The A-Team: Snell Watch, Trading Texans and James Palmer

Adam Clanton and Adam Wexler talk about what's going on in Houston sports and more on March 15th, 2024.

Episode Transcript

(00:02):
Two lifelong Houston sports guys named AdamTalking Your Teams series Adam Clinton and Adam
Wexler or the A Team eighty straightup three o'clock s. Yeah, I
beat it. It is the ATeam here on Sports Talk seven ninety three.

(00:23):
Oh one wex a. We won'twant to keep that as a drop
which part? See I beat it? Now you have two of them.
You want to start the show over. No, it's Friday. Oh yeah,
it's anything goes Friday. No no, no, no, oh okay,
and anything goes for Friday. Goodmorning, Strippers, and welcome to

(00:58):
a Friday edition of The A Teamhere on Sports Talk seven ninety. He's
gonna be so pissed when he hearsthat. Yeah, that's too bad for
him. There are some there aresome things for us to discuss. Unfortunately,
we only have until Astros Baseball getsyou again. Pretty red, that
was very well done. They arewith you again at for fifty today,
and unfortunately we have to begin therebecause there is news from spring training,

(01:22):
and yet again it is the newsyou don't like to hear. It's the
only thing you want to do atspring training, and they have unfortunately not
been able to do enough of it, get there and get out of there
without injuries. The two injuries we'vebeen talking about all camp long have been
two pitchers that were already in thatposition before they got there. I haven't
talked a lot about the Forest Whitleyinjury for obvious reasons, but at this

(01:44):
point, another starting pitching injury isat the front door for the Houston Astros
with Jose Richety stepping off the mound. He was throwing on a backfield in
a minor league situation, and afterforty three pitches his elbow hurt, so
he left his pitching assignment and isnow going to be going through some testing.

(02:06):
Shoulders are very bad, elbows areeven worse, and that's where the
Astros have to consider what it lookslike. There's nine guys that the Astros
can give the ball to to starta game. Jose orchidis one of them.
Saying with JV, saying with JP, who is still scheduled to start
tomorrow, and Lance McCullers Junior andLuis Garcia. None of those pictures are

(02:31):
healthy or ready. When the Yankeesget to town less than two weeks from
today, March twenty eighth, that'ssix pitchers. Brunelle Blanco is healthy,
Christian has a starting job, ChristianJavier is healthy. For Amber Valdez is
not only healthy, but the obviouswas set out loud today by Joe A.

(02:52):
Spotta. He will be our openingday starter and Hunter Brown is healthy.
That's four pitchers. They have fourpitchers, and they still have to
get through the next two weeks withfirst four pitchers. Likely should use a
six man rotation the first twenty oneor so days of the year. Definitely
something to consider. I didn't mentionBrandon Beelak, but that is why you
had the story earlier today. Amongmany reasons from Chandler Rome with the Athletic

(03:15):
that the Astros are among the teamswho are continuously checking in on Blake Snell,
one of the boris two remaining unsignedelite talents as far as free agency
goes, both of his two lefthanded pitchers at the top of his client
roster, Jordan Montgomery and Blake Snell. Also with two weeks to go until

(03:37):
the season starts. For everybody butthe Padres and Dodgers, whose season starts
even sooner, they have not beenin camp with anybody because they don't have
a team, and with Chandler notingthat not all the Astros involved, but
Jim Crane involved, and this issomething they've never shied away from. If
there's an opportunity to go out andget somebody on their terms, which is

(03:58):
maybe what you're seeing now with theSnell's timeline and lack of hundreds and hundreds
of million dollars in contract offers tohim. I wouldn't put it past the
Astros from not only making this happen, but making it happen relatively soon.
By the way. That is allon a day where Trader Nick also pulled
off the trat. Oh yes,we will get to those Texans. Here's

(04:19):
the deal. All you need toknow about the Astros as it pertains to
Blake's Snell is that Jim Crane isinvolved. Because if Chandler Rome, for
example, is going out of hisway to say that, let's just put
it this way, Jim Crane veryheavily involved in bringing back Justin Verlander last

(04:39):
year at the trade deadline. JimCrane very heavily involved in several deals.
Yeah, this is non stop.This is nothing new. This is constant
with him. He was at theforefront of Lance mccullor's contract. He's at
the forefront of the sixty six milliondollar extension for Justin Verlander several years ago,
Monterre all these, Tara Murray lastoff season, No question about it.

(05:01):
This is a very heavily involved owner, and it's to a certain extent
I think it'd be fair to saythat he indicates to the people that will
finish off the deal, this iswhat we are going to do. It's
not what I'd like to do,it's not what I hope we can do.
This is what we are going todo. So we'll see if it
plays out in that regard for anotherpitcher to a team that even if all

(05:21):
of these pitchers were healthy, Iwouldn't say the Astros are locked solid,
ready to crush. From a pitchingstandpoint, we have question marks about all
those pitchers I just mentioned that arehealthy. Rene Blanco has never been a
full time major league starter. HunterBrown was a full time major league starter
for one season, and if youjust looked at his numbers instead of saying,

(05:43):
well he's young, then you wouldn'tbe very happy with it. Christian
Javier just coming off his worst seasonand certainly not a very good pitcher for
the second half of it, andfra Amber Valdez the same way, coming
off his worst season, not verygood at the second half of those opportunities,
and this is what you have asyour healthy group. We'll have our
JV update as we always do alittle bit later on the show. We'll
hear from him directly from Chandler alsothere providing that for us as he is

(06:08):
with the team there in West PalmBeach, FLA their game tonight. Of
course we'll have for you right hereon Sports Talk seven ninety. The Texans
have made official essentially every other moveand every other player that they've added that's
been reported but was not yet official. Yesterday we heard from both Joe Mixon
and Daniel Hunter. Today they announcedthe signing of nine outside free agents,

(06:32):
all of whom we've talked about hereon the show previously, Alsha Here,
Denico Autry, Jeff Acuda, etc. The re signing of Noah Brown again
previously reported, the trade of MallieCollins, which was already announced yesterday by
the San Francisco forty nine ers,and earlier today the Minnesota Vikings made the
announcement official, and now the Texanshave done the same the trade. The

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twenty third overall pick, the pickthe Texans got from Cleveland, is now
in the hands of Cleveland's former assistantgeneral manager in Minnesota. He made a
trade with Minnesota to bump back inthis year's draft from twenty three to forty
two, add to the one hundredand eighty eighth pick to this year's draft,
and gain Minnesota's second round pick nextyear. Texas also traded away an

(07:19):
additional pick in this year's draft tofacilitate all of this. There are a
number of different ways you could lookat it, but obviously we know how
most people initially look at it.What are you doing, dude? And
I mean, like I said,we'll start there. Yeah, because there
are other ways to look at itisn't as simple as I guess. They
didn't want to help. CJ.Strouden, Debiko Ryans, Well, I

(07:41):
saw something funny, which was that, you know, I think that the
Vikings are gonna suck next year,so that second could be a really good
pick. Great. I'd like thisyear's first to be a great pick.
Well, there's not a whole lotof difference other than a fifth year option
and significant savings between this year's twentythird pick and next year's Well, if
they're the sixth word team, yougot the thirty ninth or thirty seventh or

(08:01):
thirty eighth pick, depending on youknow, how that falls in. First
pick of the second round is numberthirty three. If they're the six seventh
eighth WORS team, then you've gottena pick in the top forty plus,
you know, bumping back nineteen spotsthis year. Another way to look at
it, Texans feel like they havegrades first round grades on maybe fifteen to
eighteen players, and that's a verytypical number around the NFL. Does that

(08:24):
also mean players drafted between twenty andfifty are basically the same to them?
The top three defensive tackles, thetop four corners, the top five wide
receivers, all of whom will fallin that are the next group on not
the top but the next group ofthose players outside the top twenty. Well,
what's the difference if we draft themat twenty three, if we draft
the next best wide out? Itthat now forty two. The difference is

(08:48):
financially speaking, year is no fifthyear option. There's a significant contractual downturn
by drafting at forty two versus twentythree. But if the player is the
same, then now you've just addedplayer next year at the very same value.
And there's a lot of people thatkind of believe the first round ends
at twenty, not this year.Every year, your hit rate on one

