Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Now what's next next up? It'sthe man up, next up, the
next step, take the next step, next up, stop next, next
up? This he wants to benext. This is next up with Tad
Norfleet ten Chris Gordy, Let's seewhat's next next next ten on one Here
(00:25):
at h Town, it is nextup. Sports Talk seven ninety Bride Lolma
is done with his show as heleaves the studio, Chris Gordy stand north
with you. What is going on? Man? Good morning the elevator hiccup
here I am I thought I gottratted in the damn thing? All right?
Line from the Sports Talk seven ninetystudios nestled in between Uptop Park and
(00:48):
River Oaks. We in the Galleriaarea here on a Thursday morning. Got
some afternoon Astros baseball coming up atthe conclusion of this five program. If
you new to the station, newto the show, as Gordy said,
this is next up, I'm stayingNorthfleet. That's Chris Gordon Connedy McGovern on
the other side of the glass there. Appreciate the Sean Salisbury Show each and
every weekday morning six to ten am. We wake up with them. We
support them. I heard the callersthis morning. I've heard the conversations.
(01:12):
We plan to engage all of thethings. Who we got to date Brian
bogus Evik, former first round pickof our Houston Astros. He's gonna drop
by in by twenty eight minutes andhelp us understand what the hell is going
on here in Astro's Land. Seewhat I did there Astro Land? All
right? Well, we got Rocketsand Action tonight they're in Salt Lake City,
(01:34):
Utah. The eighteen will be outat Tom's Watch Bar downtown. So
I see what's going on? Seecan they get the forty wins? Been
a long time since this Rockets teamgot the forty wins? I do want
to talk Texans. That's probably aneleven o'clock hour. I mean, let
me just plug, Okay, Sothe eight team today will be a carbox
brewing after the game today, Soif you're out about come on buy and
(01:55):
then we're gonna do a live editionof the Crawford Box cast tonight. Ross
Fiorello to myself from six to seven. Hear that on seven ninety and you
can also come and hang out withus and see a live version of it
over a Cardbock park where did Iget tom Watsema friend, that's tomorrow there
at times. Oh, that's whatI'm thinking about it. I'm sorry about
that. So I thinking rockets gotexciting. Okay, gentlemen, the good
(02:15):
listening people are my favorite city inHouston. I know what you're thinking.
I got the tweets last night,Gordon, at the conclusion of this astros
ass whooping old stand, he's gonnaunload. What is he gonna say?
He's gonna start hollering his screaming again. You know what, Gordon, I'm
(02:38):
not. I'm not gonna yell andscream today because it doesn't serve any purpose.
Some of you are just resolute inhow you feel about how this twenty
fourteen was fit to put together.Some of you are just gonna go down,
live or die with whatever. DaneBrown, Jim Crane, Bagwell and
(03:00):
whoever else, a spoder, whateverthey tell you. You just gonna buy
a hook line of sink. Itdoesn't matter. So I'm not gonna come
on here and try and convince anybodyof anything. Gordon, including you,
I will respectfully disagree. I willprovide an informed opinion. I was surmised
by saying this in terms of whatI think about last night again eleven to
(03:24):
two ass whooping to Kansas City,another series that the Astros won't be winning.
I feel so sorry, and Iam indeed sympathetic to Henley. What's
his name, Brian Henley? What'shis name? Blair? Blair Henley,
(03:46):
Yeah, Blair. I'm sorry,Spencer Aaron Getty, I'm sorry. What
Jim Crane and Dana Brown did tothe both of you is absolutely in excusable,
and it's bigger than just the twoof you. They put them in
positions that they could succeed. WhySpencer Garnet the position he can't see the
(04:06):
second time that lineup saw him.We routed up seven damn runs going to
stop this. He got sealed.He was not ready. Neither of them
were red d and there was nosense in putting those men in those situations.
Now, I understand, giving thedominoes how they ended up there.
I pushed back on the entire notionthat this was the decision. I'll come
(04:30):
back because I got several the thoughts. I don't want to hog all the
time, but I want to makesure that you get They won the Blair
Hendley game. So that's that's onething. So yes, he got yelled.
This team's the biggest problem right now, stand is they can't score runs.
That is their biggest problem. SpencerHarroghetti aside, it was a rough
ending. Some seeing eye singles thatfound space, He walked some guys.
It turned into a disaster inning.I think he's gonna bounce back and he's
(04:51):
gonna be part of this rotation.He's not going anywhere. But yes,
pitching over all this year stan chingfor the Astros, the numbers will say
has been actually pretty much. Thegames last night was not good. Watched
the game last night was not good. Say watch the games two runs.
You're not gonna win games scoring tworuns a night. Agree with you in
(05:14):
principle putting, I'm just telling youright now, and I get what your
case is. But Sam Blake,Snell, Jordan Montgomery last night, if
they give you six innings of threerun ball, you'll lose that game six
to three to two because you can'tscore run. Maybe bet it's the problem,
So correct me if I'm wrong.Do you not win championships in baseball?
By what? Gordon? Pitching?Pitching has not been their problems.
(05:41):
The team has multiple problems, multipleproblems. I'm not disputing the numbers.
And I saw, I retweeted,once you put out to the people this
morning. Yeah, they the runnersof scoring position. They're not moving runners
along. They are for the Astrosare fourth in the league in all of
baseball in total hits total hits.Only three teams have had more hits than
the Astros. They are nineteenth andruns scored. That is probably the biggest
(06:05):
disparity I've ever seen. And againwe're only two weeks into the season.
But like you are getting men onand leaving them on at an alarming rate.
No one's disputing. And you arenot gonna this team, this team
as they are built, with allthe pitching injuries and everything. Even if
they were fully healthy, even ifyou had Verlander shoot, even if you
had Garrett Cole justin Verlander exact grankylike ad in twenty nineteen, this team
(06:29):
would probably still be five hundred.You're not winning. Nobody wouldn't win two
nothing games because because the championship gamesdo. Because when the Astrolls were winning
in twenty seventeen and twenty twenty two, they were winning those games. You're
pale, don't tell me that goback and look how they won two nothing
games. I'm not talking about twonothing. Maybe it's four to three.
Maybe if four runs would help thisteam. Right now I'm saying to you
is they work together, just likeoffensive defense. And I know y'all hate
(06:54):
when I do this, but I'mgonna do it again because it's relevant from
a sports standpoint. On Sundays AG, the offensive defense have to work together.
Your pitching and hitting must work together. If you are at a championship
level, your pitching must also beat a championship level. And Dana Brown
and Jim Crane chose to roll thedice. Now, I'm gonna get to
(07:15):
some baseball people. Since y'all don'tlike how I feel about baseball, let
me finish. I'm going to giveyou some quotes from reputable baseball people in
this industry that agree with me.This comes down to one thing, philosophy.
This ain't about money. The momentthey were willing to offer Blake Snail
a contract, the money went outthe window. The moment they signed Josh
(07:36):
Hater and they went over the firstlevel of the CBT, money went out
the window. This is not abouteconomics. This is about philosophy and the
second word pride. Now, Idon't know what you read, but my
good book tells me pride becomes forthe fall when you take because they wouldn't
go farther into the luxury sign anover breaks when you take pride. And
(07:57):
I'm not going to improve my baseballteam because that's not what we do here.
I'm not with you on this.They added one of the biggest names
in free agents. I me knowwhen I can go go. We're having
a back and forth. You talkedtore eight minutes, and I talked what
I can do the back in butI can do that if I got appointed,
I'm gonna make I'm going to don'tknow, pleeping Montgomery. It's about
(08:20):
the lineup. This team has twoproblems. One it was a prior to
not improve. The entires ridiculous.Go ahead. You're saying you gott I
said I want to go. Theother that that they's want to improve.
They got baseball people telling me this, Gordy Baseball people are telling me this.
There's a ton of literature out thereif you google it. The Astrosts
(08:41):
made a decision philosophically, We're gonnaput hater on the back end. We're
going to then bump everybody upright.But what they did not do was gonna
do, for example, what theRangers did when they spent fourteen picks,
they signed fourteen different dudes for abouttheir relief. Okay, that's one way
to go about it. That's whatthe Rangers did. The Astros who lose
(09:03):
Stannic and Mayton and Narris, Ohand uh, who's mother guy they traded
for him last year? Who's onthe My god? Those are the three.
The three get hurt for the thirdseason. This is my point.
So you lose your middle relief,you don't add to your middle relief,
you're going to put You're going toget another closer. Albeit I understand the
(09:26):
signing, but those funds could havebeen used to solidify the middle of you,
in the middle of your relief andyour starting rotation. Do you want
to do something at What I'm tellingyou is the proof is in the pudding.
Their belief through fourteen games thirteen gamesis wrong. I don't just I
disagree. Taylor's thoughts disaster debuts stand. Seven of the eight of their nine
(09:54):
losses, they've scored three runs orless. That's why they're losing games.
Two things be true. No,well, some things can't be true.
It's it's in the moment. Spencerraghettystruggled last night. Yes, and the
pitching was the problem. You scoretwo runs, game one of the season.
He left with a lead. Didleft he struggled with Was it a
(10:16):
quality start? He struggled with controland he he left with the lead.
That's all you can quality starts.It doesn't matter. He left the game
with the lead. He had alead in the game when he left.
All I'm saying is this team staidyou were paying Jordan Alvarez tons of money.
