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July 26, 2024 43 mins
Former Astro turned Space City Home Network analyst Geoff Blum joins The A-Team for his weekly visit. He talks about the Astros heading into this crucial home series with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He reflects back on the Astros last road trip to Seattle and Oakland. Plus, he talks about his expectations for the club leading into the trade deadline. 
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Episode Transcript

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(00:01):
You look at it, look atit, look at us. Oh yeah,
this is radio. You listen toit on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Astro's broadcaster Jeff Blum on seven ninetyis brought to you by low t Center.
Well, it's an Apple TV gametonight, so we don't get to
listen to this guy. Do thebroadcast. You get him right here on

(00:24):
your home for Astros Baseball Sports Talksseven ninety. Jeff Blum, as you
heard the voice, guys say,joining us for the first hour for his
weekly visit as your first place.Houston Astros will try to stay that way,
but the competition is going to havequite the uptick as the La Dodgers
are in town. Jeff, whenit's a series like this, do you

(00:46):
enjoy the night off because you doso many or is it because it's the
Dodgers? Do you kind of wishyou were doing all three games? No?
I absolutely wish we were doing allthree games. You know, we
don't get an opportunity to do toomuch during the postseason when you know everything's
on the line kind of situation.But I feel like, you know,
when the Astros have that opportunity togo Nashville, they just aren't appropriately represented

(01:08):
most of the time, and Ithink, you know, I can't speak
for Todd and Julia, but Ifeel like sometimes it's a little inappropriate that
they don't have a voice of theirown, you know, backing them up
as they go out there and play, because there's various other storylines that people
would like to talk about as opposedto the actual game itself. So yeah,
you know, there's a little disappointment, but we get two out of

(01:30):
three, so we'll have to watchtonight and hopefully have plenty to talk about
tomorrow. And I figure with theDodgers being the opponent and Apple TV plus
being the carrier, you might actuallysee some of the Astros at bats tonight
when they're not talking about the Dodgers. That's always the hope. Yeah,
you know, it's like the Yankees, Red Sox and then the Dodgers.

(01:53):
If you can steal any TV timefrom them, that is a good thing.
And hopefully that the way these atbats go here at Mini Made Park,
because it's gonna be a packed houseand I would imagine that there's gonna
be some pretty good at bats andhopefully the Astros can steal some of their
thunder. Well, they've been doingquite a lot of that lately. The
Oakland Series probably not going how anyof us would have liked, because you

(02:15):
would have actually gained even more groundon the Seattle Mariners, who are at
the top of the news desk todaybecause they went out and made a deal.
Now we all said, you're gonnahave to go get a bat or
ten if you're the Mariners offense,because we know they probably have one of,
if not the best pitching staffs inall of Major League Baseball. I
don't know, and I know he'shitting the ball hot lately, but I

(02:36):
don't know if Randy A. RoseArena strikes fear in my heart the way
it would have, say in maybetwenty twenty. Yeah, a little bit
different time, right, And Iwonder if there was any impetus BETID going
and getting a guy like Randy A. Rose Arena, considering what he did
to the Astros and the playoffs andthat ALCS in twenty twenty and that abbreviated

(02:57):
shortened championship season for the Dodgers.But he's a good ballplayer. He's complimentary,
but I think he kind of hiton something that I think a lot
of us are wondering with the SeattleMariners because you know, we talked about
winning windows and things like that,and I really feel like the Seattle Mariners
have a window of time with anextremely good rotation. And I was kind

(03:19):
of curious to see how Jerry Depotohandled the rest of the season, knowing
that every year that goes by withthis rotation is a year that you're not
going to have them or they maynot be pitching as well as they are
this season, So how do youcompensate for that? And it's kind of
you know, one guy's great.I wonder if he has more moves under
his belt because you know as wellas I do, in that lineup,
Randyo rose Arena all of a suddenhas that target on his back like a

(03:42):
Julio Rodriguez, you know who's onthe injury list right now. But there's
one or two guys in that lineupyou can be able to pitch to those
other seven to be able to beatthem. So I'm kind of curious to
see what happens moving forward. Butyou know, I like the effort.
I think they needed to make amove because that offense has been pretty brutal.
Here. What three quarters of theseason. Yeah, top five pitching

(04:02):
staff, arguably the best pitching staffthis month based on ERA, it's top
three, and yet with an offensethat's definitely bottom three, they basically can't
win any baseball games, and it'sallowed the Astros to overtake them an opportunity
with one to three consecutive three gamehome series to go, starting tonight with
the Dodgers, a raised team thatalready looks different because of the trades you're

(04:24):
talking about, comes to town aweek from today, might look even more
different a week from today. Andheck, they might bring some of the
same players to town a week fromtoday, but one or two of them
might wear an Astros jersey, becauseI do think the Rays are going to
be continuing to move players. PeretisDiaz among names we've talked about here on
the show, and I'm sure we'llcome up around major League Baseball over the

(04:46):
next couple of days. What didyou think about how this all got started?
Maybe from a big picture major LeagueBaseball, so many teams we were
trying to guess are they in orare they out? Are they buyers?
Are they sellers? We've already I'veseen I would consider three fairly significant deals
take place. Aj Puck kind ofbeginning that and we're now talking about the
Rosarina deal. Do you feel likewe're going to see an avalanche of trades

