Steve Sparks Addresses The Astros Refined Roster From The Weekend

Taking on the Tigers this past weekend, the Astros have had quite a few shocking turn of events. First being the release of Jose Abreu Friday afternoon. Still pulling the series win 2-1 and with injuries still a problematic issue, Steve sheds light on some of the Astros takeaways from the weekend.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
And we're fat. But the ShawnSalisbury Show continued, Oh yeah, as
we do every single Monday eight thirtyhere on Sports Talk seven ninety Welcome in,
Steve. Steve, great to bewith you, man. They take
the series over Detroit and no dayoff and then Chicago this week. But
let me start with Verlander. Anyconcerns or do you think this is more

(00:22):
just preventative with him? And goodmorning, and I hope you had a
great Father's Day, brother, Thankyou very much saying to you Sean,
A little concern maybe with ver Lader. I just don't know how much the
next thing contributed to his last coupleof outings, So I don't know.
We'll see, you know, buthe's always been very transparent, so let's

(00:43):
get to that first night. Itsounds it like it is. So he
doesn't hide behind anything or anything ofthat nature. So I would expect if
he thows Wednesday or Thursday, asDana Brown alluded to yesterday, that he
would be as close to one hundredpercent of the time of year as you
can get, Steve. This teamcan ill afford guys like him, even
one or two starts, right.I mean, I understand that sometimes it

(01:07):
happens, But I mean they're they'rehand to the thread because of the injuries.
You're hanging on and you're asking guysto grind and grind and get innings.
That some of these guys are goingto meet innings threshold, which is
going to take it to take itstoll later in, which may end up
taxing a bullpen. So with that, steve to me the big If you
think you're a World Series team,a playoff team, and Dana Brown is
said on here that they do,how can how can a how can the

(01:29):
biggest guarantee in baseball not be astrosgoing and getting the picture as long as
somebody will deal with them? Wellwhat kind of picture? That's what I'm
saying, depending on what what whatare you willing to give up? And
how frontline is this picture? That'swhy I'm asking your expertise. But doesn't
it seem like they have to goget somebody or at least try to sea.

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I think if you ever feel likeyou have to do anything, you're
in trouble, desperation. Great point. I think you make bad decisions,
so they have to I would sayno, So I and I think you're
always looking for ways to make yourteam better. But if you ever feel
like your back's against the wall,you'll make stupid decisions. So I'm gonna

(02:10):
I'm gonna go against that a littlebits here. So you also have to
start thinking about what's it gonna takefor this team to get five or six
games beyond five hundred. So they'vegot a ways to go to get that,
and they're gonna have to chase somewins. They just have to at
this point, you know. Sosome games that you're down by a couple

(02:31):
of runs in the sixth evings,you might use Brian Bray you just to
keep it as close as you can, you know, things like that.
So with that being said, Ithink you need depth in the bullpen,
and I think that costs a wholelot less. And I think for the
Astros right now, I think it'sgonna take a lot for them to get

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there, And what are they goingto look like by the time they get
there? How gas are they goingto be? And I think they need
to fortify with some depth, whetheror not they have it in triple A
or double A. And dam talking, I've got a couple of these guys
down here, aj blue Balls pitchingwell in Triple A. Jake bloss is

(03:15):
pitching very well in Double A combinedfor a NOE hitter just three days ago.
They love them so so so togive up prospects to go get somebody
that's not a guarantee. Uh,I think you still have a few more
weeks before you need to make thatdetermination, right, Yeah, desperate Steve

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Sparks joins the Sassos broadcasters. Hedoes every Monday stee desperation, become need
and want but have to and likethere are different right, you'd love to
but not to work out there?Yeah. You know, there's there's only
two teams in the National Aid thatI would say that aren't gonna that aren't
playoff contenders right now. Everybody elseis within I think a game of that

