March 13, 2024 • 11 mins
The Athletic's Chandler Rome joins The A-Team for his weekly visit. The Astros beat writer gives us the latest on Justin Verlander trying to make his return from the shoulder "hiccup." He talks about who could be on the Astros opening day roster, with the absence of Verlander and possibly someone else as well...
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Chandler Rome comes on right now ofthe Athletic to discuss all things Astros and
well, technically it's going to beour Justin Verlander updates since that was filled
last segment with the news on GarrettCole. By the way, how are
their respective fan bases handling the newsthat the opening day matchup that was such
(00:20):
a marquee event is now not goingto be taking place? What you don't
consider Marcus Stroman and fromer Bell doesa marquee event not for the Yankees,
I don't know. I mean,Marcus Stroman was like the one of the
pitchers in baseball in the first halflast year before he had its hip thing.
But yeah, I mean it's it'sbad. It's it's terrible. I
(00:41):
mean, you're Cole. I know, Astros fans for some reason have this
antipathy toward him. I don't reallyknow why. But he's a really good
dude. He's got a lot offriends still in the Astros clubhouse, a
lot of guys that really really likehim. And he's I mean, he's
best picture in baseball. He's uhand it's not even close, and it's
(01:02):
tough to see him have to dealwith that and kind of what's going on.
But uh, you know, theactress can can lay claim the same
thing, and the base is gonnamiss the beginning of the season as well.
Obviously they think Justin Verlander will comeback far, far far before get
cold little, but uh, yeah, it just sucks. It's such for
baseball. It sucks for you know, opening Day, which I think I
(01:22):
still think it's gonna I don't thinkthey'll have any problems selling tickets, but
it's yeah. I mean, Ithink a lot of people were expecting Lander
and that tough. Is there anupdate on the latest trip to a bullpen
session for Justin Verlander? I'll becompletely honest. I literally landed once an
hour ago, so I have notbeen in camp, so I don't know,
(01:46):
but reading the people that have beenin camp, it sounds like there's
still no set datas to when he'sgonna face hitters, which is kind of
a little bit intriguing to me thathe just keeps throwing bullpens and he hasn't
progressed to facing hitters, because itsounded like when I left, it sounded
like, you know, facing hittersis right on the horizon, and you
(02:07):
know, I left camp I thinkten or eleven days ago and he still
hasn't faced hitters. So I don'tthink we'll know much more until he does
that. But I think the factthat he just that that benchmark keeps getting
delayed a little bit, I thinkthat would give me a little bit of
pause. But everything else seems like, you know, it seems like he
hasn't had any setbacks. It seemslike he's progressing well, and it seems
(02:29):
like they're just waiting on that nextstep of when he's gonna throw a live
VP or when he's gonna get intoa great frick League game. So aside
from that, all things considered,Javier gets the ball today, Hunter Brown,
Jose or Keaty, and now Framberare all seemingly throwing the ball that
they would like to be. Framberhad a much more clean and typical Framber
outing. And then the other oneis JP Frantz of what would be the
(02:51):
presumed first five in the rotation,and our indications are he should be ready
to actually put the uniform on anyspring training game, maybe as early as
this weekend. Talking about France,Yeah, and I mean I wouldn't count
out Renel Blanco either, especially ifJP France isn't built up to where he'd
like to be, I think theyreally like how Renel Blanco is throwing the
(03:12):
ball. Now, you know,he's done this before. He threw really
well in spring training last year.If you look up his winter ball stats,
he's like a winter Ball like legend, Like he's like the Sandy Kofax
of Winter Ball League, plays inlike he barely I don't think he's allowed
to run in like three years.But he's had trouble, you know,
translating that to the big league,to the big league, so we have
(03:34):
seen this before from him. Butyou know, look, I think if
JP France isn't built up, thenI don't think they'd have any problem slotting
Renel Blanco into that rotation. Ithink Renel Blanco makes the team no matter
what, because they're going to needa long reliever, and you know,
they're still discussing whether to go toa six man rotation. In that first
month of the season where they playedtwenty games in twenty one days, I
think they only have like two orthree off days in the entire first two
(03:58):
months of the year, so they'rethere are stretches where they can have a
six man rotation and Renel Blanco isthe pretty obvious logical six starters, so
I think he's on the team regardless. But yeah, JP Franz obviously,
if he's not built up to wherehe wants to be by that first trip
