, is it something that you do that could
maybe be a detriment to this team in the few

(25:00):
I mean, we'd seen it of what precipitated to lead
up to the early twenty tens struggles with this team.
You spent emotional money during those times, and you made
unsound decisions in terms of contracts to be able to
try to get back to reaching the postseason, and not
only the postseason, but the World Series. After getting a
taste of it in two thousand and five, and those

(25:21):
moves are what spent sent the astros into a tail
spend where they had to completely hit demolition and build
this thing back up from the ground and be in
position for what they are right now. So I think
all those things have to be answered, and we'll try
to get as many answers as we can. Coming up
next with Ari Alexander from KPRC two. He joins us
right here on Space City Saturday.

Speaker 3 (25:44):
Welcome back to Space City Saturday. On Sports Talk seven.

Speaker 8 (25:48):
Ninety seven ninety Space City Saturday, Dan Matthews here with
you and until noon college football games about to get going,
and our next guest gonna have his eyes on what's
happening in college station.

Speaker 4 (26:03):
Because he's a Miszoo man. He's from KPRC too. You
see him on your TV. He is Ari alec Xander.
Not gonna talk Tigers and Aggie's with you today. Ari,
A lot of Astros to be discussed here, but I
gotta believe as soon as you get off the phone
with me, than the final preparation to be able to

(26:24):
be in front of that TV from now until about
two two thirty is gonna be in full effect.

Speaker 9 (26:28):
Right, Yeah, it's gonna be interesting to see what how
for real are the Missoo Tigers? How for real is
Texas A and M? And this is a good matchup
between these two teams. And you know in Miszoom moved
to the SEC with Texas A and M when I
was a senior in college. Right, it's not just Kyle
Field that they've had to get ready for for that atmosphere, man,
it's all over the SEC.

Speaker 4 (26:49):
Yeah, no doubt about it. So it'll be a fun
one to watch. All right, let's talk some baseball. You
were in the clubhouse with me on Wednesday, when you know,
we saw the hugs, we saw the hand and shakes,
everything that happens at the end of a season. Usually
we're used to that happening in late October early November,
and in some cases the ultimate champagne celebration, but not

(27:09):
the case this year with the shows, so a little
bit of a different tenor this year. And obviously the
theme was Alex Brugman. What happens is the last time
we see his name plate over his locker with the
number two next to it.

Speaker 2 (27:21):
Just I mean, we'll start there.

Speaker 4 (27:23):
What did you think in terms of not only what
Jose Al Tuve said, but every single player that we
spoke with there inside the clubhouse after that loss.

Speaker 9 (27:32):
Well, none of it's surprising. I mean, you know, I've
been here for five and a half years. Bregman has
been in the Astros organization for you know, nine years
now and been a key cornerstone of an organization that
has gone to seven straight out. So, yes, is he
is beloved in this city. And I think as much

(27:54):
as fans love him for what he does on the
field and off the field, his teammates love him more
because they get to see the competitive fire every day.
You know, I've done some events and stuff with Alex
and then got to know him a little bit, and
I think the way best way to describe him, can

(28:14):
I say this in a good way. He's insane. He's
insane about baseball. He has just an unreal passion for baseball,
for the little mechanical tweaks that he has to do
to get better. Because of the competitive fire he has.
I've never seen a player more into details than he

(28:39):
is in any sport, and I think Justin Verlander said
something along those lines that he's never seen a guy
that works as hard as bregmant and I think that's true,
that there's no one more interested in the minutia of
getting better at baseball because he loves it so much
than Alex Bregman. And then that all also goes with

(29:02):
his teammates in the clubhouse, because not only does he
try to get better for himself, he makes all these subjections,
he does all this extra work. I had an Astros
pitcher tell me that Bregman does his own reports on
other team's hitters. Right, Like Bregman's job is to hit,
his job is not to do reports on other team's hitters,

(29:24):
but he does. He does reports on other team's hitters,
and he'll share them with pictures. That's also what a
catcher does, right. Everyone talked about how how incredible was
that Martimo Moldonado did his own reports on hitters on
top of what the Astros give pictures for scouting reports.
Bregman does the same thing. He's not even a catcher,
he's not a pitcher. He's just doing it because he's
interested in it. And so I think that's kind of

(29:46):
the type of guy he is. That he was one
of the guys that made the main suggestion to Hunter
Brown to go to the Sinker. Then Hunter Brown turned
into an all star level pitcher.

Speaker 10 (29:56):
He's just one of these guys.

Speaker 9 (29:57):
That loves bass and just the competitive fire more than anything.
I think it would be really, really bad to lose him.
I understand why the Astros maybe wouldn't go to an
absurd giant money deal like he deserves. But you heard
what Osel Tube said and the way he said it,

(30:18):
which is very out of character for a very quiet
guy in Al Tube.

Speaker 10 (30:22):
And there's a reason for it.

Speaker 4 (30:25):
Yeah, I mean you know it all started back when
he was at LSU too, I mean where they gave
him his own key cards so he could get into
the batting cage after hours so the equipment guy didn't
have to come up there and let him back in.
So again to the point you just brought up there, Ari,
I think most fans knew that. But a workhorse, no
doubt about it, is Alex Bregman. You could follow Ari

(30:46):
Alexander on Twitter at Ari Alexander. The L in Alexander
though is a number one, so that is how you
know it is him. Plus he's verified, so you know
it's him as well. But Ari, I mean, you know,
along those same lines in terms of what Bregman's looking for.
You talk with representatives out there. I mean I don't
know if directly with anyone at the Boris Corp. But

(31:07):
I mean you know, people talk people, you know, get
an idea of what others clients are going to be
looking for, and some people that you've talked with, I mean,
what is it that Bregman wants from this? Does he
want the huge payday or does he want to try
to get as close to that but find a situation
where he can continue playing for world championships.

Speaker 2 (31:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 9 (31:28):
So, I mean as of right now, there's really no
information out there about specifically what Alex Bregman wants, but
I can sort of talk to the comp of what,
you know, what he could get based on similar players
and in terms of age and just kind of like
the production. So most agents are going to tell their players,

(31:51):
especially when they're thirty like Alex Bregman is and going
into the free agency where they can get their one
big contract, is to get that one big, big, long contract.
So most agents, Scott Boris included, will be advising Alex
Bregman to ask for an eight nine year deal seven

(32:11):
eight nine year deal, and the average value of that
deal is probably going to be similar to what Alex
Bregman is already making. He made thirty one million this
season for the Astros.

Speaker 10 (32:22):
His deal was five years, one hundred million.

Speaker 2 (32:25):
Is the deal.

Speaker 9 (32:25):
He's coming off the extension he signed with the Astros
and it escalated up and so this year was in
that twenty nine to thirty one million. So that's what
we're looking at, roughly thirty million a year. And if
you're going to treat Bregman the way that most players
when they hit their one big free agent year at age,
you know, twenty nine to thirty, that's.

Speaker 10 (32:45):
We're looking at about eight years.

Speaker 9 (32:47):
So eight years, two hundred and forty million, I think
would be a decent guess. Seven years, two hundred and
ten million, I think would be a decent guess. And
a big number that we're working off of is what
Matt Chapman got.

Speaker 10 (32:59):
They have the same magent and Scott Boris.

Speaker 9 (33:01):
Chapman got a six year, one hundred and fifty one
million dollar extension. Chapman is a slightly better defender than Bregman,
but I mean, we know Alex is no slouch. He's
a gold glove caliber's third baseman, and one of the
reasons he hasn't gotten that gold glove is because he's
had to deal with Matt Chapman being the American League.
But I don't think he's very far behind Chapman. Defensively,
Alex is excellent on defense. As a hitter, Bregman is

(33:24):
a much better hitter than Matt Chapman, and I think
that would drive his value up past that six one
fifty one. So I think you're looking at six one
fifty one as a starting point and you're going higher
than that, maybe one or two years, and definitely financially
going higher. So if I had to guess, a reasonable
ask for Alex Bregman is about seven years, two hundred

(33:46):
and ten million dollars.

Speaker 4 (33:48):
And in your mind, I mean, if the Astros do
meet him at that and do bring him back for
the numbers that you just threw out right there, I mean,
does that necessarily hamstring them from let's call it what
it is ari. I mean they need to find to
first baseman. I don't know if that's through trade. I
don't know if that option is out there via free agency.
It's not in this organization. I think we can agree

(34:08):
on that, and also too, I mean, you like what
Jake Myers did out in center field, you don't like
what he did at the plate for you this year.
So I got to believe that's another area that this
team needs to upgrade, right.