(09:09):
through ten is usually pretty good.Your hit rate on eleven through twenty also
usually good, but clearly not quiteas good, and then your hit rate
on twenty one through thirty two isnot good. There are so many failed
picks in their first round. Picksnot absolutely be where the Texans fall,
but you all have to weigh thatagainst where are they What is the status

(09:31):
of the team. If they hada run of the mill quarterback, if
they went six and eleven last year, this would be awesome, this would
be smart, this would not Idon't think you make people even blush,
but I think people are hopeful thatthis team is significantly more talented, even
just on paper, than the onethat left the field last year. Because
go for it, you are ingo for it mode. I have mixed

(09:54):
emotions because I feel like, firstof all, what is with all of
the interactions between the Vikings and theTexans, indirectly or directly, well This
is the only one that's direct.I know. The other ones are not
with each other. They flip floppedlike so much this offseason players draft picks.
It's kind of crazy. I mean, like I said, this is
the only one where you're even talkingto them. Yeah, no, I

(10:15):
know, I know, but itjust, you know, in hindsight,
it just looks like they've exchanged somepoo poo platters plenty. More on the
Texans. Yeah, we are aboutfifteen minutes out from James Palmer of the
NFL Network joining us once again.Has had several conversations with others around the
league about their impressions of what theTexans are doing and what is next and
specific to some of the players they'veadded. He will join us at three

(10:39):
thirty. We'll jump back in onthis when we return. Oh, ladies
and gentlemen, Heavin Hart, what'sup, guys? You're listening to Adam
Clinton and Adam Wexler sweat sweat guy. Okay, coolky just met these guys
to dick sweat guy, Lion.I didn't I know them? There the

(11:00):
best Listen eighteen Sports Talk seven nineyear James Palmer coming up at the bottom
of the hour, from the NFLNetwork to talk all things Texans. Here's
the deal. When you see somethinglike this that Nick Cassario does, doesn't
it feel like it should be aprecursor to something else. But if it's

(11:20):
that, what is it that doesn'treally make much sense to me? Well,
what we talked about yesterday was thelast of the assets gained from the
Deshaun Watson trade would be gone afterthis year. You didn't have some of
the additional assets you'd gained over othertrades because you used a bunch of them
in the will Anderson trade, sothey were not working from a position of

(11:41):
excess anymore. And each of theother years where the draft mattered to him
they have And this is an effortto get back into that position. So
when April finally does roll around,if he hasn't already made another draft trade
before then a month and a halfout, he'll be able to earmark players
and actually get them, because that'sall he ever does on draft day.

(12:01):
This is the player we want.This is when we have to go get
him we want. I want tohave at my disposal the assets I need
to pick up the phone and callthat GM and say, okay, here
we are, this is the playerthat we want. We've already agreed that
if we have this pick and thatpick to give you, so let's pull
the trigger on it and we'll makethis swap later in the draft. You'll
get the additional pick here and wecan go up and draft John Matchi,

(12:22):
Christian Harris or Jalen Petri, whomeverthat might be in any given year.
This is what he does, andnow he's setting himself up to be able
to do that. I mean,I want to sit here right now today
and I don't know what you'd liketo wager, but like, there's no
way the Texans are drafting at fortytwo the pick that I just got today
from Minnesota, which is currently theirfirst selection in the twenty twenty four draft,

(12:46):
because they sent twenty three out andthe first pick back from Minnesota they'll
get is forty two. I don'tthink that is by any means. Who
are they trading it to and whatplayers coming back? Well, if you're
not using forty two, then you'llobviously there's only two directions as you go.
If you're moving up, that meansyou're using forty two, hopefully not
fifty nine, which they also havebut some other additional pick to jump up

(13:07):
to the early stages, even earlierstages of the second round thirty three or
somewhere in there. It's possible youcan trade into the back end of the
first round still quite obviously, ifyou are willing to draft a player that
has that fifth year attached to him. I mean, this is something that
was done many years ago now withLamar Jackson trading into the very end of
the first round. So you hadhim there and thus that fifth year went

(13:30):
along with it, obviously the moneythat goes along with it. But again
at forty two, you can easilytrade back in the other direction too and
continue grabbing assets so the rest ofyour draft can be manipulated. Again,
this is what he does. It'svery simple. I don't know what he's
after. I never do. It'smainly the reason why I would never say,
oh, they just signed this freeagent. That free agent opened up

(13:52):
a whole defensive tackle. They aredrafting a defensive tackle. Well, like,
I didn't even have to say itthis week, and now I can.
They're not drafting a defensive tackle atnumber twenty three, because they're not
drafting anybody at number twenty three,and that is literally the last element of
the Deshaun Watson deal. It's kindof interesting that that's what happened to it.
They have one other fourth round pickthis year still, but you know,

(14:13):
most most meaningful as you can geta good player with a fourth rounder,
but it's not a first rounder.So but that's my thing, Like,
you're right, we don't know whathe's doing, but I'm pretty sure
he's doing something. Yeah, itis. Usually we wouldn't make this happen
now. I think it was moreMinnesota needed to make it happen now,
and I hope I don't know howthey sweetened it a little bit to do

(14:33):
so, because if they want tobe serious about making a move and kind
of cementing their own idea of whatnext year's team is going to look like,
they gain a second first round pick, then now of eleven and twenty
three, and if you read anyarticle about today's trade, if it's a
five hundred word article, then thirtyof those words are on Houston, and
four hundred and seventy of them they'reon Minnesota. Right, because the most

(14:54):
people think, well, can theymove up to six? Can they move
up even higher? Do they needto move up head of six to ensure
that they get the fourth quarterback,because some people think JJ McCarthy might even
be in play for the team atnumber six, which is the New York
Giants. But yeah, those one, two three quarterbacks still seem likely to
go not only top three, Imean not that they are the top three,

(15:15):
but they literally will go off theboard one, two, three,
And this helps them asset wise toget there. But what have we seen,
you know c J. Stroud inthe Texans, the huge extreme in
the other direction. You know theColts and Anthony Richardson, who has hurt
all year, a huge extreme inthe other direction, justin Fields, Mac

(15:35):
Jones, obviously Bryce Young. Thosequarterbacks have been drafted top half of the
first round or extremely high like numberone, and have turned their team into
the team with the number one pick. Trevor Lawrence did the very same thing.
So Minnesota might end up trading upwith help, yes, definitely,
But so did Trevor Lawrence. That'strue, This might put Minnesota. I

(15:56):
mean, Minnesota doesn't have a quarterbacktoday, so you traded with isn't going
to be good? Well, theymight go get their quarterback and still not
be good. They won seven gameslast year. If they win six,
well, then that's a top sevenpick in the second round. If they
win five, it's a top fivepick in the second round. And as
time goes by, maybe it getsmore value and you get it could go

(16:18):
the other direction. I doubt it, but it certainly could. He's an
asset pilder. And you know theother thing that happened that we didn't talk
about yesterday, and it's kind oflike, tell me you're happy to be
here without telling me why you're happyto be here. Joe Mixon, after
talking with the team, I reallylike where the things are headed. After
talking with the team, I reallythink there are ways that you know,

(16:40):
it's exciting for me to be hereand be a playmaker and do these things.
Also, they've extended me through twentytwenty six. I'll make twenty seven
million if I play through twenty twentysix. Yesterday I was set to make
six million. Now I'm set tomake nearly thirty. I'm very happy.
I am floored that they extended JoeMixon like that. Absolutely floored, especially

(17:03):
when you consider he probably wasn't thefirst, second, third, fourth,
fifth, sixth option on their list. At that position this offseason. While
that may be true, this wasan extreme list of players. Normally you
never even get to the number sixrunning back available in any given year.
There were twelve running backs of consequenceavailable this year, including one on their

(17:25):
roster or that had played on theirroster. I guess they Singletary was a
free agent. Singletary is signed throughtwenty twenty six with his new team.
Joe Mixon is signed through twenty twentysix with his new team, And it's
you, and you paid him waymore to do it. It just feels
like and again, we talked aboutthis yesterday. I said, by point
blank, asked you, do youthink Joe Mixon is that much better than

(17:48):
Devin Singletary. You said yes,But I don't know. I don't recall
you acting like he was that muchbetter and certainly not that much money better.
No, he's definitely not. Thatthe production is there or the numbers
are there. Now, if I'mmissing something and there's a boatload of these
eight ten twelve yard runs that I'mmissing over his Bengals career, well,
then also it must be buoyed bya ton of negative yardage carries. Considering