through the rotation, I wouldn't besurprised if you see Ronald Blancos slide in
there channel of rom of the Athleticjoining us here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
(04:19):
You know that brings up a couplequestions. I believe it was two
years ago that the Astros did thatsix man rotation a large chunk of the
season and had just insane health whenit came to their pitching staff throughout that
championship run. As it pertains tothat. And since you brought him up,
is is from Bervaldez like the toughestread to come out of spring training,
(04:44):
simply because you never want to puttoo much stake in anything that's happening
in March or in this case,September. How do you feel going into
what'll apparently be him pitching on openingday? A guy that so many question
marks are there, But yeah,he was the guy that was also on
the mound to start that clinching gameagainst the Phillies two years ago in the
World Series. Yeah, I meanevery time you think fromber is like taking
(05:10):
the next step, like erase allthe questions around him. Then he kind
of does we did in the secondhalf last year. But I think the
thing that the Astros probably can takesolace in is that he has shown sustained,
susame stretches of dominance, Like hehas pitched as an a what keep
(05:30):
going he is, He has pitchedlike an ace at you know, at
times, and he's pitched like anace for stretches. He just hasn't you
know there there still are times whereyou never know what Traumavel is going to
give you when he gets to theballpark. And that's the next step for
him is to remove all of thatdoubt, is to you know, even
(05:53):
on days where he quote unquote doesn'thave his best stuff, he can still
get you through six and keep itrespectable because we've seen, you know,
when a pitch isn't working for him, or when something's not going his way,
you know, he tends to hetends to, you know, quite
frankly, lose it. Sometimes He'sstill working with the mental side of the
(06:14):
game. He's got to get betterat, you know, pacing himself.
He's got to get better at,you know, doing his breathing things like
that. So I just think,you know, the next step for him
is consistency. I mean, wethought and you thought he had it from
like twenty twenty one, the endof twenty twenty one through twenty twenty two,
and then he starts off last yearso well, and then the second
(06:34):
half happens and you kind of thesequestions keep reignited. So that's the next
step for him is just to isjust to remove any doubt, remove any
you know, intrigue when you getto the ballpark, because that's what Justin
Verlander and guys like that do sowell. You know, even when Verlander
doesn't have his best stuff, andeven when aces guys at the top of
(06:55):
their craft don't have their best stuff, they find ways to get you innings
and to keep you in the ballgame. And Fromberveldes can sometimes struggle with
that, and I think that's thenext step he needs to take. Curious
about some arms, especially the nonobvious arms in the bullpen, and some
guys that are new to the organization, even what you think their chances are
and what's left for them to doin spring to maybe change the minds of
the Astros. Taylor Scott's a freeagent, they added, He's looked very
(07:19):
good and they've used him a tonso far in spring training. Dylan Coleman
someone they hoped would find his twentytwenty two form, but instead he can't
throw strikes. Schedule to pitch againtoday. Seth Martinez has obviously been a
part of this team in their bullpenhas looked like Seth Martinez, which to
me is very good so far throughspring training. And Brandon Black, who
(07:42):
is Brandon Black but is out ofoptions. What do you think the next
two weeks holds for the Astros' decisionmakers on them? Yeah, I think
Brandon Black unless something, unless hedoes something to just completely take himself out
of it. I think he's almosta sure thing for the opening day roster
for the sole reason, but theydon't want to lose him. They don't
want to put him on waivers becausethey know if they put him on waivers,
(08:05):
he would get claimed, you know, within a second, because you
look at I know Astros fans kindof hear that and wonder what I'm talking
about. But I mean, thisguy could be a number five starter on
just about half more than half ofany of the teams in baseball, and
they're already precarious and they're starting pitchingdepth. You know, Sean Dubin,
(08:26):
I don't know what his status isas far as what he's doing. You
know, you already got Verlander onthe shelf. You don't know when you're
gonna get Garcia and mccullors back afterthe All Star breaks, so they need
as much depth as they can get, and they don't want to lose Brandon
Blax, So the only way tokeep him from waivers is to put him
on the opening they roster. Sothey are, I mean, and if
you've looked at his outings in spring, he is now basically a traditional reliever.
(08:50):
He's throwing one one plus he's notbeing stretched out as a starter.