Speaker 10 (34:20):
Yeah, I mean center field in first base.

Speaker 9 (34:22):
If Kat McCormick can get back to twenty twenty three
Chas McCormick.

Speaker 10 (34:25):
Then you're fixed.

Speaker 9 (34:27):
But that's obviously not a guarantee. He had a tough
year at the plate this year. He's focused Steve Sparks
the other day, and his theory on it was that
Chaz was sort of trying to pull the ball a
little bit and it messed with its swing mechanically because
he's a guy that natural tendency is to go the
other way. And then when he sort of was something
and realized, all right, maybe let me just get back

(34:47):
to my normal going the other way type of swing mechanics,
it just took him a while to get there. And
then you obviously have to add the human element of it,
where you're trying to make swing changes, you're outing a
rough season, you're playing inconsistently, and it becomes a factor
then he got hurt, broke the finger was out for
a little bit, and actually I'd better at bats toward
the end of the year. But by that point, like
the numbers are going to look ugly, and so you know,

(35:09):
it doesn't look good. I think that right now, it's
it wouldn't be smart to trade Chaz because his value
is at his lowest and we've seen what the ceiling
sort of looks like for that type of player, and
he's a good player, and we know that he can
play well defensively. For Jake Myers, I just don't think
that Myers has really ever proven that he can hit
at a consistent level.

Speaker 10 (35:30):
He started so hot this.

Speaker 9 (35:31):
Year, and I think most people Astros fans, in the
front office and everyone was hoping that, all right, maybe
he's turned that corner and this is what we're getting,
this plus offensive player. We know he's plus plus on defense,
we know the arm is not the best, and so
I think if there is someone that you're going to
trade that has some value right now, it is Jake Myers.

Speaker 10 (35:51):
So there was rumors.

Speaker 9 (35:53):
Last off season that maybe he was could be shopped
or teams were checking in on him. I did not
hear anything of that sort myself. But I can see
where his value lies on a team that has a
deep lineup that can use a defense only sort of
player because he's really really good on defense. I do
think that that's sort of become the norm and center

(36:15):
fields around all of baseball. There just aren't a lot
of guys like I remember, you know, we were growing
up in an arrow where center field was like Andrew Jones,
where it was like this guy's awesome on defense, and
this guy crushes at the plate, and there's.

Speaker 10 (36:26):
All these guys that could hit.

Speaker 9 (36:28):
And now it feels like center field has become a
lot of guys that are really good on defense and
no hitters. And so I think that the Asters can
get away with having a defense only type of player there,
but it would be nice to see them get someone
who's a little bit more flexible on both sides of
the ball. So I think, yeah, you can upgrade from
Jake Myers. I'm not sure what that looks like. Maybe

(36:50):
it's Jacob Melton. Joey Lo Brafito obviously played a lot
of center field in Triple A before he was traded,
so I think that they had some internal options and
from the outfield to Brown, and previous regimes have done
a good job of drafting outfielders who are good on defense,
and then obviously you got to work on the bat
and then at first base. Right now, it feels like

(37:10):
we're looking at Zach Dezenzo and we're looking at John
Singleton and hoping that that can get the Astros through.
And Dana Brown's comments about how they won a World
Series with Juli Uriel having a down year in twenty
twenty two that didn't hamper them, does not lead me
to believe that they're going to be in the market
for Pete Alonzo. We're going to be in the market
for Christian Walker or Paul Goldschmidt is someone who made sense.

(37:34):
But if you're the Astros whose last deal with a
first baseman was getting an ex MVP old guy who's
on the back end of his career and it went horribly,
getting Paul Goldschmidt, who is an x MVP on the
back end of his career is not going to look
good to the fan base, even if it comes on,
you know, on a cheaper deal.

Speaker 10 (37:54):
So I think that they're in a pretty tight spot.

Speaker 9 (37:56):
Where you're either going to have to pay way up
for Pete Alonzo or Walker, or you might have to
just go with what you got or try to, you know,
scrounge up something.

Speaker 10 (38:06):
I think that if.

Speaker 2 (38:07):
You're spending the money that you.

Speaker 9 (38:09):
Have left to go into the salary into the tax
that get it. Resigning Alex Fragman and resigning Usaka Kuchi
or one of the two, I think is more important
than first base because it just right now, it does
not look like this this is a good market for them,
because you're either shopping at the very top of the

(38:31):
market or you're shopping at the bottom.

Speaker 10 (38:32):
And there's no real in between options.

Speaker 4 (38:35):
You've got about a minute left with Ari Alexander again.
You can find them on tv kPr C two. Find
him on Twitter at Ari Alexander. The L in Alexander
is a number one, so that is where you can
find him. The final one is kind of a two
parter here, Ari number one. I don't think Astros fans

(38:55):
were too happy to hear that Ryan Presley will be
part of the the the roster in twenty twenty five,
but along with that as well Dana Brown mentioning possibly
looking into adding it to the high leverage guys there
at the end.

Speaker 2 (39:09):
I mean, is that kind of signal to you. Probably
as we.

Speaker 4 (39:12):
Come out of spring training next year, we see Brian
abrayhu is the eighth inning guy, and Ryan Presley as hey,
maybe the seventh inning, or you might be even a
middle relief.

Speaker 2 (39:22):
Guy for this team.

Speaker 9 (39:23):
Now, yeah, I mean it's they had to do it
with Raphael Montero. Raffael Montaro is still back next year,
by the way, with that eleven million on the books
from Montero, and they had to keep moving him down
and leverage until they had to get to the point
where they had to get rid of you know, get
rid of him. There's a name for assignment still not released.

(39:44):
He's still with the team and he's going to try
to work his way back. But I wouldn't imagine that
drastic of a case is going to happen with Ryan Presley.
But you know that's something could happen in terms of demotion.
You're already paying the guy. You're trying to get the
most out out of him that you can. And if
Brian Abray is more effective, I think they gave him.

(40:06):
The Astros have done right by Ryan Presley other than
you maybe given his closer role to Josh Hader.

Speaker 10 (40:11):
They gave him the whole.

Speaker 9 (40:13):
Season to work his way into a form that they
believe that he can be as an eighth inning guy,
which he was for the Astros previously and was really
really good, and they gave him up until the final
game of the year. And I think now, given the
last result that we saw was him giving up a
game tying run, I don't think that they owe him

(40:33):
the eighth inning right now. And it's whoever the best
coming out of spring training, and maybe he starts in
the eighth inning role, but if we get two three
weeks into the season and Brian Obray.

Speaker 10 (40:42):
Who is out pitching him, I don't think the.

Speaker 9 (40:44):
Astros necessarily owe it to Ryan Presley to keep.

Speaker 2 (40:47):
Him in that role the way that maybe they did
this year.

Speaker 4 (40:50):
Gonna be an exciting offseason, no doubt about it. And
if you want to keep up with what is happening
with the Astros this offseason, for my money, I don't
think there is a better follow on Twitter than this man.
And you also see him on TV on KPRC two.
He's Ari Alexander. All Right, appreciate the time, buddy, We'll
catch up soon, all right. Thanks Dan, Thanks buddy. Yeah,

(41:10):
I mean, you know, when it comes to Ryan Presley,
I mean I talked about it the other night with
Ross for my Money. You know, you come out of
spring training next year. I understand there was a lot
made about going to get Josh Hater and the demotion
at the time for.

Speaker 2 (41:24):
Ryan Presley, But the fact of the matter.

Speaker 4 (41:26):
Is, I've said it, the setup man needs to be
an extension of your closer.

Speaker 2 (41:29):
Neither of them were really that good this season.

Speaker 4 (41:31):
I get that, But also though, too, you've got to
have stability in those two spots, and I think that
Hater will probably have to work on some adjustments with
that slider this offseason.

Speaker 2 (41:41):
We heard Dana Brown say it the other day, but.

Speaker 4 (41:44):
Also too as well, that you need to be able
to have as close to a lockdown option there in
the eighth inning as possible. And I feel like the
closest of those options is already here. Brian a Bray,
You from my money, Brian Abray, You's your eighth inning
setup man next year. And where Ryan Presley fits in
after that, I don't know, but you know, I understand

(42:04):
that some people might wonder, oh, was he kind of
bummed with the demotion now of the closers role this year.

Speaker 2 (42:09):
Look, you got to get out of that.

Speaker 4 (42:11):
You've got to get past that if that's the case,
and you've got to go out there and get out
and for the better part of the season.

