Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, but it's an older ballpark. There's nothing much redeeming
about it.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
There's worse in the league.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
But this is not This is not a Crown Jewels
stop on the on the American League circuit.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
No, And I've driven by the front of it, never
been inside. But I yeah, it's you described it perfectly.
But none of that matters because the Astros have not
exactly been a Crown Jewel this season. Just one of
the most bipolar teams I've ever seen in my life.
And and for them to kind of have the outburst
they did yesterday in the finale of that series with
(00:33):
the Athletics while getting a vintage performance from fromber where
you think if you get that kind of performance against
Seattle last weekend, maybe that series goes different.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
They've been one of the hottest teams in baseball, so
nothing is promised because it is baseball. But I don't
know what to make of this team, and I have
no idea what to expect starting tonight with Jason Alexander
on the bump.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Yeah, to be honest with you, I don't either.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
But the problem is that they they've now taken it
out of their hands, right like they don't control their
own destiny, Like they could come in here and sweep
the Angels and still not get into the playoffs. That's
what that was the I don't know if tragedy is
the right word, but that was the biggest downfall of
what happened in Sacramento this week, is if you take
two of three there, at least you come in here
(01:19):
and you could have had the possibility to control your destiny,
like you know, if you win certain amount of games.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
You're getting in.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Now they're in a position where if the if things
don't go right from other teams and the Guardians, from
the Red Sox and the Tigers, they could sweep the
Angels here and still not get in. So they're at
the mercy of the Rangers who are playing the Guardians.
They're at the mercy of the Red Sox who are
playing the Tigers and the Tigers. So yeah, it's you know,
(01:47):
it's gonna be all hands on deck. They'na They're gonna
give it their all, They're gonna try their best.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
But the problem is they're just so limited right now.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
And that's been the story of their year right Like
injuries have just absolutely decimated this team to a sometimes
an unrecognizable state. It's not all on the injuries. There
are other factors here that have contributed to this. But
I don't think you can overlook just the fact that
they're probably going to play these three games without Jr.
And Alvarez, without Jeremy Pania, with Esac Paratus who was
(02:17):
on one leg, and with jose L Tuvey, who if
you didn't know.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
It before, I think you know it now.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
He's got a pretty I don't know, substantial is the
right wrop he's got.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
He's got a foot injury.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
He's playing with a bum right foot that is getting
in into the trainer's room after every game. He's trying
to gut through it. But he's playing less than one
hundred percent too. So this is a team that is
just very beaten up, and you know, it's what they
have at this point, They're just gonna have to run
with it.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Well. And the fact that you know, and I saw
you were the one that I saw tweet it amongst
many Luis Garcia, Like, really, I just at this point
you laugh to keep from crying. With the amount, the
sheer amount of injuries, serious injuries, like he's gonna miss
all of next year, like just.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Like yeah, and I mean that, if anything, that kind
of accentuates and you don't want to start talking about
the off season just yet until you know things are
done here. But you know, they've got two starters next
year that you can pencil in as absolutes, and it's
Hunter Brown, A, Christian Cobvier, Spencer Araghetti had the elbow
(03:20):
thing toward the end of the year.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
He doesn't need surgery.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
But this is the same team that has watched guys
struggle to come back from elbow injuries. So I don't
know if they're gonna pencil Aarraghedtty in right away was
Nesky and Renel Blanco, who had surgery Fromber's probably gonna
leave in free agency. So starting pitching is a huge
thing for them this winter, Like they're gonna have to
go and get at least one starter on the market.
