April 2, 2026 • 11 mins
The Athletic's Chander Rome joined The A-Team and shared his biggest takeaways from the Astros first week of the season. Plus, he looks ahead to the club's upcoming road trip, and much more!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Athletic joining us here to talk a little Astros and MLB.
Normally we do this on Fridays. We had a little
bit of an off day situation. Juggle the schedule, and
if we can get Chandler in here a day earlier,
we're always going to do that. Chandler, the hottest team
in baseball, plays right here in Houston, but they won't
be for the next ten games. This is a bit
(00:21):
of a trek and you want to keep the good
times rolling. Is this one of those situations? And I
don't know if Major League Baseball players feel this way too.
When you're playing this well and especially offensively, do you
hate an off day or are they all like, nah,
we're good.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
I don't know. I think it's so early in the
season that they're kind of still getting adjusted to the schedule.
I don't think they love a ten game, three city
trip right off the bat, and they have another one
in May too, and the fact that those are coming
that quick, I don't think they're thrilled about that. But yeah,
I mean, I think the way they're playing right now,
(00:56):
it should translate right like it should carry over no
matter where they're play.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Well. Okay to repeat a question we had earlier and
see what your thought was. What was your biggest takeaway,
even positive or negative, from the first seven games of
the season.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
I think i too. I think first is just the
overall approach up and down the order of the bats.
And you know, obviously the Josel two they walk fest
is getting a lot of love, as it should. I mean,
that was to see him do that in seven games
was pretty incredible. But I mean, you know, you even
look at there was a sequence in yesterday's game where
I think it was like the eighth inning, Garrett Whitlock
(01:33):
got the first two outs on two pitches. Then Cam
Smith comes up and works a fourteen pitch at bat single,
they load the bases. It just was a relentless up
and down the order, no matter who they put in.
It just really seemed like there was an approach. There
was a concentrated effort to see pitches, to work counts,
to work at bats, to get the starter out by
(01:54):
the fifth inning. I think they got the starter out
by the fifth inning and five of the seven games
that they played. And then the other takeaway is Lance
mccullors just what he did on Monday night. If they
get even a modicum of that throughout the season, It
really raises the ceiling of this rotation. He was excellent,
and I found it funny. You know, everyone keep saying
(02:16):
out it was vintage mccollors, It was vintage mccullors. No,
it wasn't. He's a completely different pitcher now, a completely
different style of pitcher than you saw way back when.
But he showed on Monday that that can be effective.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Did the Astros maybe put together a roster obviously defensively,
I think it kind of goes without saying and jumping
off the mccullors game, It certainly was on display. I
think they have the makings of a very very good
defensive team, but a makeup of a team that's capable
of doing some of the other things well, not just
running down baseballs, but running around the bases. Do they
have more of a speed driven, aggressive driven team. I
(02:51):
know every team wants to be aggressive, but if you
don't have the players to do it, do you think
they have a little bit more of that at their
disposal on a regular basis?
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Well, it's interesting, you know, if I'm actually writing about
this right now, you know that's Bryce Matthews and Joey
low Pafito for you, right, Like, that's kind of the young, energetic,
athletic kind of guys that Joe Aspota has talked about
wanting more of. He wants more of those guys on
his roster, and you saw those. Both of those guys
(03:21):
made a pretty big impact in this first homestand they
were that platoon thing in left field. You know, Jake
Myers when he gets on base, he has that ability.
Cam Smith, they're working with him to try to steal
more bases, he certainly has that ability as well. Everyone's
gonna laugh listening to this. But jose L Tuve, when
he gets ahead of steam going and he knows what
he's doing on the bases, he can reak havoc on
(03:42):
the bases and it's good and bad sometimes, but he
can go first to he can go first to third.
He's an aggressive base runner as well. So yeah, they've
always preached aggressive base running, but they've got guys on
this roster if they can deploy them. Now, I assume
we're gonna get to this in a little bit, but
Barny Penia coming back to everyday play on this road trip,
(04:04):
it's really going to test how Joe is going to
configure this lineup. How he's gonna get all these guys
at bats with that as a backdrop, Right, you want
Bryce Matthews or Joey Loperfito in there to give you
some athleticism, to give you some energy, to give you
some aggression. You know, does this mean that we're going
to see Estoc Paratus be a bench player, because I
don't see any other way it could go, because they
(04:25):
want that in addition to keeping all the well performing
offensive players in the lineup.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
I can't believe you uttered that, but it's I guess
it's a compliment to how stacked they are right now.