You're paying, you're paying, You'repaying. Kyle Tucker is looking he's
(10:39):
coming playing. Alex Bregman is lookingfor a big Jose Brady is making seventeen
a half million a year. JanAir Diaz is one of the better hitting
catchers in baseball. It's these guysthey're hitting. They the timely hitting is
the biggest problem. They cannot scoreruns. They can't bring these guys home.
Disputing that that's why they're losing games. Are also losing because I'm watching
(11:01):
guys go out there on the mound. They shouldn't be there and some of
the guys that went out there.Spencer Harraghetty was coming up this year.
He was never coming up in Gamethirteen. Okay, he was there.
I was never gonna be a partof it. But he's gonna come up
in June like it was he wasgonna. I agree. I agree he
should have gotten some more Triple Astarts and gotten groom. But like you
(11:22):
can't. We can't look at himand go that's the problem. I didn't
say specifically Aragetty. I said theentire the Astros have a pitching problem.
Through thirteen games. You cannot tellme they are pitching at a championship level.
They are not. Now the championshipdidn't play it in April yesterday.
Their team ERA was like twelfth inbaseball? Is that championship level at twelve?
(11:43):
Offenses not changes, I said,is the pitching championship level at twelve?
That can be? That can bethere if the offense is scoring five
to six seven runs a night.What man's championships in Major League Baseball?
Pitching for offense both runs scored?Is what is what wins? I mean,
You're and Alva wins the World Gamesix in the World Series with a
huge home run. The offense iswhat won you the World Series at that
(12:07):
Why didn't they win in twenty twentytwo in the LC es Gordon, was
it hitting or pitching twenty twenty threemins last year? Last year was a
combination of both. They couldn't thetimely hitting was not there. They couldn't
score runs. If they scored,if they scored five six runs a game
at home much you're a minute maypark against the Rangers, they wouldn't.
They're in the World Series if thepitching performance is better and Birdland is still
(12:28):
on your roster and you didn't haveto go get them. There are a
lot of things that they could havedone last year, but that's not what
this year. They chose to gopay Hater and somebody and I'll pull it
up on the other side of thebreak. Somebody put it up for me.
The money they paid Hater when youdidn't necessarily need another closer. Presley
was fining that role, but theywanted to make a strength stronger. In
their mind, Presley becomes a partof the relief. Okay, he's in
(12:52):
the pening. I you could haveyou could have gotten Montgomery a Snail.
Now you would have had him forless years of control than you have Blake
Snail. But go look at themoney. Six million dollars less would have
gotten you Snail and Montgomery for oneor two. How many runs are they
scoring for you because you're still theother team from scoring runs. Oh,
(13:16):
so they're gonna put you no hittersand shoutouts because that's what it's taking games.
So is it likely that that Montgomeryand Snail are better than Rondelle Blanco,
who right now is this team's bestpitcher? Probably not. Are you
out of your gree against the Nationals? This is next up Sports Talk seven
ninety Staton north Fleet and Chris Gordy. This is next tough on Sports Sucks
(13:41):
seven ninety. Notice your two andthere's strike three call at the top of
the zone on the inside corner.Garcia can't believe it, but he goes
down looking at Spencer Abrighetti's first bigleague batter face is a backwards cave at
a backup slide? Or what apitch at the top of the zone that
(14:03):
was beautiful? Three two twig geta mess struck him out on a cutter.
Bobby Witt Junior goes down at all. Spencer Araghetti does as a big
leiguer is strike people out to away. Welcome back into the show, stan
Fleet, Gordon and h I knewI tried, Houston, I did.
(14:24):
Y'all heard how I started. Isaid, I wasn't gonna yell. I
was gonna try and keep my composure. And as in the case in life
and sports, many times the sameway, multiple things can be true at
the same time. The Astros havea hitting problem. We're gonna talk about
the same thing to night that wetalked about this or today, the same
thing we talked about the day before. Jose air Bray, you has been
(14:46):
putrid runners in scoring position. It'sthe same story every day. Gordon,
give him the number again. What'dyou put out this morning? The Astros
are fourth in baseball in total hits. They are getting hits, they are
fighting ways to get hits. Theycannot score runs. They are nineteenth in
(15:09):
baseball in runs scored with fifty two. Put it this way, they have
one hundred and twenty hits. Theyhave fifty two runs. Stay do the
mat. How many guys is thatleft on base? I mean, you're
leaving more often than not. Youwere leaving guys on base and they're not
coming around to score. Like it'ssimple math, Like I just think,
(15:30):
yes, they have huge injury issuesright now. To the pitching staff,
yes you're calling us venz Arraghetti earlierthan you need to. Yes, the
third inning was bad last night.But if this team continues to score two
to three runs per night, they'regoing to lose games this often. This
the way this team is built.Even with with a healthy Justin Erland,
with a healthy from ber Valdez,with a healthy Jose Erkidi and Luis Garcia
(15:54):
and everybody else, this team hasto score. I said this last year.
I said that gone today. Ofhaving Verlander going seven shoutout innings,
Garrett Cole eight shutout innings like thatwas awesome in twenty nineteen, but that's
gone. I said last year.If this team's gonna win a World Series,
they're gonna do it with the bats. And we saw it last year.
The bats were very good and thenthey kind of died out in that
(16:15):
ALCS, particularly at home against theRangers. They were good up at the
Rangers Ballpark. But I said thatthe same thing coming into this season.
If this team's gonna win at all. They're gonna do it with scoring and
the bats are not coming through.You are averaging two runs a night in
these losses. And the pitching again, I don't care. If you got
a pitcher that goes five innings oftwo run ball, you're not gonna win
those games. You're asking your pitchers, like, in other words, run
(16:37):
out Blanco through a no hitter.The next time I renout Blanco threw a
one hitter. That's the kind ofpitching performances it's taking right now for you
to find wins because the offense can'tscratch off across enough runs. You're asking
your pitching staff to be elite nightin and night out. Because the offense
can't be pretty good. It shouldbe reversed. The offense should be elite
and the pitching staff can be justpretty good de decent. Again. I
(17:00):
can win games when my pitcher goesfive innings three runs and win that game
five to three because I've got thebullpen to shut him down on the back
end. I can't do that whenmy offense can't scratch across runs. Gordys
comfortable with Blair Henley going out therebecause we have jordanne Alvarez. Gorda is
comfortable that you just went for thatwas a situation if they had no one
(17:23):
else, go ahead to bring hisname up. Though you'll never see him
again. He won't be back here. Gordy believes, because this team has
Jordon Alvarez and Altuve and Bregman andTucker, that you can roll out Spencer
Arrengetty in an AL game on theroad, first career start, and it's
okay, Yeah, should be.Gordy believes it's okay that you just wait
(17:47):
for Garcia and uh Fromber and uhjv and and and mccallis. We'll just
j'll be back. We'll just waitfor those guys to come back. Meanwhile,
we're losing ale games, which aregoing to be important because when you
get to the time breaker like itdid last year, we look back over
the totality of the season. Gordyand I have a philosophical and fundamental difference.
(18:11):
Cool I'm not telling gord is mistakenin his statistics. Hitting and not
just hitting but scoring runs is obviouslyessential, but to ignore the pitching that
I'm seeing out there, and thankGod for ronielle Blanco who came out of
nowhere because if it hadn't been forBlanco, I don't I know, Tim
(18:36):
and Katy. Good morning to you, hey, longtime listener. Normally I
never agree with Northfolik, but onthis one you have to. You never
agree not now that's a strong wordmajority of the time, but this one
you're spot on. But here's mybiggest problem. You have your two best
prospects coming up. You give themtwo starts last night when it's forty,
(18:56):
When you're forty eight pitches in andyou can see that the damn is leaking.
Why aren't you warming somebody up soyou ride him to his seven?
Now you're down seven. You shouldhave a I think they both should have
come out of the bullpen. Wellthe bullpen, Tim, the bullpen was
already taxed. I mean that wasthe problem, was like I had a
starter. I thought he came asa starter who with Henley Blair. Henley
(19:19):
Blair. Henley was never going topitch here this year. The only reason
he started was because Fromberg got hurtthat day that day of his start.
They found out he couldn't go andthey had to they had to pivot forget
Blair. Henley Emrace that one theArrogetty thing. You just got taxed the
last few nights with your bullpen.You wanted to at least get four to
five out of Arrogetty last night.You couldn't I understand, But wouldn't you
(19:42):
want your wouldn't you want your prospectsto have a good outing so they're positive
for the next outing? But timwould start seeing at leak wouldn't you pull
them? I mean, you've hadan epandemic of injuries. Though the Spencer
dem he's happy to get so wegot a baby him be like, sorry,
man, we can need to getchild ready to be up here.
(20:03):
Yet it's Timid. You stay readyso you don't have to get ready like
this. Dude. His dream wasto get to the big league and his
dream can wait. He wasn't ready. Dana Brown in the spot and did
him a disservice last night. Theroster should have had more people there to
make sure that he shouldn't have beencalled up in the first place. Go
(20:25):
ahead, Tom in Downtown, goahead, thanks for letting me in.
I want to start with what youstarted the show with Stan and you guys
are on the subject now, soI'm going to continue. But I'm going
to look at it two ways.I agree with you. To put a
player in a position that they're notready to shine as best as they can,
that ain't a good thing. Youcould hurt the player. It certainly
showed you know that they may notbe ready. On the other side of
(20:49):
the coin, Dana Brown didn't dothe things he needed to do to cover
what the big league club needed.That's on him when he uses these guys
to bring him up, like whatbut give me an example of what he
didn't do well. They never adjustthe fact that could break. You will
be the same players, the guythat's going to continue to go down.