I think they they're keeping him towhere if they need to stretch him out
as a starter, they can dothat. But he's swing a lot more
one one, maybe giving four orfive outs as opposed to getting eight or
nine. So I think he's prettysafely on the roster unless they're they're thinking
(09:11):
just really changes. I think theyreally want Dylan Coleman to make the roster.
The day I left camp last,you know, Dana Brown came outside
and he was outside specifically to likehe had his scout eyes and ears and
had on him he wanted to watchDylan Coleman. Like they are really invested
in this guy, and they thinkthat he has and they I mean,
(09:33):
it's demonstrated he has the stuff todo this, like he's had success.
They've just got to get him inthe strike zone. And you know,
he has option. He does haveminor league options left, so there is
a way that they could, youknow, maybe send them the triple A
to start the year, maybe seeif he can work some stuff out and
then get into the big leagues.But you know, I think just based
off solely, you know, bodyof work and kind of options and things
(09:56):
like that, And I think StethMartinez has made a pretty good claim that
he deserves a spot in this bullpen. He's one of the more underrated right
on right relievers in baseball. Hasstruggled against left handed pitching, against let
handed hitters, excuse me, soI mean the teams can counter him,
but he's a really good right onright reliever. He's proven for them,
for the pitching coaches and the staffthat you know, he's been able to
(10:20):
succeed in big moments. And youknow, he hasn't pitched the highest of
leverage innings, but I mean he'scome in some big situations gotten some big
outs. So you know, Ithink you can see kind of a framework
of what they want. I thinkthey want Dylan Coleman to make the roster.
I think you know, they're gonnahave to carry Delaxes because of what's
kind of his roster situation. Butyou know, things can evolve, things
(10:41):
can be fluid. You know,you mentioned there's some guys that are excelling
in Great Brute League play that maybeare giving them some thought. But you
know, I think usually what you'veseen with the astros is they like guys,
and they like people that have likeproven it already, Like they like
to stick with their guys and theguys that have proven it. And that's
why I think, you know,Seth Mark, he knows Brandon Black.
Guys that have been in the organizationprobably have a little bit more of an
(11:03):
upperhand. That is Chandler Roam ofthe Athletic he joins us each and every
week throughout the baseball season. Goodto catch up as always from West Palm
Beach, and we'll do it againnext week, Chandler. All right,
thanks guys,
Chandler Rome comes on right now ofthe Athletic to discuss all things Astros and
well, technically it's going to beour Justin Verlander updates since that was filled
last segment with the news on GarrettCole. By the way, how are
their respective fan bases handling the newsthat the opening day matchup that was such
(00:20):
a marquee event is now not goingto be taking place? What you don't
consider Marcus Stroman and fromer Bell doesa marquee event not for the Yankees,
I don't know. I mean,Marcus Stroman was like the one of the
pitchers in baseball in the first halflast year before he had its hip thing.
But yeah, I mean it's it'sbad. It's it's terrible. I
(00:41):
mean, you're Cole. I know, Astros fans for some reason have this
antipathy toward him. I don't reallyknow why. But he's a really good
dude. He's got a lot offriends still in the Astros clubhouse, a
lot of guys that really really likehim. And he's I mean, he's
best picture in baseball. He's uhand it's not even close, and it's
(01:02):
tough to see him have to dealwith that and kind of what's going on.
But uh, you know, theactress can can lay claim the same
thing, and the base is gonnamiss the beginning of the season as well.