Speaker 2 (42:17):
This year, Ryan Presley did not do that.

Speaker 4 (42:19):
So that is another reason why the Astros find themselves
in the situation they are in right now.

Speaker 2 (42:25):
All Right.

Speaker 4 (42:26):
We talked a lot about Dana Brown in that conversation
with Ari Alexander coming out next. I've talked about the
trends of what to look for in regards to the
Astros GM in the past. When he says certain things
like he did on Thursday, I'd say, we need to
believe him. We'll talk about that as we close out
the ten o'clock hour here on Space City Saturday. Dan
Matthews here with you on your home with the Astros

(42:47):
and the Rockets at Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 1 (42:52):
This is Space City Saturday. I'm Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 10 (42:58):
Oh.

Speaker 4 (42:58):
This is no probably just get slipped off while they're
later tracks. They had got cold when this came out
when I graduated high school twenty years ago. It's crazy anyway,
Space City Saturday, Dan Matthews here with you on your
home of the Astros and the Rockets Sports Talk seven
to ninety In terms of you know, the Stros obviously

(43:24):
Game one Alds today, which is supposed to be the
series they were going to be in up in Cleveland,
but instead we're watching an old friend, aj Hinch. The
American League postseason, by the way, littered it with former Astros.
So if you are inclined to still pay attention to
what's happening in the postseason, I mean, for me, honestly,

(43:46):
it's going to be if it's on where I'm at,
I'll peek up at it. But to say that I'm
going to be following closely, I don't think I will be.
I mean, baseball is very much a who do you
care about? Necessarily? I mean, I understand, you know, and
I've got MLB dot TV. I'll watch games, you know,
the Dodgers, Padres, whoever it is, you know, during the season,

(44:08):
just if you know it's one of those I'm going
to bed and watching and you know, just want to
see good baseball being played.

Speaker 2 (44:14):
That's pretty much it.

Speaker 4 (44:15):
But to say that I'm going to be paying close attention, no,
I will not. But I mean, we do have some
pretty good matchups. I mean, you know, I think all
four of them are compelling. I mean the National League
side is I think must see TV in certain cases.
I mean, Dodgers and Padres. That's gonna be fun to watch.
Also too, you want to talk about another matchup of

(44:38):
fan bases that hate each other, our good buddy Ari Alexander,
big Mets guy, the Mets and Phillies taking.

Speaker 2 (44:44):
On each other.

Speaker 4 (44:45):
Kind of that Interstate ninety five rivalry right there. I guess,
if you will, is that the interstate that runs between
New York and Philly.

Speaker 2 (44:53):
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (44:53):
Somebody out there can probably tell me, but anyway, it's
going to be exciting to pay attention to on that
side as well, and of course the Yankees and Royals
on the American League side.

Speaker 2 (45:04):
Go Yuli Guriel. I love that.

Speaker 4 (45:07):
I saw it on Twitter the other day, and for
attribution purposes, I apologize for not remembering who threw this
out there, but they said, you know, Yuli Guriel has
a chance to do the funniest thing possible, and he's
not wrong or she whoever threw that out there, they
are not wrong in terms of what Yulie could do.
He continued to be an Astros legend at that point.

(45:29):
Dana Brown and what we can expect from him this
off season. We had a chance to catch up with
he and Joe Aspada after the season came to an
end and they met with us on Thursday. One of
the things that Dana Brown talked about was off season
priorities and what to expect from this team as he
and his staff go to work trying to build up

(45:49):
the roster for twenty twenty five.

Speaker 11 (45:51):
Well, first of all, you know, one of the things
we want to make sure we do is get back
deep into the postseason. I mean, that's going to be
our vision, that's going to be our focus. And we're
not taking anything off the table in terms of what
we would do, whether it's making trades or you know,
signing a free agent, we're not taking anything off the table. So,

(46:14):
but the main focus would be to get back to
the postseason again and to go as deep as we
can go and get back to the World Series.

Speaker 4 (46:23):
There you go, nothing off the table, according to Dana Brown,
and I believe him when it comes to that, because
I've talked about this before with the Astros GM that
it was going to be interesting to see how he
handled his business, and I think that he's handled it
pretty much the same way that his boss in Atlanta did.
Remember I talked about it in the past, and if
you don't, I'll try to lay it out as quickly

(46:44):
as possible.

Speaker 2 (46:44):
But Alex Anthopolis was.

Speaker 4 (46:45):
A guy that is the GM of the Braves, and
he does his business in a very particular way. Number One,
I remember when he was hired, he told us not
an arrogance and annoying and you know, obnoxious way like
the former Texans head coach did of trying to tell

(47:06):
the media how things were going to be when he
took over. Yeah, first off, Bill, win ball games and
actually set a culture of winning before you gravy train
off where you just came from and expect people to
believe that that's just going to translate here. Because you
were part of the same staff as Bill Belichick, you
learned pretty quickly that's not the case. But regardless, you know,

(47:27):
he just kind of said, hey, look, you know, I'll
give you my number. You can text me whenever you want,
you can do whatever. I'm just telling you right now,
I don't do rumors. If you ask me about a rumor,
I'm just not going to comment on it, and sure
enough he didn't. And if nothing else too, if you
ever did text him about certain things, he would, you know, say,
for example, hey, you know, rumors are that you guys
are in on show heyo Tani, Yeah, he'd look pretty

(47:49):
good in the Braves uniform something jokingly like that. I mean,
you know, nothing too serious, but I mean he just,
you know, more often and it's not more often than not,
he would never delve into that. And I think Dana
Brown is kind of a similar type of guy that
he's going to keep it a pretty tight circle in
terms of how they're going to build up this roster.
But another thing is too is the way that they

(48:12):
handled free agents. Free Agents for the most part that
were not part of their organization already were signed two
short term deals, even guys that were brought back. I mean,
Charlie Morton kind of in the same you know, mold
as you say Kakuchi is with the Astros, I think
if you say Kakuchi is back with the Astros next
year and beyond, it's probably looking like a two year

(48:33):
deal with a third for an option if he can
get something better.

Speaker 2 (48:36):
Out elsewhere.

Speaker 4 (48:37):
I don't think the Astros will be too torn up
to let him pursue that option. But also though too,
I mean, you heard him the other day talk about
how he really has enjoyed his time here, the brief
time that he was here, and he'd like to come
back because some of the adjustments that they made for
him have probably helped him become a even more effective
pitcher going forward. So you know, I think that's something

(48:59):
to keep an eye on. But that's probably the mold
that you're going to be looking for trades. You heard
him mention the possibility of trades. Alexanthopolis loved trades. As
a matter of fact, most of his moves were not
on the free agents side, they were on the trade side.
And what does Dana Brown have to trade? Well, Number one,
with some of the guys we saw come up and

(49:19):
pitch this year for this team, he's got a little
bit more pitching depth than they had probably coming into
last season.

Speaker 2 (49:26):
So that's one.

Speaker 4 (49:27):
Two, what can happen with does somebody out there covert
Jake Myers? Does somebody out there say, hey, we can
improve Jake Myers as a hitter here? We already know
what he is defensively, let's go that route, or even
some of the guys down in the minor leagues. Does
the Shay Whitcomb interest? Somebody out there does Zach Desenzo interest,
somebody out there. All those different types of things we'll

(49:47):
have to pick up and carry over to the other side.
James and Kline, I see you right there as well
as Al on the west side. Get to all of
y'all on the other side as well. You want to
join them, we'll continue the astros conversation. That's someone three
two one two five seven ninety. Once again, that's someone
three two one two five seven ninety. As we continue
to roll along here on Space City Saturday.

Speaker 1 (50:16):
Welcome aboard, Welcome to another Space City Saturday on Sports
Talk seven ninety Dad Matthews Live and local h Town
breakdown of the world that matters to you, the Houston
sports world.

Speaker 2 (50:29):
All these great Houston fans here. We love you all.

Speaker 3 (50:33):
So finish up on that to do list.

Speaker 1 (50:36):
Flute up the cooler, because you can't drink in talk
sports all day if you don't start now bear me
in the eight.

Speaker 3 (50:44):
This is Space City Saturday. That's insane. Here's seven nineties
Dad Matthews.

Speaker 4 (50:56):
And it's a good time to start right now because
college football, the eleven o'clock hour games have kicked off
or about to kick off. I think here in about
a minute or two, they're gonna go in there in
college station between MISSOO and Texas A and m NO
Texas this week the Longhorns off as next week of
course red River they're in DFW there at the Cotton Bowl,

(51:21):
so we'll be paying close attention to that as well
as the UH Cougars.