(21:10):
And you know, maybe the moneyhad a lot to do with it.
Maybe there were women and they saidlisten, eventually he's going to hit.
I don't know all those things.But for not to bring a player up
when they needed something, that's whatthe minor leagues are for, so I
could see him doing that. Butit's on Dana Brown. He has to
take the responsibility for not getting thebig club what they needed to have.
(21:33):
And you know, I know it'shard to do that sometimes, but that's
why he gets paid the big moneyand he's a general manager. But not
to use those guys. If I'mdown there, I don't care if I
don't have the experience. I'm sayingto myself, put me in coach,
I'm ready to play today. SoI see both sides. I respect your
opinion. You were a scout inthe NFL, you played in the league.
(21:53):
You know something about it that Idon't know, and I do agree
with you. But to not bringthem up, that would have been worse.
Those players down there, that's whatthey're there for to develop. Sometimes
you have to rush that, youhave to pick the strawberries a little early.
But I don't know. It's atough team to talk about. If
(22:15):
we look at this team in anothermonth and we see they're still struggling.
I might have talked about this yesterday, and it's because of pitching. Pitching,
pitching, pitching, pitching. Wetalked about it preseason that we were
worried about it. But Tom,don't you agree the offense should pick up
the pitching. Thank you, Tonyagree When you have a Jordon and Hal
Duvey and these guys, they shouldbe scoring five runs a night. That's
(22:37):
all I'm saying. Again, Pitchingis a problem. Yes, offense is
the bigger problem right now, they'regiving you no chance to win by scoring
two runs a night. They're givingyou no chance to win. Let's ask
her on the other side of hisbreak that's played in an Astros uniform knows
Major League Baseball very well. Healso knows this Astros teams will is.
He is an analyst on the SpaceCity Home Network. Brian Boga Svic for
(22:59):
his weekly on the Other Side ofthe Legend There KB and me Homer Astros
Baseball hoston astrosh This exclusive Astros segmenton Sports Talk seven ninety is brought to
you by Moral Mechanical. Yes,let's go. Hey, let's go,
guys. Huh what I thought I'mbrody saying something. Welcome back to next
(23:22):
up here on Sports Talk seven ninety. Thanks everybody that's got us pre set
number one on the automobile There sevenninety AM, press one, lock it
in. We're about to hear fromour guy, Brian Bogasavik Sports seven ninety
dot com. We'll have that interviewin its entirety on the other side.
If you need to get out thewhip, make sure you all gonna catch
that course. The free iHeartRadio appreadily available for you at all times.
(23:45):
With that being said, Stros comeup short. They fall to four and
nine on the season. To helpus pass through how we got here and
what we can do to get outof this predicament. A man that was
a twenty fourth overall pick by theAstros in two thousand and five. You
see face looking good, gray jacket, nice fresh gray nikes on Space at
Home Network Astro's analysts Brown, BogusBoga, good morning, Good morning.
(24:10):
I'm glad you noticed the shoes.Stan's sweet. That's what I got to
ask him about that, Demarrow.Okay, I wanted to start at least
break the dice because Bogue, I'mabout to go in and I don't have
a direct pipeline to Jim Crane,Dana Brown or a spoder. So you
did it, Bolgie. This teamhas several leaks in the boat where you
(24:32):
want to start. Well, okay, uh plan A right, and a
plan A has not worked this year. Every team is designed to play a
certain style of baseball, right.Good teams can win games a lot of
ways, but everybody has uh somethingthat you know, all things being equal,
(24:52):
how would you map out a victory? And for the Astros. It's
win a sixth a sixth inning gamewith your starting pitch and your offense handed
over to the big guys in theback of the bullpen and they lock it
down and it's a wrap and wego home with a victory. That's worked
one time this year, Right,it was Friday night in Arlington, Renelle
pitch Grade. Jordan hits a homerPresley Hater boom done. But one out
(25:17):
of thirteen not enough. And youknow, when you when you find yourself
in a situation and it's been variousreasons why that hasn't worked, you just
kind of start swimming and looking forways to win a game. How are
we going to win a game today? And unfortunately with that results in is
oftentimes finding different ways to lose games. This team has a current resume of
(25:44):
not advancing runners on the base pass. What is the cause for that.
It's a couple of things. Soscoring runners can be seen kind of two
ways, right, It's it's hittingwith runners and scoring position bait, getting
base hits with with men on eithersecond or third, And for that you
kind of just you've just got togive it time, right, You've got
(26:07):
to play the averages because it's battingaverage with runners and scoring positions, so
you've got to give it enough timeto level out. But runners on third
base with less than two outs,that is more of an execution thing.
That's pitch selection, understanding situation,slowing, slowing it down, and knowing
what do I need to look forhere to have a productive at bat,
(26:30):
maybe even make a productive out andget the run in. That's the first
place that they need to get betteris if you're up to bat with a
run around third and less than twoouts, that run has to be a
given, and it has been anythingbut so far. Talking with Space City
Home Networks ASTROS analysts, our brotherBrian Boga sevik Man put on Astro's uniform
(26:55):
playing a handfully excuse me an MLBknows what he's taught to appreciate him dropping
by he know Sports Talk seven ninetynext up is named the show Fleet and
Gordy Bogie. That was a verygood answer by you. I appreciate their
insight on the hitting and advancing runners. Uh, Brian Abray you oh and
one, Aaron Getty, oh andone Hunter Brown, oh and one JP
(27:18):
franz On On one Hey to ohand two Presley, oh and one Taylor
Scott oh and one Square oh,oh and one. I won't even get
into Henley. Talk to me aboutthis rotation and relief. So so from
a relief standpoint, it's kind ofgotten turned upside down a little bit.
(27:40):
In the beginning of the season,it was some bad outings and some poor
pitch execution and they just got beat. What's happened now is the starting pitching
has faltered, which has caused thebullfriend to have to eat up so many
innings. Hold on, bo Iknow, I normally don't interrupt you,
Boges, say that what you justsaid, this darting pitching has done what?
(28:02):
Oh it's I mean, they've gottennine innings out of starting pitchers the
last three starts. Oh, sothe bullpen pitching does have some room for
improvement, got it? Okay,go ahead, Bogue. I'm sorry because
if you said, people around here, since I'm a football guy, Bogue,
I never know what I'm talking aboutwhen it comes to anything other than
football. So maybe when a baseballguy says, what is obvious if you
watch the damn games that starting pitchingis an issue. Go ahead, I
(28:25):
appreciate it, Bolge. Thank youfor your patience. Sure, so the
bullpen gets turned upside down in thosesituations and you end up covering too many
innings, pitching guys strictly on availabilityand not on situation or matchup, and
you know, you end up throwingJosh Hater in nonsafe situations. You end
up having to extend guys further thanyou want. So the bullpen needs to
(28:48):
get entree. Twenty twenty two bullpenwas awesome. Big part of that was
the starting pitching went so deep intogames that the bullpen was always pitching on
schedule. So that goes into thestarting pitching. What has happened. They've
lost three of their top four guyswho are going to be in the rotation
two weeks into the season. It'sa really difficult thing to cover that.
(29:10):
I mean, they've got five startingpitchers on the injured list, so you're
looking at ten deep in the organizationto cover your starting rotation right now.
Plus Henley that makes eleven. Youknow, you're probably thinking that we've got
to go eight or nine deep tocover a starting rotation for the entirety of
a season. To have to doit all this soon, I don't know
(29:33):
what you can say other than you'vegot to hope to get healthy quickly.
You know, JV's got to havea good second rehab start and be ready
to go. Hopefully he comes outof that feeling good. This thing with
Fromber has to get taken care ofquickly because with the way it is now,
you just don't know that that's notgoing to be It's not going to
be sustainable to win a lot ofgames with with just the five that you've
(29:56):
got going now. A few momentshere with Brian Bosavi, a forma stro
he is on Spacey and Home Network. You see him doing a great job
there U in his uh analytical eyeof these Astros in this twenty four season.
Did the Astros do enough to protectthemselves this winter? I'm reading a
ton of articles from baseball people tellingme it was interesting that they put money
(30:19):
in Hater and not covering up forStanic, Montero and Nearest no longer being
serious, Stantic, Nearest and Matonno longer being here. Yeah, I
mean, it's it's the question.It's asked all the time, is it
is it depths or is it quality? And the askers went for quality.
(30:41):
They tried to they tried to addto a to an area of strength versus
a dressing area of weakness. Soyou know, you lose one hundred and
eighty innings from those guys and youreplace it with sixty five from hater.
That leaves a lot of slack tobe picked up. You know, there
there are capable arms from the guywho are filling those middle innings now,
(31:02):
But when you also have to coverinnings that aren't being eaten by the starting
rotation at this point in time,it makes it that much more difficult.
It's hard to say, you know, looking at it in hindsight, you
can say, well, now thatthey're injured, we should have had all
all of these extra starting pictures.And Snell was out there, Montgomery was
out there. But if you wereto sign one of those guys going into
(31:23):
day one of the season, whatrotation spot does they take? That would
have just bumped Ronelle Blanco out ofthe starting rotation. He's been the best
picture in baseball two times through Sorevisionist history is kind of easy. But
depth is so important that you know, if you go on the high end,
depth can get exposed pretty quickly.In a six month season. Last
(31:45):
one we'll get you out here.The people are clamoring for something on first
base. This Jose of brall yousituation has gotten to a critical level.