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he only runs for four yards ofpop and that's been pretty steady over the
last three years. They don't havea better line, certainly not a better
run blocking line. Cincinnati don't evenhave a good line. But the Texans
run blocking line and they've made nochanges to it is not good either.
It's not Evey better. So theyhave comparable quarterback, they have a comparable
wide receiver group, they have acomparable tight end group. They have a

(18:32):
different OC. I don't know ifyou want to call him better or worse.
Cincinnati's offense with Joe Burrow and theirhead coach seem perfectly fine. Now
they're just paying the running back waymore money in years eight, nine,
and ten of his NFL career notgreat, not great, or maybe just
eight and nine when they let himgo and eat the dead cap money that
you didn't have to eat any of. But he decided Hols money by extending
him isn't Col's money. It's afigure. There's a ten million dollar dead

(18:56):
cap hit on this year's books forMalik Collins, just because you want to
days not to be here. That'sthe move that's still the weirdest, still
by far, the weirdness. Andwe'll talk about that and all the moves
the Texans have made. When wecatch up with James Palmer next segment straight
ahead here on the eighteen, Hey, it's Hunner Brown three. Catch every

(19:18):
ASHS game on Sports Talk seven ninetyfour, the iHeartRadio app Home of your
Ashes to talk some NFL football forthe first time and since last segment,
our favorite from the NFL Network.Don't tell the other people I said that,
James Palmer. But great having youwith us, always producing great content
here with us, awesome stuff onthe NFL Report, and I know even

(19:40):
there there's been a lot of talkabout the Houston Texans. So we will
start there as we welcome you inhere as we roll through our Friday,
James, what in your best guestswith all the people you're in contact with,
even just inside your own newsroom andet cetera. What's the general thought
about what the Texans have done fromMonday till today. It's it's really strong.

(20:04):
I'll put it out there. Ido think everybody is kind of on
the same page in what Nick Sariawas doing. And I think you could
say that they were aggressive, andyou haven't seen them be aggressive before.
But I wouldn't even really use thatword, Like, I think they were
still measured in a sense. AndI think the way they did these contracts

(20:25):
was extremely smart. Like I meanmost of these deals, they're two year
deals, and so they're going tobe up before you have to start paying
some of these really talented draft picksthat you've had the last couple of years,
So your money lines up pretty well. And I think everybody was curious
what they were going to do consideringthis. We could say it like I
don't know if I'm overstepping, butlike this Super Bowl contender window has opened,

(20:49):
like after just one season with CJ. Shroud and Demiko Ryan, So
what are you going to do withthe money that you have in place in
a rookie quarterback contract? And whatare you going to go out and do?
And I think it was really reallysmart to build through the defensive side
of the ball. And I meaneverybody Houston knows this, right Di Miko's
gonna build through the defensive line.Keep values it, you know, higher

(21:11):
than maybe any other position group outthere in terms of what you need to
be successful. And there's a chance, and I've said this on NFL Network,
like there's a legitimate chance that DanielHunter and Will Anderson Junior could be
the best ed rushing duo in football. Yeah, and that's I mean,
that's what has all of us,including the two guys talking to you on
the phone right now, the mostexcited. But having said all that,

(21:33):
and I agree with a lot ofwhat you said, there are a couple
of head scratching moves, namely theone that they made today, which is
also bizarre because I feel like themand the Vikings just keep flip flopping assets
and players, either directly or indirectly. But yeah, you have to keeps
going back and forth, it reallydoes. But today's move, and then
also the Malik Collins deal, whichseemingly looked like it was at first it

(21:57):
was rumored to be for Armstead,and Armstead ends up going into the division
to the Jags. I think thoseare the two transactions, or I guess,
in the case of Armstead not cominghere, non transactions that we're kind
of scratching our heads about and wonderingwhat's the next domino or what's the thinking
here? For sure, I thinkthe Armstead one and the Malik one that

(22:18):
that makes sense because there is ifyou talk to anybody around the league.
And that's literally what we do theselast several days is just sit on the
phone. Is there's there's a deficiencyof good defensive tackles available, and there's
needy teams for interior rushers and interiorplayers. And that was one of the

(22:38):
kind of head scratchers with Houston,I would say, is going, Okay,
they've filled a lot of other spots. They got deeper at linebacker.
You know, you get Autrey's likea rotational guy, like he doesn't have
to play a ton of snaps athis age. I think that's a good
deal as well, and like Ilike most of the moves. Then you
go, well, what about thisposition group? I would advise to go
and I don't know why they madethis trade today, I haven't doug on

(23:00):
it, and go to Philadelphia andthink about Howie Roseman and how he operates
three hundred and sixty five days outof the year. So I wouldn't panic
if you look at what Philly inthe last two years has added, even
in the months leading into the season, like two years ago they added CJ.
Garden Johnson, who ironically is back, but like two weeks before the
year started, and I think hetied for the league leading interceptions that year

(23:22):
and missed like like a boatload oftime. So my point with that is,
right like we're a handful of daysinto free agency, there's still a
lot of ways you can fill yourroster in a lot of time for you
to fill your roster. I don'tknow all if it has to happen right,
you know, out of a jumpand with the trade, what I
see is a team that's very aggressiveto go after a quarterback and another team

(23:45):
that's obviously more content and cool withHey, more picks over the next couple
of years we've drafted, Well,let's try to keep doing that and keep
acquiring more assets during this time.Is it kind of appears to be the
thinking of the Texans with you herewith us today, James one of the
players they acquired that we almost havetalked none about we need to today.

(24:08):
Five short years ago, this playerwas wrecking shop for Ryan Days Buckeyes,
became the third overall pick, andnow is set to play for his third
team in what will be his fifthseason. Why is there hope from this
team that Jeff Okuda will be astarting, A plus caliber starting corner.
Noah, it's his Buckeye thrive inHouston. No, I'm just listen.

(24:30):
He has talent. I think that'sthat's that's evident. I would say,
if you want to be optimistic,and do you take a one year,
six million dollar flyer on a guywho was a former third overall pick,
Like, yeah, I would saythat's not a terrible terrible move. I
would look at what's happened in Denver. I'm in Denver, what happened in

(24:51):
Houston in one year? Like,I think you've got to rely on your
coaching staff sometimes to go, let'ssee what we can do. I mean,
like what was turned around with thisdefense specific against the run. Now
this has nothing to do with thesecondary, but my point is this,
like if Amigo Ryans and his groupcan come in and they were giving up
one hundred and seventy point two yardsa game the year before on the ground
and they ended up giving ninety withit ninety six point six six best in

(25:14):
the NFL the next year, Like, yes, some players changed, but
yeah, coaching is really valuable aswell. And if you think you can
coach a guy up to play aboveyou know what you've seen. I mean,
it's not a terrible deal on aone year deal for six million dollars
per corner that definitely has talent.Uh. And it's not like you're like
pressing need for him to go outand really really thrive because he did have

(25:37):
flashes in Atlanta last year. Soyou talked about building the defensive side of
the football. Uh, And Icountered with head scratching questions or moves that
are head scratchers. I guess yourthoughts on the Texans, you know,
acquiring Joe Mixon but then extending himthe way they did. Yeah, I

(25:57):
was a little curious about the trainbecause the running back market for the first
time was actually a market which justhasn't existed for a couple of years.
And obviously these guys didn't really getpaid paid, even Sekwon didn't get paid
paid. But the market is betterthan it's been. There's no guys coming
out in the draft like you hadto land somebody, and like there's a

(26:19):
stat from Joe that stands out tome that's like wow. I mean,
since twenty eighteen, there's only threeplayers in the NFL that have had five
seasons with twelve hundred scrimm in ChargerMoore. It's him, Alvin Kamara,
and Tyreek Hill, and that's it. Like, if you feel like you

(26:40):
can use him in a variety ofways and you think still there's something else
from your other back that kind oflost his job. But if you're still
has something, I think you dokind of make a play there. But
because you're not getting any young talentout of the draft into your backfield,
that's a stretch. I was curiousabout extending because, like he has been