(05:11):
between now in the thirtieth Yeah,And I think a lot of it depends
on, you know, the packagesthat come together and what some of these
teams feel like, because it's kindof interesting in the American League. You
can look at the Texas Rangers andthey're actually closer to the American or the
American League Western Division, they arein a wildcard. And I think a
lot of teams have to kind of, you know, look at the Pythagorea

(05:33):
and theorem and figure out, youknow, how many wins do we have
to get the rest of the year. Is there somebody out there that we
can go get that will help usget to that win total that we feel
we'll be able to win a divisionor be able to leap for three or
four teams in the process to getto the wild card. And you know,
sometimes that's a harsh reality because ifyou do sell at the deadline,

(05:54):
it means you've got another what twomonths of trying to convince your fans to
show up even though you let someyour players go. And I think that's
kind of an issue on the businessside as opposed to the you know,
the reality of it, where ifyou do trade some of your superstars and
you get some, you know,some very good young talent back, then
you can sell the hope for thenext couple of years. But at the

(06:15):
same time, I do feel likeit's kind of inching towards that thirtieth you
know what, in four days,that trade deadline is going to be there.
But I do feel that, youknow, there's going to be some
teams that actually kind of sit back, watch what's going on, or if
they feel that they need to goget their guy, they will go get
him. But at the same time, it might be a little cat and
mouse is kind of waiting, waiting, seeing who gets too and then what

(06:38):
kind of move do I have todo to counteract what that what that team
made in my division? Much likewe're watching with the Seattle Mariners adding a
guy like Randy A. Rose Arana, and I think watching what Jake Bost
did in his last doubting watching whatSpencer Eric Getty is doing with his innings,
pitch remel Blanco with his innings pitch. I think the Astros strongly considering
some pitching out there, and Iimagine Dana Brown and his boys are on

(07:01):
his staff or in that room rightnow trying to figure out what package is
going to bring the appropriate pitcher theyfeel it can push them across the finish
line. I imagine Dana and hiscareer doing as you suggested, hanging out
with Pethagoras, the Greek philosopher andmathematician, trying to figure out exactly what
needs to be done here during thistime of we know we have a chance,

(07:21):
how do we enhance that chance?While continuing to think about year nine
in the ALCS, year ten inthe ALCS in twenty twenty five and twenty
twenty six, because that's always onthe mind of Jim Crane and by extension,
the mind of his general manager andall his personnel people, and the
way the Astros have turned a sevento nineteen twelve and twenty four start into

(07:43):
a team four games over five hundredin first place, have beaten the team
they were chasing in a series inorder to do that, and would like
to see this homestand kind of manifestitself into maybe the second run of really
good baseball. The reason they're infirst place is because they went fifteen in
two, is because they won Evanor because they had multiple three and four
game winning streaks, and they've kindof stalled a little bit on that hardly

(08:05):
mattered in the standings because Seattle couldn'twin, But it would appear to me
the timing of the deadline, themaybe mental boost it might give the guys
in the clubhouse as well, andthe fact that it all comes during a
nine game homestand I'm trying to paintthe most beautiful picture I can and pretend
it's all going to come together,but it certainly seems like it could.
Would you agree, No, absolutely, I think you're exactly right, you

(08:31):
know, And it's going to beinteresting that, you know, the Tampa
Bay Rays are coming at the endof this home stand. We talked a
lot of we're hearing a lot ofchatter about East Soak parades, so that
could be a situation where he getshere it ends up playing against his former
team if they were actually able topull that trade off. But at the
same time, I think you're kindof right in the sense that you know,
Dana's got his entire staff on thatfourth or fifth floor of Union Station

(08:54):
going to work. Meanwhile, outsidethe doors of Union Station, you've got
the Astros going to work, tryingto maintain in their spot in first place,
and the fans. You know,the Astros have been playing actually pretty
good baseball right here at Minute MadePark in comparison two years past, so
I think it's kind of interesting tohave them home, playing some very good
competition, having their you know,their fans at home encourage them. They're

(09:16):
currently twenty eight and twenty one athome, which is a great number for
them, and I think that itcould really kind of round things out if
they're able to pull it off inthe next four days and have the Pittsburgh
Pirates in town and be able toput on a show for them, and
then finish off that home stand againstTampa Bay the Tampa Bay Rays with maybe

(09:37):
a new look on the field forthe Astros. It's crazy to think that
this is a nine game homestand andit's still not the longest of the season,
but it feels like you guys havebeen on the road more often than
not, and so whatever home cookingcan come your way, I'm just glad
that at this point, especially withthe Dodgers in town, and then you
know an upstart one of the bestyoung players, let alone pitcher in Major

(10:00):
League Baseball coming in right after that. The Astros home woes from twenty twenty
three, I think they're officially behindthem at this point. Yeah, it
definitely feels that way. And I'mnot sure what precipitated or encourage these guys
to play a little bit better athome, but for whatever reason, that's
kind of where the turnaround really happenedto the Astros this season, was being

(10:22):
able to play here at home andput up some good numbers. I still
think it's pretty impressive that over theyears at the Astros, no matter what
the offense, has been able todo at home. I know that that's
a little bit of a sidebar withconspiracy theories and things like that, but
if you go back and look overthe last seven or eight years, the
Astros have pitched so well at home, and I think that's what's kind of

