September 5, 2025 • 11 mins
As usual, Chandler Rome hopes on with the crew to talk Astros' pitching rotation, the status of Jake Meyers, a winning formula for the Silver Boot Series and more!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Wakeney Choices clearly the worst music ever.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
It was Chandler's choice. I'm just kidding, that's not true.
Chandler Roma the Athletic, joining us here on the EB
eight team Sports Talk seven ninety for his weekly visit.
All Right, you just got done talking to Joe A
spot at your Uh you're looking at an Astros team
that just dropped two out of three to the Yankees.
And basically, if your name isn't Yordan Alvarez or even
(00:36):
Jeremy Pania, you're just not consistently good at the plate
right now? Why should we be optimistic uh heading into
this three game series in Arlington this weekend?
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Because the Mariners are falling apart. That's good to answer. Actually,
I mean that's probably the that's probably it. I mean,
you have Hannah Brown going tomorrow against Jacob to Gram.
That'll be fun to watch. I mean, for everything, for
as for as bad as it's looked recently, and bad
is kind of a relative term, because I mean they
did go five and five on the homestand maybe for
(01:08):
as mediocre as it's looked recently, this is a team
that's still three and a half games up and in
first place. In the als, and I think ninety three
percent odds to make the playoffs by fangrass, They're still
in a good spot. But yeah, it's I mean, the
injuries are becoming I mean it feels like we said
this numerous times this year, like it feels like the
(01:30):
injuries are almost becoming too much for them to overcome.
You know, they had to put Caleb Ward on the
ile today, a leverage, a guy that had been a
leverage or leaver for them. You know, it's guys are
don't have to step up. They're gonna have to have
other guys other than Alvarez, you know, really really heat
up at the plate because I think the way this
is trending, this is gonna be a team that's gonna
(01:51):
have to outscore and outslug a lot of teams if
they want to, you know, go deep in the playoffs
because they're pitching depth. It's truly being tested at this point.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Colton Gordon's getting the start today obviously brought up to
the roster in order to do so. It spent a
big chunk of the season with the team, but as
he tailed off, so did their need for him. Here,
their opportunity to do what you just said, produce offense
in order to overcome what might be some deficiencies elsewhere.
I know, lineup construction is really not of any consequence here.
(02:21):
Are they a significantly different offensive team in your mind?
Just based solely on where the pitch is coming from?
As in today they're facing a righty, so they got
their left handed hitters in the lineup, which I would
guess is their best group. But opposite to that, when
they have a left hander like they did twice in
the Yankee Series, Hasu Sanchez is on the bench, et cetera,
et cetera. Are they a kind of a bipolar team
(02:43):
on that front?
Speaker 3 (02:45):
I mean, yeah, Haysus Sanchez. I mean, because really you're
talking about Hasu Sanchez and maybe Victor Carrottini. It kind
of depends on the matchup, But yeah, I mean I
think you know, when you look at who who is
taking me at bats over Hayesue Sanchez when he's not
in the lineup, When you look at the who has
taking me at that's over potentially Victor Karattini when he's
(03:05):
not in the lineup, Like, yeah, I think they are
a better team with this group out there. I think
when they face a right hand pitcher, they have a
better lineup out there, but you know, it's it's more
contingent on the guys that are in there every day.
Like Coseel Tuovey has has been slumping of late. They
need him to get going. Carlos Korea has has slumped
of late as well, especially in some big spots hit
(03:27):
and clean up. He's it seems like he's come up
in some big spots and just not come through.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
You know.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
Yeah, Like they're a better lineup when there's a right
handed pitcher on the mound, but they need the guys
that are in there every day to step up. Because
if if you're going to be counting on like hey,
Sue Sanchez to to kind of revitalize the lineup, then
I don't think that's the answer. I think the answer
is having the guys that are cemented in the top
five of that order become more consistent and give them
(03:53):
a little streak here.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Even for your Don Alvarez, this has to be impressive, right,
I mean, the guy is just insane since coming off
the injured list and the amount of games he was
gone also, But I just in your wildest dreams, I
don't think the Astros could have hoped for this kind
of production from him, even if no one else is
consistently matching it.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
I don't know. Everyone told me he was hitting second
and that was gonna like Torpedo is seasoned and completely
crater him. So I guess I guess that was wrong.
But yeah, he's been incredible. You know, he's hitting over
five hundred since he's come back. He's hitting everything hard.