(03:59):
half of the wild card in theNation Lakes, there's only two teams that
are going to be selling. Andyou talked about Buchet. He's already pitched
thirty more innings than his career high. What's he gonna look like in the
second half? How far can youpush him? Yeah? Just add some
of those guys threshold that they're tryingto that there. They don't want to
reach here either. Yeah, Iget it. Man makes sense. Yeah,

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Steve, Okay, So if thisteam, let's just for instance,
have they play the what if gameif they don't get if they if they
don't get a starting pitcher, andwe don't know about the Garciana colors.
You'd said that you've seen Guarcian there'spop and he's and he looks great.
So if they if this is theroster, that's that's post deadline. Mm
hmm. What and I and Iask you, Steve, is this the

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World Series team? What would youtell me? What do you think in
spring training? I thought it wasYeah, I mean coach them. I
mean, I don't know, playbetter, I mean pretty simp Yeah,
I still think. I still thinkthey have the talent to be a playoff
contender, and they're gonna have toplay better. So that's that's the bottom

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line. Some guys have had goodyears, some guys have had bad years.
But UH, figure that we're goingto get better production out of first
base going forward. That's gonna help. And I think some guys just need
to pick up the slack. We'reseeing Bregnan playing a lot better the last
few weeks. Uh, Chas McCormickis showing signs you get Tucker back in

(05:25):
the lineup if you're down swinging thebat. Well, I think I think
they're good, you know, butyou know, Arraghetti needs to be consistent.
You need to figure out a wayto not have him, you know,
throw clunkers. You know, sometimesit looks like he can beat anybody,
and he looks like a major leaguer. But you know, this team
canill afford games where guys have havelapses like this right now. They've got

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to put their best forward just aboutevery single time right now, Steve,
you've been in this so long andhis fans and us watching and you covering
it, and as a former player, you know, we always try to
come up with some big scientific idea, you'll trade two guys to get four
whatever it is. Right we're sittingthere doing everything we can to piecemeal together,
and sometimes it really comes down,like you said, hit the ball

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when they needed, get quality atbats, throw pitches, play some defense.
Sometimes it's really not Yeah, it'swell, it's tough to do consistently,
we know that, but it reallyis sometimes comes down to just simple
execution, correct it is, Yeah, I mean that's that's been the biggest
problem. Like we probably could pointto four or five things the first two
months of the season when the teamgot off to a bad start, and

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you could say, you know,the back end of the bullpen that they
were counting on in the seventh eighthand Knife didn't pitch up to their capabilities.
They've gotten it together for the mostpart and pitching much better, hitting
with runners in scoring position. Therewas a little list there and it was
showing up one or two things justabout every single night. So it made

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things difficult to really pinpoint and figureout what we need to do as a
team to get better. But rightnow I think it's it's starting to narrow,
and I think more guys are kindof rounding in the form and I
think, you know, we said, we've we said this, and you
need to do a little better job. Because they've lost some really heartbreakers in
the last couple of weeks. Thismonth of June though, looked like it

(07:17):
was pretty ripe to make up someground. So they haven't made up as
much ground as I thought they wouldhave or would have liked, But there's
still some some of this month left, and I think this team is a
runaway, like a good push ofwinning ten out of twelve games. I
think they've got it in them toget where they need to be. Where
they're you know, four games overfive. I think when you get to

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the All Star break, Sean,I think you need to look where you
are in relation to five hundred,not how many games back or anything like
that. Right, and I thinkyou get a pretty good sense of what
you're working with. And Seattle's prettygood. So their eyes should be on
the five hundred as opposed to thedivision right now, right, Steve,
what are they nine? Right now? Right now? They should? Right?
Then, then you make that push. I mean, once you get

(07:59):
the I think, and it's aspread. I think that's when you step
on the gas. Yeah, Steve, let me ask you about you mentioned
about lost some heartbreakers and you know, the one run games where they could
have won, and what describes ateam better because you could look at it
two ways. Well maybe this yearthey're just not good enough to win close
games. You could look at iton that side, or look at it