Speaker 2 (51:26):
Last night, nice win.

Speaker 4 (51:28):
On my way home from dinner, shout it out to
Kevin Ashenfelder and Ted party over there on KPRC nine
to fifty, our sister station as part of us here
at iHeartRadio Houston doing a great job on the call,
and made a joke with them on a text. I said,
you know, hey, you know, you guys are sounding great.
I guess it helps to have good actual offense on

(51:49):
the field, right, doesn't that help a little bit?

Speaker 2 (51:51):
So?

Speaker 4 (51:52):
Xeon Chris last night's a great option for Willie Fritz's
team as they went up there and beat a three
and two TCU team and really kind of controlled the
game all the way through. But able to win for
the first time there since nineteen eighty nine. So great
win for Willy Fritz and the staff there at u
of H first Big twelve win of the Willy Fritz era.

(52:12):
So I think, if nothing else, it kind of showed
you that the future is bright over there. He is
a heck of a coach, and that looked like a
much improved football team in that game.

Speaker 2 (52:23):
And you know, their.

Speaker 4 (52:24):
Defense has been pretty salty all season long. I think
that's been kind of the most consistent part of that
UH team. But we'll see how it all goes going forward.
So not a ton of college football on today's show,
much more than just a mention. A lot of astros
conversation is part of the discussion. Was talking about Dana
Brown in the last segment. A couple more things on that.

(52:45):
But James and Klein wants away in here on Space
City Saturday.

Speaker 2 (52:49):
James, what's going on?

Speaker 12 (52:51):
Yeah, this Hayward and Gamble. I know they had him
for the rest of the season. They do they have
him for the following season. I mean, they're gonna be
back next year.

Speaker 4 (53:00):
I don't know their contract situations, but as far as
I believe, I think they are both free agents. But
now that you mentioned that, I will look that up.
I mean, I'm assuming you probably were huge fans of
what they added to this roster this year.

Speaker 12 (53:13):
Well about Gamble, he brought spark as far as hitting,
and Hayward as well.

Speaker 13 (53:18):
I mean, he had some power and he doesn't strike
out a whole lot.

Speaker 12 (53:22):
So I kind of like both the guys, and you know,
I'm just wondering if they're glad to just spring training
or they're just okay, thanks guys, well you know, good luck.

Speaker 13 (53:30):
How they're going to handle that situation.

Speaker 4 (53:33):
Yeah, I mean I think right now, you know, as
we talked about, I mean, in terms of the overall,
you know, priorities for the Astros this offseason, I mean,
I think we know who number one is, James. It's
to try to bring back Alex Bregman, and they are
going to try everything they can to be able to
make sure that happens. Both players, as I'm talking with
you right now, both free agents, but both players who

(53:56):
I know for a fact really enjoyed their time here
with the Astros.

Speaker 2 (54:00):
Hayward really did. Gamble did as well.

Speaker 4 (54:02):
Obviously, his season came to a premature end with him
running into the wall there in Anaheim. But I mean
I think there are probably players they will keep an
eye on, and if the situation is right for them,
for either one or both of them to come back,
then yeah, I'm sure that Dana Brown will entertain doing that,
either as you said, as a spring training invite or

(54:25):
even just you know, straight up as a major league
signee and you're part of the roster, You're you're going
to be breaking camp with us, and you're part of
this team.

Speaker 13 (54:34):
All right, Well, thank you. That's all. I just thought
maybe had some more insight on that, But that was good.

Speaker 2 (54:38):
Thank you, awesome, Thank you so much. Appreciate the call.

Speaker 4 (54:41):
No, I mean, look, you know I talked about it
with Jason Hayward of I mean, you heard how glowingly
players talked about him, you know, Mauricio Dumont in the
clubhouse after that game, you know, talking about you know,
growing up in Non Duras and watching him, you know,
in his major league debut and just following his career
all the way through and getting to share a clubhouse
with him, and you know, just you know how guys

(55:02):
talked about really sort of a leadership role that he
stepped into.

Speaker 2 (55:06):
Immediately.

Speaker 4 (55:07):
I mean, you're talking about someone who again has been
a pros pro ever since day one as a major leaguer,
and he came up as a young twenty year old kid.
They're in the early twenty tens with the Atlanta Braves
alongside Freddie Freeman, and they were part of kind of
the rejuvenation of that organization. I mean, remember that was

(55:28):
an organization that had won fourteen straight in l E's
titles and had kind of hit a little bit of
a snag and made the postseason here and there. But
those were supposed to be the guys who kind of
carry the torch from Chipper Jones and the crew and
be able to put them in position to, you know,
get into the postseason, get deep into the postseason for
some time. And as he's gotten older, i mean he's

(55:49):
become a family man. He has, you know, had his
priorities change in that regard, but he's always been a
pros pro when it comes down to how he handles himself.
He was a popular guy in the clubhouse there with
the Cubs. Remember when the Cubs won the World Series
in twenty sixteen, Jason Hayward as they were going through
that rain delay there in Cleveland was the guy that

(56:09):
got up and spoke to the team about stay focused,
be ready to go. This is ours to win, and
we can go out there and make it happen. And
he helped make it happen because the Cubs were able
to win the World Series that year. And then he
went out to LA played with the Dodgers. Same deal,
I mean kind of you know, I think in certain ways,
like when Tony Kemp was DF eight here with the

(56:30):
Astros that you know, it was the same kind of
feeling there in the clubhouse there in La of wait
this guy. I mean, we love this guy, we want
to have this guy around, and the Dodgers felt like
it was time for him to move on, and so
he did and he found a home here with the Astros.
So I would be probably shocked, Jeames, if both of

(56:50):
them are back, but I would not be shocked if
either one of them are back. And again, I mean,
you know where Hayward is in his career at this point.
He is now let me see how old Jason Hayward is.
He is thirty five and will turn thirty six next August.
So he's on the later stages of his career. I mean,

(57:11):
I think if you offer him a decent enough deal
for a year, maybe an option for a second, then yeah,
you could possibly have him back. And that provides you
some outfield depth. I mean, you saw what he could
do out in left field, you saw what he could
do out in right field. And again, I mean a
veteran presence in that clubhouse. And we talked about this
the other day with Chandler Rome that if you lose
Alex Bregman, that's gonna be something you're going to be

(57:33):
looking to try to replace. Is somebody that is a
good veteran leader in that room. And one of the
guys that he mentioned too over at first base was
a possibility of you don't bring back Bregman, that money
can be spent elsewhere. A guy like Anthony Rizzo and
what he means to teams in terms of, you know,
how he handles himself. He puts together good at bats.

(57:55):
The average is a little down. I get that he
gives you good defense over there at first base, but
he's sood that would be widely respected in that clubhouse.
I mean, if that's somebody, that's a possibility also to
another name. Again, the average down but the power way
up forty plus home runs this year. Anthony Santander, who
is a fellow countryman with Jose Altuve, and as Chandler

(58:16):
Roma pointed out, very close with Jose Altuve. So that's
somebody else that could be a possibility to be looked
at as offseason moves. So the chances are a plenty
out there for the Astros to be able to add
and you know, just to kind of build off of
what I was talking about with Dana Brown in terms of,
you know, what to look for in terms of building

(58:38):
this roster going forward. I mean, you know, he obviously
is trying to find good players that can come in
here and sure up this this lineup, because this is
an offense that is going to need to improve in
twenty twenty five if this team is going to have
a chance to not only win the American League West again,
but you have to suspect that the Mariners are going
to make moves. You have to suspect that the Rangers

(58:59):
are going to try to be in position to be
able to get back into the postseason next year after
missing out this year, coming off the World Series last year.
I mean, I don't think there's any doubt about it,
And I know that some people were pretty annoyed with
me responding to a Rangers fan that shouted out the
Astros saying, hey, look, you know I don't like you guys,
but respect for what you just accomplished. I said, hey, look,

(59:20):
you know this is a team that's incredibly talented there
in Arlington. They'll be back in the fold next year.
I don't have any doubts about that. So that's somebody
else to concern yourself with as well. And you know
that's that's something that the Astros have been, you know,
looking at. But if it comes to trades for a
possibility for Dana Brown this offseason, I think you need

(59:41):
to look at who is available. And I understand that
the farm system is not what it used to be,
but let's also to keep an eye on some of
the trades that Dana Brown has already made. The most
recent one I'll use for an example, who was traded away.
You know, you traded away Will Wagner for Yusa Ka Kouchi,
along with Joey lo Berfido and also with Jake Bloss.