What do you think the organization willdo with a bread you at first Bay?
I think they're going to keep runninghim out there. I mean,
he makes a lot of money,he owed a lot of money into the
(32:07):
future, and there's still too muchon that to just eat it and walk
away. And I just can't foreseethe scenario in which he doesn't keep getting
at least somewhat regular at backs andtry to I mean, I don't want
to say figure it out. Ijust to have more productive at bats.
(32:28):
It did get better as the seasonwent on last year, but it looks
now just like it did at thebeginning of the season last year, which
which is not a good thing becausethen you start to think, okay,
is that just kind of what itis at this point? Brian Boga second
everybody for his weekly with go Adeand myself here on next up. We
appreciate your time follow him, won'tyou? For all your astros commentary questions?
(32:50):
If you want to bleep me,that's fine. He is at Brian
Boge b o g U. SE V I C. Bogey. I'm
sorry, I'm a little armer thismorning, but yeah, I'm I'm yeah,
I'm feeling some type way. Sorry, undershould Bugle. Let's do it
again next week. Bro, seewhat they do this afternoon. Our brother
Brian Bogus seven. All right,let's step aside. We'll come back.
(33:14):
I'll take these called Reverend Kj's callingback in Rico and a leaf, Gil,
Gil, if you call me back, I'll put you up. I
saw you on the other side.Man, And let's keep talking Astros Baseball,
your home of the Strolls, SportsTalk seven ninety Stator Fleetch, Chris
Gordy, This this next time onSports Talk seven ninety Man gall Giddy.
(33:38):
Appreciate y'all hanging out with us herein the ten o'clock hour. About to
wrap it up. We'll kick offthe eleven o'clock hour with more Astros conversation.
We will talk some NFL. Ihadn't talked Texans. Seemed like in
a week. Some Texans updates,seeing some mock drafts get me excited.
The conversation now around the city.What the hell going on with the Astros
four and nine? They lose lastnight in Kansas City and Spencer Aarraghetty,
(34:01):
their best pitching prospect, makes hismajor league debut. What wasn't great?
Astros lose eleven to two. Y'allknow that already Astros are two and four
on the road. Astros find themselvesfrom a standings standpoint four to nine.
That's a point three to zh eightwin percentage, which is second worst in
(34:22):
the American League. The Astros aredead last in the AL West, some
three and a half games behind theRangers, who are top the AL West,
from a four to nine standpoint.I saw this last night from our
very on Adam Wexler, one halfof the eight team in the afternoons here
on seven ninety wex posted last night. Last time the Astros were five games
(34:44):
below five hundred was June twelfth oftwenty sixteen. Also happens to be coincides
ass ironically enough, the last yearthey missed the playoffs. This time last
year, the Astros by my count, were six and seven, but they
had won two series. The Astroshave only won one. Now twenty three
(35:06):
is twenty three, This is twentyfour. Brian Bogi Sevik joined US moments
ago. Bogi said, listen,the way this team is built, they'll
breakdown on multiple levels. Chris Gordis right. We all watch the games.
The Astros are having an issue movingbatters around the bays pass and ultimately
bringing them home. The starting pitching. I'm also right, the rotation,
(35:32):
the middle relief. It just hasn'tbeen Astro level good, championship petigree good,
it hasn't been. And if you'rewatching the games and you don't see
that, then you're being blinded.You've been blinded, Rico, and a
(35:57):
leaf has been holding for a while, Gil revkj see yah, I'm coming
go ahead, Rico. I appreciateyou hold him, Bron. What's so?
What's up? Stand? What's up? Gordon? Man? Hey,
I wanted to call yesterday man,but poor people gotta work man, so
I couldn't call that man. Igot three points though, you know,
Uh so Joe's new name. It'sgonna be Joe dirt Man, because like,
is he obsessed with Singleton, LikeI don't get it while he keeps
(36:19):
putting him in. I saw theline up today and he's in there again,
man, Like I don't get it, Like you gotta do bad man,
get keep the bond more chances tobe out there and play. Uh
two? Uh? White now isputting Josh Hater in on a non safe
situation like I don't And he's donethat and multiple games already. Man,
that makes no sense to me.And three, let's get some bunch in
(36:42):
there, man. Let's let's buttthe ball a couple of times, man,
and move the runners over like theyget everybodys gotten away from the bunting
party. I don't get that.Appreciate the call, you know, you
tell me, brother, I appreciatethe call. Uh this John Singleton fascination,
I don't know. I asked BrianBogi Savic what he thought they would
do with Jose bray You. Bogisays, they're probably gonna stick with him.
(37:05):
He's making nineteen a nineteen million ayear this year, he's got old
another nineteen next year. They're gonnakeep playing a bray you. I think
that's a mistake, but oh well, uh Josh Hater. You're paying Josh
Hater nineteen million a year. They'regonna use him as much as they can.
And what was the other thing,Oh, bunting, that's one thing.
(37:27):
And I heard who was that DanMatthews brought that up last night on
The tenth Inning Show, being moreaggressive on the base pass, but being
smart and aggressive. Not that Josel two by getting caught off third and
whenever the hell that was Jake Myerstripping on himself trying and during that homestand
to start the year, I don'tknow. I don't know what a spot
is asking him to do and situationallywhat that's about. I'd love that let's
(37:49):
go small ball, like because thiswhat we're doing isn't working. So like,
yeah, Jose Bradley coming up andwatching him strike out, brother,
lay that butt in front of you, lay that that in front of you,
and let's bunt a runner over.Like, let's let's do something.
Let's manufacture a runner too, andhope that helps old school baseball RIPKJ.
I appreciate your patients out in Cyprus. Get in here. Yeah, man,
(38:12):
I love the show. But aswe got a couple of punts,
I want to hit a real quickand I'm gonna be out of here all
right. Point Number one, Iheard one of you guys mentioned early edition
with the offense. Uh, youknow, if somebody started at going six
innings three runs, we still wouldhave lost. That can't necessarily, but
you can't lissarily say that's the case, because if you're in a close games,
the way you approach at bats changes. You do get to incorporate small
ball. I feel like Bogie tinksa lot of my thunder because when you
(38:37):
when you're in a culture game,you're not looking for beg gamings. You
can bunt, you can put guysin motion, you can be more aggressive
on the base pass as for assteals. So that to say that the
office isn't scrolling enough run if thepitching isn't, if the pitching isn't leaving
the offense in the situation where they'replaying and the score seven to one or
seven to two, it's certain aspectsof the games that are removed at that
(39:00):
point because you have to look fora beginning as opposed to the game being
five to three. But kJ theyain't, they ain't doing either one because
the other night, BRAI, youpitch a score of seventh, Ryan Presley's
pitcher score of eighth, Josh Hayarypitcher score his knife, they couldn't get
runs across. So whether it's aclose game or you're down five runs,
like they're not producing runs either way. I understand, but you still have
(39:24):
that option if it's a close game, whether you incorporated or not, it's
it's it's it's you still have thatoption. You no longer have that option
when you go down four or fiveruns. My other point is you mentioned
the the offense we were third orfourth and hits nineteen or so and runs
scored. That lets me know thatthe water will find is level at some
point because they are getting hitsed.I'm not I'm not saying I'm not concerned
(39:46):
with the offense at all. WhatI am saying is I'm not as concerned
because that statistic in and of itselfshows me that that water will find his
level. But the point that Imainly want to bring up is, and
I mentioned this to you guys ina while back, there was no such
thing as enough pitch. You lostthree of your rotational guys out of your
bull being, and every picture youhave on the disabled list, regardless of
(40:07):
when they come back, have thequestion mark they're coming back from injuries.
Verlander, we have to hope youcan stave off of patient a little bit
longer after this injury. We're hopingthat our Katie Garcia and these guys who
don't have a lengthy body of work, have a started body of work,
can still be the pictures they werein the past. Those are a lot
of things that you're hoping for.The luxury and all of that. Had
(40:28):
you gotten a Montgomery or had yougotten is that if these guys come back
and they are healthy and picturing upthe level that we were liking the pitch,
you have an option to do something. We also still need to be
looking at the first Yes, praythem guys off. I don't trust these
guys' ability to get back to thelevel that they've been at for the majority
(40:50):
of their cribs for one particular reason. We don't have betch Strom over here
to be that to spreakleuse that magicPixie does on every picture that takes the
mound anymore. I'm not all theway bout in with the long front that
they got to replace him, Murphyand whatever the guy's name is, So
we'dn't have bestrong to cover up alot of our shortcomings in the pitcher stef
If those guys come back healthy,pitch him the way they pitches they've been
(41:10):
here with the exception of an injuryhere and there. The worst case scenario
then is you have two or threepictures who you can sell off, replace
the farm system, and still possiblyhave a five to six, maybe even
seven man rotation. I'm here withyou, guys. Got to say the
letter show once again. Appreciate it, my man, Reverend kJ let me
let me just rewind people real quick. Hector Nerris was awesome last year.