And I mean, I know, again we're talking about how
early it is, but Eastcoc Perettis is not performed as
well as some of his Battery mates.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
No, and I mean it's only going to get harder
for them to get him in the lineup. I mean
them doing this little thing where they alternated off day
day on for Paynia during the homestand it really kind
of masked their infield surplus. It was, you know, it
made them thankful to have an infield surplus that they
could do that with Paynya. But now that he's back
(05:08):
to an everyday role. You know, you're not taking Cozel
two the out of the lineup. You're not taking Jordan
Alvarez out of the lineup. Second base in d H
are the really the only places that eat Paradis can play,
can get a straightforward path to playing time right now.
You're not taking Christian Walker out of the lineup either.
He's probably been their third best hitter. So I'm just
(05:28):
not sure where the at bats are going to come
from for Paradis. You know, if they're about to play
I think eighteen games in nineteen days, they're gonna get
some guys off their feet. He's going to get time
in the lineup, but it's not gonna be. It's not
gonna be every day. It may he may go consecutive
days without playing, and it's gonna test a lot of
you know, Joe Spot's ability to you know, communicate that
(05:50):
to him, to make sure he's happy, to make sure
you know everyone around him is happy. You know, it
really starts in earnest on this road trip, when he
has a fully healthy and fully of ailable roster available
to him.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
And would you tack one more item into the mix
on that decision making, and that it's not just a
ten game road trip, but these specific parks, the hitters
that will be there, the likelihood of lots of fly
balls and lots of activity in those big three outfields
that were not likely to see Jordon Alvarez use his
glove much, if at all, on this road trip.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Yeah, I'd be stunned if he steps foot in the
outfield in Denver at Course Field. I was actually looking
it up today. He has played nine career games in
left field at T Mobile Park, so I could see
a situation where they play him out in left field
in Seattle. They play four games in Seattle, I doubt
he plays all four games in left field, so I
could see maybe they play him two on two off
(06:43):
in Seattle. He's never I don't think he's ever actually
played at Sutter Health Park in Sacramento. The dimensions there
aren't terrible. I think they could get away with running
him out there maybe once. But yeah, I mean this
is this is was always going to be the problem
with the surplus. And also let's accentuate the fact that
(07:04):
they just played seven games at a ballpark where they're
comfortable with him playing the outfield. Right, like it's a
very easy left field to play at dyke In Park.
He played two games in left field in seven games.
What does that tell you? That just tells you that
they don't want him to play out there. They want
to limit his exposure out there as much as possible.
And I think that's going to continue with this road trip.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
So many things we could hit on Chandler Room joining
us here from the athletic covering the Astros major League
Baseball as he does each and every week here on
the A team. But you know, just based on what
took place on the field, you got a home run
and you got a big bases loaded hit from Christian Vasquez.
What do you think if you believe there is any
value he brings to the club outside of that. It
(07:46):
was awesome to see and anytime he does things to
help this team offensively, it is great. Do you think
he has more value than maybe outsiders know about inside
the clubhouse with game prep, with Yiner, with the pitches,
things like that.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Yes, yeah, I think this was you know, look, I
mean he obviously he's not he's not washed. Like he
can he can give you a good at bat, like
he can catch, like they don't want him to play
every day, but he can still function like he can
still play, but it's a lot of behind the scenes
stuff with him. It's a guy that's been there. He's
thirty five years old, he's been around. He's been on
(08:21):
World Series winning teams both in Houston and in Boston,
like he's been around championship teams. There's a lot that
he can do to help yinor Diaz along, to kind
of help him keep evolving and keep maturing as an
everyday catcher.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
You know.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
I think that's one of the main reasons why he
made the team was the familiarity and that being able
to be kind of more of a mentor to yinor
Diaz than maybe anyone else could be. So yeah, he
provides that. And how about that bat flip on that
Basis loaded single? That was that was a thing of beauty.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
So I've been giving WEX a hard time about Christian
Vasquez because he just he just wasn't the highest on
that signing, And I've really been giving him a hard
time now that he's driven in runs plural to start
the year. But in all seriousness, what do you think
about the Astros catching situation? Just since we're on the
subject of Jainar Diez and of course uh Caesar Zalas
(09:16):
Salas are surviving being put out there for any other
team to claim.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Yeah, I mean I think. I mean, it's seven games.