Obviously they think Justin Verlander will comeback far, far far before get
cold little, but uh, yeah, it just sucks. It's such for
baseball. It sucks for you know, opening Day, which I think I
(01:22):
still think it's gonna I don't thinkthey'll have any problems selling tickets, but
it's yeah. I mean, Ithink a lot of people were expecting Lander
and that tough. Is there anupdate on the latest trip to a bullpen
session for Justin Verlander? I'll becompletely honest. I literally landed once an
hour ago, so I have notbeen in camp, so I don't know,
(01:46):
but reading the people that have beenin camp, it sounds like there's
still no set datas to when he'sgonna face hitters, which is kind of
a little bit intriguing to me thathe just keeps throwing bullpens and he hasn't
progressed to facing hitters, because itsounded like when I left, it sounded
like, you know, facing hittersis right on the horizon, and you
(02:07):
know, I left camp I thinkten or eleven days ago and he still
hasn't faced hitters. So I don'tthink we'll know much more until he does
that. But I think the factthat he just that that benchmark keeps getting
delayed a little bit, I thinkthat would give me a little bit of
pause. But everything else seems like, you know, it seems like he
hasn't had any setbacks. It seemslike he's progressing well, and it seems
(02:29):
like they're just waiting on that nextstep of when he's gonna throw a live
VP or when he's gonna get intoa great frick League game. So aside
from that, all things considered,Javier gets the ball today, Hunter Brown,
Jose or Keaty, and now Framberare all seemingly throwing the ball that
they would like to be. Framberhad a much more clean and typical Framber
outing. And then the other oneis JP Frantz of what would be the
(02:51):
presumed first five in the rotation,and our indications are he should be ready
to actually put the uniform on anyspring training game, maybe as early as
this weekend. Talking about France,Yeah, and I mean I wouldn't count
out Renel Blanco either, especially ifJP France isn't built up to where he'd
like to be, I think theyreally like how Renel Blanco is throwing the
(03:12):
ball. Now, you know,he's done this before. He threw really
well in spring training last year.If you look up his winter ball stats,
he's like a winter Ball like legend, Like he's like the Sandy Kofax
of Winter Ball League, plays inlike he barely I don't think he's allowed
to run in like three years.But he's had trouble, you know,
translating that to the big league,to the big league, so we have
(03:34):
seen this before from him. Butyou know, look, I think if
JP France isn't built up, thenI don't think they'd have any problem slotting
Renel Blanco into that rotation. Ithink Renel Blanco makes the team no matter
what, because they're going to needa long reliever, and you know,
they're still discussing whether to go toa six man rotation. In that first
month of the season where they playedtwenty games in twenty one days, I
think they only have like two orthree off days in the entire first two
(03:58):
months of the year, so they'rethere are stretches where they can have a
six man rotation and Renel Blanco isthe pretty obvious logical six starters, so
I think he's on the team regardless. But yeah, JP Franz obviously,
if he's not built up to wherehe wants to be by that first trip
through the rotation, I wouldn't besurprised if you see Ronald Blancos slide in
there channel of rom of the Athleticjoining us here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
(04:19):
You know that brings up a couplequestions. I believe it was two
years ago that the Astros did thatsix man rotation a large chunk of the
season and had just insane health whenit came to their pitching staff throughout that
championship run. As it pertains tothat. And since you brought him up,
is is from Bervaldez like the toughestread to come out of spring training,
(04:44):
simply because you never want to puttoo much stake in anything that's happening
in March or in this case,September. How do you feel going into
what'll apparently be him pitching on openingday? A guy that so many question
marks are there, But yeah,he was the guy that was also on
the mound to start that clinching gameagainst the Phillies two years ago in the
World Series. Yeah, I meanevery time you think fromber is like taking
(05:10):
the next step, like erase allthe questions around him. Then he kind
of does we did in the secondhalf last year. But I think the
thing that the Astros probably can takesolace in is that he has shown sustained,
susame stretches of dominance, Like hehas pitched as an a what keep
(05:30):
going he is, He has pitchedlike an ace at you know, at
times, and he's pitched like anace for stretches. He just hasn't you
know there there still are times whereyou never know what Traumavel is going to
give you when he gets to theballpark. And that's the next step for
him is to remove all of thatdoubt, is to you know, even
(05:53):
on days where he quote unquote doesn'thave his best stuff, he can still
get you through six and keep itrespectable because we've seen, you know,
when a pitch isn't working for him, or when something's not going his way,
you know, he tends to hetends to, you know, quite
frankly, lose it. Sometimes He'sstill working with the mental side of the
(06:14):
game. He's got to get betterat, you know, pacing himself.
