The Athletic's Chandler Rome Joins the Show!

Chandler Rome from The Athletic hops on the A-Team with Wex and pinch-hitting for AC, Chris Gordy

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Adam Clinton and Adam Wexler are the eighteen.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
It's five o'clock, but no football at five today Here
on a Wednesday on Sports Talk seven to ninety Colorado
and Houston getting together tonight to Coors Field, second game
of a three game series. We talked a little baseball
a little earlier in the week. Chandler Rome joins us
from the Athletic covering the Astros and Major League Baseball.
But a very interesting last couple of days for the Astros,

(00:29):
their two most important hitters and jord On Alvarez and
Jeremy Pania continuing to work through their respective injuries. Jeremy
Paynia with the team there in Colorado on the ten
day IL, hit by a pitch on Friday and a
small fracture in the rib, and jord On Alvarez, as
you mentioned earlier this afternoon, shifted to the sixty day
IL merely a procedural move which I explained a couple

(00:51):
segments ago, and an unknown future immediate future as he
deals with his hand injury. Chandler, as far as you know,
with the the situation of seeing an additional hand specialist
for Jordan Alvarez, are we kind of back in that
same gray area of them just simply not knowing why
he isn't healthy.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
Yeah, I mean I think that's all. That's all. That's
the only way you can take it, really, you know,
I think they're at a point now where his season
seems to be in peril. I'm not saying he's out
for the season, but it certainly does not sound like
something that is going to be great news.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
Now.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
Look, they could go to the he could go to
the specialist and get encouraging news and you know, there's
no surgery involved, and it just calls for more rests
and it calls for you know, more just kind of recovery.
But let me remind you the last time, let me
remind you kind of the timeline of how this happened
the last time. He hasn't played since May second. He
took VP at Dyke and Park Live VP on May

(01:54):
twenty ninth. They told us on May thirty first he
had a fracture. And then he only swung on the
field again this past Sunday, So he went a month
after the setback. After they revealed the fracture, he went
a month between swinging. So let's say there is good
news here and that you know, hey, it's just you know,
it's in a tough spot, like we just have to

(02:16):
do different ways to treat it and everything, like are
you looking at another month before he swings a bat again?
And then you start to get in August and the
calendar starts to shrink, so they're running out of just days,
they're running out of time. And I know that's weird
to say in July, but they are. And I assume
we'll know more tomorrow. I assume, you know, he's seeing
the specialists either right now or saw him earlier today,

(02:37):
So presumably the Ashers will have some form of an
update tomorrow. But yeah, everyone's just kind of been waiting
see mode. But the mood here yesterday was not the greatest.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
Yeah, unfortunately it's left a lot of people. But probably
Dana Brown included ourselves playing a little bit of a
role we shouldn't be playing, which is that of a doctor.
And you know, listening to how Jeremy Pana assessed things
last night, you were there as he was talking about
his situation, I feel like I'm hearing similar things I
don't want to hear, Like, well, I'm feeling good and
I feel like I can do this, and I'm gonna

(03:08):
go do that, and we're gonna hold off on that
as in it's merely related to how his rib feels,
just like how it related to Jordan was telling them
how his hand feels versus we can medically assess the
situation with scans, MRIs, whatever means necessary and actually say
here's when you should do this activity.

Speaker 1 (03:29):
Yeah, but I mean, I'll I guess I'll give the
astors a little bit of a break, you know, it does.
They can do all that, they can make all the
scans and put all the timelines out there, like it
still does depend on how the player feels, like if
he still has pain, if he still has you know,
trouble swinging, or Jeremy Penny was having trouble breathing this
weekend because his ribs were in such bad shape. You know,

(03:50):
like you can put all the timelines and do all
the scans you want. If there's still pain and if
there's still things that are prohibiting them from from doing
things at one hundred percent, then they're not going to play.
So it seems like that Jeremy Pagna news is a
little bit more encouraging, and again I do not blame
anyone that hears or reads anything about Astro's injuries and

(04:11):
automatically discounts the information. I don't blame them at all.
But with the way this one is playing out, you know,
Jeremy Pennon told us like he was working out in
the weight room on Saturday, like doing some med ball stuff,
went down there in the fourth inning of that game
and felt good and felt good enough that Joe Spot
had him in his original lineup on Sunday. Took some

(04:32):
swings and obviously, you know, they went for more imaging
and saw what they saw. So in these situations often
actions speak louder than words. And the fact that Jeremy
Paanna is on this road trip is an encouraging sign
in and of itself, because if he wasn't here, then
I think we'd be talking about something a little bit differently.
They don't usually bring guys that are long term injuries

(04:55):
or guys that aren't going to be around for a while.
These you don't bring them on the road. The fact
that Jeremy Payne is hug is a little is probably
an encouraging sign, but again it's a wait and see
sort of thing. It's going to be a pain tolerance
thing and then ashlers will just have to keep finding
ways to do what they've been doing.

Speaker 2 (05:12):
Yeah, I think at this point, I do hope people
understand this. All these years covering this sport in particular,
it's nothing. Not much of it medically is super exact,
and this is the timeline and this is when you'll
be back. And we saw it here and the imaging
showed us there. It's not quite as simple as that.
Sometimes it's a little bit easier to explain. Other times
it's a little bit more cloudy on why maybe this

(05:32):
was seen then versus previous scans, but that is all
part of it. We had Cam Smith on the show
a little bit earlier. He's coming off of a weekend
against a team that yes, it's his former team, although
it was for such a brief portion of time. You
guys asked him in the clubhouse before the series began,
and he explained playing against them and you know, yeah,
I got friendly faces over there, there's no bad blood.