It seems like teams are just avoiding him. Teams don't
want to pitch to him. When they do pitch to him,
it gets hit pretty hard and on a line somewhere.
(04:36):
He's on a heater. They need to keep him on
a heaters as much as possible. He's not going to
sustain hitting, you know, over five hundred, but they need
they need him to be every bit of the peak
twenty twenty to twenty all of the full season yard
on Alvareza is. They need him to be that because,
like I said, you just get the feeling that if
this team wants to advance deep, if this team wants
(04:59):
to go deep to the playoffs, they are going to
have to hit. They're going to have to score runs
because you know, you feel comfortable, but the first two
starters in your rotation and then after that you kind
of don't know what's behind them. The bullpen right now
is completely upside down, so they're going to need to
score runs like this. This is a situation where I'm
not sure if you score three or four runs it's
(05:19):
gonna be enough to win a game for you.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
The opening of this series against the Yankees, there was
a result in the game, and it did not go well.
But the story of the game clearly was not the
result of the game they win, the loss, the score,
but rather what took place between from Er Valdez Asar Salazar.
They obviously met after the game was dealt with internally,
it was spoken about publicly that evening and the following
day by the individuals and then the manager as well,
(05:42):
and all indications whereas I figured they would be for
this particular clubhouse, you know, the lingering effects in season
I don't think will be felt. What do you think
took place here to where it kind of unfolded the
way it did with these three particular individuals, the manager
of the catcher and Fromber What do you think is
the result of this? Says they try to finish out
this season and get to the postseason and continue to
(06:04):
get what they can get out of from Erveldez.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
I mean, I think it's just that I think they
just kind of this is a very much a tight culture.
This is this is one of those things that this
is one of those instances and those incidents that good
culture clubhouses quash very quickly. It's a one day story,
and that's what this was. It was a it was
a big story, don't get me wrong, but it was
(06:28):
a one day story. Like it got its run on
when it happened Tuesday, it got its run all day Wednesday,
and then it's really kind of been quiet since. You know,
they did a good job of quashing it. Joe A.
Spotta kind of did the same playbook he did when
Fromber questioned the defensive positioning earlier this month or earlier
this season. You know, he came out the next day,
made a statement to open his media availability and said,
(06:50):
I'm not taking any clue. We're done. We're not answering
any questions about it.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
You know.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
I think I think what also helps too is like,
and I've said this on numerous platform ones, but like
they the clubhouse knows how to handle Fromber like they've
had Fromber here for going on seven years now, like
this is I mean this this specific thing has not
happened before this specific instance, but they've had things with
him before where they've had to deal with it and
(07:16):
it's all been done internally, and they know how to
get the most out of him. They know how to
get the best out of him. And I think that
helps too that they just this isn't some guy that
they got to the deadline that came in has been
a malcontent. Is this a guy that they know, They
know him well, they know what makes him tick, they
know how to you know, be around him and handle him.
I think that helps as well.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Were you somewhat surprised at least how many names nationally
and big names and names that were you know, in
aj Percentci's case, you know Catcher former Catcher and also
a guy who's on the national broadcast each and every
week on Fox willing to just come out and basically
say they thought it was on purpose.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
I mean, Josh Reddick did it on Krush City Territory.
If part of the felato for a network, everyone should
go watch that. Yeah, I think the thing. And look,
I can't I can't judge intent. I don't know. I
can only know what the parties involved said. They said
it was not intentional. I will say this, I put
stock into what former players think because they've been there,
(08:18):
they've lived at aj Perzinski has caught a ton of
big league games. Eric Kratz came out and said some
stuff has caught a ton of big league games. And
I think that was maybe what, you know, opened my
eyes a little bit throughout this whole thing is most
of the people that were coming out and seeing all
that stuff are former players. It's not people that like
(08:39):
me that have never played a major league game. It's
not you know, media types that are just speculating and
that are just like have never been inside a clubhouse,
you know, in the dog games of summer things like that,
Like these are all former players, and these are guys
that aren't going to speak out of turn. These are
guys that are pretty convicted in what they're saying. So so,
honestly know, it didn't surprise me because again I'm not
(09:00):
sitting I'm not here to judge intent. I'm not here
to say one thing or the other. But the optics
did not look great.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
The other two pitchers that'll go in this series, Hunter
Brown goes tomorrow. Luis Garcia expected to go on Sunday.