Just like I don't want to overreact to, you know,
the good that's happened. You know, Niner did not have
a great home stand offensively. When we talk about all
these guys looking different with their approaches and things, he
looked exactly the same. But you know, I don't think
it's one of these situations where like they're panicking or
going to pull the plug. Like I mean, he's got
(09:46):
he's got a long runway here, and he's getting better defensively.
ABS is going to help. I mean, one of his
one of the things he was not great at defensively
was pitch framing. Now that ABS is in there, framing
is still important, but it's not as important as it
was before Abs. But you know, look, they've got they
drafted Walker you Onick two years ago in the first round.
(10:08):
He's gonna debut at double A tonight on Double A
opening Day. I would follow him pretty closely. I'm not
saying that's gonna be this year. I'm not saying he's
gonna be up in the big leagues this year, but
he turned a lot of heads in spring training and
he had you know, we had Sam Nidor, the farm director,
on Krush Citty Territory a couple of weeks ago and
he said that that walker Onic probably turned more heads
(10:29):
in spring training than anyone. So, I mean, he's he
was a college pick, first round pick. I would keep
an eye on him this year because you know, this
could be a situation where maybe, you know, next spring
we're talking about him coming into camp with a real
shot at you know, making the team, and then after that,
who knows.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Yeah, one thing to note about abs and the importance
of some of the other elements of catching. The Astros
had a seven game homestand I don't have the exact number,
but I'll ballpark it at roughly nine hundred pitches we're
seeing by the Astros, and so eighteen hundred pitches were
thrown while they were involved. Like the Astros individually they
challenged eleven pitches during those seven games. There's a lot
(11:10):
of pitches that are not strikes or aren't balls, that
aren't going to be challenged. That still require some of
those things to be in place for catchers and everybody
else involved. So I think the ABS is a great thing,
and I bet you people will really really like it
when it comes to these most important pitches moving forward.
These are just the first seven games, Chandler. Always appreciate
the time, appreciate the great work. As you mentioned, they're
(11:30):
on a crust shitty territory as well, and we look
forward to our your continued visits throughout the season.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
All right, thanks guys,
Athletic joining us here to talk a little Astros and MLB.
Normally we do this on Fridays. We had a little
bit of an off day situation. Juggle the schedule, and
if we can get Chandler in here a day earlier,
we're always going to do that. Chandler, the hottest team
in baseball, plays right here in Houston, but they won't
be for the next ten games. This is a bit
(00:21):
of a trek and you want to keep the good
times rolling. Is this one of those situations? And I
don't know if Major League Baseball players feel this way too.
When you're playing this well and especially offensively, do you
hate an off day or are they all like, nah,
we're good.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
I don't know. I think it's so early in the
season that they're kind of still getting adjusted to the schedule.
I don't think they love a ten game, three city
trip right off the bat, and they have another one
in May too, and the fact that those are coming
that quick, I don't think they're thrilled about that. But yeah,
I mean, I think the way they're playing right now,
(00:56):
it should translate right like it should carry over no
matter where they're play.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Well. Okay to repeat a question we had earlier and
see what your thought was. What was your biggest takeaway,
even positive or negative, from the first seven games of
the season.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
I think i too. I think first is just the
overall approach up and down the order of the bats.
And you know, obviously the Josel two they walk fest
is getting a lot of love, as it should. I mean,
that was to see him do that in seven games
was pretty incredible. But I mean, you know, you even
look at there was a sequence in yesterday's game where
I think it was like the eighth inning, Garrett Whitlock
(01:33):
got the first two outs on two pitches. Then Cam
Smith comes up and works a fourteen pitch at bat single,
they load the bases. It just was a relentless up
and down the order, no matter who they put in.
It just really seemed like there was an approach. There
was a concentrated effort to see pitches, to work counts,
to work at bats, to get the starter out by
(01:54):
the fifth inning. I think they got the starter out
by the fifth inning and five of the seven games
that they played. And then the other takeaway is Lance
mccullors just what he did on Monday night. If they
get even a modicum of that throughout the season, It
really raises the ceiling of this rotation. He was excellent,
and I found it funny. You know, everyone keep saying
(02:16):
out it was vintage mccollors, It was vintage mccullors. No,
it wasn't. He's a completely different pitcher now, a completely
different style of pitcher than you saw way back when.