(01:00:04):
But we'll start with Wagner first, pretty blocked wherever he
was going to try to play anywhere on the field.
Second base, we know that that's that place was blocked.
Third base, likely blocked at least in the immediate with
Alex Bregman, and still likely blocked in the future because
I don't think that you wanted to go with him.

Speaker 2 (01:00:22):
As your everyday third baseman.

Speaker 4 (01:00:23):
That's number one, Jake bloss Where does he fit in
in terms of the pitching rotation. You've still got Luis
Garcia coming back sometime this next season, You're gonna have
Christian Javier, You're gonna have Jose Orkeaty coming back. Lance McCullers,
what becomes of him going forward? Does he make a
move to the bullpen. I know that that's something he
doesn't like to talk about or even have brought up
to him, but I think it's something at this stage

(01:00:45):
because when it comes to McCullers, I think if you're
expecting Lance McCullers to be what he's been in the past,
I really think you're gonna be disappointed. He's been almost
away for the last two years, being away for you know,
two times three sixty five however many days that is,
that is a really long time to come back and

(01:01:06):
still be as effective as you were in the past.
I think that you're probably going to be looking at
a guy that's going to be playing a lot of
catch up next year in terms of trying to get
back to being that pitcher again. And that's why I
think a bullpen option could be a good one for him,
or even a spot start here and there.

Speaker 2 (01:01:22):
But let's call it what it is.

Speaker 4 (01:01:24):
What has he not proven during his career that he
can stay healthy as a starter. What is a chance
for him to be able to add longevity to his career?
The bullpen as a possibility for him. So I think
that you know, you look at players, and you know
any of the guys that could possibly be traded. As
I mention the three for you say Kakuchi, that kind
of to me signaled from Dana Brown of can we

(01:01:44):
lose these guys and continue sustaining what we've done so
far to this point, And the answer was yes, because
do you necessarily have long term goals and aspirations for
those guys. I think the answer to that was no.
And that's why you saw those guys going to Toronto
and you saw you, say, Kakuchi coming back here.

Speaker 2 (01:02:00):
So any of the trades made this offseason.

Speaker 4 (01:02:02):
I think that's going to be something that you look
at of do the Astros have long term plans for
Shay Whitcomb, DoD they have long term plans for Zach Desnzo,
even for some of the other guys. I mean, you know,
there were possibilities. I mean some people thought that Bryce
Matthews was going to be gone for Yandy Diaz. I mean,
that's something to keep an eye on. Even though that
you heard Dana Brown mentioned Matthews by name the other day,

(01:02:23):
is somebody that they have an eye on. And also
Jacob Melton as well, So it doesn't sound like those
guys will be available on the trade market. But that
usually kind of in the same mold of his boss
that he had in Atlanta. That's kind of the way
that they did business. And it'll be interesting to see
if Dana carries that over here to Houston as well.
All right, coming up next, we'll continue the Astros conversation.

(01:02:43):
I see some of you want to weigh in on
the phone lines. I see Dave, I see Bill right there.
If you want to join them there on the phone lines,
you can do so. Sebon one three, two one two
five seven ninety. Once again, that's seb one three two
one two five, seven ninety. Because the final thing we'll
talk about with the Astros is this was once a weakness,
but it soon became a strength.

Speaker 2 (01:03:03):
How strong is it for the Astros.

Speaker 4 (01:03:05):
We'll talk about that on the other side as we
continue to roll along here on Space City Saturday. Dan
Matthews here with you on your home with the Astros
and the Rockets.

Speaker 1 (01:03:16):
Space City Saturday continues Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 4 (01:03:22):
Sports Talk seven ninety, Man Matthews here with you. We're
gonna do a little bit of Texans in the next
segment as we had a chance to catch up with
Jeremy White of Joe and Jeremy in the mornings. They're
up in Buffalo on the Bill's flagship station, WGR, so

(01:03:42):
we will get into some of that conversation. He was
on with us on the A team yesterday. So good stuff,
especially on the Bills. How they stack up right now
coming in. I mean Von Miller suspended, he won't play.
Do you have some other injuries to on that Bill's team.
We're uage product at Oliver not going to be playing

(01:04:02):
in this one. He's out with injury as well as
they are dealing it with some injury issues there, but
also too, I mean, something we've talked about all off
season here, and you know, as you pay attention to
the press conferences this week up there in Buffalo, you
still see Josh Allen being asked about his relationship with

(01:04:25):
Stefan Diggs, and he was not very shy in terms
of saying there is no issue there. We're all good,
so you know, stop trying to kind of make this
a thing. So that is something that continues to be
talked about, and I'm sure tomorrow all the cameras will
be Josh Allen comes out for his warm ups, you know,

(01:04:47):
Steffan Diggs comes out for his warm ups. Do they
acknowledge each other, do they talk to each other for
a few minutes, all those different types of things. I'm
sure that's all going to be part of it. But
that's just the way it goes. We're all looking for
storylines all the time, right, so probably going to be
the case. So, yeah, we had a good conversation with
Jeremy White. We will hear that here coming up in
the bottom of this hour.

Speaker 2 (01:05:07):
But one final one on the astros.

Speaker 4 (01:05:10):
If you want to weigh in you can do so
Semon one three two one two five seven ninety. Once again,
that's Sebon one three two one two five seven ninety.
I want to take us all back to last February
and it was me and Ross in West Palm Beach
for spring training and I joined the Shawn Salisbury Show
and one of the questions that saw you know, Sean
had asked me at the time was what you perceive

(01:05:31):
to be a weakness for this team right now? And
at the time, we pretty much knew that Justin Verlander
was not gonna be ready to go for the season.
Same deal with Lance Pacolor, same deal with uh with
Luis Garcia. We didn't know at the time that you
were going to have injuries pop up for both Jose
Archidi and Christian Hobber. But the starting rotation was a

(01:05:52):
little bit of a question mark, and for much of
the beginning part of the season it.

Speaker 2 (01:05:56):
Remained that way because I've said at.

Speaker 4 (01:05:59):
Numerous times you didn't, in an ideal world want to
have to use Spencer Arraghetti this year, but you ended
up having to use him because you just had really
nobody else to go with in the starting rotation. You
had some inconsistent performances at the beginning of the year
from Fromber Valdez, but then Fromber got back to being
twenty twenty two Fromber all over again, and you're like, Okay,

(01:06:20):
here's that guy again.

Speaker 2 (01:06:21):
We like that guy.

Speaker 4 (01:06:22):
We love hashtag good Fromber. That's great to see early
on in the season. We talked about a little bit
earlier with Ari Alexander and how much Alex Bregman helped him.
But Hunter Brown probably if you could go back the
Doc Brown DeLorean and go to the clubhouse there in
Kansas City after that start where he couldn't even get
out of the first inning and tell him, hey, let

(01:06:43):
me show you what you're gonna look like in June
and July and August for this team this year, and
what he looked like in that start the other night.
I mean, Hunter Brown was outstanding in that start against
the Tigers, and if he got any type of capable
offense whatsoever in that game, then we're talking about it
going to a winner take all game three there for
a chance to move on to the Alds. And with

(01:07:06):
you being at home, I understand what it's been for
the Astros on the home field, which I mean, the
haters have kind of let you know what the Astros
record has been in the postseason at Minute Made Park
for the last couple of years, especially most recently. But
it was a chance for you to be able to
win that game, and Hunter Brown was a huge reason
for you being in that position. And we'll see what

(01:07:28):
happens with Usay Kakuchi. But I say all of that
to say that the Astros are in position now to
have a ton of options at their avail when they
go to spring training next year.

Speaker 2 (01:07:39):
And I mean I almost think that you're going to be.

Speaker 4 (01:07:41):
Looking at spring training starters plural during that time of
about rolling seven or eight deep at that point, and
maybe even more than that, maybe even nine or ten
in terms of trying to whittle that down and see
who fits.

Speaker 2 (01:07:56):
And also too as.

Speaker 4 (01:07:57):
Well, I mean I talked about it with trades as
a possibility. I mean, does Dana Brown feel comfortable packaging
a couple of those guys to be able to go
out and get somebody that can be a meaningful bat
for this team. I mean we talked about it again
the other day. I can't tell you enough to go
listen to the conversation we have with Chandler Rome on
the iHeartRadio app on the eighteen page to go find

(01:08:19):
that in studio visit that we had with Chandler.