(10:43):
changed them in the playoff hunt orwinning these World Series is the ability to
pitch here at home and made themvery consistent. So adding another pitch in
this rotation would be a beautiful thing. Getting them got like Penn Murphy back
would be great, JV. Youknow, we want to hear some good
news, and I think the factthat some of these guys are working their

(11:03):
way back off the injured list,it kind of benefits them to have the
entire team here at home as well, because they're going to be watching firsthand
what these guys have been going through, and eventually, I think, you
know, they'll be encursed kind ofmaybe hustled back a little bit, so
to speak, just because they're watchingand want to be a part of what's
happening. Astro television analyst Jeff Blumjoining us here on the A team back

(11:26):
to Adam Clinton and Adam Wexler theeighty Friday edition of the eighteen here on
Sports SOX seven ninety, which meansusually Jeff Blum is in the house,
and he sort of is. It'svia phone Astros and Dodgers tonight, Apple
TV Plus on the television side,so Blummer will not be on the call,

(11:50):
So you got to get him.You gotta get your fix of Blum
on a Friday with us right nowup until four o'clock. He's with us
the entire first hour and yeah,the Dodgers in town. Astro's trying to
increase their lead over the Seattle Marinersin the division and frankly over the Rangers.
You know, they're trying to notgo away, as we sort of
discussed in that last segment. Butit's it's kind of crazy to me that

(12:13):
everything has happened in favor the wayit has for the Astros of late with
regards to these two teams, andyet there's still only a game ahead.
Now I realized it was a tengame deficit, so I'm not getting greedy
or anything like that, but youknow, like the series where they get
swept by the Angels and you're onlyable to essentially pick up a half game

(12:33):
ish on them, I know percentagepoints were involved there. That's a little
bit disheartening, especially when you considerthat, although, as my co hosts
love to remind me, the OaklandA's were playing their best baseball, they
still suck. Blum well kind of. You know, we talk about strength
the schedule, and you know theAstros are gonna play five hundred teams the

(12:56):
rest of the way, but thenyou talk about the timing at which you're
going to go out there and pullthese guys, and I think more to
your point, Planting is the factthat they weren't facing their offense as pitchers,
and I think that's where we kindof got maybe disappointed a little bit
in knowing that, yes, theOplanas are smashing the baseball right now,

(13:16):
they're leading the league and run scored, slugging the ops, all the numbers
you could put offensively, but theyweren't really doing it on the pitching side.
And I think that's where we kindof hope that the Astros offense would
go in there and kind of maybecompensate for maybe some of the runs that
we're giving up. But we sawin that first game getting shut out and
won to run in the next game, that's where I think some of the

(13:37):
disappointment kind of sets in and you'rekind of going, man, it feels
like a missed opportunity because we hadplenty of base runners, but we just
were unable to push them across theboard. And you've got to give credit
to the open A's pitching, eventhough I don't think on paper maybe they
warranted it. Yeah, they've beenmashing the baseball, and yes, I
did not want to do that withHunter Harris or anybody else pitched against the

(14:00):
Astros, because it just didn't seemlike that was the reason for them to
have stumbled offensively. It just kindof seemed like it was a little bit
of a trend which hits five,six, seven, eight times during a
baseball season. You just happen tohope that it doesn't happen for a long
period of time. Yeah, butI mean, I don't know if anybody
talked about it back home, butwe tried to mention it on the errors
that you went from a you know, you're coming out of an All Star

(14:24):
break where you're chilling, you're alaxed, You get your body, you
get your legs back under you headinto Seattle. All of a sudden,
the emotions are heightened because you knowthere's a little bit of a rivalry there.
It's on the road, thirty fiveto forty thousand people at night,
and then you get off the planeand open when you go play a game
and there's only forty five hundred peoplethere. So I don't know, you
know, that might have had alittle bit of an impact on there,

(14:45):
just knowing that you're, like,man, we're supposed to go outdre and
beat this team and nobody wants towatch them. Nobody does. I'm sure
they'll see almost three times as manyfans watching their opponents when they host them
in Sacramento starting next year and themassive minor league ballpark they'll be hosting teams
in for maybe three, potentially fourseasons before they move into the Tropicana Hotel

(15:07):
space, which will now be abaseball stadium and rather hot. The A's
have been awesome offensively. That continuedlast night they beat the Angels. Hopefully
those two teams impact on the raceis not what it was this past weekend
unless they're playing your opponents, becauseboth of them won series against teams near
the top. The Rangers obviously areright there with them, and I doubt

(15:28):
they're going anywhere. They're like Houstonin that they anticipate getting pitchers back,
they anticipate getting Josh youngback, who'son a rehabit s Diamont starting this weekend.
So things do actually, unfortunately lookpretty good in that regard. But
by the same way of looking atthings, I just don't feel like the
Astros can possibly not make a move, and I feel like Dana Brown's been
pretty honest about that, pretty forthcomingabout the intent to do so. Always

(15:52):
takes two, always takes a betteroffer than some other team. And I'm
thinking maybe, because we've already seena couple of deals early, that's a
way he would might like to go. You just have to hope the other
GM is seeing the same thing.The players on the team from that angle,
they know something's likely to happen.It could potentially impact any one of
them. What's the feeling like ina clubhouse as the days towards the trade