But he showed on Monday that that can be effective.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Did the Astros maybe put together a roster obviously defensively,
I think it kind of goes without saying and jumping
off the mccullors game, It certainly was on display. I
think they have the makings of a very very good
defensive team, but a makeup of a team that's capable
of doing some of the other things well, not just
running down baseballs, but running around the bases. Do they
have more of a speed driven, aggressive driven team. I
(02:51):
know every team wants to be aggressive, but if you
don't have the players to do it, do you think
they have a little bit more of that at their
disposal on a regular basis?
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Well, it's interesting, you know, if I'm actually writing about
this right now, you know that's Bryce Matthews and Joey
low Pafito for you, right, Like, that's kind of the young, energetic,
athletic kind of guys that Joe Aspota has talked about
wanting more of. He wants more of those guys on
his roster, and you saw those. Both of those guys
(03:21):
made a pretty big impact in this first homestand they
were that platoon thing in left field. You know, Jake
Myers when he gets on base, he has that ability.
Cam Smith, they're working with him to try to steal
more bases, he certainly has that ability as well. Everyone's
gonna laugh listening to this. But jose L Tuve, when
he gets ahead of steam going and he knows what
he's doing on the bases, he can reak havoc on
(03:42):
the bases and it's good and bad sometimes, but he
can go first to he can go first to third.
He's an aggressive base runner as well. So yeah, they've
always preached aggressive base running, but they've got guys on
this roster if they can deploy them. Now, I assume
we're gonna get to this in a little bit, but
Barny Penia coming back to everyday play on this road trip,
(04:04):
it's really going to test how Joe is going to
configure this lineup. How he's gonna get all these guys
at bats with that as a backdrop, Right, you want
Bryce Matthews or Joey Loperfito in there to give you
some athleticism, to give you some energy, to give you
some aggression. You know, does this mean that we're going
to see Estoc Paratus be a bench player, because I
don't see any other way it could go, because they
(04:25):
want that in addition to keeping all the well performing
offensive players in the lineup.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
I can't believe you uttered that, but it's I guess
it's a compliment to how stacked they are right now.
And I mean, I know, again we're talking about how
early it is, but Eastcoc Perettis is not performed as
well as some of his Battery mates.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
No, and I mean it's only going to get harder
for them to get him in the lineup. I mean
them doing this little thing where they alternated off day
day on for Paynia during the homestand it really kind
of masked their infield surplus. It was, you know, it
made them thankful to have an infield surplus that they
could do that with Paynya. But now that he's back
(05:08):
to an everyday role. You know, you're not taking Cozel
two the out of the lineup. You're not taking Jordan
Alvarez out of the lineup. Second base in d H
are the really the only places that eat Paradis can play,
can get a straightforward path to playing time right now.
You're not taking Christian Walker out of the lineup either.
He's probably been their third best hitter. So I'm just
(05:28):
not sure where the at bats are going to come
from for Paradis. You know, if they're about to play
I think eighteen games in nineteen days, they're gonna get
some guys off their feet. He's going to get time
in the lineup, but it's not gonna be. It's not
gonna be every day. It may he may go consecutive
days without playing, and it's gonna test a lot of
you know, Joe Spot's ability to you know, communicate that
(05:50):
to him, to make sure he's happy, to make sure
you know everyone around him is happy. You know, it
really starts in earnest on this road trip, when he
has a fully healthy and fully of ailable roster available
to him.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
And would you tack one more item into the mix
on that decision making, and that it's not just a
ten game road trip, but these specific parks, the hitters
that will be there, the likelihood of lots of fly
balls and lots of activity in those big three outfields
that were not likely to see Jordon Alvarez use his
glove much, if at all, on this road trip.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Yeah, I'd be stunned if he steps foot in the
outfield in Denver at Course Field. I was actually looking
it up today. He has played nine career games in
left field at T Mobile Park, so I could see
a situation where they play him out in left field
in Seattle. They play four games in Seattle, I doubt
he plays all four games in left field, so I
could see maybe they play him two on two off
(06:43):
in Seattle. He's never I don't think he's ever actually
played at Sutter Health Park in Sacramento. The dimensions there
aren't terrible. I think they could get away with running
him out there maybe once. But yeah, I mean this
is this is was always going to be the problem
with the surplus. And also let's accentuate the fact that
(07:04):
they just played seven games at a ballpark where they're
comfortable with him playing the outfield. Right, like it's a
very easy left field to play at dyke In Park.