I don't know if that's in the trade. I don't
(03:43):
know if that's in free agency. They've got some prospects
that they like, be itt Uyola, Brice mayor Ethan Peco,
blue ball guys like that, But you know it, really
that really just kind of underscored the work that Dana
Brown's gonna for this offseason to rebuild this rotation and
as well, you know, they've got a lot of questions
on the position player side. Again, you don't want to
(04:04):
start talking about the offseason yet. You want to let
this weekend play out and see what happens. But this
could be one of the most fascinating off seasons that
certainly since I've started covering the team that Dana Brown
and his lieutenants are gonna embark on.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
Yeah, an offseason that actually begins even earlier than any
of those before it, although last year it was only
three days after the season ended, and their season ended
because they did not win any games in the wild
Card Series. But to this season briefly, and you guys
have talked to Hunter and Fromber after their most recent starts.
Do you think there's any chance we see Hunter or
(04:41):
Fromber briefly in say Sunday's game, if that's what it
comes to before. I mean, obviously they would still have
to be playing for something on Sunday, which is by
no means a given. Do you think that's even a possibility?
Speaker 1 (04:53):
You know, I mean, look, if they get into Sunday
and it's in a position where they got to win
to continue their season. I could see it they Hoby
are on full rest the way he's been going though,
he's basically a one time through the order kind of guy.
So do you start Christian Javier in an opener kind
of situation? Do you even do that with Hunter Brown? Like,
(05:14):
knowing he'd be on one day or a couple of
days shorter rest. Do you go out there and say, hey,
give us the first three innings, see what we can
get out of you, and then maybe we bring hobvier
And I don't know, but you know it's a risk,
don't get me wrong. Like, it's a risk not only
for this year if they get into the playoffs, because
you then you won't have him for the wildcard game,
but it's a risk for next year too, bringing him
back on short rest. You know, he has not done
(05:35):
that at all this year. I think it'd be a
very fascinating conversation for them to have, just thinking about
not only this season, but the future, what he means
to this franchise going forward, what he is, what this
season has meant for him, and kind of his standing
in baseball.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
I think it'd be a fascinating discussion to have.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
You know, Frober is a guy I don't think they'd
go that route, but he is the guy on this
staff that they think the arm is more resilient, he's
more durable. He's the guy that they feel a lot
more comfortable with pitching on short rest. I don't know
if they'd pitch him on that much as short rest,
but that would technically be.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
His bullpen day.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
So if you know, they get into the seventh inning
with a lead, you know, could they ask him, hey,
can you give me six outs?
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Maybe? I don't know, but I would imagine if they.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Get the Sunday and their playoff fate is still in doubt,
I'd imagine all hands would be.
Speaker 4 (06:26):
In deck, probably a couple of guys you wouldn't have
had much thought about from the beginning of the season
and think they would have played much of a role here.
Zach Cole certainly is one of them. Probably should be
in the lineup even more than he has been, which
is saying something about the group that they have healthy
at this point, but each right hand or they'll see,
including one today, I would expect him to be out there.
Curious about what you think he's shown so far in
(06:48):
is less than a month here and maybe onto his future.
And similarly with a completely unheralded guy they added in
a trade a couple of years ago. But he throws
a lot of strikes most of the time. Jaden Murray,
what do you think he's maybe shown them about how
he can help this team or what they might think
of him moving forward those two players, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
I think Jayden Murray's kind of more of a middle reliever,
you know. I mean, look, he throws strikes. He can
get it up in the higher side of ninety, both
with him and Cole. I don't think you want to
put too much into what you've seen for this stretch,
because I mean, lex you know this, like we've seen
rookies come up and have you know, month long heres
(07:27):
that have been incredible and then they've kind of fallen
back to earth. I don't want to use Cam Smith
as an example for that, but I mean it kind
of is like he was really good for the first
two three months of this season and then fatigued and
it hasn't been great since they caught lightning in a bottle.