(16:15):
deadline get shorter and shorter, Youknow what, it's almost you can separate
that, you know, separate clubhouse. And I've been on teams throughout my
career that were sellers and buyers atthe same time, you know, at
different parts of my career. Andalso I've been traded a couple of times

(16:36):
that I got traded unbeknownst to me. You know, I didn't realize going
up into the trade deadline that Iwould be traded in that two thousand and
five season. So you have differentclasses of player. You know, you
have the rotation guys where you knowyou need them and they're not going to
be moved. And then you haveguys maybe at the latter end of the
rotation that maybe because they have bigleague time, that you can kind of

(16:59):
throw them out there and say,Hey, isn't this guy appealing He's got
some big lead experience. Then youhave your starting nine that's out there consistently,
the role players like a du bond, you know, and you just
have certain guys that you really insidethe clubhouse if you asked an honest question,
you know, which guys have thepotential to be moved out of that
clubhouse or the potential of not beingmoved out of that clubhouse. And it's

(17:21):
just the way that the game works. And you know, we've talked about
it extensively, and I know you'vehad Dana Brown on several times into the
station and on the phone talking about, you know, this farm system for
the Astros. If you go toBaseball America, if you go to MLB
pipeline, it's not going to beranked very high. But if you start

(17:41):
to look at guys individually, youhave some guys in there that actually have
appealed to other teams. Because theAstros, no matter where their minor league
system has been ranked, they havebeen able to pull from that pool of
players in their farm system to comeup and contribute at the major league level,
not just put up numbers, butput up wins. And I think
that's what's kind of appealing when youstart to look at the Houston Astros,

(18:03):
maybe not as a whole farm system, but as a couple of pieces in
understanding how these guys are being developed. I think the Astros have done a
good job and kind of set maybethe gold standard to have how to develop
guys to produce and compete at ahigh level when they get to the big
leagues. And that's what might,you know, might be the selling point
for Dana Brown saying, look,overall, we may not have a bulk

(18:26):
of guys, but we have ahandful of guys down here that are going
to contribute. They're going to helpyour big league organization. You know,
how about we pull these guys intoa move that's going to bring us somebody
else. So I think that's kindof where you look at the farm system
for the Houston Astros. But atthe same time, who's to say they
don't package them with, you know, maybe a fourth or fifth outfiller that

(18:47):
you have on a big league roster. On a forty man roster. Well,
you mentioned that trade. It mademe think of two things. One
a statement, want a question.The statement is you were playing for the
Padres at the time in two thousandand five, a first place team current
Rangers manager Bruce Bochi, And it'sa deal that sent you to the Chicago
White Sox, who went on toplay a lot of baseball in the postseason

(19:11):
that year, all the way intothe last game, which they won.
I believe. Do you remember whoyou were traded for and why both teams
wanted to do that deal because bothof them were headed towards postseason. Yeah.
And you know what's crazy. Iwent back and looked at the record
of the San Diego Padres and theyfinished that season eighty two and eighty I

(19:33):
mean, just think about that,two games over five hundred will they've won
the National League West that year eventuallygot swept, I think in the first
round by the Saint Louis Cardinals,and so it was really interesting to see
how that season unfolded for San Diego. But at the same time, you
know, getting traded to Chicago fordouble a left handed pitcher Ryan Mo nailed

(19:56):
it. That was the one thatactually paid off, and you know,
obviously history was made. But atthe same time, you know, when
I was sitting in that clubhouse fora first place team, I did not
anticipate getting a tap on the shoulderbecause I had backed up Mark Loretta at
second base, I had backed upthe late Sean Burrows at third base,

(20:19):
and I was getting a lot ofplaying time and Boachi was doing a good
job of moving us in and outof that lineup to go out there and
try and win games. But youknow, when you get that tap on
the shoulder on that day, youknow exactly what's happening. As one might
suspect, the Padres went five gamesunder five hundred after they sent you to
the White Sox, while the WhiteSox went seven games over five hundred after

(20:41):
acquiring you, So pretty obviously whattook place there. Well, I appreciate
you for looking that up. That'sthe stat you know, the WEXA stat
crew always comes through with the clutchflow ring. The minutia is unbelievable.
White Sox were a ridiculous fifty eightand twenty nine at that point in the
season. At the All Star break, at least I should say and made
that deal. And that's why Ithink where we sit here with these teams,

(21:03):
it's it's it's partially about us saying, well, what are the Astros
going to do? What should theydo? All knowing the other teams are
absolutely doing the same thing, ifnot more. Did you think we saw
that with Seattle adding a Rose Arena? No. I think that's a really
good point. At the same time, you know, even though these moves
are happening around, you know,in that orbit of the Astros and what's

(21:25):
going on in the American League West, I think that's an excellent point because
what has been happening over the lastseven years is every team in the West,
and you can go ahead and expandon that say, everybody in the
American League has been trying to finda way to put a team together that's
going to beat the Astros when itcounts. And the Astros, to their
credit, have been able to bringup a handful of guys from the minor