(05:53):
We asked him today, did it feel a little bit
special or was there something to having the kind of
series that he had, and I think quite naturally said yeah,
it meant something, and his season has continued to progress,
both defensively and offensively to the point where consideration for
Rookie of the Years is a real thing. If if
things continue the final couple months.

Speaker 1 (06:13):
Oh yeah, he's certainly in the mix. Now he put
he probably put himself in the mix, if not with
that CUB series, with the series in Sacramento where he
went crazy. So he's in the consideration. It's gonna be
it's gonna be hard for him to catch Jacob Wilson.
If Jacob Wilson hits three fifty all year, then he's
gonna run away with the thing. But Cam Smith is
certainly you know up there him Carlos Narvaya's or the

(06:33):
Red Sox, Jacob Wilson of the A's. There's a couple
of pitchers that have been plucked been pitching well too,
that are rookies. But everyone will remember that if Cam
Smith does win Rookie of the Year, the Ashers get
a draft pick in next year's draft. But if he
doesn't win Rookie of the Year, he still retains his
PPI eligibility for the net for his pre RB years.

(06:55):
So he finished his top three in MVP voting next year,
then the Ashers begin to pick and then in the
next year's draft. So yeah, it looks like he's coming
into his own. It helps that they the Astros have
had a softer schedule of what I say that they
just played the Phillies and the Cubs, but you know,
he feasted on the on the A's and Sacramento. Hitting

(07:16):
at course field is always fun. Hitting at course field
against the Rockies. This year's Rockies is much more fun.
So he's he's getting He is doing what he should
do against uh pitchers that pictures that are less talented
than him. So and he's holding his own in situations
where you know, you would think he would struggle a
guy of his lack of experience, a guy of his age,

(07:40):
he's doing He's He has never looked over matched up
here at all. Like the numbers may have not been there.
Sometimes there's been some struggles, there's been some slumps, but
never once has he looked just completely overmatched. And I
think that's all you can really ask for out of him.

Speaker 2 (07:52):
A really strong month of June and hopefully more of
the same coming here in July. Channeler Roam joining us
here on the A team from the Athletic covering the
Astros in Major League Baseball, a few other items as
they move forward, and Dana Brown continues to say the
same thing he said for months, and you've reported the
same He said it this morning with Sean Salisbury Show
about the left handed bat and their pursuit of one,

(08:13):
and that it was really unchanged with the Jordon Alvarez situation.
I've pointed this out a few times and curious how
you see it. If Cam Smith and Jake Myers and
Jordon Alvarez and Jose Altuve are everyday players and you're
adding a left handed bat, where's the left handed bat
playing in the field or in the lineup? And his
Jose Altuve on his way to playing a lot more

(08:34):
second base?

Speaker 1 (08:36):
Well, I think a better answer to that question will
come after we know more about Jordon Alvarez. I'd made
this point earlier today on Crush City Territory. If Jordon
Alvaz is out for an extended period of time, or
if his season is in jeopardy, then I would not
be surprised to see a lot more Jose al Tuve DH.

(08:57):
He's already dhing, He's ALREADYDHD more than any point in
his career. His numbers as a DH this year or
his ops numbers as a DH are about seventy points
better than either when he's in a left field or
he's at second base, and it gives them some more
flexibilities and things through. The problem is they need the
D a ship and sometimes for Victor Karattini to give

(09:18):
at least some balance. They didn't need that tonight because
they're facing a left handed starter. But there's a lot
of different ways they could go. You know, I mentioned
this a couple of weeks ago. Cam Smith is going
to reach some workload. He already has reached a workload
threshold that he's never played this much baseball in his life.
And I mean, you would hope that he doesn't wear down.

(09:40):
You would hope that he's able to be the stamina
and the conditioning is there. But I mean they're asking
him to play almost a seven to eight month season
when that's not the case of Florida State, it's not
the case in the minor leagues. But you don't play
this deep. So the issue to see how he handles that.
You know, if if that fatigue or if that work
d starts to wear on him, there's certainly a platoon

(10:02):
situation that you could have in the right field with him.
Jake Myers, he has been a revolution this year. He's
been great offensively. Can they count on that to sustain
I don't know. Left field, they'll always be kind of
rotating some guys there, especially if I'll see what he's
gonna see more DH time things like that. So yeah,
they need a left handed bat. And the other thing

(10:22):
is like, I think no team is more like prime
to just go get a rental because you look around
this team like there's no real position where you're like,
all right, they got to go get somebody with some
team control that can help them the next couple of years.
Like everyone on the position player side is basically locked up,
aside from Victor Carrattini going in the next year. So

(10:43):
I would envision it be a rental left handed platoon
kind of bat for the outfield, they can find a set.
If they can find someone that can play some second base,
that'd be great too, But that's kind of the profile
they're looking at right now.

Speaker 2 (10:57):
It's certainly an interesting situation. Real quickly ten seconds, does
it say anything that Jose al Tuove is playing second
base tonight and Shae Whitcomb is the DH not.

Speaker 1 (11:09):
Really just because this is a massive this is a
massive ballpark, and I think, to be honest with you,
they think al too. I don't know, to be honest
with Altub, it was never gonna play outfield here, right.
I think they wanted to get I think they wanted
to get shay Wickham in the game. I think his
defense leaves a lot to be desired, but so does
jose Al Twov. So you're kind of just they're hoping

(11:29):
that Hunter Brown can just strike a bunch of dudes out,
not allow some balls in play, which he's been pretty
good at doing that all.

Speaker 2 (11:34):
Year, been very good at doing that. Finished off another
spectacular month. Begins July on his ledger this evening, Chandler,
appreciate the time, enjoy the weather and the game, and
we'll talk to you again soon.

Speaker 1 (11:44):
All right, Thank you, The A team on Sports Talk
seven ninety