With Zach Cole, he did exactly what they thought he
would do. Come up here and he was the best
(07:47):
hitter in the organization at that point. Came up here
and really really put himself at least in the conversations
going forward. You know, I don't think this is going
to solidify him as a guy that's in the outfield
rotation next year. I don't think this is going to
solidify him as a guy that's making the team out
of camp, but certainly has put himself in the conversation,
especially as you kind of look at some of the
(08:09):
things they could be doing in the outfield. I don't
see hay Sus Sanchez being a long term member of
this team, So that's a left handed hitting outfielder that's
possibly gone. They've got Jacob Melton that has gotten some
run up here and has not really performed well. You know,
Zach Cole, I think he's certainly in the conversation. I
(08:29):
wouldn't say much more than that, but he has exceeded
any expectations that I think the team had for him
entering the season.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
Talking to Chandler Rome of the Athletic Here on Sports
Talk seven ninety Astros. With the final three regular season
games starting tonighte in Anaheim against the Angels with the
amount of sunk cost. Is it likely that they the
Astros just hope for a better season next year from
(08:57):
Christian Walker, or do you think there's a realistic chance
so he shopped this offseason, especially given the amount of
crowding in that infield of various positions.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Well, they're going to have to do something because they've
got Correy is not moving off a third base, Jeremy
Payne is back. They don't want to play josel two
They at second base probably ever, I mean, they want
to do it a little bit, but they certainly don't
want to play him there on an everyday basis. And
then Christian Walker's at first base. That leaves esak paratus
with really kind of nowhere to play. Everybody you talk
(09:29):
to in baseball seems to think that he is incapable
of handling second base defensively, just with his lack of range,
his lack of lateral movement. You know, look, maybe they
tell him the first day of the offseason, you're playing
second base next year. You have three months to go
figure it out. Maybe with an off season of training
it can help him. But I do think, you know,
they Christian Walker is probably the guy that they would
(09:52):
look to shop. I don't know what. His trade value's
probably never been lower, you know. I know he's gotten
a lot of grief from fans, and understandably so. But
he has been better in the second half. It has
not been a complete zero, a complete nothing. It's just
the streaks have been so pronounced that and he was
so bad to start the year that his numbers are
(10:13):
gonna stay underwater. But he's been better in the second half.
They'd have to eat some of they a substantial portion
of the salary too, going to another team, So they're
gonna need somewhere for Eastoc Paradis to play. Somebody is
going to have There's going to be an odd man
out in the outfield. I don't know in the infield,
Excuse me, I don't know if it's Walker. I don't
know if they shot Paradis, but they seem to really,
(10:35):
really like Paradis. I don't know, but I mean, obviously
I don't think both ramon Arius and Marisio Dubon. That's
kind of a repetitive roster spot there, So maybe one
of those two guys is also on the move somewhere.
I'm not sure, but They've got a lot of decisions
to make. They've got a lot of tough decisions to make,
and maybe some guys that we're not.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Even talking about that they could, you know.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Think about reshaping and reinventing this lineup, because I think
the last year year and a half has certainly showed
us that they've got to do some real a real audit,
a real deep look at their offensive philosophy, at you know,
maybe how their roster is constructed, the type of hitters
they have on their roster. I think they've really got
(11:18):
to take a deep look and see if this is
what they want to run back in twenty twenty.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Six real quick, before we let you go Monday rolls around.
Are the Astros in the postseason?
Speaker 2 (11:27):
I don't think so. I think it's too much of
a lift for them.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
I would not be surprised if they swept the Angels,
like that would be the least surprising thing in the world.
The Angels stink like they have completely folded. They have
sixteen hundred strikeouts as a team, like they are awful.
It would not surprise me at all if they swept them.
But they're just gonna need too much help from other
teams that are also playing bad teams, and I just
don't think it all works out.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
I think they I think in a cruel twist of faith.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
They've probably in the season tied with the Tigers for
the last wild card spot, and the Tigers get it
on a tiebreaker.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
I'm all right, good stuff right there, Chandler. We appreciate
the time. We'll catch up again very soon. All right,
thanks guys, Chandler Roman the athletic here on Sports Talk
seven to ninety. We'll take a quick time out, come
right back, react to that, and continue on here in
the five o'clock hour. It's the A Team sports Talk
seven ninety.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
On Sports Talk seven ninety