(21:47):
leagues. They've been able to maketrades that have guys actually come in and
contribute and kind of put them overthe hump. But I think it's a
situation now where Dana Brown might notbe looking for you know you can't.
We all would love to go getthe superstar, that one guy is just
that bright shining light like we didin twenty seventeen with Justin Berlander or the
next couple of years with Garrett Coleand Zach Ranky. But I don't know

(22:10):
if the Astros are in position orif that superstar is actually out there to
go and get. So I thinkthe idea for the Astros is is kind
of see what moves are being made, and then what do we have to
address currently make to maintain what we'redoing here. Because the Astros offense has
been playing extremely good. Hopefully inthe next couple of weeks we find out
we're getting Kyle tuckerback, and that'sa massive weapon offensively. But I think

(22:34):
if you can go get a starterthat's going to help maintain your rotation and
eat up in five to six inningsevery time they go out there and compete,
keeping you in a ballgame and allowyou enough time for your offense to
go out there and score enough runsto win, and also keep your bulltpen
from being blown out, because Ithink that's the biggest concern down the stretch
is making sure that when you havethose must win games, you having a

(22:56):
bray, you Pressley or a hateravailable to go win those games. And
that's paraty of the thing that's mostparamount. So the Astros may not be
going to make that big splash,but they're going to just make a move
that's going to go ahead and maintainexactly what they've got going right now.
Jeff Blum Astro's color analyst on SpaceCity Home Network, and that's where you
can learn all about what it meanswhen we say X marks the spot because

(23:18):
Exfinity will bring you Space City HomeNetwork and Exfinity proud sponsor of the Houston
Astros, letting you know that theconnection is always on at your house,
Blum, just like it is atmine and so many others across the city
of Houston. Yeah, and evenmore so now obviously, you know,
preparing for these ball games, lookingat the numbers, trying to figure out
what roster moves are being made,what trades might possibly go down. I

(23:41):
got to be ready at any momentto be able to find the data and
research to go out and figure outwhat these guys are doing and what they
bring to the team. And oh, by the way, the Olympics are
going on. My kids are rightnow watching the opening ceremonies and they're excited
about what the Summer Olympics are goingto bring from Paris. So they are
making sure that the Expinity Internet's working. They're making sure all the streaming services

(24:03):
are working so they can watch theparticular sports they want. It's a busy
time here at the blumhousehold, andI'm happy we have Expinity for more watching
and less spending. X marks thespot. No matter what you're watching,
switch to Infinity, the network madefor streaming, and bring on the good
stuff by going to Exfinity dot com, calling one hundred Infinity, or visiting
a store today. Infinity proud sponsorof your Houston Astros. If you can

(24:26):
buy Rockets, gearonics, you canhear Sonics. That's amazing. Listen live
for free on any smart device.It is the a team here on Sports
Talks seven ninety Friday edition of theprogram. Jeff Blum joining us throughout this
first hour as the Astros and Dodgersare going to get it on starting tonight

(24:51):
all weekend long, first of thatthree game series right here on your home
for Astros Baseball Sports Talk seven ninety. But also we've also been talking about
the trade deadline and the fact thatthe Mariner has already made a deal earlier
today within the division, dealing forRandy a Rose Arena, you know,
and all of these trade scenarios andyou know what the Astros might be willing

(25:11):
to offer up, what caliber ofplayer they're trying to get back, whether
it be you know, help atfirst base, starting, or relief pitching,
whatever it is. We're asking HadiWatney about this yesterday and just kind
of discussing it amongst ourselves as well, Jeff, like, there is there's
something to be said for the factthat because the Astros don't have the farm

(25:33):
system they have had, or theywant to hang on to some of what
they do have, they just simplyget outbid by some of these other teams
that, as wex said, they'reall doing the same thing. They're trying
to get better right here at thebreak No, and that's why you know,
I was trying to explain, youknow, you're not selling the farm
system as a whole. You're justtrying to give them bits and pieces or

(25:55):
you know, give them, youknow, the top ten prospects or you
know, give them a short ofwho might be available, and you know,
it's kind of funny as you goaround you know the league, you
see scouts and everybody in the immediatedining or floating around the stadium, and
everybody has these has these ideas,but you do get a lot of questions
about the Astros pump system just becauseyou find you find these Hunter Browns,

(26:19):
you find the Spencer Arraghetties, youfind the Joey of Oberfeedos, And I
think that's where I think, youknow, a lot of teams and a
lot of skuts are kind of intriguedby what the Astros are able to do
because they get rank load, yetthey still have guys that can come up
to the big leagues and plug holes. And I think that's how you go
out there and sell the idea ofmaking a trade with the Houston Astros is

(26:40):
that you're going to get a guythat is high caliber. You know,
works extremely hard, coachable to hehas developed and you know, everybody that
we know that has gotten called upto the Astros organization has been called up
with the idea of coming out andwinning baseball games. And I think right
now, in this day and age, you know, trading for guys that
have been prepared to win is kindof appealing across the league because you can

(27:02):
have plenty of guys in your organizationthat say, you go out there and
we're the top five farm system,but you rarely produce. You're creating individuals,
and the Astros have found a wayto create the individual and the guy
with the idea to go out thereand win. Well, we talked last
Friday. It was obviously in advanceof the playing any of these games post
All Star breaks, so the seriesagainst Seattle and now obviously against Oakland,