Speaker 2 (01:08:22):
But some of the stuff he brought up was outstanding.

Speaker 4 (01:08:24):
And one of the things he did bring up is, look,
we're trying to figure out what's going to be the
future of Alex Bregman here in an Astro's uniform, and
the Saint Louis Cardinals are one of the teams out
there that are entering into a full rebuild. One of
the guys that could be available that would probably be
the same amount of money that you'd be looking to
pay Alex Bregman. He's taking a step back a little

(01:08:46):
bit offensively, but you also don't lose anything defensively over
at third base. And Nolan Aeronato, he's thirty three now,
and I understand, you know, people's thoughts about aging players,
but you know that's somebody out there that maybe Dana Brown,
could you package a couple of those pitchers, and you
know one of your higher end prospects or even position

(01:09:07):
player is a Chas McCormick, somebody that would fit into
the plans of what the Cardinals are looking for. Or
even you know, a Jake Myers fit into that as well.
Along with a couple of those guys, be enough to
be able to get Nolan Aeronato.

Speaker 2 (01:09:19):
I mean, you know, I.

Speaker 4 (01:09:20):
Think that that's something that this team will be looking at.
I think that priority number one again, could you bring
back Alex Bregman. And if you can do that, then
I think that other chances to be able to upgrade
this roster are going to be done either through hey,
let's give this guy a shot as a you know,
a spring training invite, or even to as well. More
than anything, I think a couple of those ways that

(01:09:42):
you're able to bring in players is going to be
through trade. And I think that if I had to
predict what is going to be a theme of this
Astros twenty twenty four into twenty twenty five offseason, It's
going to be trades of plenty.

Speaker 2 (01:09:54):
I think Dana Brown's gonna be wheeling a dealing.

Speaker 4 (01:09:56):
I think that's what he is going to be looking
to do in term of improving it not only the lineup,
but also too. He did not seem like he was
opposed to improving the back end of the rotation. Do
you go a veteran guy there in the back end
of the rotation as a four or five starter for you,
or even too as well to help out in the
bullpen as well. I mean, you know, we talked about

(01:10:18):
it with Ari Alexander that I think next year your
setup man is Brian A bray You. In my mind,
I think that he has the stuff to be the
setup man for you, and I also think that he's
a more effective pitcher at this point in his career
than Ryan Presley is. I would feel a lot better
heading into Josh Hater with Brian A bray You than
I would Ryan Presley, and I think we saw that
play out a lot this season. So all of those

(01:10:40):
options again on the table. I mean, you heard Dana
Brown say it's in that segment. You know, nothing is
off the table at this point for the Astros in
terms of trying to get back deeper into the postseason
next season and beyond. All right, let's look into some
Texans talk. Jeremy White from WGR in Buffalo joined us
yesterday on the A Team We Come Back. I want

(01:11:01):
to give you a chance to hear from him as
we continue along here in the eleven o'clock hour, on
your home of the Astros and the Rockets on Dan Matthews,
this is Space City Saturday.

Speaker 1 (01:11:13):
It's Space City Saturday, one Sports Talk seven night here.

Speaker 4 (01:11:18):
Sort of a fitting song, Melvin, But also though too,
it's early on in the NFL season, so the Texans
in this case have more than one shot, but they
got one shot tomorrow, So Eminem is correct about that.
Melvin Brown, by the way behind the glass there in
our uptown at Galleria Studios.

Speaker 2 (01:11:37):
The Texans taking on the.

Speaker 4 (01:11:38):
Bills tomorrow over there at NRG Stadium should be a
fun atmosphere for this one. The Texans like the Bills
a little banged up, still know Joe Mixon for this one.
Gonna be interesting to see what Damian Pierce. It probably
sounds like he's not going to be going another week,
So it looks like Cam Akers and Daria Goomba Walle
going to be your running backs tomorrow for that one.

(01:12:02):
And the Texans also to dealing with some injury issues elsewhere.
We'll see what happens with Titus Howard if he's able
to give it a go tomorrow or if Blake Fisher
is playing at right tackle. So that is all on
the Texans side. As for the Bill side, yesterday on
the A team, we had a chance to catch up
with Jeremy White, part of Jeremy or Joe and Jeremy,
the Joe and Jeremy Morning Show there on WGR in Buffalo,

(01:12:27):
and they are the Bill's flagship station. As we had
a chance to catch up with him about the Bill
side of tomorrow's matchup.

Speaker 14 (01:12:35):
Jeremy White from radio there in Buffalo, the same thing
we brought up as the show began. Even though it
sounds silly, they've been to the postseason so many times
it sounds less silly. But yeah, this is a tiebreaker game,
five games into the season, and there's a quarterback matchup
that I think the rest of the country should be

(01:12:55):
interested in.

Speaker 15 (01:12:56):
Between C. J.

Speaker 14 (01:12:56):
Stroud and Josh Allen different stages of their careers, certainly
the two most likely probably three along with Lamar Jackson.
If somebody's going to upend the Chiefs and Mahomes, it's
going to be one of these three guys in the AFC,
if they can prevent them from again dominating here. I
was looking back at Josh Allen's career. He's gone four
straight games to open this season without an interception. He's
only gone four straight games without an interception one other

(01:13:19):
time in his career, and that was all the way
back in twenty nineteen. What is it about this year's team,
this full season? I assume with Joe Brady's offense that
you think has had him clicking so well, well.

Speaker 3 (01:13:32):
That's the thing.

Speaker 6 (01:13:33):
Like the passing game for Josh Allen and these Bills
is a shorter air yards passing game with more yards
after catch by design. This has been like a two
to three year transition from Brian Dable as the offensive
coordinator a few years back. Then they go to Ken
Dorsey and it seemed to want yards and there were
thirty second in the NFL in the yak yards. With

(01:13:54):
Ken Dorsey in a full season one they were the
thirty first, and then Dorsey got a second season, got
fired half way through. I kind of think it's a
bit of chasing something they didn't really have to chase.
But nevertheless, they are here now and now they are
a yak yard team. So what's different about Alan? Why
are the fewer interceptions? I think it's because the ball
isn't traveling as far, so safer throws easy button throws.

(01:14:17):
You know, he says zero interceptions through four games. I
don't necessarily think that's the best thing. You know, he's
a guy that throws down the field. He's a guy
that can rip it pretty much anywhere. And to this
point in his career, you know, you'll see the stats
that he leads the league in interceptions since his time
in the league. A lot of Bills fans kind of
don't care because he's such an exciting player. He's such

(01:14:37):
a good player that take a bogey birdie golf. For sure,
there's some bogey, there's more birdies, and this guy is
worth letting him off the leash, even he uses that
phrase sometimes. So they've got him under control and that
can be good. But there are going to be times
that they got a lot of loose and hopefully those
aren't too few and far between them.

Speaker 16 (01:14:55):
Talking to Jeremy White of w g R in Buffalo,
Texans and Bills this Sunday here in Houston with a
new and kickoff. All right, So the elephant in the room,
I guess would be Stefan Diggs.

Speaker 15 (01:15:06):
What the elephant in our room? Right in huge right
clearly did a couple I guess this is probably a
two parter.

Speaker 16 (01:15:13):
Did were you amused at how much was made about
Stefan Diggs being a bad locker room guy by maybe
some members of the national media, or maybe you agree
with that.

Speaker 15 (01:15:22):
That's the first part of the question. The second part
is where.

Speaker 16 (01:15:26):
You did you think that the Bills offense would drop
off when that transaction was made?

Speaker 10 (01:15:32):
And you know, are you surprised that it really hasn't.