(27:00):
around, and we know about treadon the tires with running backs, but
he's been pretty ten durable and he'sbeen pretty consistent from what I said so
and what the stats say, andI've covered Cincinnati a good amount. I
mean, he does a lot ofdifferent things for them within their offense.
I think there's ways to use him, and you got to have a plan
for somebody like this, and yougot to have a help. You gotta
have help for him as well thathe's not carrying the football honestly too much,

(27:23):
and I think they do have thata little bit. One thing we
haven't seen enough of for a normaloffseason, and I'm curious if you think
we will is the well we haveto start moving some players for cap reasons
or we're just gonna have to lethim go. And maybe it began yesterday
with the Keenan Allen trade from theChargers to the Bears. Are there any

(27:44):
other veteran, established, expensive playersthat you can see being moved to new
teams because of those reasons? Imean, we've everybody had to be under
right the other day, so likethat's where you know, some of the
movement ends up happening. There's stillsome teams deciding on some guys, but
I think the bulk of like thebulk of major moves in that sense,

(28:07):
are probably behind us. In asense. I thought the Keenan Allen won
to me just personally knowing the Chargers, knowing what Keenan is, knowing what
he's done for the organization. WhoHarbaugh comes in there and just goes,
oh, take it easy, bro, I was like, Wow, that
was a head scratcher. But obviouslyfinances play a part in it. I
don't know if there's too many moreof those on the horizon, just because

(28:30):
now we're into the league year andeverybody had to be under and so there
might be one or two more whereyou get kind of a little bit surprised,
but those decisions, most of themwere already made. The reason the
Chargers took a little while is becausethey were trying to manipulate like four different
players that were like thirty million pluscapits and trying to figure out how to

(28:52):
manipulate all of them. Got twoof them back, you know, And
so I think that's why there justtook a little bit. I don't see
a whole lot more of those happeningwell real quickly. Is there a second
AFC team that you think did themselveswell this free agent period? Obviously ranking
behind Houston, Baltimore had some peoplego out the door, But I think
Derrick Henry along with Lamar Jackson,Like this game's about scoring points obviously,

(29:18):
and I don't know what defense isgoing to feel comfortable inside the tent with
both of those guys in the backfield. And I mentioned them losing guys.
Aren't they like the one team youlook at and like anybody gets hurt,
somebody goes down O line secondary andthen you're just like, oh, they
just plug so and so in andthey're still really good, Like that's their
organization. So I think adding DerrickHenry puts them a little bit closer into

(29:40):
that group, and I think Houston'sin that group as well. That's everybody's
hunting down Kansas City. Something fromthe NFL Report with you and Steve that
our listeners need to tune in for. If you like Max Crosby or you
hate Max Crosby. He was unbelievable. I don't know how you could aid
him. He's like one of themost likeable guys in the league. But

(30:00):
interview with us yesterday, it waslike twenty minutes. And if you want
to just know about the type ofguy he is or leader he is,
there's a story he tells and watchingthe Last Dance Less, it's just like
out of this world, Like hewas watching it in a hotel in a
hotel room after a surgery after asecond season and literally watched it with his
wife and change his entire life likefrom that minute on, and it hasn't

(30:22):
adjusted from what he eats to whatyou know, people that work on his
body, everything has changed after watchingJordan, And that's why he has a
massive, unbelievably accurate tattoo of MichaelJordan on his torso, which is a
bit awkward. But it's there macurate. His tattoos are His tattoos are like

(30:42):
incredible. I mean, I don'tknow if it's like I feel very uncomfortable
right now on the radio talking aboutanother man's tattoos, but like his artwork
is like some of the best around. I'm told I'm not one to you
know, I'm a tattoo officionado,but it's incredible if you look at it,
I mean it's nuts. So hisstories and his leadership, the stuff

(31:03):
he talks about in that interview isjust its next level. He's phenomenal.
Well, keep in mind everybody whowatched Thursday Night Football this year when the
Raiders were I think it was thegame where they told Brandon Staley he need
not continue working. He was theirshirtless during his postgame interview, So everybody
is aware of what you're talking about. It's a canvas. Yeah, there's
a lot going on there. Ithink he does under actually during a lot

(31:26):
of the artwork, because it's likeso detailed. I think he gets put
under. That's the extreme as someonewho does have as I've never done that.
Hey are don't quote me on that, but I'm pretty sure it's accurate.
Are we to assume that James Palmerhas no ink zero man. Wow,
ditto you, two purebreads. Iknow I can't change my mind too

(31:48):
much. I'd just probably go like, oh I should have done blank.
Well, sure it got done,a little bit of advice. It is
permanent. Oh dang, yeah,good call. It's not going off all
right, James. Hey, weappreciate the time, good stuff as always,
and I'm sure we'll be catching upagain sooner rather than later. Big
time man. All right, guys, James Palmer here on Sports Talk seven

(32:10):
ninety will react to someone of whathe had to say and get you a
JV update when we come back.I'm sorry, but I gotta put an
asterisk on any organization that wow,keep the astro's name out your mouth.

(32:32):
Hey, hey, Sam, whatup? This is Jay Ferrows back to
the eighteen Sports Talk seven ninety.Thanks again to James Palmer for stopping by
last segment. We'll get that upon the podcast if you miss any or
all of that interview. I thoughtit was interesting that he basically and he
kind of said he was giving itaway across the board, you know,

(32:54):
those of him and his coworkers overat NFL Network. Very on the Texans,
and you know, I've seen thata lot, like just publications rankings.
Hey, how's the free agency periodgoing. I can't remember which one
it was ranked at Texans at thetop of the list for what they did,
but I still have questions about acouple of those moves. Like I

(33:14):
mentioned to him, Yeah, andagain it's a matter of you better really
think that. You know, youredge got a lot better in Hunter versus
Grenard, your ability to do somethings. The linebacker got a lot better
with Al Shahir versus Blake Cashman.Your running game got a lot better with
Joe Mixon over Devin Singletary. Now, the fact that Tanico Autry is there,

(33:35):
and he's clearly an upgrade from arusher and probably from a flexibility standpoint,
but both tackles aren't here, andPhotocasi is somebody we I don't know
if we're overlooking him because he wassigned right before the free agent period began,
just because he was available. Butat present time he's probably one of
the players that they're looking at tofill that. I don't think Tim Settle
is that, but he is alsohere. It's a matter of did they

(33:59):
you know the names can't help butmove the needle because all these a lot
of the players that the Texan signedwere the names on everybody's mind. You
know, Daniel Hunter was the arguablythe best edge rusher available. He's a
Texan. Joe Mixon is in agroup that everybody knows of running backs that
moved. He is a Texan.And you know, not many linebackers were

(34:21):
available that had over one hundred andfifty tackles last year, and he is
a Texan. So I can completelyunderstand that. And you know, on
his show with Steve Weisch, theyhad Brian Baldinger on as well, and
he was saying things similarly, theyjust really like how they're putting those pieces
together, and it is amazing.We all keep saying, he really he
Demiko wants that defense and is tryingto make them know much better group.

(34:42):
And he's focused on the trenches.There are trenches on both sides of the
football, and then they have notbeen able to definitively make any trench positive
updates on that other side of thefootball. And again I didn't necessarily think
they would. I think they're bankinga lot on the players that either are
just new to the team or weren'ton the field last year talking about Titus
Howard, and they will make thatgroup a significant upgrade from where they were

(35:07):
when they finished. But there's moreto be done there. I don't know
that the Texans are involved in allthese players, but even today there's another
five or six players that were snatchedup in the last twenty four hours.
I guess you could say that aredifference makers. And they're still more and
the best safety on the market fromthe jump is still out there and Justin
Simmons. Again not necessarily related towhat the Texans are doing, but point

(35:30):
being, there are more players thatI do think this Texans teams can add.
Aaron Wilson was reporting earlier today theywent through a restructure with Shaq Mason.
There has been no announcement on anyplayers released due to cap restraints,
as in, can they save moneyby letting Robert Woods go or letting m
J. Stewart go or making someother I mean both of their quarterbacks quite

(35:52):
honestly could provide them some savings caseKeenum and or Davis Mills if they so
choose, their contracts are low enoughwhere a reasonable replacement might mean it doesn't
make a whole lot of sense.But quite simply, you could just carry
two quarterbacks instead of three. Sowhatever cap savings you say had for letting
case Keenum go would be literally thatthere would be no other positional match,

(36:16):
but you could then use that moneyelsewhere for some other spot. They're not
finished. They're not finished trading ondraft day. It's typical Nick. The
only thing I will say from yearone to year, however many more there
are, that's the only constant Idon't really look at. Well, he's
never done this before, and theydidn't use the franchise tag here and they
haven't they're a new team, andthen there's a real reason to look at

(36:38):
what he does. But what he'salways done is manipulate the draft and whatever
he feels like they need to andhow he uses the additional picks that he
just got, and they're probably evenmore coming mentioned. We would get to
the JV updates, So why don'twe knock that out as well. It
is Friday, of course, I'llsing j V himself will talk to you.