(41:31):
He had his best year as anastro. He had a one to seventy
one era. He put out alot of fires. Now he created a
lot of those fires. He'd puttwo men on and then strike out three
and get out of the trouble.But he was awesome. You kind of
did a one for one swap.You let him go. You spent money
on Josh Hater. Josh Hater isa ninth inning guy. Ryan Presley moves
to the eighth. He fills theHector Nerris role, so that that's kind
of a one for one swap.Phil Mayton, you let go. He
(41:53):
was He was fine last year atthe era of three. He didn't pitch
in a lot of high leverage situationsearly. They put him in some more
as the year went along and Ryanstanek Ate up some innings for you,
but he had a ra over fourit was four oh nine. He gave
up runs. He had some disasteroutings last year. I just bring this
up because we romanticize these guys andgo you lost those three. I think
(42:14):
if we look at the numbers andI have to put them together by the
by midseasar by the end of theseason, the guys like the Taylor Scott's
and Brian to Bray, you whoyou know, and those guys like if
we compile those numbers, I betthey're similar, if not better than the
combination of Ners, Maiton and Stantic. So they've we talked about losing those
three guys. They've replaced him withinhouse replacements Chris Gordy stand north Lee,
(42:37):
gonna bring it again, top Buddy, eleven o'clock hour. We will continue.
I want to hear from Joe Spotless. Also hear from Aaron Getty.
I hate that his outing, especiallyin that third didn't go to way do
we want it. Nonetheless, you'removing around the city over the course of
the weekend, Gordy, you wouldlikely need to be in an automobile from
whom well the red tags are outover at Fred hast Tota World. They're
(42:57):
the number one to the dealer inHouston and they got the big red tag
sale. They've marked down the largestOudy inventory with their lowest red tag prices.
And if you're a truck buyer,you can get a new twenty twenty
four hundred with zero APR, nopayments for ninety days, or you pocket
one thousand customer cash plus an additionalone thousand se cash plus enjoy that peace
of mind two years, no costmaatenance. They've got the largest election of
(43:22):
Tode Tundras anywhere in the city.They will take care of you. It's
Fred Hasto in the world. Openevery Sunday. If you're looking for a
new ride to Sunday, go onand get out there. It is Fred
Hasto in the world. Now,what's next? Next step? It's the
nixt man up. Next step,the next step, Take the next step,
next step, next stop, next, next stop? This team,
(43:45):
what's to be next? This isnext up with Tan Norfleet ten Chris Gordy.
Let's see what's next next next?Rocking and rolling and laughing. This
Boss Sox seven ninety studios here inthe gallery are West Loop South to be
precise. Staying north Fleet, Igo by a stand sportsman on social to
my left. He is at ChrisGordy, our program director, my radio
(44:08):
partner. That's conne Y McGovern overthere behind the glass. He does some
cool things with a microphone and akeyboard and a lad. He's got some
stuff back there. Looks like herea little underweather. I need Connor to
get some pep and this step.Appreciate him rolling along as well. Thanks
to all of you who allow usto maintain our status as you're home for
Houston Sports Exclusive Astro conversation in hourone. We will squeeze in some Texans
(44:30):
here in hour two, but I'dlike the astros conversation to continue because there
are still some layers here. Ialso want to hear from joege Spotder and
Spencer Arraghetty here momentarily. But Ipromised my brother Gil on the East side
of Texas that he would get in. He's been holding for a while.
Gill, get in here. Let'sstart out the eleven o'clock hour, brother,
then we'll hear from the guys.Yeah, is am I mistaken or
(44:54):
once them pictures came into the league. They did, they get a race.
Uh. Compensation wise, I'm actuallynot sure how that works. If
you get a SA condor you knowhow that works. If you're called up,
do you get a YO a bigleague salary for that game or not.
I don't know the dynamic, butgo ahead with your overall point.
(45:15):
Give well. I'm just saying I'llget if they're getting a big pay raise.
I don't care how well they did, good or bad. I'm sure
they're sleeping a lot better tonight,and that's what they're there for. It's
the big league. You want tomake the big bucks. So I'm not
feeling sorry for them. Feel sorryfor our team, but as far as
them boys their families are concerned,they did exactly what they set out to
(45:38):
do, and I'm glad for them. But I'm sure they'll get better,
you know, if that to goback down or whatever. But sooner or
later, they're gonna they're gonna catchon. If they're that good that they
were asked to come up, thenthey they know more of those coaches,
no more than we know, sohopefully they'll they'll do better. But like
I said, I'll repeat, Ibet you their wives if their mayor and
(46:00):
their family, or sleeping a lotbetter than not knowing they got a little
more money in the bank. Iappreciate the call my man give from the
east side of the state. AllRight, so let's clear that up right,
Blair Henley has already been sent backdown. We won't see him again,
not this season. Irrogatty was toldby joege Spotder last night, or
George Spotter told us that he willbe back. So we will see Spencer
(46:24):
Irragheddy again. The first time throughthe order, Arrogatty was solid. The
third inning got away from him.And that's just it. You know what.
Let me hear from George spottle nowon what he wants to or what
he takes from Arraghatdy. Uh,let me say that again. What he
wants Spencer Irrogatdy to take away fromthis first start. Let me see that's
(46:45):
the spot on what he wants irrigatedto take away. Please. He always
a learning experience. You know he'sgonna he's gonna get in a second opportunity.
If you take the deposited of itand you learn from him, and
you know the negative, you you'readjusted and and you grow and that's you
know, it's a very you know, pitch in the big leagues is not
(47:05):
an easy task, but he doesask the weapon to be successful. Our
job is to help him be successful. Skipper will continue with the two pitches
that Rogatty was leaning on last night. Second time around, once they he
started missing, you know, missinghis spots, they start putting better swings
on him. And once that happens, kind of things starts kind of speeding
(47:27):
up on you and and kind oflose track of things. But but you
know, he came out, youknow, pounded his zone early, and
then after that just kind of losta little bit, all right, And
last let us hear from Arragatty himself, what can he take away from his
first big league start. I think, I just I need to I need
to be sharper the second time throughthe lineup. Obviously, like I think
(47:49):
I maybe got away with a littlebit early just because they hadn't seen seen
my stuff yet, seen the whayI throw. But obviously that the second
time to the lineup, I knowI need to I need to be in
the zone when I need to bein and out of it when I need
to be out. So I think, as of right now, I really
need to I need to work onmy spend offerings and two straight counts.
I feel like I left a loton the table there, and I think
that I think that's the biggest takeawayis that this is all, this is
(48:12):
all a big learning curve. I'mfeeling newer than ever, and I think
that I think that that's a goodthing. I think it's a challenge for
me, and I think that there'sa lot that I could Uh, there's
a lot that I could take awayand maybe controlling the run game a little
bit better. I think I gavesome free basis in there that I really
shouldn't have. And yeah, there'sthere's a lot to take away, all
right, Spencer Ara Gatty in theaftermath of a rough third inning there in
(48:38):
three innings, are Getty allowed sevenhits and also seven runs. It's the
same movie I watched two nights agowhen Blair Henley went out there. Now,
those two prospects are different situations.We all know that, but they're
under the same umbrella for me,and I'm probably in the minority to hear
(49:00):
some of you on my social areagreeing with me. You agreed with me
last night I think about my girlKay on social she hit me up.
Pitching and hitting go together. Iexpect the Astros to play at the championship
level. Brian Bogasavic, a formerAstro in his own right, currently an
analyst for the team on Space CityHome Network, Bogie says, staying,
they go together. We got tothink about how this game, how this
(49:21):
team is created. This team wasconstructed for the starting pitching to go handle
their biz. We're gonna get thesebig bats. We're gonna get a lead
on you. Then we're gonna getWe're gonna get a bray you. We're
gonna get Presley, we're gonna gethater, and we're gonna choke you out
and put the game away. That'show this team is built. Multiple leaks
in this boat. Yes, runnersin scoring position issue, Yes, first
(49:45):
base issue. Yes, I'm starting, pitching issue, middle relief issue.
Bogey said it himself. He saidthey had like nine real innings from starters
in the last three games. That'ssomebody that's played the game. Y'all got
to listen to me, the footballguy. I watched enough about like I
(50:06):
watched the games. It's not thathard now, philosophically, Gordon and I
can go back and forth about wherehe wants to put the onus for me.
Starts at the top. And Bogibrought this up. And there's an
author of an article I'm gonna referencehere in just a second. What is
his name? Is it Spencer Doolittle. He's an staff writer for Major League
(50:30):
Baseball at least ESPN on Major LeagueBaseball. Before I get to that article.
It's actually two pieces that he hasup. But I'm gonna give you
just some statistics. So those ofyou that are it's just about the runners
in scoring position, I just disagree. It can't just be about that.
There are ten teams right now inMajor League Baseball with more quality starts than
(50:53):
the Houston Astros. This is notthe Oakland Athletics. That's not what this
team is. Does that sound likechampionship level ace behavior or frontline starter behavior?
Thank God for Roniel Blanco or whatwould that number be? There are
(51:14):
nineteen staffs with better el ras thanthe Houston Astros right now. But we
don't have a pitching problem. Bogiejust said we did within nuance and context.
This is an article from ESPN dotcom. Again, osip. Spencer's
(51:36):
name is Bradford Doolittle. He's anESPN staff writer from Major League Baseball.
The titleist article is why your MLBteam didn't do what you wanted this winter.
I may have referenced this yesterday,but it's relevant today too. He
says, why the heck didn't theAstros get more bullpen depth? A five
(51:57):
year deal for a reliever, whichis the second mold for an outside free
agent that the Astros organization has everdoled out. I believe Carlos Lead.
Somebody give me that one of thesix They gave him a hundredllion dollars over
six years. He says, Essentially, it was a bold move. You
bolstered your closer position, but youalready had Pressley. It just feels like
(52:20):
the Astros have been addressing roster needsby overpaying for a shining new acquisition.
This is how dynasty slide into abloat and decline. Bogie brought this up.