What'd you think of Luis and what do you think
there is to come from him? Just in how the
ball left his hand, the velocity he was able to
get in the way he was able to work through
a lineup and had five one, two, three innings in
his six innings of work.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Yeah, I thought he looked good. I saw it for
the first time out in twenty eight months. He looked
really good, you know. Third time through. I think they
they got to him a little bit. The velocity was
not I think where they thought it would be. I
think they expected a little bit of an uptick when
he got into a big league ballpark, a big league
environment again. But again it's he's been out for twenty
eight months, Like this is going to be a process,
(09:49):
This is going to be a growing pain sort of thing.
And I get it. There's like eighteen games left in
the season and there's no time for growing teams. They
need him to be good now. They need him to
be you know, going six innings and being very good now.
They just don't have that luxury. You know, he's gonna
he's gonna come it as he's going to, you know,
progress at his own pace. And you know this, you
(10:12):
know pitching. It's an Angels lineup that hits a lot
of home runs, but that lineup was was was thin.
They didn't play some of their big guys in that game.
That was that was a soft landing spot for him.
You know, the Rangers are without Simeon Seeger and Olas Garcia.
You know, it could be a similar situation here on Sunday. So,
you know, I thought, for being out for twenty eight months,
(10:35):
he looked very, very good. There's still some stuff he
has to work on. There's still going to be some
peaks and valleys with this thing. But from a first
time out, just from a personal perspective for him, from
a human human thing, it was good to see him,
you know, conquer that conquer that long rehab and come
back and pitch well.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Chanler rome on with us from the Athletic covering the
Astros in Major League Baseball here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
What was your favorite storyline from the opening weekend and
in the sec on the grid Iron.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
I enjoyed what happened in Clemson. That was fun. You
know what else Alabama lost that was interesting. Yeah, I'm
very excited about lsubt Clemson and won a season opener
for the first time in five years. Brian Kelly, that's
worth every bit of one hundred million dollars.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
You're sold. One Oak season opening win finally, and you're sold.
I would agree. I think a lot of people saw
the weekend the same way you did. A bunch of
other matchups in the SEC where they weren't playing anybody,
obviously Texas not among them, but Bama going down an
LSU winning is something that will make plenty of Tigers
happy heading into the rest of the season. Chandler, we
always appreciate the time. As you said, catch a lot
(11:45):
of your work and tie and Josh right there our
cross city territory and we'll catch up with you again soon.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
All right. Thanks the a T on Sports Talk seven
ninety
Wakeney Choices clearly the worst music ever.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
It was Chandler's choice. I'm just kidding, that's not true.
Chandler Roma the Athletic, joining us here on the EB
eight team Sports Talk seven ninety for his weekly visit.
All Right, you just got done talking to Joe A
spot at your Uh you're looking at an Astros team
that just dropped two out of three to the Yankees.
And basically, if your name isn't Yordan Alvarez or even
(00:36):
Jeremy Pania, you're just not consistently good at the plate
right now? Why should we be optimistic uh heading into
this three game series in Arlington this weekend?
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Because the Mariners are falling apart. That's good to answer. Actually,
I mean that's probably the that's probably it. I mean,
you have Hannah Brown going tomorrow against Jacob to Gram.
That'll be fun to watch. I mean, for everything, for
as for as bad as it's looked recently, and bad
is kind of a relative term, because I mean they
did go five and five on the homestand maybe for
(01:08):
as mediocre as it's looked recently, this is a team
that's still three and a half games up and in
first place. In the als, and I think ninety three
percent odds to make the playoffs by fangrass, They're still
in a good spot. But yeah, it's I mean, the
injuries are becoming I mean it feels like we said
this numerous times this year, like it feels like the
(01:30):
injuries are almost becoming too much for them to overcome.
You know, they had to put Caleb Ward on the
ile today, a leverage, a guy that had been a
leverage or leaver for them. You know, it's guys are
don't have to step up. They're gonna have to have
other guys other than Alvarez, you know, really really heat
up at the plate because I think the way this
is trending, this is gonna be a team that's gonna
(01:51):
have to outscore and outslug a lot of teams if
they want to, you know, go deep in the playoffs
because they're pitching depth. It's truly being tested at this point.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Colton Gordon's getting the start today obviously brought up to
the roster in order to do so. It spent a
big chunk of the season with the team, but as
he tailed off, so did their need for him. Here,
their opportunity to do what you just said, produce offense
in order to overcome what might be some deficiencies elsewhere.
I know, lineup construction is really not of any consequence here.
(02:21):
Are they a significantly different offensive team in your mind?