(27:25):
So we had not yet seen JulioRodriguez traveling to Trey Cavage as no fly
zone or Joey Lo Perfeedo do whathe did. Have you been, I
guess impressed with the caliber of outfieldplay they've gotten from pretty much everybody they've
put in the outfield this year atdifferent times of the year, no matter
where they've come from. Yeah,no, I think you know that probably

(27:47):
was one thing that we don't talkabout enough is we always assume that the
Astros defense is going to be verygood. But when we do say that,
we usually say, you know,it's out two Van pain, yet
it's Alex Bragman over at third base, and that you know they pick up
ground balls behind Hunter Brown and pickingup ground balls behind Promer Valdez when in
actuality the Ashros have I mean sinceI can remember twenty fifteen, when you

(28:10):
know, George Spryer comes up infourteen, Kyle Tucker comes up later,
but you know the Jake Morisniks andsome of these guys in the outfield.
For whatever reason, the Astros havebeen able to draft and develop young outfield
athletes that can move from center fieldto right field to left field and go
out there and track it down.I think that's what's probably been maybe not

(28:30):
talked about enough nationally, is theAstros have been able to develop athletes to
go out and catch the baseball incenter field, in right and left field,
and it's been a lot of funto watch. But at the same
time, the way the roster isconstructed right now, and you have the
ability to have a guy like lowBerfdo and Cabbage on your bench who can
come in and offer you a pinchhit at bat with the potential for you

(28:51):
know, some power. They offerthe potential to bring his speed if they're
able to go out there and pinchruns, and like you just mentioned,
they have the opp the obvious thingis to go out there and catch the
baseball and make big plays on defense. And I think it's great that these
guys are making plays in big situationslike that, because Cabbage's coming over from
the Angels may not have had somany opportunities to play in these high leverage

(29:12):
type games. And then Joey lowPerpedo kind of goes to what we were
just talking about as far as developingguys that know how to perform in big
moments, making great plays out therein hostile environments. Man, it's been
a lot of fun to watch,and it's been very comforting as well,
knowing that if the ball goes upin the air, they've got a real
good chance of catching it. Ienjoyed the fact that those two catches were

(29:33):
made in that same game, withinpitches of each other, essentially, And
you know, kind of brings meback to the lone bright spot of the
Oakland series for example, and thefact that I've asked you about this guy
the last few weeks, and I'veactually kind of playfully talked to Wex about
this on the show. Go aheadand pick up my Hunter Brown jersey,

(29:56):
because he's absolutely dealing every time hegoes out the beazl This guy, he's
got a great nickname and he's beenliving up to it. But you know,
we I think you know, TKand I have talked about it,
and I know that we've all textedabout it a little bit. Kind of
watching Hunter Brown develop into this.I don't want to say ace because I

(30:18):
still think he's got a little workto get there to be the ace of
a rotation, but I think thathe's definitely trending in that direction. But
there wasn't it bat in Oakland.And obviously what he did in Seattle,
coming up, stepping up and blowingthe doors off a poor offense and poor
offense like the Seattle Maryers was alot of fun to watch. But at
the same time, what he wasable to do on that day game for

(30:40):
the Astros and allow them to goout there and win that game. There
was a particular bat where he gotthree two to Lawrence Butler, who's arguably
the hottest sitter in baseball right now. And I don't mean that in the
sense that he's just getting you know, simple bass hits here and there.
This guy's tearing literally tearing the coveroff the baseball he worked. They worked
each other to a three to countand Hunter Brown took a little bit of

(31:02):
a miniature stroll around the back ofthe mound because Lawrence Butler called time out
And I believe I said it onair where I said, I think Hunter's
getting ready to kind of bear downand bring the fastball to this guy,
and he's kind he's kind of regroupingor energizing himself to go out there and
make a pitch. Because what Ilike is Hunter Brown's got the stuff,
but he's also got that heart andthe mentality to go out there and execute.

(31:23):
So he dug in, got onthe mound and you see him come
set and he just had a bigpuff of breath before he lifted that left
leg to come towards Lawrence Butler.And the next thing you know, it
was ninety seven at the top ofthe zone for a swing and miss.
And that's where I think you andI and all of us kind of went,
oh, damn, this guy's gotthere's an extra gear in there,
or there's a little extra like thatchip on the shoulder or whatever. You

(31:47):
want to call it where he's like, don't mess with me and don't force
me to go with you know,my f you fastball right here, because
I will and I will win.And that's what I think is endearing him
ourselves too. Guy like Hunter Brown'sbecause now he's starting to develop a little
bit of a persona. No,he's he is, definitely, And it's
funny you said you hesitated to callhim an ace. I think Wex is

(32:10):
ahead of you. I don't thinkhe's hesitating. He's right there, He's
at the gold on there. Yeah, I can't help it. I don't
know if you know this, Jeff. I kind of looked at the numbers
a little bit. It's not somenumber crunching. I was doing some research
and looking back at some of hisappearances, and I just can't help myself.
The numbers are all there. Heis the leader in ERA over the
last sixty days in the American Leagueat two point zero one, is in

(32:35):
the top five in innings pitched,which we know is a huge help to
a team that is really struggling tokeep their starting rotation together all season long.
So to have him doing that,not to mention one of the guys,
he's actually behind in innings pitch ishis teammate Renel Blanco over this last
sixty day period is in the topfive in strikeouts. I actually found it
extremely interesting that he's barely giving upany runs. He is can continuing to