And there's another article I'm a referencehere in just a second, and
it says there are two words,depth versus quality. The Astros have chosen
(52:44):
to go with a quality perspective.They went and paid ninety five million dollars
for Josh Hater and Hater bumps,Pressley up? Who bumps or break you
up? And then you get acouple guys in their middle relief that they
feel good about, and then youhave confidence in your starting rotation to do
what they're supposed to do some fiveor six innings. The bats, meanwhile,
(53:08):
give you some air cover, youscore some runs, you get some
crooked numbers on the board, andall as well. The thing that I
keep coming back to, and Iknow some of you are tired of me
hearing this, It doesn't mean it'snot true, Dana Brown, Why didn't
you give them more protection? Youthought about all the positives, and I
(53:30):
know he literally thought about the whatelse? But the contingency plans? What
if from or Javier goes down.What if there's a regression by Hunter Brown
or JP Franz, What if RonelleBlanco is not ready to go? What
if JV has a setback? Whatif Luis Garcia is not ready to return?
(53:52):
What if we never see Lance mccullo'sin twenty three twenty four? Excuse
me, you had an opportunity todo, and in this case, what
the Rangers did the Rangers signed.I believe it was some fourteen relievers in
the off season. They don't haveJosh Hater. Now we'll find out.
(54:16):
All I know is, as oftoday, the Rangers are first place in
the AO West. The Astros arein last place. And the last time
the Astros were five games under fivehundred and twenty sixteen. Appreciate Ada Wexler,
they didn't make the playoffs. Nowfor my way too early crowd,
I can't help you with that.I have a responsibility to talk about sports
(54:38):
when they're played. They keep scoringthe games on the networks. You can
hear all the Astros games here onseven ninety. I'm gonna talk about what's
being played. If that makes youuncomfortable, then I don't know what to
tell you. Where you're gonna close? He is until July. Philosophically,
I agree with what Jim. Idisagree with Jim Jim Crane's philosophy. And
(55:00):
every night we watch this team,you're thinking the same thing I am.
Why am I looking at this?The bats will wake up and I don't.
They're playing fine, like it's notYourdon and Jose Tuba. They're doing
their deal. Eventually they're gonna scoreruns the dudes on the mound. We'll
(55:23):
see, all right, let mestep aside on the way over. On
the other side, there are acouple of nuggets I want to get to.
I'll tell you what. Let's talksome Texans and I want to get
there because I haven't talked about that. The mock drafts a route and I
did not get to Male Kuiper's mockus out and he does touch on two
rounds. So let's see who heasks to the Texans on the other side.
Sports Talk seven ninety Next Up continueson your Apple TV. Listen to
(55:50):
Sports Talk seven ninety on any devicewith our free iHeartRadio app. Welcome back
in the next up. Appreciate youguys hanging out with us. Take you
up into a new well. Weget astros on deck. We got the
afternoon baseball around here as the Strollsare back in action. That's coming up
at BBBBB one o'clock shortly after onefirst pitch. Kansas City Astros on deck
(56:15):
again right here at noon, SamFleet, Chris Gordon, thanks everybody kicking
it with us again Sports seven ninetydot com. If you want to hear
from Brian Bogus seven if you missedhim at ten point thirty for his weekly
hit. I want to catch ourbreath a little bit and just pivot.
Our astros make us emotional, andso I just want to catch my breath
a little bit. Get some Texansin because I have not and we have
(56:37):
not talked about the Texan as muchas we are two weeks from the NFL
Draft as of today, and soNFL, let me pay my respects first.
If you didn't see it already,I know it's been out there circulating
for about an hour now. O. J. Simpson has died of cancer
at eight seventy six. His familysaid this morning, UH, prostate cancer.
(57:02):
OJ Simpson obviously one of the greatestplayers in the history of the NFL,
one of the greatest players in thehistory of college football. I understand
that many of you, given hihigh profile his criminal history has been you
feel the way that you feel,But UH, as someone that you know,
football has been a big part ofmy life, I want to show
my respect to what OJ represented asa player going I don't know if you
(57:25):
have any comments on OJ before weI grew up a big fan of the
Naked Gun movies. He was verygood loads so, and what's funny is
talking with Sean about him, becaseSean was an sc guy, like he
was football royalty, like he waseverybody's all American. He was, you
know, in the Hurts commercials,He's doing movies all this stuff, like
he was the most one of themost marketable stars that yes, and that's
(57:46):
why the murders of ninety four wereso polarizing, because it was like,
wait, not this guy like OJwas the he was the role model everybody
like. That's why I was sosurprised for our young is that may not
have been there when we were comingthrough it. OJ was alleged to have
murdered some folks. The court system, his wife, the guy she was,
(58:07):
you know, the court system acquittedhim. And so it still remains
a highly controversial topic to this day. For our young people used Google and
go look that up and wrote abook if I did it, And so
we never we never know. We'llnever know if who murdered them and what
happened. But unfortunate circumstance that there'slight loss of life all the way around.
(58:28):
O. J. Simpson, seventysix, dies of prostate cancer.
All right, let's transition National FootballLeague as it pertains to our hometown team.
Are you a fan? You andI did the draft last year.
We had a nice draft party outat one of the creeks. Are you
a male Kaiper guy? We weregonna have one this year, but Nick
Cassario messed that up. Yeah,Kuiper's fine. I mean there were some
(58:50):
guys he gets on, you know, and during your draft evaluation, you're
gonna mess on guys sometimes. Allthe guys he was a big what was
it? Who is the crappy quarterbackout of Notre Dame? Jimmy Clawson?
Clawson with the Carolina and the secondone it's big on Clawson. Yeah,
there's some guys you're just gonna misssomething, But I think overall him and
McShay doing good job. All right. So Kuiper yesterday unveiled his most recent
(59:15):
mock draft, and he went tworounds, which impacts the Texans as the
Texans right now have two second roundpicks. All right, Gordon, let's
go down here to pick forty two. Who does Kuiper have? Bring it
up here? I pick forty two. According to Mail Kiper, the Houston
Texans select defensive tackle interior defensive linemanJohnny Newton, formerly going by Giorzon,
(59:42):
he now goes by Johnny. Hesays uh after the trade with the Vikings.
Johnny Newton is one of the bestinterior pass rushers in the class.
Seven and a half sacks last seasonat Illinois, which was the most in
the FBS from a defensive tackle.The Texans signed Folo Faticasi to a one
(01:00:04):
year deal this offseason, obviously tradedaway Malie Collins and Sheldon Ranking signs elsewhere,
So Johnny Newton continues to hover aroundpick forty two. You're good with
that corner. Yeah, I meanit's funny because you know, some of
the very early mock drafts had theTexans taken him at pick twenty three,
when they still help that pick.So if you're able to get him down
there, one that tells you he'sfalling for some reason on people draft boys
(01:00:25):
put on his surgery on his foot. Yeah. So, I mean again,
if it's a good value on aguy that was once thought of,
you can get him at twenty three, get him at forty forty two,
forty three, forty two, andyeah, forty good value, all right,
Mel Kuiper picked fifty nine for theHouston Texans corner out of the University
of Michigan, Mike Surreal Steal MikeSandreal Steel, Kiper says the best slot
(01:00:51):
corner in this draft. Six interceptions, two sacks, and two forced fumbles
for national champion Wolverines. This pastseason, the Texans re signed veteran defensive
back Desmond King the second to playthe nickel, but I don't think he's
guaranteed to make the Week one roster. I can understand Mele saying that because
they unexpectedly released des King the secondlast year prior to Week one. Coming
(01:01:15):
out of training camp, Kuiper atfive nine, one hundred and eighty two
pounds, that's a slight fellow.Siren Steel just makes plays. I'd want
him on my team, says MelKuiper. This is a new name.
