Where do the Astros go from here afrer ANOTHER INJURY to Lance McCulllers Jr.?

Wex and AC react to the news that Lance McCullers Jr. going on the IL with a foot injury. Where does the rotation go? What does Houston need to do going into a six games series? Who steps up in place behind Framber Valdez and Hunter Brown?

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, wex uh huh.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
You remember in the first segment a few minutes ago,
when I was talking about Joe a spot of getting
love because of all the things he was doing, with
all the injuries he was dealing with.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
I don't remember.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Yeah, it's not that you know, other baseball teams aren't
dealing with injuries.

Speaker 3 (00:22):
It happens. Uh, astro has just got another one.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
So Lance mcculler's junior is going on the I l
with a foot sprain, and I would assume that that's
not a long term thing. And I really shouldn't. I
really shouldn't assume anything otherwise because even though it's Lance
mcculler's junior, it's his foot, it's not anything having to
do with his arm. But that's not great news considering

(00:50):
he's you know, starting to round into form and all
that kind of stuff. And I just without without even
looking it up, whether it's a pitcher or otherwise, I don't.
I couldn't tell you the best guess on the timetable
for that kind of injury.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
No, because we don't have any information on it. I
don't know if it's something that they really they wanted
to skip a start or two or this is a problem.
I mean, fifteen day IL for a pitcher doesn't indicate anything,
just like the sixty day IL shift that Spencer Araghetty
made over the weekend doesn't mean anything. He was never
going to be back in that time period once they
got to a certain point in time. It was merely procedural. Now,

(01:25):
obviously this is the front side of it, so we
don't know the length of it. But he could be
he could be out for fifteen days, he could be
out for forty five days, he could be out for
sixty five days, and they might never have to change
his designation. Usually those only come when the roster is well,
we don't have any more spots on the forty man,
and we need it. That's what they did with Spencer Araghetty.
They didn't have any other spots on the forty man

(01:47):
to make a couple of the moves they made over
the weekend, so that was the need for that move.
Jason Alexander, who we've brought up a couple of times.
The Astros added him a couple of weeks ago, and
he has been tremendous in his opportunities with Space Cowboys.
I was pretty good before he got here all at
the minor league level. Obviously, he is now on the Astros,
and I would assume Joe Espotta will mention sometime later

(02:08):
this afternoon that he is going to start tomorrow night's game.
Ryan Gusto is going to get the start tonight in
place of Lance mccullor's junior and that leaves unless they're
altering more of their rotation, leaves the spot open for Tuesday.
They had intended to go to a six man rotation.
They will likely stay with that six man rotation. They
will now need seven pitchers, with Jason Alexander being the

(02:31):
seventh pitcher to get them there. So the Astros current
rotation includes Ryan Gusto, who made his major league debut
earlier this season. It includes Brandon Walter, who made his
Astro's debut after a drip of coffee prior to coming
to the Astros, and he's now made three spectacularly good starts,

(02:51):
including Sundays. It includes Colton Gordon, who made his major
league debut earlier this season with the Houston Astros, and
it will now include Jay and Alexander presumably tomorrow evening.
I don't believe that's a given, but it seems very likely,
and Hunter Brown and from Er Valdez. It's an interesting
way to go through life if you're the Astros. But

(03:12):
all of it has come when they've played their best baseball.
They win about a little over now fifty percent of
the games, fifty percent of the games started by Gusto Gordon,
blue Ball Walter and the assorted pitchers. I've been mentioning
that's how well this team has continued to play baseball

(03:34):
with a bunch of I didn't know they would ever
pitch for this team in a starting role this year,
and that's what they just keep doing. And yesterday's a
perfect example of it, because the offensive group they had
behind him was also less than you would hope. Both
of the corner infielder acquisitions for the Astros this offseason
were not in the lineup. Walker a day off and
Esach Perettis the injury to his hamstring keeping him off,

(03:57):
and they managed to score two runs. They managed to
get a bunch of singles. Granted, the last hit of
the game is marked as a single, clearly that would
at any other point in the game be more than
a single, but that's how it's scored enough to get
you two runs enough to win a game on a
walkoff and back to back nights, Josh Hater pitching in
both of those games and coming off the mound as

(04:18):
the last Astro to do so, getting the win in
both of those games. But it is beyond amazing and
you're only hoping that what has gotten you here, most
specifically Brown and Valdez, well, they just continue to take
the ball every whatever day it is every fifth day
or currently every sixth day, and that's how they're going
to get through this season. Now. Everybody else from a

(04:40):
veteran standpoint that's been a part of their rotation has
been forced to miss time at one point or another.
Arrighetti's still out, mccullors is currently out, Blanco and Wiznski
permanently out for twenty twenty five.

Speaker 2 (04:53):
This is basically the anti twenty twenty two rotation where
there was like no injuries, hardly at all and no
not coincidentally, they went all the way to a World
Series championship, But I mean, the Astros have had insane
injuries on their way to a World Series appearance. Twenty
twenty one comes to mind, But I mean, this is

(05:14):
it's not great news. But I just feel like because
of what you just talked about, they, in a weird way,
feel more equipped, just because this season, more than any other,
feels like so many guys have stepped up and if
not thrived, then at least gotten the job done in
roles they weren't necessarily expected to be in.

Speaker 3 (05:34):
At the beginning of the twenty twenty five campaign.