(33:00):
give them six innings, he putsthem in a position to win. He
also has the most wins of anypitcher over the last sixty days among starters.
All of this, but he's nowherenear the top in whip, nowhere
near the top in batting average against. And the game against Oakland this past
game was exactly that, in anutshell traffic all game long, base hits

(33:21):
all game long, and then itgoes back to what you had just told
us a moment ago, and thenit was time for him to bear down
when he has had to make apitch. He is an ace, and
that's why I kind of pushed meover the top. He's made the pitches
what he's had to. He's limitedthe damage throughout each and every one of
these starts, over and over andover again. So for me, it
was just a little bit impossible notto call him that. We got another

(33:44):
segment to go here with Jeff BlumAstros TV analysts from Space City Home Network,
Astros Dodgers ton of course, righthere on Sports Talk seven to ninety
the unauthorized Houston sports shakedown continues,because every time you say something that's not
true, you're gonna get hit.We now returned to Adam Clinton and Adam
Wexler to the A team on SportsTalk seven ninety eight. Continue our discussion

(34:12):
on a Friday, are weekly visitwith Jeff Blum, Astros TV analysts for
Space City Home Network. As theAstros and Dodgers begin a three game series,
the beginning of a nine game homestandfor the Astros, and as I
suggested earlier, I thought there mightbe an avalanche of trades this deadline or
in the days preceding it. Twomore reported deals have gone down in just
the last few minutes, one ofthem including a former Astro. Three years

(34:35):
ago, the Astros acquired Jimmy Garciaat the deadline to help their bullpen.
This year, it's their division mateSeattle Mariners. Acquiring Jimmy Garcia from the
Toronto Blue Jays will cost them aJonathan Class, one of their speedy outfield
prospects, and the Orioles acquiring apitcher that probably was going to pitch here
in Houston at the end of thisroad trip when Tampa Bay came to town

(34:59):
on Sunday, but now we obviouslywill not. Zach Eflin goes to the
first place, Baltimore Orioles from theRays. So the Rays a handful of
games back in the wild card chaseof Kansas City who's in the last spot,
have moved on from Randy A.Rose Arena and Zach Eflin in a
span of less than twenty four hours, and it's believed multiple teams are going

(35:21):
to make them very credible offers forEsak Petes, for Yondi Diaz and possibly
others. Never know what the team'sgonna look like when they play one another.
We already know Seattle's going to lookvery different at the end of the
season when the Astros play them.But as this deadline happens to coincide during
a long homestand hard to see whatthe Pirates might look like on Monday,

(35:43):
and we're already seeing what the Raysare not going to look like when they
get to town come Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Yeah, that's always the
interesting thing. And shoot We sawa couple of years ago when the Red
Sox came in town and all ofa sudden, Christian Basquez is packing his
bags and coming across the way ina surprise with the Astros. But it's
always an interesting time. And Ithink, you know, like you said,

(36:06):
with a team like the Pittsburgh Pirates, with some young talents, big
league talent, you know, there'splenty of scouts out there eyeballing them to
see if they have the potential tohave maybe a guy that can kind of
turn things around and be a littlemore affordable because they they're not notable or
they haven't been in that situation.I like the trade of Yuni Garcia.
He put up great numbers this season. Then obviously he's pitched in some pressure

(36:28):
moments with the Houston Astros in thepast. But it's kind of funny how
Seattle keeps picking up these relievers thathave had their proven their worth in an
Astro's uniform. So obviously the credibilityof wearing that Houston Astros uniform means a
lot to opposing general managers, Iwould think, because they are picking up
some of those guys to be ableto bolster their roster and win more games.

(36:51):
I'm kind of anxious to see whatPittsburgh brings because I think, you
know, with Paul Skins bursting ontothe scene, he's a guy that kind
of you know, you turn andall of a sudden, you say,
the Pittsburgh Pirates are kind of afun team to watch. But at the
same time, I don't think they'rein a position to go out there and
win a division title. Maybe thisyear or next, and do they make
the decision to try and get ridof some guys and open up some space

(37:12):
for some of your own talents.So it's a good time. It's an
interesting home stand because, like youjust said, the Tampa bay Rays are
probably not going to look like thesame team or even the team we anticipated
seeing come through here. Well,and you know, they're a team that
is. Are they having a firesale? Are they in the middle of
it. We just don't know yet, but a lot of people thought it
could go one way or the other. As it pertains to that scenario when

(37:36):
it comes to the Texas Rangers.How how weird of a deadline is this
for a team and an organization likethat. They're obviously coming off of winning
a Championship, and yet I feellike they could be They could go one
way or the other and neither wouldsurprise me. Unfortunately. I think you're
right, and I think the oneway that we don't want them to go

(37:57):
is is out of the realm ofreality, because they're kind of in a
similar situation, maybe not a similarsituation was because the Ashers know who they
are. They performed for a greatamount of time, and they're kind of
rounded back into shape on who wethink the Ashers are, and I think
they're just kind of waiting to seehow much Saint Justin Verlander give them.