Speaker 6 (01:15:35):
Yeah, well, you won't find a bigger Digs fan than me, period.
Like I liked him before the Bills went and got him,
and when he forced his way out of Minnesota, as
it said, I was thrilled. He had great success here.
He was a huge part of what they did. I
am amused, among other things, I some Bills fans like

(01:15:56):
to rewrite the history of his time here. He was dominant,
he was amazing, He was cool. Like I said, you
won't find a bigger fan. Thing got tense, and you
know it pumps to find anybody to tell you really
what happened. Jeremy Fowler wrote a big piece on the
divorce between Digs and the Bills and quoted a bunch
of team sources, and there wasn't any team source in

(01:16:16):
there saying that he demanded targets. My impression at Diggs
has always been he is manic about winning. He's insane
about wanting to win. And when they went from AFC
championship team to divisional round exit, divisional round exit, divisional
round exit, he started to ask questions, why are we
plateauing here? Why aren't we moving forward? And the Cincinnati

(01:16:38):
game two years ago, the Bills losing the playoffs by
seventeen at home to Cincinnati. That's the game that happens
in the DeMar Hamlin season. So it's kind of be
like the haze of post Hamlin and the team was
a shell of itself, and you could say that guys
weren't focused and guys really had trouble focusing, and that
is a reasonable case to make. But Diggs laser focused
on the sideline. Diggs is raising his arms at Alan

(01:17:01):
and we don't know what said. No one ever has
heard what was said. Was it get your head in
the game? Was it what are we doing out here?
Was it wake up? The point is I'd ever had
a problem with that on any level. You know, you're
in a big game and someone's upset that you're losing.
That's what it's supposed to look like to me. So Digs,
to me, is a guy that's always been able to
go between the lines and put anything that's on the

(01:17:23):
outside to the side during the hambling game. Some of
those reporting on this from Tyler Dunn, who writes about
the Bills at length of other NFL stuff. He reported
that Digs are one of the guys that when they
thought they were going to go out and have to
play again, he started to move people to do it.
So I've always got the impression that Digs is someone
that's very good at compartmentalizing and focusing everything there can

(01:17:43):
be on the field, and some players aren't good at that,
and some players can't take someone that intense all the time. So,
you know, the expiration date on the relationship between Digs
and the Bills came. I'm not happy about it. I
do think they will continue to miss him. I still
think they do miss him now, or a player of
his caliber. In this offense, you know, it's got it success,

(01:18:03):
it's got Josh Allen. But he's a great player. He's
one of the bills best players of all time. And
I am not one to rewrite history. And act like
I'm glad he's gone.

Speaker 15 (01:18:12):
That's an opinion.

Speaker 14 (01:18:13):
A lot of people here share all the things about
he wants to win again.

Speaker 15 (01:18:17):
It's new here. He's on a one year deal here, so.

Speaker 14 (01:18:20):
Granted there's some differences, but I think a lot of
people see it here in Houston similarly for about who
the person is and the leader that he is and
how helpful he's been. Curious from a how do you
rationalize this standpoint only in that they're still running the
Brady offense this year quite obviously not Tom Joe. When
they made that switch last year, it was their intention
and it played out to limit how much Diggs was

(01:18:43):
a focus of their offense.

Speaker 15 (01:18:44):
He was a lot less of a focus.

Speaker 14 (01:18:46):
He got the ball less, they targeted less, they did
other things, and they won a bunch of football games
to close out the year. They won six out of
seven and basically stole the division. He can still play.
He's going to be a bigger part of the offense
here than he was in the latest ages of their
offense there. Why did that, I guess work for the
Bills last year, which they're continuing this year.

Speaker 6 (01:19:08):
Part of the reason that it worked is that their
defense came around. I mean, if you go look at
the games that they won, they did score a bunch
of points in a loss to Philadelphia, and then they
got some wins late in the season. They beat the Chiefs,
which was big. They beat Dallas by running the football,
and that's great. I mean, everybody runs on Dallas.

Speaker 3 (01:19:22):
We've seen that, right, And then they got.

Speaker 6 (01:19:23):
To win over San Diego on a last minute kick
over Ethan Stick. Like it's a little bit of rewriting
that stretch of Bill's football to say Joe Brady fixed things.
What happened was the Bill stopped turning the ball over
and they got their defense to play healthy. Matt Milano
missed most of the season last year. It took the
Bills a long time to find answers at linebacker and
to kind of bring things together defensively, because early in

(01:19:46):
the season their losses were a loss to Denver where
they had twelve men on the field for the game
winning kick. That's not on Stefan Diggs. The game, they
give up game winning drives to Mac Jones, not on Diggs,
an overtime kick return, touchdown, turn touchdown, not on Digs.
So it was one of these things where all of
a sudden, the win loss, even though it's not related

(01:20:06):
to one wide receiver, became a talking point. So you know,
if the Bills use that as a bit of a
lever to pull, that's fine. They got out from under
his money. They are going to clear their cap. They're
going to be sixty two million dollars clear next year,
taken on the dead eat dead money. When you have
Josh Allen, you kind of have that buffer. You can
have a transition year and still win eleven games. So

(01:20:28):
no matter what with Josh Allen, it's going to look good.
Right now. At receiver, it looks eh. They've got Khalil Shakir,
who's a nice player. He's broken out quite a bit.
He is out for this game.

Speaker 3 (01:20:38):
That's bad news.

Speaker 6 (01:20:39):
They've got Dalton Kincaid, a talented tight end that really
has not yet broken out the way that people thought
they would pass that. I mean, these are prayers. Curtis
Samuel eight million dollars a year they brought in and
he has not really been a big part of their
offense just yet. We might see some of that this week.
Marquez Valdez, Scantling and Max Hollins keon Coleman. These are

(01:21:01):
receivers that you're kind of hoping turn into something. But
it's long been my opinion that Bill's fans, these Bills
fans that rewrite the Digs era, they don't really understand
just how good and how important he was. He's a
star with gravity that polls defenses and made everything easy
for people behind him. And the sin for the Bills
during the Digs era was they let it drift. Their

(01:21:24):
receiver room went from Diggs and Beasley and Emmanuel Sanders
and gave Davis to just Digs and Davis and then
guys that couldn't really get on the field. So I
think they do miss him. Their offense is still good,
It's always going to be good with Josh Allen. But
the worst it should really ever be is like ten.
So if it's eight, I don't necessarily think that's going great.
I think that's near the floor of what you should be.

(01:21:45):
We'll see where Joe Brady goes. I think he's got
some good ideas, some good concepts, but I am not thinking, oh,
Diggs is gone and they'll never miss them again.

Speaker 14 (01:21:53):
All right, Ten seconds for you, Jeremy on the way
out the door, who is four and one after.

Speaker 15 (01:21:57):
The game.

Speaker 3 (01:22:00):
Houston because of the injuries.

Speaker 6 (01:22:01):
Really, I mean, Shakira is big, Taylor rap is out,
that's big. At Oliver is out, that's big. The Bills
ruled out a bunch of guys today and they don't
have anybody who Shakir so Shakier not in the slot.
It's a big problem.

Speaker 15 (01:22:12):
Agreed, We'll see what happens.

Speaker 14 (01:22:14):
Jeremy really appreciate the time, and we'll talk to you
against soon.

Speaker 4 (01:22:18):
Thanks guys, all right, good stuff there from Jeremy White
from WGR there in Buffalo. I mean, you know, talked
about it from the Bill's side. A lot of guys
that are out. Still haven't had Christian Harris for this year.
That's been a huge part of this Texans team that
you would like to have in the fold. The good
news though, I mean Tank Dell with our very own

(01:22:41):
Aaron Wilson in the Texans locker room yesterday saying good
to go. He'll be out there tomorrow against the Bills.
So looking forward to it. Gonna be a fun atmosphere.
I think we can all agree on that, Bills. I
threw it out there on Twitter too as well. I
want to see a table jump like, I think I'm
gonna be making my way a little slower into the stadium,

(01:23:02):
go through some of the tailgate lots there at NRG,
and I want to see if any of Bill's mafia
is ready to perform for the crowd. I will not
be jumping onto any tables. That will not be happening.
I think if I did that, I would probably be
in a chair, and not for good reasons. So not
gonna be doing that, but definitely be willing to watch

(01:23:25):
people who want to make themselves part of their own
unaired episode of Jackass.

Speaker 2 (01:23:31):
So that'll be fun to be able to watch.

Speaker 4 (01:23:33):
So hopefully I can be able to put eyes upon
that tomorrow. College football ongoing right now, Aggie's out to
an early lead, noted missou alum Bindubo's who of course
you hear here on social media, seeming to believe that
the Zebras are calling it pretty heavily in the A

(01:23:55):
and M favor right now. But the Aggie's out to
a ten to nothing lead in that one. They're at
Kyle Field, so pretty fun. I did just throw this
out though, because I'm watching it on ABC right now
and they showed the Cora cadets, and of course you
know they've got the twelve mantals, they're waving them, doing
all of that. One of the guys with horns down,

(01:24:15):
you're playing Miszoo, stop doing the horns down like Texas
should be the furthest thing from your mind right now.
And I know that it's a rivalry all that kind
of stuff, but can we stop doing this when you're
not playing Texas the horns down thing? Come on, Ags, Seriously,
you get made fun of for enough things, no need
to add to it. So let's try to help help

(01:24:36):
yourself help yourself in that case. So anyway, that's what's
happening right now, all right. Coming up next, something brought
up on the NFL players side that I wanted to
get into before we got out of here today. As
the players don't want to do this anymore. We'll discuss
that on the other side as we wrap up this

(01:24:57):
edition of Space City Saturday. Still time for you to
get in and if you want to want any of
the astro stuff we talked about earlier, that's on the
table if you want to.