Speaker 1 (05:36):
You're asking all those pitchers again, I mentioned them, Gusto, Gordon, Walter,
blue Ball. Just allow us to have a chance to win,
that's all we're asking. And Walter's gone above and beyond that.
Gordon's now had us start or two. Maybe that's gone
above and beyond that. Most of the time they're giving
you five or six innings in the game's not over.
That's all they want. That's all they can ask for

(05:58):
for pitchers. I think of this caliber and it's enough,
like I said, to win more than they lose, which
is insane. You shouldn't win more than you lose with
those guys going out there and needing three to four
innings out of your bullpen and almost every single one
of those starts. But now Gusto and Gordon and Walter
in succession, each of their last starts during this turn,
they've all been six innings or better. Walter easily could

(06:21):
have finished seven innings yesterday went six and two thirds.
He doesn't walk batters. That is very helpful. It's a
very smart way to live in the major leagues. Nineteen
strikeouts in his first three starts, one walk, none of
them yesterday astros win.

Speaker 2 (06:37):
That sounds also very anti Lance mccullor's junior start, just
seeing as how he was the next one in line
to make a start. I mean, he doesn't allow a
lot of traffic on the bases, and that's the kind
of stuff that you would come to expect with a
mcculor start, even if it's successful.

Speaker 1 (06:54):
Yeah, it's only been a couple of starts, obviously for Walter.
It's been fourteen starts for Hunter Brown. Hunter Brown's got
a point nine to three whip as he continues to
basically be the best pitcher in the American League that
doesn't throw left handed in pitch for Detroit and Brandon
Walter's whip is lower than his because he only gives
up hits, he doesn't give up any walks. And Hunter
Brown's been sensational. That should be an indicator. Statistically, to

(07:17):
paint that picture for you of what they've gotten when
they've handed the ball to Walter, would be another five
games till they do so, four night games with the Athletics,
the loan team in this division that hasn't been record
wise competitive. I mentioned when we went to break there
were three major introductions to baseball again this season coming tonight.

(07:37):
One of them is inside the Astros Division. Logan Gilbert
is set to take the mound tonight for the Seattle Mariners.
He didn't pitch in May, pitched only until late April
before his injury took him out of their starting rotation,
but he's the expected starter tonight for the Rafael Devers
less Socks, who visit Seattle this evening. Gian Carlos Stanton

(07:58):
is expected to make his debut tonight at home at
Tiny Yankee Stadium against the Angels, and over on the
West Coast, the San Diego Padres will face an opener
for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He will then that lead
off in the bottom of the first inning. His name
is Shoeyo Tani.

Speaker 3 (08:15):
How long has it been since he's pitched?

Speaker 1 (08:17):
April of twenty three or excuse me, August of twenty three.

Speaker 2 (08:20):
Oh man, that's just it. That's an embarrassment of riches.
I do wonder how long.

Speaker 1 (08:26):
He'll keep need of them with they have had. Like
we're running through the pitching injuries for the Astros. Theirs
are very very similar.

Speaker 2 (08:32):
Yeah, but the problem is when you're the Dodgers and
you spend what they do on credit, nobody cares. Nobody
wants to hear it. Now I'm saying anybody cares about
the Astros either. I mean, injuries are part of the game,
but you care less. I feel like when there's a
you know, buying your championship type club out there that's
suffering from pitching injuries, Oh they get show Heyo Tani

(08:53):
poor things.

Speaker 1 (08:54):
Yeah, we'll see if he is capable of really ramping
it up at some point this year. There's half a
seat and left. So it makes me believe that the
answers yes, but they're also hoping nothing goes wrong and
potentially something goes so dramatically wrong, which I don't want
to see. But he's able to play every day without pitching.
Is that at all in jeopardy?

Speaker 3 (09:14):
Probably? Isn't.

Speaker 1 (09:15):
You just never know. I wouldn't imagine it's something that
prevents him from pitching and still has not prevented him
from hitting. That would change here, But the elbow that
has had him sidelined and he's had multiple surgeries on,
it's recovered enough. He's thrown enough live vps for the
Dodgers to ready him to start tonight's game.

Speaker 3 (09:32):
Again.

Speaker 1 (09:33):
I don't know what the number is. They just made
this announcement last night, but he's not going deep into
this game. Essentially, as I mentioned, he will likely be
an opener, and we'll see if it changes the fortunes
for the Dodgers, who now have to combat with the Giants,
having one of the American League's best hitters over the
past five years. Now he's on their team, and of
course he's willing to play first base. I have thoughts

(09:54):
on all of that defensive nonsense coming out of Boston,
and we'll see if Giancarlo Stanton has much of a
regular season with the Yankees. He opted to kind of
figure it out with his elbow rather than maybe go
ahead and get something fixed, and it's cost him a
lot of baseball. He was not a very good regular
season player last year as he kind of went through

(10:14):
this did have a very good postseason, which helped the
Yankees to carry Aaron Judge once they get there, because
the arguable greatest Yankee of all time, if you don't
count October, continues to have everybody say how awesome he is.
If you don't count October, lots to get to. As
you can tell, look the size of that caveat it's huge.

(10:35):
I don't know why people don't care about October eight.
You would think it matters to them. I mean, I
can give you ninety nine reasons why he's not the
greatest Yankee ever. But this is not the home of
Yankees baseball. Here in the deep Southwest portion of Texas

Speaker 2 (10:51):
The A gem on Sports Talk seven ninety