(37:04):
We have sound from justin Verland fromKate Upton's husband's lips. He will
give you an update on his currentsituation after his most recent trip to the
bound with a baseball justin how aboutthat Velo bulpen setting. I think I
probably hit ninety two dish maybe ninetythree coaches pretty good for yeah, I

(37:25):
think if I'd look at that assaying my first bulk in the spring,
I think that'd deep on Park.You know, at this point he's in
too deep, well, Kyle Tucker, A supposed team DJ cranking out some
some forty one more of it hereas JV guesses what's next. Definitely getting
close to faceing hitters. If it'snot at this time, and then it's
very soon, but I'm hopeful.I think it depends on how I feel

(37:50):
of it the next three or fourdays, but it's definitely on the table.
I hope it's on the table.They will be playing regular season games
on the twenty eighth, Dana Brown, indicating that they do not expect to
have him back through roughly fifteen daysof season. I would take them through
their entire homestand obviously of seven gamestheir first road trip as well, beginning

(38:13):
in Arlington, then maybe after thereturn, potentially in advance of the second
series against the Rangers. So ifeverything continues to go, well, yeah,
that's what I want to see.I want to see him hurling right
at them in Arlington. We shallsee. And the JP France update I
actually gave you earlier. He isstill scheduled to start their game tomorrow.

(38:35):
Did we say officially on the areayet that Frommer's been named the opening day
starter. It's kind of I mentionedthat in the open because Joe Spotted did
say that to the assembled media today. Yes, it was a foregone conclusion
with who was available in his status. As poorly as he did pitch down
the stretch, He's been perennially oneof the best, most durable, most
able to be counted on pitchers inbaseball, and absolutely an opening day option

(38:59):
for most teams. One of histeammates is Justin Verlander this year again,
so it wasn't a given until JVwent down, as Aaron Boone said that
Marcus Stroman will be opposing him.Yet there there are actually some people over
there, from what I gather,that aren't just whether it's the days that
he's been throwing or how he's gettingramped up, that they're not so convinced
that they automatically turn to Stroman becausehey, it's just one game. If

(39:20):
it works out better for him togo elsewhere, why are we forcing him
into this opener and they don't wantthem to do that? Is it definitely
Cortes Dan, Yeah, it's beenannounced. It's Saster Cortez. All right,
fine, nasty nester going up againstFromber. That is a surprising announcement
in light of his lack of health. Good. I don't mean like parennally
hurt. I mean he's coming backfrom injury and the way his spring has

(39:43):
gone. I'm surprised two weeks outthey would even make that announcement. Well,
I love it. So that's good, all right, Hour number two
not quite a full hour. Butspeaking of the Astros, they will be
pre emptying us for a third consecutiveday, So catch us while you can
here on Sports Talk seven ninety next, two lifelong Houston sports guys named Adam

(40:05):
Talking Your Teams series, Adam Clintonand Adam Wexler are the A Team a
day team into our number two wexA c. Dan here with you sevener
one three two one two five sevenninety little under two weeks now until opening
day for the Houston Astros, thenew York Yankees. Both of those teams

(40:29):
today made it official with their openingday starter. We mentioned that last segment
about forty minutes ago. The Yankeesmade that official. Nestor Cortez, we'll
get the ball here in Houston onMarch twenty eighth, so he will be
out there after Framber Valdez goes one, two, three in the top of
the first inning against the Yankees.Valdez, named by Joe spotted the Astros

(40:49):
opening day starter. I think wehave a pretty good idea of what the
Astros will look like from the ninein the field or dhing necessarily the full
order, and that probably because theyhope to get Jose Abraw back in the
lineup this weekend. Also, ithas been sidelined with a little bit of
a neat issue, nothing serious,they didn't believe. And again, if
he goes out there this weekend,everything would be back on track for him

(41:12):
to be available when they get toHouston and the four game series to open
the season with the Yankees. Obviouslyquite a bit about the Texans, not
a whole lot about the rest ofthe NFL, even though this is the
time in free agency where nearly everyplayer that's moved, has made his way
to his new city, has signedhis deal, has met with the media,

(41:32):
and has performed any other duties theteam sees fit, showing up in
some gear, maybe do a littleintro social media post, and to that
end, all those things have happeneda couple different AFC cities. So which
AFC city of a team that isworse than the Texans? Obviously almost all

(41:52):
of them are would you like togo to first for some of that spectacular
audio? Do you want to stayin the division? Want to go where
one of the teams the only teamthe Texans beat in the playoffs? Or
do you want to go where theteam decided against having a very angry quarterback

(42:13):
room. Which of those three placeswould you like to go? I don't
want to go to Cleveland. Okay, we will not go to Cleveland,
So I'll take either of the othertwo. You choose, Well, let's
stay inside the division first, becausethere's about fifty nuggets here in the U
statement from Calvin Ridley. Calvin Ridleymet with the media in Tennessee in Nashville.
He is a New Titan. Hebasically right out of the gate.

(42:35):
You know what's what's it? Beenlike for you to be here. Oh,
I just got here, So Ireally don't have any answers. I
haven't done this or I haven't donethat. And then the simple question of
why are you here? And hegave a lot of reasons why, and
the honesty is awesome. I knowthat I have a certain type of skills
and so I'm not you know,scared to go with the good or with
you know, who's son trying tobe good. So I think, you

(42:59):
know, playing them to twice ayear, I was watching him and looking
at you know, the things theydid have. I know that de hops
here and I know that, youknow, I want to play with another
receiver on the other side that canyou know, help me, you know,
do what I do best too.So I know that they had that
they had a really good defense,and you know, they were upcoming and
stuff. So I you know,I was looking into it, and you
know, I really wanted to honestlybe with the Jags, but you know,

(43:21):
there's a lot of things that Iwasn't you know, wasn't working out
for me, and I think theTitans had that other side for me.
So I chose the Titans, andobviously the money was pretty good, so
I went with that. And uh, yeah, I'm here. What an
awkward thing to say. It's yourintroductory press conference. You could be talking
about a number of things. I'vegot four on the board and in order.

(43:44):
Huh. He said he's not afraidto go with either a good team
as in not the one I signedwith, or a not yet good team.
He kind of softened it enough onthe backside of his comment. A
team that's not yet good, ateam that's about to be good, which
is clearly who he signed with.Second, he was at the game last
night. DeAndre Hopkins. He wassitting with the Fertidas right there at the

(44:04):
fifty yard line at Toyota Center.Calvin Ridley talked about him like they're definitely
going to be teammates. I don'tthink they have to let Hopkins go.
I think there are reasons why,financially they might want to do that,
also with the fact that Trailon Burksis there or they've completely soured on him.
But we'll see. I hope Ridley. I mean, I'm sure he

(44:27):
thinks that and maybe that will betrue. Thirdly, and I think this
is what you were getting at,specifically to be honest with you, I
wanted to be with the Jags.That's it right there here at my Titans
introductory prescott. Have you ever heardthat out of a player ever? But
we know it's been true before.Sure, that's fine. There's inside words
an outside words. That time aninside word got outside, so he's not

(44:52):
allowed to say those words outwardly.And yet we're super excited that. In
the very next sentence, he said, obviously the money was good, which
I went with that reason you don'tsay it. It's true. They are
the ones who give you all thatmoney, and you're still talking about your
old team. That wouldn't right.So why are you here because I got

(45:12):
paid? Honesty? Love it?Yeah? No, for sure, it's
great unless you're a Titans fan.But if you were following along, and
I imagine you know the Titans beatwriters and their internal beat writers. Who's
that one guy, you know,the one, he's the guy, you
know, the guy he's been writingabout them forever. Jim Wyatt. Yes,

(45:34):
well he's the internal guy now.He used to work for a newspaper
and now he works for the team. Yeah, he finally took over the
role that he had been assuming theentire time, which is total mouthpiece for
the organization. Well, so everybodyknows that he was deep. This is
why when this was reported by youknow, the usual suspects Pallisero, Albert
Breer, Rap, James Palmer,Chefty, Palmer Stunner in a shocking turn

(45:58):
of events. But he basically watchedfree agency start to unfold and Calvin Ridley's
going to remain with the Jaguars.They put the offer in front them.
They think this is gonna get itdone, and he kind of described things
weren't quite in place, and sohere I am. Oh, and the
money was pretty good too. Idon't want to be here either by the
way, or at least it's notmy first choice. If you're a Jags
fan, all three of nice tohave great options. Yeah, that's great.