(38:17):
How much is how much time arethey going to have with Kyle Tucker in
that lineup to be able to goout there and continue to put up runs.
Whereas I think the Texas Rangers aregoing what happened to all of our
guys that did so well last year? But I think if you look at
the career numbers and compare them towhat some of the guys did on that
Rangers roster last year, they kindof overachieved a little bit offensively. For

(38:38):
me. But I think this season, you know, it'll be interesting when
Josh Young comes back, because Ireally feel like that ball club for whatever
reason. I know, you've gotyou know, massive, what a half
billion dollars between you know, threeguys, and two of them playing up
the middle and should be leaders onyour team. But I really feel like
losing Josh Young on that lineup kindof put them back a little bit and

(39:00):
kind of said, oh, no, how are we going to do this?
And all of the pressure being onCorey Singer and Marcus Sime and they
haven't been able to score as manyruns as they want and obviously a Doula
Starcia not living up to what hedid in the last couple of years as
well. So they've had some guysunderachieved in comparison to last year, and
those are the questions they're asking them. Also hearing you know, Josh Young

(39:21):
coming back, hand Jacob de Gromcome back, and that's where I think
you kind of fear what the Rangerscould be if they make a late run.
But again, I don't think anybodyin the West is really going to
make that run and take off withit. I really feel like, you
know, with the Rangers getting backinto it and some of the trades and
mirrors are going to make and We'llsee what the Ashros do, but it

(39:42):
could be a three horse race downthe stretch in the West. So you're
saying, maybe, like last year, almost identical to what took place the
final weekend of the season. Yeah, I tend to believe super exciting,
wasn't it? It was? Itwas incredible, and I think you're probably
right. I think it is goingto head in that direction. Like Ac
said, I actually do think therace are in fire sale mode. While
they aren't that far out of thewildcard race, I don't think they view

(40:04):
their team as capable of competing fora championship, and this is normal operating
procedure for them. I think they'rewilling to reset the roster pretty much any
year go after more young players continueto add prospects, hope some of them
pan out. Thus, they payrollstays at an extremely low level while they
play again. If they were inmost other divisions, it might look a

(40:25):
little bit different. They're sitting nearthe bottom of that division almost every year
because or some years, because thequality of play around them, and the
same thing's going to happen this year. And that's why I do think the
Astros should remain in contact with themfor a couple of players and four possibilities
to help them. I've talked awhole lot about the team. One last
thing on the team and their performance, the way that the things have gone

(40:47):
lately in their bullpen. They feelsuper comfortable with four different guys. How
do you like the way Joe hascontinued to use Taylor Scott along with the
obvious back three. I think it'sbeen really good. I know that you
know Joe's in a position now realizingthat you've got a brad to Pressley to
Hater performing extremely well. These guysare on pretty good heaters right now and

(41:10):
they're pitching extremely well. So Iknow that it's going to be tough for
Joe when he recognizes his opportunities towin games after the sixth inning of not
going immediately to those sides, becauseyou do need to preserve them a little
bit or protect them down the stretchand use them appropriately because if you do
end up winning the West and gettinginto that playoff situation, those guys are

(41:31):
going to play key roles. Butat the same time, Taylor Scott has
been such a breath of fresh air. He's been great with inherited runners,
He's been great taking the baseball bothin low leverage and high leverage situations,
and I think the way he's pitchedis actually put him into that high leverage
type situation. And would you know, in talking about Penn Murphy possibly coming

(41:52):
back for the Astros and maybe pickingup another bullpen arm in the middle of
that bullpen, I think it's kindof interesting because you are trying to create
a little bit of length and takesome of the pressure off those big three
at the back end because you can'tuse them every single time you're going out
there and try and win a ballgame. But if you can find a complimentary
piece to go with a Taylor Scottto go, you know, maybe with

(42:15):
a Penn Murphy who has some lateinning experience, then I think you start
to be able to mix and matchand maybe create pockets and matchups where you
can go out there and win ballgameswithout risking burning those big three out.
Appreciate the time as always, Blomber. It always goes by fast as well.
But we know that you have sponsorsthat make this available each and every

(42:36):
week, and we know you alwayslike to thank them. Yeah, you
know what, it does go awfullyquick and at the same time, you
know, got a quick visit toJeff Witz. It's vision group would give
you a real opportunity to kind ofincrease and enhance your vision. If you
set up a meeting, it isgoing to be with doctor Jeff Witz.
You're going to sit down across thedesk from him, get that expert opinion
on what you should do next.And of course you're going to be in

(42:58):
the trusted hands of doctor Jeff WITZIwho has had many experiences of surgery,
both LASIK and getting into other regionsof that eye. But he's a great
asset to have here in Houston.And of course the first stop I made
after I got off my road tripwas going into the low T Center right
here off the green Way and visitingmy good friends over there, because in

(43:19):
about fifteen minutes I got a shot. I got a little bit of a
booster with my amino acids being putback, and I will be sleeping better
and recovering better from my workout.So Fellas low Tcenter dot Com is where
you can find them all over GreaterHouston, and I take most major insurance.
Blummer is the best. He'll beon the call starting tomorrow night along
with TK for the final two gamesof this series. Blum, we appreciate

(43:43):
the time as always good to beall with you guys, and remember you
can simulcast the radio with the TVso you don't have to listen to apple
Man. It will keep that inmind. Blummer here on Sports Talk seven
ninety each and every week
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