(08:20):
on the side. Well they're close, man, they're really close. So
you know, on lean it's apretty slippery slope and it's such a small
margin, right Steve, where it'slike, man, they don't know how
to win close games. And thenthere's the other side says, well,
we're not losing by seven runs,you're getting beat close. So which one?
Which one describes the team better thisyear? I think it's all the

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above. It's it's ninety feet preventionand it's ninety feet you know, however
you take it. You know,taking the extra base right, moving the
runner over, moving the runner overis a big one for me too,
you know, or getting a runnerin from third base it's less than two
outs. They haven't been good atthat, you know. I think the
big reason I think they're five andfourteen or whatever they are with in one

(09:03):
run game something like that, Sothat could be flipped very easily, you
know. I think the Mariners areyou know, above five hundred in one
run games, and is it fluky? I think it is to an extent,
But I you know, just justusing my eyes, I think the
Astros can get a lot better atsome little things to take it take advantage

(09:24):
of these close games. So putthemselves in positions to knock things out.
And I still go back to whatwe were thinking in spring training, that
you know, with the Brady,you, Presley and Hater at the back
end, you can turn these intosix inning game six inning games. And
I still think they have those thatcapability. Yeah, Steve, I get
the sense with all that, withthe injuries and stuff, that you really

(09:46):
are that there's a deep sense foryou that that depth in the bullpen may
damn well be as important as thedepth or the usage in the bullpen then
maybe going out and getting a startingpitcher. Am I on the right path.
I think some guys. I thinksome guys are pitching a lot right,
and not just pitching in games,but they're getting up in the bullpen

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a lot too, you know,And we've talked I think we talked about
that last last week as well asyou know, those ups in the bullpen
where you get up once or twiceand don't get into a game or very
taxing. So that's happening a lottoo because they're chasing and I don't blame
them, you know, they needto right now, They need to chase
the close ones. But there's alot of guys with a lot of double
barrels going on. Double barrels meanstwo relievers of Yeah, the same time

(10:31):
and only one of them is gettingin. So that's just the way it
is right now. That's the waythey have to play a lot of these
games. But it's very, verytaxing. So I think depth, to
have some depth in the bullpen whereyou can wrest those guys from time to
time is going to be imperative.Steve, I'm grady when it comes to
like winning, and I know mostof us are, or it comes to

(10:52):
like leaning on the side of favoringa player, old school fan baseball,
you know, love it. Thepurest part of me is says, I
don't care that he's at ninety fourpitches. The guy's had an All Star
year and may very well be theteam MVP and his road. Let him
come out in the eighth inning.And I'm not questioning Joe because Joe,
Joe knows better than I do.But that part of me is a fan

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sitting there saying, damn, it'sonly been done four or five times,
two no hitters in a year,let's go get it. Then the other
side of me says, well,Verlander the day before gets hurt, optics
the depth of the pitching staff.You got to pull him and so fix
my conflicted which way should I beleaning? Well, you know, probably

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the scenario if he gets through eightinnings, he's probably saying, with sixteen
more pitches, going to be atone hundred and ten, right, So
what's the difference. You're not goingto let him go out there after eight
innings. I was hoping he'd geta four pitch eighth inning, Steve,
of that they weren't patient and he'dbe out so he could go out there
for the night. That was mythat's the greed part I'm talking about.

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Yeah, but I mean at ninetyfour pitches I think, or ninety six
pitches, where he was as mostlikely sean he was going to throw fifteen
or sixteen pitches the next inning?Was he laboring? Steve? In your
eyes? Was he laboring with someWhat was was that seventh inning? More
labor than you would have wanted comingout in the eighth anyway, regardless of
the pitches the seventh inning wasn't butthe three walks in a row earlier?