He's got to get better at,you know, doing his breathing things like
that. So I just think,you know, the next step for him
is consistency. I mean, wethought and you thought he had it from
like twenty twenty one, the endof twenty twenty one through twenty twenty two,
and then he starts off last yearso well, and then the second
(06:34):
half happens and you kind of thesequestions keep reignited. So that's the next
step for him is just to isjust to remove any doubt, remove any
you know, intrigue when you getto the ballpark, because that's what Justin
Verlander and guys like that do sowell. You know, even when Verlander
doesn't have his best stuff, andeven when aces guys at the top of
(06:55):
their craft don't have their best stuff, they find ways to get you innings
and to keep you in the ballgame. And Fromberveldes can sometimes struggle with
that, and I think that's thenext step he needs to take. Curious
about some arms, especially the nonobvious arms in the bullpen, and some
guys that are new to the organization, even what you think their chances are
and what's left for them to doin spring to maybe change the minds of
the Astros. Taylor Scott's a freeagent, they added, He's looked very
(07:19):
good and they've used him a tonso far in spring training. Dylan Coleman
someone they hoped would find his twentytwenty two form, but instead he can't
throw strikes. Schedule to pitch againtoday. Seth Martinez has obviously been a
part of this team in their bullpenhas looked like Seth Martinez, which to
me is very good so far throughspring training. And Brandon Black, who
(07:42):
is Brandon Black but is out ofoptions. What do you think the next
two weeks holds for the Astros' decisionmakers on them? Yeah, I think
Brandon Black unless something, unless hedoes something to just completely take himself out
of it. I think he's almosta sure thing for the opening day roster
for the sole reason, but theydon't want to lose him. They don't
want to put him on waivers becausethey know if they put him on waivers,
(08:05):
he would get claimed, you know, within a second, because you
look at I know Astros fans kindof hear that and wonder what I'm talking
about. But I mean, thisguy could be a number five starter on
just about half more than half ofany of the teams in baseball, and
they're already precarious and they're starting pitchingdepth. You know, Sean Dubin,
(08:26):
I don't know what his status isas far as what he's doing. You
know, you already got Verlander onthe shelf. You don't know when you're
gonna get Garcia and mccullors back afterthe All Star breaks, so they need
as much depth as they can get, and they don't want to lose Brandon
Blax, So the only way tokeep him from waivers is to put him
on the opening they roster. Sothey are, I mean, and if
you've looked at his outings in spring, he is now basically a traditional reliever.
(08:50):
He's throwing one one plus he's notbeing stretched out as a starter.
I think they they're keeping him towhere if they need to stretch him out
as a starter, they can dothat. But he's swing a lot more
one one, maybe giving four orfive outs as opposed to getting eight or
nine. So I think he's prettysafely on the roster unless they're they're thinking
(09:11):
just really changes. I think theyreally want Dylan Coleman to make the roster.
The day I left camp last,you know, Dana Brown came outside
and he was outside specifically to likehe had his scout eyes and ears and
had on him he wanted to watchDylan Coleman. Like they are really invested
in this guy, and they thinkthat he has and they I mean,
(09:33):
it's demonstrated he has the stuff todo this, like he's had success.
They've just got to get him inthe strike zone. And you know,
he has option. He does haveminor league options left, so there is
a way that they could, youknow, maybe send them the triple A
to start the year, maybe seeif he can work some stuff out and
then get into the big leagues.But you know, I think just based
off solely, you know, bodyof work and kind of options and things
(09:56):
like that, And I think StethMartinez has made a pretty good claim that
he deserves a spot in this bullpen. He's one of the more underrated right
on right relievers in baseball. Hasstruggled against left handed pitching, against let
handed hitters, excuse me, soI mean the teams can counter him,
but he's a really good right onright reliever. He's proven for them,
for the pitching coaches and the staffthat you know, he's been able to
(10:20):
succeed in big moments. And youknow, he hasn't pitched the highest of
leverage innings, but I mean he'scome in some big situations gotten some big
outs. So you know, Ithink you can see kind of a framework
of what they want. I thinkthey want Dylan Coleman to make the roster.
I think you know, they're gonnahave to carry Delaxes because of what's
kind of his roster situation. Butyou know, things can evolve, things
(10:41):
can be fluid. You know,you mentioned there's some guys that are excelling
in Great Brute League play that maybeare giving them some thought. But you
know, I think usually what you'veseen with the astros is they like guys,
and they like people that have likeproven it already, Like they like
to stick with their guys and theguys that have proven it. And that's
why I think, you know,Seth Mark, he knows Brandon Black.
Guys that have been in the organizationprobably have a little bit more of an
(11:03):
upperhand. That is Chandler Roam ofthe Athletic he joins us each and every
week throughout the baseball season. Goodto catch up as always from West Palm
Beach, and we'll do it againnext week, Chandler. All right,
thanks guys,
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