Just based solely on where the pitch is coming from?
As in today they're facing a righty, so they got
their left handed hitters in the lineup, which I would
guess is their best group. But opposite to that, when
they have a left hander like they did twice in
the Yankee Series, Hasu Sanchez is on the bench, et cetera,
et cetera. Are they a kind of a bipolar team
(02:43):
on that front?
Speaker 3 (02:45):
I mean, yeah, Haysus Sanchez. I mean, because really you're
talking about Hasu Sanchez and maybe Victor Carrottini. It kind
of depends on the matchup, But yeah, I mean I
think you know, when you look at who who is
taking me at bats over Hayesue Sanchez when he's not
in the lineup, When you look at the who has
taking me at that's over potentially Victor Karattini when he's
(03:05):
not in the lineup, Like, yeah, I think they are
a better team with this group out there. I think
when they face a right hand pitcher, they have a
better lineup out there, but you know, it's it's more
contingent on the guys that are in there every day.
Like Coseel Tuovey has has been slumping of late. They
need him to get going. Carlos Korea has has slumped
of late as well, especially in some big spots hit
(03:27):
and clean up. He's it seems like he's come up
in some big spots and just not come through.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
You know.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
Yeah, Like they're a better lineup when there's a right
handed pitcher on the mound, but they need the guys
that are in there every day to step up. Because
if if you're going to be counting on like hey,
Sue Sanchez to to kind of revitalize the lineup, then
I don't think that's the answer. I think the answer
is having the guys that are cemented in the top
five of that order become more consistent and give them
(03:53):
a little streak here.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Even for your Don Alvarez, this has to be impressive, right,
I mean, the guy is just insane since coming off
the injured list and the amount of games he was
gone also, But I just in your wildest dreams, I
don't think the Astros could have hoped for this kind
of production from him, even if no one else is
consistently matching it.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
I don't know. Everyone told me he was hitting second
and that was gonna like Torpedo is seasoned and completely
crater him. So I guess I guess that was wrong.
But yeah, he's been incredible. You know, he's hitting over
five hundred since he's come back. He's hitting everything hard.
It seems like teams are just avoiding him. Teams don't
want to pitch to him. When they do pitch to him,
it gets hit pretty hard and on a line somewhere.
(04:36):
He's on a heater. They need to keep him on
a heaters as much as possible. He's not going to
sustain hitting, you know, over five hundred, but they need
they need him to be every bit of the peak
twenty twenty to twenty all of the full season yard
on Alvareza is. They need him to be that because,
like I said, you just get the feeling that if
this team wants to advance deep, if this team wants
(04:59):
to go deep to the playoffs, they are going to
have to hit. They're going to have to score runs
because you know, you feel comfortable, but the first two
starters in your rotation and then after that you kind
of don't know what's behind them. The bullpen right now
is completely upside down, so they're going to need to
score runs like this. This is a situation where I'm
not sure if you score three or four runs it's
(05:19):
gonna be enough to win a game for you.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
The opening of this series against the Yankees, there was
a result in the game, and it did not go well.
But the story of the game clearly was not the
result of the game they win, the loss, the score,
but rather what took place between from Er Valdez Asar Salazar.
They obviously met after the game was dealt with internally,
it was spoken about publicly that evening and the following
day by the individuals and then the manager as well,
(05:42):
and all indications whereas I figured they would be for
this particular clubhouse, you know, the lingering effects in season
I don't think will be felt. What do you think
took place here to where it kind of unfolded the
way it did with these three particular individuals, the manager
of the catcher and Fromber What do you think is
the result of this? Says they try to finish out
this season and get to the postseason and continue to
(06:04):
get what they can get out of from Erveldez.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
I mean, I think it's just that I think they
just kind of this is a very much a tight culture.
This is this is one of those things that this
is one of those instances and those incidents that good
culture clubhouses quash very quickly. It's a one day story,
and that's what this was. It was a it was
a big story, don't get me wrong, but it was
(06:28):
a one day story. Like it got its run on
when it happened Tuesday, it got its run all day Wednesday,
and then it's really kind of been quiet since. You know,
they did a good job of quashing it. Joe A.