(46:21):
Good for him, he's got options, So three Jags fans. His
options were Nashville, Tennessee and Jacksonville, Florida. First of all, I'd
rather live in Nashville, Tennessee thanlike a lot of other places anyways,
but especially at the top of thatlist would be Jacksonville, Florida. If
you're a Jags fan, all threeof you and you're looking at this situation,
would you have rather paid an inordinateamount of money for Calvin Ridley or

(46:45):
Eric Armstead. Well, they paidan enormans amount amount of money to Eric
Armstead and signed Gabe Davis. Davisfirst, I'd be happier. I think
the Davis contract stinks, But allthings considered, for those two players versus
just the one Ridley, I wouldprefer that if I was one of the
admissional four Jaguar fans. It's likeyou said exactly, It's like you said,

(47:07):
They're still going to be fighting forthird second in the division. Yeah,
in all likelihood the Jags. Yeah, if there's a major step forward
from their quarterback, which I definitelycan't say I see coming, I would
believe it. It's possible, butI don't see it coming. He's got
plenty of weapons, They're backfields finedwith ettn Angram, and all of their
wide receiver targets are still good.They didn't take this big jump forward in

(47:30):
the one year they got with CalvinRidley, so it's still kind of rests
on the arm and head of TrevorLawrence. Yeah, and I I don't
know if I directly asked you thisquestion. But I will now because I
believe this to be the case.Do you agree he regressed last year,
No question about it. There's debate. You don't tear away anything like I'm
not sugarcoating like he regressed. There'seither your improving or you're not. And

(47:53):
he didn't improve, and he actuallywent backwards. That's what part of why
they tail spind and lost the division. Now they were playing with an injured
Lawrence most of the final six weeks. They lost every single game he played
the final six weeks of the season, which is hard to even imagine.
And Joe burd in Cincinnati, buthe wasn't playing really, I know their

(48:13):
record suggests his football's much better atthe beginning of the season or maybe even
overall. He just did not havea good season. Yes, so there's
no debate. Necessarily an additional conversationunwarranted. He did not play well.
He did not play as well inyear three as he did in year two.
And since we're just on the subjectof you know, the AFC South,
if you want to be really honest, Jaggs fan again, all three
of you, if you and youknow have truth serum somehow ingested or you

(48:37):
know, shot up in your armwhatever, Like, they got a lot
of help from both the Texans andthe officials. The second time those two
teams played, and the first timethose two teams played, the Texans destroyed
them. Which team the Jags,So the first time they crushed them,
the second time with what all thosepenalties at the end of the game,

(48:59):
and the Texans helped by turning theball over. Yeah, I just when
I look at this, you cantalk about the Texans what they've done this
offseason, in addition to what theschedule is going to look like. But
as it pertains to just the Jaguars, which again is one of three teams
standing in the way of what you'rewanting to accomplish, which is to win
the division, I don't worry aboutthem at all, not even a little

(49:22):
bit. Yeah, if Trevor Lawrenceeven was getting better, but I wasn't
thinking, Oh, this guy's aboutto become elite and then he went backwards.
Anyway, put it this way,if he's healthy, I worry more
about Richardson getting into Texans way thanI do Trevor Lawrence. Yeah, the
most likely scenario for me, basedon what they are is we will come
out of this year and rank thequarterbacks in this division. Stroud Richardson,

(49:42):
Lawrence Levis, m H. Ithink that's totally fair going into the season,
regardless of what else happens draft orotherwise. And I think for sitting
here in late December early January talkingabout it, that's exactly how it went.
And you probably just named the orderof the division as well. Usually
works like that in a division.I think with this kind of talent,
no one has overwhelming talent. Abunch of other moves we're made in the

(50:04):
NFL, we still haven't gotten toincluding the team on top making what should
be a very good move a player. I thought the Texans should definitely be
interested in adding to their arsenal,but instead it'll be catching passes from Pat
Mahomes. So we'll get to that, along with a few other items.
We will make those trips to theother two spots in the NFL, despite
your objections. Here on a Fridayedition of The A Team, I'm going
to tell you about classic Elite Chevysugar Land and Classic Elite Chevy Highway six.

(50:28):
Right here, it's the GM Dealerof the Year, now thirteen years
in a row, great opportunity foryou to find that brand new vehicle of
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(50:51):
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see the great owners, our goodfriends Jeff and Tiffany Sebastian. Make sure
when you do, you head onover to Classical Elite Chevy sugar Lander.
Classical Elite Chevy Highway sixth the Highwaysix location open on Sundays. You tell
him Annam Wexler sent you by.The A Team continues on your Apple TV.

(51:16):
Listen to Sports Talk seven ninety onany device with our free iHeartRadio app.
It is the A Team here onSports Talk seven ninety. A lot
of Texans, a lot of astros. Frankly, as we've been discussing all
afternoon long. You know, wewere talking about something off air about the

(51:37):
astros, you know, potentially gettinga Blake Snell. And in case you're
wondering why he's even a topic,obviously, the article over on the Athletics
site by our own Chandler Rome justtalked about the Astros revisiting Blake Snell,
especially in light of today's news aboutJose or Keaty. If you've missed that,
forty three pitches in he removed himselfwith elbow soreness. Not something you

(51:59):
want here, especially in mid Marchas you're trying to tune things up for
the start of a regular season.But you know, one of the things
he wrote in this article was thatsigning Blake Snell or any other available starting
pitcher would solve at least some ofthe lingering concerns about Houston's thin rotation while
allowing Ace Justin Verlander more time torecover from the shoulder injury that will sideline

(52:21):
him at the beginning of the season. And what I was talking about with
Wex off air was that, Okay, that's fine in theory, but Blake
Snell's not ready to go for openingday or even the opening series. Yeah,
I don't, it's impossible to tell. I do think it's different though
than what we keep talking about withVerlander and France. The reason they're not
ready to go is because there wasan injury that set them behind schedule.

(52:42):
As far as we know, there'snothing wrong with Blake Snell. I can't
imagine that there is, so ithas been up to him and the group
of people that he works with tooand probably Boris has this whole setup for
him to be prepared for when theseason starts, even though he hasn't been
in camp with anybody. He won'thave worked with their catchers, he won't
know how they like to do things, they won't have talked about their playing
with him nearly enough, and hewon't have very many real innings, if

(53:05):
any, under their belt. Imean, the team is going to be
back in Houston after Sunday's game.Next Sunday's game, that's all they have
left from gameplay in Florida, thetwo exhibition games back here in town,
and then it's game on with theYankees. I really'd be impossible to say
what he is and isn't ready forbecause he's not with us, He's not
with anybody, so nobody knows.He would be a fool if he were

(53:28):
not ready physically to give everything.By you know, ten days into the
season. Fourteen days into the season. I mean fourteen days into the season
is still a month away. Iwould hope he could get ready in a
month after being ready already. Imean, that's if you sign a one
year deal and you're not ready topitch, well, they would basically want

(53:50):
to pro rate the deal. ThenI would think I would ask to if
that were the case. But yeah, it's a be a total guess at
this point. I think it's totallyfine. I think he'd be ready to
go very or very early in theseason, just obviously not the opener because
that's Rambers game. I love thepro rated you know, I can't stop.
I mean, that's silly, freakingmet even throw it out there because
that would have never happened. Whatabout how did they do Dallas Kicels Again?