I had not seen Mike Siren Steelein all the mock drafts associated with the
Houston Texans. We know that NickCaserio likes players that make plays at big
(01:01:37):
boy programs. I could be okaywith it. I have not seen Mike
Siren Steele's tape, but I takeMel Kuiper at his word here. What
do you think about this name atfifty nine Gordon, Yeah, I don't
know how I feel about those allthose Michigan guys, like because they are
you don't like Niko Well, no, I mean the guy specifically on last
year's Michigan team. I mean theywent under. But man that that schedule
(01:02:01):
was week week as Apple sauce untilthe end. Blake a player Chris Jenkins
at d tackle as a player.Yeah, I mean finally at the end
of the year they play, Theyplay Ohio State in in the rival game,
they get Iowa in the Big Tenyou know, title game, then
they get Alabama, who they theygot to win in overtime in the Rose
(01:02:23):
Bowl, and then they put iton Washington and just completely humbled Michael Pennix
and Cruise. So you know,he had six interceptions last year. I
just you know, like it's justI wonder who you played hit, Like
if I'm going back and watching yourhighlight reel, I want to make sure
you did it against the best ofthe best. And he had an interception
(01:02:43):
in the National Championship Game. Butagain, like some of the other big
games he had were against Michigan State, who stunk Rutgers who stunk on the
schedule. I get it, butbut I just what was the biggest thing
on CJ. Stroud was like whenwe look at this film, we all
talked about the Georgia film. Lookat what he did against Georgia's defense,
and that's what you ain't drafting todo from one game. No, no,
(01:03:04):
I know, but that's that's whateverybody talked about. Was like,
he did it against the but thatwas the best defense and look at what
he did. So my question is, okay, what did you know,
what did Mike do against the bestoffenses? No, no, I haven't
pulled it, you know, dissectedit to that level. I was just
going overall evaluation. Clearly this teamneeds to add another dB to I've seen
two or three. Yeah, theydefinitely need to add another dB. So
(01:03:27):
if you think that there may besomething in the combination of Jeff Akouda and
CJ. Henderson and you got MikeSerenzil in the second round, and he
learns behind Das mc kin through trainingcamp and maybe he out plays this don't
know. But the positions that theytook, according to mel Kaipa at forty
two, you get an interior defensivelineman, and at fifty nine you come
(01:03:47):
back and get a slot corner.I'm not mad at that, not mad
at that at all. While we'reon the mock drafty, you know what,
I can't do it because I'm lookingat the clump. You know,
I like Chad Ryder draft analyst NFLdot Com. I'm gonna try and hit
this real quick. He has inhis seventh round mock at picks forty two
(01:04:10):
and fifty nine. The Texans selectcam Hart cornerback Notre Dame at pick forty
two in the second round, andthen he has Tovandre Sweat. Guys in
the media right now because he's freshoff of DWI. They're in Austin thereabouts
pick fifty nine to Fandre Sweat,even coming off the arrest, would you
(01:04:31):
have an issue of Casario made thatselection. Gordon. I like him,
but again, if you go bywhat some people have said that, you
know there are teams that because ofthat are gonna just take him off their
board completely. And the Texans inthe past have been known to shy away
from guys with any kind of anykind of issues with Joe mixing me in
on this roster I think you're seeingStephen din was in college though, right,
(01:04:57):
Yeah, but Devandre Swentz is incollege so well. I just mean
like, it's not like they weredrafted. Joe Mixon has many, many
years proven in the NFL as aas a workhorse running back. Like in
other words, there are any characterissues there, Like that's that's done and
gone with to and Andre. Theymight you know, the the questions might
come up, you made an errorin judgment here. What's to say you're
not gonna make an error in judgmentin five months when we're in trade camp
(01:05:20):
or when we're getting ready for theseason. Don't know. Kate Stover is
somebody that's been mopped at pick eightysix to the Texans in the third round,
tight end out of Ohio State.I'm sure CJ. Strid would be
happy to have him back around.So we're just getting to the point,
like the names are gonna start flyingout, and I know we're talking hot
and heavy astros who will continue thaton the other side of the break,
(01:05:42):
But I just wanted to break thingsup. Oh, also, we'll do
it on this side. I wantto wrap up a couple of other Texas
nuggas and then we can pivot backin the astros fleet gord it next up
seven ninety stand Northfleet. It's justa five Chris Cordys a next up mentality
on your rate. Every dollar thatyou go through prepares you for the next.
Welcome back to next up on SportsTalk seven ninety. Appreciate everybody hanging
(01:06:09):
out with us, allowing us tomaintain our status here at seven ninety as
your home for Houston sports. Multipleways to get into the program. First
of all, we should be presetnumber one in you whip, that's your
car, automobile means of transportation.You can also go to sports seven ninety
dot com where we'll have the interviewwith Brian bogiswec up here shortly, Astros
(01:06:29):
back in action, lineup is out. Uh no changes here, break in
the four hole. Nojseir Bray youthis afternoon. John Singleton is the option
at first base. There's Jeremy Pinyain the sixth home like going out.
What what kind of soup do y'allhave? Well we have tomato basil and
(01:06:51):
we have mushy room. Yeah,mushroom, Like, oh god, all
right, I guess I'll take mushroomI don't know, Like, that's that's
what I think. When I seein the lineup of her brain, I'm
like, and I guess what elsewe got? We have Duke Bond batting
ninth He is in center this afternoon. Okay, so Jake my ja that's
(01:07:14):
another that we haven't even talked about. Jake's Jake's numbers have come down.
What is he about? Two hundred? Now? Where was it at?
I just had it up. Jakeis batting? Oh wait, I thought
I had it. Jake Myers's thereis Yeah, he's batting two hundred.
I mean we haven't there have somany other issues. We haven't even talked
about him. To Va Chad MayasChaz is two twenty, it's like,
(01:07:39):
yes, is bad somebody? Well, but do you know what he did
last night? He gets a singlein ninth inning that ups his average.
But dude, they were down elevento two your single and nights in at
doing nothing. Did you have issuelast night with the a spot of pulling
the starters in the seventh inning downseven runs in your asspeed? Given that
(01:08:00):
it's an afternoon game, I understoodit. They had have been a night
game tonight. I would have beenall over spoted for that, but I
was like, look, he's wavingthe white flag. It's wrap. Yeah,
all right, so that's the lineupout. Also, Chandler Roone put
a post up about six minutes agoor so ten minutes at this point,
justin Verlander is still scheduled to makea minor league rehab start this weekend.
(01:08:23):
However, the Astros are unsure whatday or the location from a. Valdais
is feeling better, Joe Spottter said, and could start playing catch in the
next few days. Uh, that'sI mean, that's good good news.
That the Yeah, the interesting thingis I have not looked at the UH
(01:08:45):
the Space Cowboys schedule, so thatthat that might be just an issue of
like it was easy to send Verlanderlast week to the UH to sugar Lane
because it's you know, it's rightacross town. I think what they'd like
to avoid is him having to pitchroad games with sugar Land because like he
don't want to go to Fressnew,he don't want to go to you know,
these road games. You might wantto go to Vegas. Well that's
(01:09:05):
where like even Corpus, like alot of times a guy will he'll play
with the Space Cowboys in sugar Land, but then they'll have a rehab stint
with him in Corpus because a littlebit easier to flying down a corpus real
quick and for flying right back thanto take them on a on a road
trip out. Matt Kauerher of TheChronicle also adds Jose Orkety is really close
to getting off a mound. JoeSpotter said, yeah, JV remains on
(01:09:30):
track D from feeling better playing kissnext two days, so so recapt this
real quick. So arekities really closeto getting off the mound? That's that's
big. JV is going to gethis second rehab start this weekend somewhere and
from feeling better and could start playingcatch the next few days. That's good.
The problem we got games to playevery day, bingo, and not
(01:09:53):
just games. These are American Leaguegames with a three game set versus the
Rangers standing us in the face.Well that's I mean that's coming up on
Friday. It's you said americanly,it's more it's more vital on Yeah,
the head to head with the Rangersis what you want to Oh, are
you telling me the American League gamesdon't count when we started doing time breakers
last year in game one sixty sixtyone sixty two, and we started looking
(01:10:14):
at what the hell was going onwith Toronto and Seattle for those al games.
More importantly, what came into playwas the tie breaker in the division,
and you beat the Rangers head tohead, thus you won the division.
They were the wild card with identicalrecords. There was a point they
were staying at not making the postseasonperiod, and it was the tie breakers
they got a mean So two thingscan be true. I understand your I
just think the goal is still winningthe division is still it's still there again,
(01:10:38):
just you spuck with the Rangers.You're two and two, so it
would be great to take two outof three against them this weekend real quick.
So the Space Cowboys schedule, they'reat Albuquerque right now today, Tomorrow,
Saturday, and Sunday. There's anoff day Monday, and they come
back home Tuesday to take on RoundRock in sugar Land. I think that's
what they're debating is because vera Landerjust started this past Sunday, right so
(01:11:00):
they're probably debating do we want tosend Verlander out to Albuquerque to go start
one of those games. Do wewant to hold him throw, have him
throw a bullpen this weekend and thenstart against round Rock here in Sugarland next
Tuesday. Or do you want tosend him over to Corpus and let him
go go get a start there insteadof going with Sugar you know, out
to Albuquerque. So I think that'sprobably what they're trying to weigh the options
(01:11:23):
on. HUNTA. Brown takes thebump tonight, though, excuse me,
this afternoon at the conclusion of thisprogram, would get Astros on deck.
He's your shakiest of the of theof the five man rotation right now.
He's the one I have like leastJP Francis, who he gets like,
you know what he's given you fiveinnings of three run ball, Hunter Brown.
(01:11:44):
I have no idea what I'm getting. I don't feel good about him.
Hunter Brown on to one on theseason, six point four to three
e er a seven innings pitched,allowed, twelve hits, walked eight excuse
me, twelve hits, struck out, eight walk six gay gave up a
solo shot or gave up a homerun. I don't know. It's so
show. It was four the Yankeesseries. He got you four shot out
(01:12:04):
innings, but he was labored.He had, you know, a couple
of walks. The pitch cow gotup. There was that one of the
solo home runs on him. No, he was no runs, he was
he was four shot at innings,but they had the pull a met he
was at eighty eight pitches after fourinnings he allowed a home run. So
it was the Rangers game he went. He lasted just three and gave up
five runs off eight hits, allof them was a home run. Yeah,
(01:12:26):
like that was the So that's whatI'm saying, Like, what are
we getting? What Hunter Brann arewe getting today? Brady Singer takes the
bump right handed for Kansas City.He is one to know in the season
is the r zero point sixty eight. He also has given up a run.
Yeah, he gave up what onerun, one run, one home
run, thirteen and one third inningespitch, five hits allowed, fourteen k
(01:12:49):
look at his Yeah. His firstouting of the season seven shutout innings,
no runs, three hits, tenstrikeouts against the Twins and then last time
out against the White Sox who stinksix and a third, one run,
four strikeouts in that one. Soyeah, he is uh, he's been
money so far. That guy's reallygood and your bads have to go fay
(01:13:12):
something today. Good luck. Astroscurrently bottom of the AL West at a
record of four and nine. Ayear ago, they were six and seven
through thirteen games. Adam Wexler wonhalf of the eighteen put out on Twitter
last night. I retweeted it havereferenced it a couple times through this show.