Spotta kind of did the same playbook he did when
Fromber questioned the defensive positioning earlier this month or earlier
this season. You know, he came out the next day,
made a statement to open his media availability and said,
(06:50):
I'm not taking any clue. We're done. We're not answering
any questions about it.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
You know.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
I think I think what also helps too is like,
and I've said this on numerous platform ones, but like
they the clubhouse knows how to handle Fromber like they've
had Fromber here for going on seven years now, like
this is I mean this this specific thing has not
happened before this specific instance, but they've had things with
him before where they've had to deal with it and
(07:16):
it's all been done internally, and they know how to
get the most out of him. They know how to
get the best out of him. And I think that
helps too that they just this isn't some guy that
they got to the deadline that came in has been
a malcontent. Is this a guy that they know, They
know him well, they know what makes him tick, they
know how to you know, be around him and handle him.
I think that helps as well.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Were you somewhat surprised at least how many names nationally
and big names and names that were you know, in
aj Percentci's case, you know Catcher former Catcher and also
a guy who's on the national broadcast each and every
week on Fox willing to just come out and basically
say they thought it was on purpose.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
I mean, Josh Reddick did it on Krush City Territory.
If part of the felato for a network, everyone should
go watch that. Yeah, I think the thing. And look,
I can't I can't judge intent. I don't know. I
can only know what the parties involved said. They said
it was not intentional. I will say this, I put
stock into what former players think because they've been there,
(08:18):
they've lived at aj Perzinski has caught a ton of
big league games. Eric Kratz came out and said some
stuff has caught a ton of big league games. And
I think that was maybe what, you know, opened my
eyes a little bit throughout this whole thing is most
of the people that were coming out and seeing all
that stuff are former players. It's not people that like
(08:39):
me that have never played a major league game. It's
not you know, media types that are just speculating and
that are just like have never been inside a clubhouse,
you know, in the dog games of summer things like that,
Like these are all former players, and these are guys
that aren't going to speak out of turn. These are
guys that are pretty convicted in what they're saying. So so,
honestly know, it didn't surprise me because again I'm not
(09:00):
sitting I'm not here to judge intent. I'm not here
to say one thing or the other. But the optics
did not look great.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
The other two pitchers that'll go in this series, Hunter
Brown goes tomorrow. Luis Garcia expected to go on Sunday.
What'd you think of Luis and what do you think
there is to come from him? Just in how the
ball left his hand, the velocity he was able to
get in the way he was able to work through
a lineup and had five one, two, three innings in
his six innings of work.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Yeah, I thought he looked good. I saw it for
the first time out in twenty eight months. He looked
really good, you know. Third time through. I think they
they got to him a little bit. The velocity was
not I think where they thought it would be. I
think they expected a little bit of an uptick when
he got into a big league ballpark, a big league
environment again. But again it's he's been out for twenty
eight months, Like this is going to be a process,
(09:49):
This is going to be a growing pain sort of thing.
And I get it. There's like eighteen games left in
the season and there's no time for growing teams. They
need him to be good now. They need him to
be you know, going six innings and being very good now.
They just don't have that luxury. You know, he's gonna
he's gonna come it as he's going to, you know,
progress at his own pace. And you know this, you
(10:12):
know pitching. It's an Angels lineup that hits a lot
of home runs, but that lineup was was was thin.
They didn't play some of their big guys in that game.
That was that was a soft landing spot for him.
You know, the Rangers are without Simeon Seeger and Olas Garcia.
You know, it could be a similar situation here on Sunday. So,
you know, I thought, for being out for twenty eight months,
(10:35):
he looked very, very good. There's still some stuff he
has to work on. There's still going to be some
peaks and valleys with this thing. But from a first
time out, just from a personal perspective for him, from
a human human thing, it was good to see him,
you know, conquer that conquer that long rehab and come
back and pitch well.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Chanler rome on with us from the Athletic covering the
Astros in Major League Baseball here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
What was your favorite storyline from the opening weekend and
in the sec on the grid Iron.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
I enjoyed what happened in Clemson. That was fun. You
know what else Alabama lost that was interesting. Yeah, I'm
very excited about lsubt Clemson and won a season opener
for the first time in five years. Brian Kelly, that's
worth every bit of one hundred million dollars.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
You're sold. One Oak season opening win finally, and you're sold.
I would agree. I think a lot of people saw
the weekend the same way you did. A bunch of
other matchups in the SEC where they weren't playing anybody,
obviously Texas not among them, but Bama going down an
LSU winning is something that will make plenty of Tigers
happy heading into the rest of the season. Chandler, we
always appreciate the time. As you said, catch a lot
(11:45):
of your work and tie and Josh right there our
cross city territory and we'll catch up with you again soon.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
All right. Thanks the a T on Sports Talk seven
ninety
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