He played two games in left field in seven games.
What does that tell you? That just tells you that
they don't want him to play out there. They want
to limit his exposure out there as much as possible.
And I think that's going to continue with this road trip.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
So many things we could hit on Chandler Room joining
us here from the athletic covering the Astros major League
Baseball as he does each and every week here on
the A team. But you know, just based on what
took place on the field, you got a home run
and you got a big bases loaded hit from Christian Vasquez.
What do you think if you believe there is any
value he brings to the club outside of that. It
(07:46):
was awesome to see and anytime he does things to
help this team offensively, it is great. Do you think
he has more value than maybe outsiders know about inside
the clubhouse with game prep, with Yiner, with the pitches,
things like that.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Yes, yeah, I think this was you know, look, I
mean he obviously he's not he's not washed. Like he
can he can give you a good at bat, like
he can catch, like they don't want him to play
every day, but he can still function like he can
still play, but it's a lot of behind the scenes
stuff with him. It's a guy that's been there. He's
thirty five years old, he's been around. He's been on
(08:21):
World Series winning teams both in Houston and in Boston,
like he's been around championship teams. There's a lot that
he can do to help yinor Diaz along, to kind
of help him keep evolving and keep maturing as an
everyday catcher.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
You know.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
I think that's one of the main reasons why he
made the team was the familiarity and that being able
to be kind of more of a mentor to yinor
Diaz than maybe anyone else could be. So yeah, he
provides that. And how about that bat flip on that
Basis loaded single? That was that was a thing of beauty.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
So I've been giving WEX a hard time about Christian
Vasquez because he just he just wasn't the highest on
that signing, And I've really been giving him a hard
time now that he's driven in runs plural to start
the year. But in all seriousness, what do you think
about the Astros catching situation? Just since we're on the
subject of Jainar Diez and of course uh Caesar Zalas
(09:16):
Salas are surviving being put out there for any other
team to claim.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Yeah, I mean I think. I mean, it's seven games.
Just like I don't want to overreact to, you know,
the good that's happened. You know, Niner did not have
a great home stand offensively. When we talk about all
these guys looking different with their approaches and things, he
looked exactly the same. But you know, I don't think
it's one of these situations where like they're panicking or
going to pull the plug. Like I mean, he's got
(09:46):
he's got a long runway here, and he's getting better defensively.
ABS is going to help. I mean, one of his
one of the things he was not great at defensively
was pitch framing. Now that ABS is in there, framing
is still important, but it's not as important as it
was before Abs. But you know, look, they've got they
drafted Walker you Onick two years ago in the first round.
(10:08):
He's gonna debut at double A tonight on Double A
opening Day. I would follow him pretty closely. I'm not
saying that's gonna be this year. I'm not saying he's
gonna be up in the big leagues this year, but
he turned a lot of heads in spring training and
he had you know, we had Sam Nidor, the farm director,
on Krush Citty Territory a couple of weeks ago and
he said that that walker Onic probably turned more heads
(10:29):
in spring training than anyone. So, I mean, he's he
was a college pick, first round pick. I would keep
an eye on him this year because you know, this
could be a situation where maybe, you know, next spring
we're talking about him coming into camp with a real
shot at you know, making the team, and then after that,
who knows.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Yeah, one thing to note about abs and the importance
of some of the other elements of catching. The Astros
had a seven game homestand I don't have the exact number,
but I'll ballpark it at roughly nine hundred pitches we're
seeing by the Astros, and so eighteen hundred pitches were
thrown while they were involved. Like the Astros individually they
challenged eleven pitches during those seven games. There's a lot
(11:10):
of pitches that are not strikes or aren't balls, that
aren't going to be challenged. That still require some of
those things to be in place for catchers and everybody
else involved. So I think the ABS is a great thing,
and I bet you people will really really like it
when it comes to these most important pitches moving forward.
These are just the first seven games, Chandler. Always appreciate
the time, appreciate the great work. As you mentioned, they're
(11:30):
on a crust shitty territory as well, and we look
forward to our your continued visits throughout the season.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
All right, thanks guys,
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