Speaker 2 (01:25:05):
It's fair game.

Speaker 4 (01:25:06):
Hop on a board at seven one three, two, one, two, five,
seven ninety. Once again, that's seven one, three two on
two five, seven ninety. Dan Matthews, Space City Saturday. We'll
wrap it up here next on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 2 (01:25:19):
Exactly what.

Speaker 1 (01:25:23):
Space City Saturday? On Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 2 (01:25:28):
We've had enough for it this week.

Speaker 4 (01:25:30):
I mean, you know, I would say, you know, you
don't want the Texans to hurt us tomorrow, but we've
already been hurt enough by the Astros. So hopefully it's
one of those you can get a strong end to
the week to propel us forward in this Texan season.
They're three and one Buffalo coming in after a tough

(01:25:50):
loss last week to the Baltimore Ravens, So even though
they're a little banged up, you got to believe that,
you know, Doug mcdug McDermott's team is going to be
looking for a strong bounce back in their efforts inside
NRG Stadium tomorrow, So we'll see how it all goes

(01:26:11):
for that game. Someone three two one two five seven
ninety is the number to get in on the phone lines.
I know, I said, Doug McDermott, Sean McDermott. See sometimes
I mix up my name. Doug McDermott is a basketball player,
was a basketball player.

Speaker 2 (01:26:27):
It doesn't matter anyway.

Speaker 4 (01:26:29):
So the nfl PA coming out with something interesting yesterday
in terms of how you postgame interviews and how interviews
in the.

Speaker 2 (01:26:40):
Locker room are conducted.

Speaker 4 (01:26:41):
And when I brought this up yesterday on the A Team,
WEX was mentioning that this would not be in regards
to game days, This would be more towards the practice weeks.
But I think it's one of those It starts there
and it doesn't necessarily end there. Once you open the
door of this, then it's a possibility of it being
the case going forward. But the NFLPA on Friday issue

(01:27:03):
to statement urging the NFL to make quote immediate changes
to its current, quote outdated media policy in regards to
locker room interviews. The statement reads like this quote. Over
the past three years, the NFLPA has tried to work
with the NFL and Pro Football Writers Association of America
to move media interviews out of locker rooms. However, there's

(01:27:25):
been a little willingness to collaborate on a new solution.
Players field at locker room interviews invade their privacy and
are uncomfortable this isn't about limiting media access, but about
respecting players privacy and dignity. The statement continues, quote the
NFL's current policy is outdated. We the nfl PA Executive Committee,

(01:27:46):
urged the NFL to make immediate changes to foster a
more respectful and safer working place for our players. In
the meantime, we encourage each player to ask for interviews
outside the locker room during the week. I understand sort
of to a point where the players are coming from,
but I mean a respectful and safer working place. What

(01:28:07):
does people holding microphones make unsafe in the locker room? Like,
I understand it from the standpoint of, you know, you know,
that's where players get dressed. That's where players want to
be able to, you know, speak freely in that place,
because I mean, it is a safe space. The locker room,
the clubhouse in baseball, it's supposed to be a safe place,

(01:28:28):
but it's also too At the same time, I think,
what from the media perspective allows for interviews in locker
rooms and clubhouses to be better than in more sterilized environments.
From the standpoint of, you know, scrums outside the outside
of the locker room, where everybody's standing around, you kind

(01:28:49):
of get canned answers, you get canned responses. Same deal
with press conferences as well. You just really if you're
trying for a one on one, you don't get the
same type of you know, just cant did responses that
I think you could get from having those types of situations.

Speaker 2 (01:29:06):
And you know it's also too as well.

Speaker 4 (01:29:08):
I mean, you know, I've heard it from both the
player's side, but also to the media side as well.
Here's where I think it could go sideways. I've covered
college football for a long time, and in college football,
aside from championship games for conferences and bowl games, you
do not get locker room access. You get a certain

(01:29:29):
amount of players brought out, and more often than not,
it's the same guys that are brought out every single week,
and they're told the party line to be able to
toe and the talking points to throw out there. So
you really just don't get any good responses. It's college
I get that, but at the same time, you just
don't really get the chance to be able to build
up that relationship and a huge part of this business

(01:29:50):
that people don't necessarily think about, because it is what
makes those who are really good at this job, good
at their jobs, is building up that relationship, that trust
of being able to have that where soon enough the
player or the coach they trust you, you get better
answers out of them because they know, Hey, if I
say this to this guy or this lady, they're not

(01:30:10):
going to twist my words, they're not going to put
me in a bad light. And I can trust that
they're going to do me right if indeed I'm speaking
my mind a little bit more freely.

Speaker 2 (01:30:19):
I think the other part of it as well.

Speaker 4 (01:30:21):
This could kind of lend to a chance to be
taken advantage of by organizations because you have media relations
people who are doing their job, and their job is
to be able to protect the franchise. How do you
protect the franchise? You protect players in certain cases from
themselves or you know, anybody inside the building from themselves.

(01:30:41):
And it could be say you have an agreed upon
interview with a player, Oh so and so can't do it.
He's got to go to training, he's got to go
do all of this, whatever it might be. The convenient
excuses could arise as opposed to you haven't agreed upon interview,
you go that player's locker. Hey, you ready to go?
You want to talk about this right now? Yeah, let's
do this right now. All those different types of things,

(01:31:04):
that's what I think kind of allows for that to
be the case. I think the other part of this
as well, I'll just go ahead and say it. In
some cases there's people who are credentialed for games that
honestly should not be. This is a job that you
have to pay your dues in order to be able
to get to a certain point and gain that trust
of not only the people that I've talked about, but
also to you the audience as well. I mean, you know,

(01:31:28):
I understand in the age of podcasting and everything else
of the sort that people think, oh, anybody can just
do this like I love you know of people all
the time. You know, oh you know I want to
host a radio show. All right, Well you know how
much do you prepare what? Yes, there's preparation that goes
into this. There's you know, preparation of forming your argument

(01:31:48):
and you know, being able to craft how and when
you want to bring things up on your show. It's
not just turning on a microphone and winging it and
just going That's not how this job is done at
least not well so in that case right there. I mean,
you know, getting to a major market in this business,
for example.

Speaker 2 (01:32:05):
You've got to pay your dues.

Speaker 4 (01:32:07):
You've got to be able to have not only the
trust of the audience but also to the trust of
people who may be hiring you to know that you
can go on and be able to be two things
informative and entertaining. And I think in certain cases, you know,
this would be just another step that they can try
to say that it's not about limiting media access, but

(01:32:27):
eventually that's what it would become, because then you would
have you know, a player, Hey, so and so wants
to talk to you outside. Oh, tell them, you know,
tell them I've got this. I you know, I don't
want to do it. I mean, then you've got the
middleman or middle lady in the media relations person who
then has to go and deliver the bad news of
you know, oh, well, you know, hey, they can't do it,
they've got this, they've got whatever, and then you're screwed.

(01:32:50):
You're standing with yourself in terms of being in a
tough spot of you had a story that you were
planning on being able to run with and now you
can run with it. So, I mean to a certain point,
like I said, I understand it is their safe place.
It is, you know, where they're supposed to be able
to be themselves, but also to at the same time,

(01:33:11):
I mean, let's not act like it's completely invasive all
the time. We're in there for forty five minutes at
a time. You know when we're coming in, you know
we'll be there. And if you want to avoid the
cameras and people in there, then make that your time
to go to the cafeteria, make that your time to
go to the weight room, whatever it is.

Speaker 2 (01:33:29):
I mean, you can do that. That's that's not a problem.

Speaker 4 (01:33:32):
You know when the media relations you know department is
going to be coming in with the media. So if
you want to avoid it, then avoid him that way.
But I mean, you know, to say that this is invasive,
I'm sorry. I just I can't ride with you on that.
That's going to do it for us here on Space
City Saturday. I want to think Melvin Brown for his
great work as always behind the glass, Aria Alexander joining
us earlier, appreciate his time also too great to hear

(01:33:55):
from Jeremy White from WGR There in Buffalo. I'm Dan Matthews,
spent Space City Saturday on You're Home with the Astros
and the Rockets. Sports Talk seven ninety. We'll talk to
you next week.

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