(12:18):
Right? Yeah? What was thatthe sixth? Then? I think it
was the sixth inning, yes,or fifth, I can't remember that it
was, But the walks did thethree in a row but it didn't seem
to me in the seventh thing frommy vantage point at home, that he
was laboring in the seventh inning,you know, it sounding like he seemed
to have righted it, but thatyou were there, I was there,

(12:39):
talk about laboring or just getting upand down, Sean. I mean,
I think he labored one time inthe game. That's it, you know,
in that one particular inning where hestruggled a little bit. I think
he threw twenty five pitches. Thatending wasn't exorbitant, but still was there.
But I'm just taking in the bigpicture right now. They took him
out at the right time, ninetyfour pitches. That's good. Uh,

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he wasn't going to go nine innings, so let's take that out. Let's
get Presley and Hater in there,knock this game out. And they did.
They won four to one, andyou know they didn't get the no
hitter. But in the big picture, Blanco is your horse. Yes,
I mean, if there's if there'sif there's one guy they cannot afford to

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push, you know, beyond whatyou need to, or you want to
take out an inning too early.And your point makes sense because even if
he'd had this fifteen pitches in theeighth and and been smooth and sweet.
You're still the ninth inning. Youstill you can't you can't get him to
one hundred and thirty pitches in thisday and you're just not going to do
it. Steven, It's crazy.Now. One thing I didn't have on

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my bingo card is your horse beingRenel Blanco in spring training. Okay,
I didn't have that, but boy, is it a great Is it a
great sight to see you know?And he's been an an MVP guy for
them this year, no question.Yeah, I mean you get very excited
today he pitches. You feel like, I think the of the games in
his starts, yep, that they'vehad this season, that's how that's how

(14:05):
valuable he's been. Now Hunter tobe a guy, man, that was
a he was facials on Friday night. That was that was that was number
one starter stuff. Man, hewas awesome. Yeah two seem that too
seemed fastball is nakey. Well,you were begging for Steve and to take
some of that inside of the play. You were begging for it when he
was laboring and struggling, and hestarted to go that way. And now

(14:26):
now look I mean it was itwas spot on. He looks different,
he was a different pitcher. Hereally is. Man how confident, Yeah,
he looks confident and mean I likeeverything about what Hunter's doing right now.
So keep them going. I mean, that's what That's what gives you
hope. And I feel like theAstros, you know, if they get
to the All Star break and therethere are a few games above five hundred,

(14:48):
I think you're you're feeling good aboutthe second half of the season.
So we'll see you know this thisnext few weeks, they're going to be
very important. But kind of gettingback to what we started with. I
I would really guard against feeling likeyou have to do anything. I think
this team and we felt like,uh, coming out of spring training,
this team was good and they weregoing to be contenders. Again. I

(15:11):
was pretty confident, and I knowyou were, Uh, just play better,
I mean, just just figure outa way to kind of maneuver.
Luis Garcia is on his way,you know that that shouldn't be too far
away, and I think mccoller's maybenot too far away past that. So
they've got some some guys that couldfortify things a little bit. So when

(15:31):
you would just you know, youstart thinking about what can the Astros trade.
They don't have a lot of marketableguys in the minor league. And
if you start talking about who youmight trade off of your major league roster,
I'll be honest, you know,you start thinking about guys they're not
having that great a year, youknow, And I don't want to I
don't want to name anybody, butif you start thinking about guys that aren't

(15:54):
having that great a year, let'sget rid of him who wants them?
Get anybody for those guys. Yep, yeah, you got to. You
gotta sell high. You can't selllow. It's by low, sell high,
no, no doubt about it.Steve so So Yeah, you know,
I would caution against taking that's that'san easy solution, it's not.
Desperation usually leads to the wrong decision. Steve, great stuff. I've kept

(16:17):
you long, and I ship I'msorry, but we needed to talk and
get this great insight. Have asafe trip and uh or have a safe
visit while you're there, and we'lllook forward to seeing you when you get
back home. Thanks you too,buddy, Thank you. That's great.
Steve Spart come back. We'll discusswhat he said. Uh, not so
sure that Steve thinks we need togo get started pitching. Desperation can be
a problem Sports Talk seven ninety