(54:14):
I know that was that was literallypro rate. I think he got
a fourteen million dollar deal, ofwhich he was going to get paid six
and change because it was just afterBut wasn't that guy too? Yeah he
was, That's what I thought.But they were also working around the compensatory
selection that a team would have hadto forfeit had they signed him. Earlier,
and the Astros do have to giveup draft pick if they sign him

(54:34):
Snell, do they not? UhNo, I don't think he accepted his
qualifying offer unless I'm mistaken. No, I thought he rejected it with the
Padres, and that's why the Astroswould have to give up a Oh yeah,
I got you, I got you, which is what they had to
do with Verlander. Yes, yes, they would have to for fit a
pick, which is I mean,this is when now, baby, But
that crash is going to be awful, isn't it. No? I know

(54:58):
you don't think it's coming because theystill have this game, this game.
I mean unless they're bad, likethe players they have, like unless Alvarez
becomes bad, unless every player thatcan walk does walk, unless Altuve isn't
any good anymore. I mean,if nothing else, you know, Josh
Hater and ord On Alvarez will beon that team. When you think the
crash is coming, well if Joshleague No, I know, I know.

(55:22):
I think crash is a relative termtoo, when you consider we're talking
about not being a World Series contenderevery single year. I think the real
the better way to evaluate it mightbe, well, who's the owner if
he's afraid of that. I'm notafraid of it, but he doesn't want
any part of it. Then maybethat is the time he says, all
right, you can handle it fromhere, mister, pay me billions to

(55:42):
become the new owner. Will allroll out with all these wins and your
financial constraints with these players, yourlack of talent because we've gone after it
all these years, and you dealwith it. I mean, I'm not
forecasting that, but that would certainlyI would think that might do it,
unless you sell to a guy likeMichael Cohen and he he buys everything in
sight. I actually would like MichaelCohen to buy the Astros if Jim Crane's

(56:05):
going to sell them. But thatwould be the most crane thing ever.
I mean, the record profit.When I was as I was saying it
out loud, and I was wonderingif anybody's gonna say, I was waiting
for you to finish so I couldthen say, there's no way that Trump's
lawyer and the Mets owner have thesame name. Well, the Mets owner
is Steve Cohen, not Michael Cohen. Did you say Michael Cohen? I

(56:29):
didn't even I heard Cohen that's different. It's very different. How much money
you will to spend, how manymillions, one hundred more, two hundred
more. Guy's such a scumbag.He just looks sleazy. But yeah,
I didn't. And look, ifhe's setting himself up to sell the team,

(56:51):
it ain't happening this year. Wellyeah, setting it up to sell.
This is way down the road.He set himself up to win.
He set himself up to He'll needto spend money to do it. They
will have to continue to find players. You'd have to have Jeremy Pania advance
to a much higher level. Youhave to have Hunter Brown advanced to a
much higher level. You know,Chas McCormick and or Jake Myers. I
mean, these are the only lowdollar players that are in the mix.

(57:13):
Really, yinor ds, these guyswould all have to ascend, which is
literally exactly what happened, because Koreadid it, and Springer did it,
and Alto they did it, andBregman did it, I mean Tucker did
it. And since you're on thatsubject, I would argue that Yiner Diaz
is probably more or best set upto make that ascension than any of those

(57:36):
guys. You mentioned, and letme explain why Bregman got up here.
It was a call up, youknow, I'm talking about in his first
full season. As it pertains toYiner Bregman was that that call up,
and he had the infamous what wasit two for thirty five start whatever?
It was two for thirty seven somethinglike that. Cork dumbs were panicking.
Yeah, Korea defensively was like inme amazing. But you know, and

(58:01):
Tucker famously struggled his first year.Jiner, I don't think he's gonna do
that. In fact, I thinkquite the opposite. I think Yiner Diaz
is about to blow everybody away,like he's going to exceed expectations. I
know that's a lot of pressure I'mputting on him, but I don't think
he minds, nor do I thinkhe knows who I am. I had
a one to twenty eight ops,plus had an eight forty six ops.

(58:22):
Ecstatic if he passed either of thosenumbers this year. That he was so
good that I think it becomes verydifficult to be better than that. Granted
he might play more, so you'regonna end up getting more production fault,
right, but hitting two to eightyhav an ops of near one eight fifty
and delivering that ops plus that isthat's elite level stuff, and it's the

(58:44):
thing beyond elite for a catcher,right. But the thing is, it
wasn't a fluke like he's a meanI guess he's not. Well, he's
got gonna have less than four hundredplayed appearances as a major leaguer. Yeah,
no, I know, and it'sthat is a very small sample size
relatively speaking. But what I'm sayingis when I see him up there,
the numbers he was getting weren't flukish. I'm not going to sit here and
say, oh, he's the mostdisciplined hitter this side of Alex Bregman in

(59:06):
their lineup. Here's the pitch heswings, right, I mean he is
on his way to the Oh,he already swung. But if he makes
contact, good luck whoever you arebehind him. I just I think he's
gonna be a monster this year.I can't wait. And I'm gonna be
even more mad that he didn't playlast year. As much as he didn't.
Well, unless you're talking about theplayoffs, it's kind of doesn't matter,

(59:28):
does it. It matters? Likeso they could have won the division
by more, maybe, and theywould have been more well rested than the
five days they got off before theseries started. In all seriousness, it's
fine if you want to say hecould have played in the playoffs more and
started more and caught for pitchers whonever threw to them all year, or
you'd go back and say, well, he should have gotten them to throw
to them during the year. Whatwhat I would say is, without the

(59:51):
kidding that we're doing here obviously,is that maybe if he has more reps
than the appearances he would have gottenin the postseason in that scenario would have
meant more. I really, unlesshe's basically starting and playing every game,
then he's in a tough spot.So with the other person in that,
I think a lot of people wouldYeah, but I think a lot of
people would have been fine with that. That's why I'm suggesting it. That
certainly could be an option, butyou would have had to set yourself up

(01:00:14):
better for it. You would havehad him catching JV, catching fromber starting
four days out of seven instead oftwo at catcher obviously, all the things
he's gonna have to do this year, and will not have had as many
reps doing not that I'm worried aboutit. Well, I mean, clearly
people in the organization, most notablybecause he was the one talking, because
he was the manager, he feltdifferently and he felt there was too much

(01:00:36):
value to be lost. And Imean again, it's it's impossible to measure
it. Game to game. Duringthe season, and certainly during the postseason,
they did the same thing they've alwaysdone, is whatever was wrong or
whatever was right, Dusty guided them, in his manner to the same spot
every year, at least all theway to the Alcs, which he did
again last year, and you know, they were a paper clip away from

(01:01:00):
the World Series a home win.To think that, my god, if
they just played Yiner, it reallydoesn't hold much weight to me. But
to me it's also the only glaringpart of the lineup where you think,
if you insert this guy for theguy who was there, it actually could
have made a difference, because theguy who was there more often than not

(01:01:22):
was literally an automatic out more oftenthan not. You have any Again,
it's impossible to measure was there anyvalue that ended up paying off in the
playoffs From having Jose Obray bat fifthalmost all year, have the confidence of
his manager from keeping him in thelineup all year. He got out to
the playoffs and I don't know why, but he all of a sudden could

(01:01:43):
hit. That was weird. Thatwas weird, but it was weird.
It was weirder because he was avet like Yannrdeas playing his rookie year didn't
win Rookie of the Year because hedidn't play. It's pretty good rookie classes,
for sure, certainly didn't help.I just wish he could be like,
was it Randy a Rose Arena whogot it after playing like nine million
games? Well, I'm Rookie ofthe Year. They're gonna that story is

(01:02:06):
being written already. You'll hate itfor next year because the Rose Arena went
nuts to the postseason and then playedthe next year and was Rookie of the
Year. That's Evan Carter. That'sRangers outfielder Evan Carter. You think I
give a crap about That's what Imean. You're gonna hate it. He
had such a good postseason. Iwas, ah, this guy's great.
He barely played. He is arookie next year and he might not even
be their best prospect in the outfieldas a rookie On their team this year.