The last time the Astros were fivegames below five hundred was twenty sixteen.
(01:13:33):
June was the month, and thatwas the last time they did not
make the postseason. Something to keepour eyes on. All right, let's
come back. Let's wrap up aThursday edition or Next Up here on KB
and me, the legendary Sports Talkseven ninety. Next Self continues, it
was not happen. Next Okay,Here's tad orth Fleet ten. Chris Cordy,
(01:13:55):
It's not happen next okay, sportssucks seven. All right, let's
get rid of things up here ona Thursday edition of Next Up five from
the Sports Talk seven ninety studios overin the gallery area. As stand Sportsman
here at Chris Gordy There Connedy mcgovernoron the other side, appreciate him and
appreciate all of you who follow usat Sports Talk seven ninety appreciate you doing
(01:14:15):
that. We got astros on deckcoming up at the conclusion of this program.
A couple other nuggets. As webounce around h town. I saw
two Rockets in action tonight, Gordy, you will hear that game right here
in Salt Lake City, Utah.Coverage begins at seven pm with Rockets launch
pad. And I saw a notethat I will reference now pertaining to the
(01:14:41):
Rockets if the Rockets win. Thiscourtesy of my man Brado of the Brado
on Wheel show. I like whatthey do. He's at Bradow at Brado
NBA. Excuse me. If theRockets win two of their final three games,
Gordon, they'll be the first elevenseed in NBA history to have at
least forty one wins. That's howdeep the Western Conference was this year.
So when you talk about silver Linersand what can you take away from the
(01:15:04):
season, I know you don't givedown because they're not in the postseason,
but those that says something to happen. Out of the history of the league.
No one has at forty one winsin the West. Well history of
the league. Go back three yearsago, they're playing one even they were
trying to get an eighth the eighthseed was it. It was a nine
or ten seeds. So they that'sfine and all, but like, yes,
(01:15:24):
they've made they've made this thing easierfor you to get to the postseason,
and they still couldn't do it.So, yes, I recognize they're
improved. Yes, I'm hopeful forthe for the future, but it sucks
that, you know, they hadopportunities this season to clinch a playing spot
and they couldn't do it. SoI choose to look at that successful season.
They get the forty wins forty one. All the teams that sucked,
(01:15:45):
you sucked least. That's what thatof all the improvement around the league the
most. I mean, that's good. Yes, I just again i'm improvement.
It's super easy ten games in theten teams in the West make the
playoffs. Five do not. Theywere twenty two games year. I know
they're very improved, but you alsospent a lot of money. You signed
a stud in Dylan Brooks and Fredvan Vliet, like these are dudes.
(01:16:09):
Neither of those with your top fivedraft picks that you've tried to develop,
like you should be better. You'resupposed to be better. You are the
best available coach in the market,and he made I don't get me wrong,
I am happy with their improvement,but I'm just saying, like ten
teams make the playoffs, you couldn'tbe the washed Warriors and Lakers team to
(01:16:30):
get into the last place. You'vegot Hall of famers on the old and
then dying of the day. DraymondGreen is a better player than anybody other
than afras Shan Gun on this rostahe's declining. Is he better than everybody
not named afrish in Gun? Yes? Probably, I don't know. Connor
stops shaking your head all right.In other hoops news, as it pertains
(01:16:51):
to the University of Houston Cougars,it is official Jamal shed has indeed declared
for the twenty twenty four NFL NFLand be a draft the Big twelve Player
of the Year details his decision.Da da da Da da da. That
was on kPr C two courtesy ofmy guy is Chandler Johnson. So shit
is out. We had hoped thathe would return Cryer's bag. I don't
(01:17:14):
want I thought he was I thoughthe was gone. Yeah, I never
figured that he was going. Butthe other one, Emmanual Sharp, announced
he's coming back. Shop is back. So you basically got everybody else.
You got everybody else except shit.Now they are hosting. Where's this kid
coming from? Oh my gosh,I'm sorry, I don't have that up,
but they are bringing in to host. They got a point guard coming
in from somewhere. I can't rememberif he was at Texas, he was
at Arkansas, can't remember the school. But they got a very important guy
(01:17:36):
that's considering getting in the portal andcoming over here to you. Of h.
So that's cool. Also, didyou see the NFL nuggets? The
NFL in twenty twenty five will allowteams to have a third helmet. So
I saw the Texans folks were intheir creative bag and they what do you
think the Texans third helmet will looklike? Will it be htown blue?
(01:18:00):
Will it be white? Oh?God, I don't care. You know
what. I didn't even like thered I didn't even like the red.
Don't like the candy red leads,No, I didn't like those. Those
things are sweet. The candy redlead on the all blue unit is silly
like that's just that's probably my favoriteTexans uniform. Well, we're getting on
in ther uniforms anyway, So we'llget a third helmet in twenty five next
(01:18:24):
week twenty third, Yes, comingup here a little bit. Oh,
and then with the announcement that theNFL will allow you to have it,
says the expansion was off of theteams that were going through the redesigned process
for the twenty twenty four season,and it's now open to all clubs for
twenty five. So the NFL andthe four clubs yesterday it has received the
(01:18:45):
uniform policy to allow teams a thirdhelmet. Da DA that was Tom Pelaceo,
NFL Network And then the Texans retweetedTom Pelaso and they had the eyeball
emogency, like what up? Sothe Texans are interested in this third helmet.
All right, let's take a phonecall, probably the last call of
the show today, Steve and Huffman. Wants to get in as soon as
I can get my mouth to work, Steven Huffman. Steve and Huffman,
(01:19:10):
get in here. Brony. Iwanted to talk to you last week and
you and Gored you were batting aroundwhile Alvarez isn't hitting down in the order
left herd or fourth, that he'shitting second, And if I got that
right, yeah, we were talkingabout Okay, all right, I know
I hate common sense stuff, butI'm saying I know they have a marriad
of problems right now. This isn'tgoing to affix it either. But I
(01:19:31):
think he's hitting at second so hecan get maybe one or two more bats
the game man, who God knows, I wish he could bat for everybody
in that laemup right now? Canwe get nine gods? Yeah, let's
let's let's clone him nine times wouldbe nice. We were just appreciate the
call, Stephen Huffman. We werejust looking at it and on Alvarez leads
(01:19:54):
this team in home runs, battingaverage, and RBIs. Here's it's the
scary part, Gordon. They needto advance runners on base. But just
take a look at who's hitting,Like, no one's coming to save this
team. Jordan's batting three forty six, L two A three forty Yannie DZ
(01:20:15):
three twenty six, Kyle Tucker twofifty nine, like karanteeny three thirty three
in limited action? Who else?I mean bregmant. What did Bregman have
two doubles? By the way,that first double hit yesterday last night,
that would have left in like twentythree of the thirty parts or something crazy
like that. That's just a lotof outfield out there in Kansas City,
(01:20:36):
Like who do they want to playbetter other than first base? Like guys
are hitting al two, Bay's playingwell, So what is the answer.
What does the spot do here?They've got again? Like it's how many
time does this team have runners onwith one out or no out? And
that I mean we saw the othernight I think it was Game one in
Kansas City. They had bases loaded, nobody out and Brankman cops out.
(01:21:00):
Bro, if you can't come throughwith a head, let's go sacrifice bunt,
let's fight. We'll find a wayto get that run across. Like
it's just it's those moments where theguys just are not coming through and the
timings off, like get a runnerat second with one out and we can't
get a home Like what are wedoing here? Will Conker Fox twenty six?
My boy, he says he putthis up last night after the game.
The Astros in this series with theRoyals are seven and thirty one with
(01:21:26):
runners in scoring position. That's pointtwo two six. That's what they're batting
with runners in scoring position. Yeah, you're not, they're not coming through.
I saw h oh god. Thefirst base output has a minus one
point nine b WAR. The bullpon tied for twenty fourth in the MLB
(01:21:48):
with a minus zero point four bWAR five starting pitchers on the IL.
I mean, it's it's it's toughright now and I didn't bring this up,
but I want to do it now. They're one more loss away from
having the like they need to havea team meeting. Somebody gonna say something,
(01:22:09):
what's that good? Dale? Whatdo you mean? Hey? What
is that bring you hit? Hey? Man, I'm trying so you don't
think there's anything the team meetings?Like what are you talking about? I
don't. I mean, who's theleader on this team? Alt is not
even a vocal guy, Like what'she gonna say? Jordaan not so much
so now you're looking at talking.It's like one of the quiet dudes.
He never talker. Breg me,what is Yannia? Didaz gonna say in
(01:22:30):
a team meeting? And the guysBernland is not even there. He's trying
to get healthy. Frum's not there. What is Jeremy Pinion gonna say?
He is quiet. It's just something. Somebody gotta say something. They're one
more loss, one more loss awayfrom somebody having to say something. All
right, let me slide for ConnadieMcGovern Chris Gordy staying Northfleet, Desire and
Houston. You are the reason we'reallowed to do this thing called next Up.
(01:22:50):
Each and every week they tend tonoon. Appreciate the phone calls.
Appreciate Bogus Sevin dropping by for hisweekly Enjoy your afternoon Astros baseball alone with
your lunch. God willing will doit again tomorrow. Y'all be well. Peace table