(01:02:30):
Do I look scared? You shouldn'tbe. I'm not. They're still
not better than Houston. No,they're not. They might they might not
even make the playoffs this year.Ryan Stanek gonna lead the Mariners from middle
relief. Exactly. All right,We've got another segment ish to go here
before we make way for the currentincarnation of Astro's Baseball Spring Training variety here

(01:02:55):
on your home for Astros Baseball SportsTalk seven ninety. You don't have to
be a pep to get your ladyto work at your command, mister bone,
that's right, just asks just mydevice to play Sports Talk seven ninety
on iHeart Radio. See I beatit, See I beat it. Biggest
news of the day yourst time.We're talking about it right now on the

(01:03:17):
show. Did it just happen?Aaron Donald retired from the NFL. Oh,
I don't think that's the biggest newsof the day. Let's see what
is it? Then? Jose Orkidihas an elbow injury. Well here locally,
yeah, all of that's bigger.Okay, in the NFL probably,
I mean it's like it's not Iguess because he's thirty two. It's a

(01:03:42):
little surprising. You think he playedfor the Lions or something. Well,
it's definitely bigger news than the Steelerstrading. Can he picket to the Eagles?
Since you brought it up and I'vefigured you since you know, want
to localize it, we'll be donewith the Aaron Donald story. One quick
question, though, a legendary guy, first ballot Hall of Famer. You
will see you don't think he's goingin on the first ballot. I know

(01:04:02):
he should, but we'll see whywouldn't he Cause the voters are dumb.
I know they're dumb, but evenlike, there's certain guys where they can't
screw this up. So I mean, geez, will he be regarded as
a again slightly different position JJ isgoing in on the first ballot? Who's
better who? Because he had alonger career. If JJ doesn't get hurt.

(01:04:27):
Now I know their numbers are close. Well, I don't even look
at their numbers because they really didplay different positions. So Aaron Donald's numbers,
you might even argue, are betterjust in the fact he was doing
all this from the inside, right, that's a big plus he has over
JJ. But just doing it atthe level he did it for as long
as he did it, And thatsucks because that's not really JJ's fault other

(01:04:47):
than his own body portraying him.I don't think JJ did anything. Trained
a certain way, played a certainway so he can more susceptible. Aaron
Donald played one hundred and fifty fourgames. How many games do you think
JJ played? It's probably closer thanI'm thinking. It's one fifty one.
Wow, Okay, but over howlong? JJ was drafted three years earlier

(01:05:11):
and obviously retired one. What's thewhat's the longest amount of time like chunk
in a season that Aaron Donald missedwith an injury? Yeah, there wasn't
one. That's my point. Yeah, And I think that when you start
talking about this particular conversation, notHall of Fame, not anything else,
just who's better. That's why peopleare going to give him the nod because
he wasn't sitting out. How aboutjust ranking them based on Defensive Player of

(01:05:32):
the Year awards. He won fourof them. That's a huge edge over
the three. Well four in hewas basically did he win? He did
not win three in a row.JJ says I win that one. JJ
also did not win three in arow. I thought he did three and
four years. They both won threeand four years. Yes, okay,

(01:05:57):
I take that back. I knewI was looking at this wrong. We
both have three. The P andthe R are hard to determine the difference
player of the year three and fouryears for Aaron, but even I thought
that he had more than JJ.I think he'll be regarded as arguably the
number one, like there's no otherelse in the history of the NFL.
And JJ has company for sure,because probably Reggie White's considered a little bit

(01:06:20):
tackle defensive tackle, He's he's probablythe greatest defensive tackle of the NFL's ever
seen. Yeah, yep. AndI don't want to act like I'm not
familiar with a league that's been aroundfor decades. I'm aware there are plenty
of really biases that. Yeah,I just think for they Rams put together
a goodbye video which was phenomenal,and in it one of the yakers in

(01:06:44):
our public sports world happen to beShannon Sharp. He said something that I
think helps point that out. Hesaid, Aaron Donald is better, so
much better than the next guy athis position, more so than any other
position in the NFL. Guy wedon't even know, like, not any
given year it could have been adifferent player, but every year there were
whoever that was was looking up tohim from way down. There's four to

(01:07:08):
three versus three four. I mean, that's a little bit of it,
just and you're being asked to dodifferent things in different body types, even
just on the interior for sure.But yeah, that's pretty big news for
the Rams. But they everything's okaybecause later in the day they signed Jimmy
Garoppolo, so everything will be justfine. That guy who has more,
I mean, we joke about it. At least at least Kirk Cousins has

(01:07:30):
talent. Jimmy Garoppolo is just adude at this point. Yeah, I
don't even don't even put them inthe same sentence. Well, one's a
legitimate NFL starting quarterback and one startedfor a team that was supremely talented and
nearly cot tailed it to a superI hear, okay, you know,
here's Kirk Cousins signing with Atlanta,and then I hear, oh, here's
Kirk or here's Jimmy Garoppolo getting anotherdeal with another team. I'm like,

(01:07:54):
these guys have staying power, butin very different ways. Yeah, Garoppolo
is a career backup. The secondhe left San France Cisco. He was
lucky that a team didn't realize thatyet and was signed to be a starter.
And then as soon as they playedhim, they go, oh,
man, how come everybody else knewthis and we didn't. Did he overlap
with Kaepernick? There or no?It was after that, right at the
very end of Colin, at thevery beginning of Jimmy's acquisition. So was

(01:08:17):
Colin benched for Garoppolo? Oh,he's no, Blaine Gabbert, That's right.
That's why people actually are most upset. It doesn't really have much to
do with Colin Kaepernick at the endof the day. Is just that,
really, Blank Gabbert, you thoughtwas better. That's in my opinion,
why that went over so well.When you lose games, you're just kind
of stuck. Is it him?Is it the way he's playing, is

(01:08:39):
it what they're doing? Whatever itwas, there were reasons why they made
the change, and obviously Blaine Gabbert, who is still an NFL player,
Oh, there, he can't play. He's awful, awful, awful.
Who's worse for their career? Yeah, Blaine Gabbert I'm pretty sure it's going
to be him or David Carr.A curve ball. You probably changed you

(01:09:00):
you were gonna say, No,I did not. It was David Carl
the whole way. I didn't sayDerek. I can't entertain the answer.
It's just so on r irrelevant.No, I need to know. You're
gonna have to figure it out foryourself. No, I want to know
right now on the air. Giveme an answer before the weekend, or
I'm gonna have a ruined weekend.I'll say, Blaine, Wow, really
yeah, I would have guessed theother for you. Specifically, he got

(01:09:24):
a second deal who Blaine? Oh, Dave, of course he did in
Carolina and then in New York dealfrom the team that drafted him. Oh,
well that was Karry. That wasGary's fault. Well, I can
fix him. He's got an arm. Not really Gary that much of anything
that's that is a little bit surprising. But yeah, Aaron Donald definitely,

(01:09:48):
Like I'm trying to think, whois the next best guy from the interior.
He just got re signed by theChiefs. I guess that. Would
you think he's ahead of, say, oh, Wilkins is probably in the
top five and where's our boy thatplayed for the Patriots and came here for
a while and war the overalls?He's been cooking barbecue as a retired NFL

(01:10:12):
player for years, Vince Wild wheredo you put? Where do you rank
him? I know all the timewhere he's oh my god, all time.
If he's in your thought as anall timer, then he's super not
you just anybody's way overrated. Ifyou if you're considering, is it because
he played on Super Bowl championship team. He's a really really good player,
but not among the best ever,like from the interior even yes, okay,

(01:10:32):
wow, I didn't expect that fromyou, really really good. It
doesn't mean he's bad. It doesn'tmean you don't want him, doesn't mean
he doesn't help your team win.It doesn't mean he's a not a Pro
Bowl or an All Pro caliber player. But I mean a couple of years
isn't all pro? That's really good? I don't I don't know the dominating
year in and year out. Yeah, I get it. Definitely anchored is

(01:10:53):
the thought of how great he was. It's anchored by the fact that he
was in New England because a lotof Houston for two years. Hey,
he didn't one of those overalls inthe practice bubble in New England, which
year was hard knocks inside the Patriotsfacility? Which year was that again?
Never o'clock. They really haven't beenon there. They don't want it,

(01:11:13):
and they're in a position to sayno, so they did. I just
thought at least once they had beenon there. No interesting. All right,
Well, apparently that is going todo it for the A team today
and for the week. We'll beback at it again Monday afternoon three o'clock
to get you the good, thebad, and the ugly from over the
weekend and the news on the BlakeSnell signing. Just kidding. We'll see
for Dan, for Wex, Imay see. It is the A team

(01:11:35):
here on Sports Talk seven ninety AstrosBaseball Now