Chandler Rome On The A-Team: First Base Has Been A Issue For Sometime On The Astros

The Athletic's Astros beat writer Chandler Rome joins The A-Team for his latest visit. He talks about what the Astros could do with Jose Abreu. Plus, what we could expect from the return of Justin Verlander and this upcoming stretch of the team's road trip. 

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
And of course our good buddy ChandlerRome of the Athletic. Geez. I
wonder what we'll talk about. Iwonder what the back of Chandler Rome's baseball
card looks like. Why you gottago there right out of the gate.
What. I'm not sure Jeff Bagwellwants to read the back of my baseball
card or anything I write for thatmatter. But who knows. Maybe he's

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a subscriber no way. You knowwhat, there are a few guarantees in
life death taxes, and Jeff Bagwellnot subscribing to the Athletic because of Chandler
Rome. I would probably agree withthat. Okay, So all jokes aside.
It's probably not going to be receivedreally well when you talk about an

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aging thirty seven year old first basemanwhose numbers dips significantly last year and this
year they're even worse, and they'renot even up to his jersey number as
far as his average goes. Howdoes this is the thing Wex and I
were talking about. This low berfetois not the answer, especially when he's
not even playing first base at thenext level down. So what do the

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Astros do here? Yeah, I'mglad you brought that up because I think
this, this notion that Joey thatcalling Joey Loperfido up ficks everything is pretty
flawed. He's not Jackson Holliday,he's not Kyle Tucker, he's not your
On Alvarez. And this is nothingto disrespect Joey Loperfido, who had an

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amazing spring training and has gone downto Triple A and really played well.
But he's not He's not one ofthose transformational prospects that you look at AND's
like, Oh, this dude's gonnathis dude's gonna save the season, This
dude's gonna change the trajectory of thefranchise. Like he's a He's a good
player, and I think Dana Brown, honestly, I think Dana Brown described
in best on the pregame show lastweek when he called him a utility piece,

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because I think that's what they viewhim as because he can play all
three outfield positions. He can playfor he can stand at first base if
you need it. But he ismore of a utility guy than the guy
that you're going to pencil into thatlineup every day. As far as what
they do, I'm out of answers, because, like we're talking about now,

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they don't have that guy that canjust come up and you put him
in at first base every day andthe problem solved. First base has been
a deficiency in this organization for awhile now. It's why they signed Josea
Braid because when Juli Guriel went ina free agency, they looked around and
they looked in their system and theyknew they did not have an heir apparent.

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They did not have a first basementready, and they still don't.
So, you know, I thinkthe most logical path forward right now is
a time share of sorts between JohnSingleton and Josea bray You. It's clear
Josea Brady is not an everyday playeranymore. Just look at how Joe Aspata

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has used him. I think JoeAspota is doing everything he can with a
really difficult situation. He's pinned hittingfor a bray You in big spots,
He's hitting him eighth in the battingorder. There's really not much more he
can do. He's on the activeroster that they can't just not play him.
So it's a tough situation and there'sreally not a ton of you know,

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great options looking out there, andyou just have to hope that,
you know, JOSEA. Bray,you find something to contribute some value to
this team. I'm not saying hehas to go out there and have an
eight hundred ohps, but just findways to contribute that are that are not
find more ways to contribute than whathe's doing now, which is next to

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nothing. Well more likely than not. The things that will fix this team
are the best players on this teamplaying like it, and some of them
are quite clearly. But two things, specifically, if you could address one.
The change to the order among thetop four was made prior to yesterday's
game, and I think you alludedto the fact it's likely going to continue.
Oltuve, Alvarez, Bregman, TuckerBregman moving from four to three,

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and then yesterday, for the firsttime in a long time, they actually
had it all set up the waythey want it and it still didn't go
as planned. When you're handing theball to Abray, you Presley and Haters
seventh, eighth, ninth, andwhen the seventh began you had a two
run lead, and when the ninthended it was a tie game. Those
two areas if those things get fixedand figured out. Won't that more likely
be a way to help this teamstop losing. Yes, yeah, And

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I think that would allow them tothat would allow them to hide Jose A.
Brad you a little better because rightnow every at bat is finding him.
I mean, he's Joe Spot hashit him eighth in the batting order
for the last week and he's stillsomehow taking seven at bats with runners in
scoring position. So like every atbat is finding him now. The way

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they could eliminate that is if theguys higher in the order hit with runners
in scoring position. And I'm writingsomething for the Athletic tomorrow morning, kind
of detailing ten numbers that kind ofshow why this team is where it And
I found this one fascinating. TheAshers have five RBIs from their cleanup spot
all season. And I know RBIsaren't in vogue, and it's not a

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it's not a stat that modern baseballpeople love. But when you have Altuve
and Alvarez and Tucker for that matter, hitting the way that they're hitting and
you can only get five RBIs fromyour cleanup spot, I think that's certainly
something that they needed to address.And I think sliding Tucker down there and
putting Bregman third. I think that'sthat's probably the way to go for the

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time being. We know Alex Bregmanis a slow starter, and he's shown
signs that he's getting back to hisform. I mean, he had a
couple of hits the other night,got on base three times yesterday. So
they need production from the four andfive spots now. Yayaner Diaz has expanded
the zone a little bit with runnerson base. That's been a problem for

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him dating back to last year.He's much better with nobody on base or
nobody in scoring position. He triesto do a little too much when runners
are on so they need to gethim kind of back in the strike zone,
back kind of focused a little bitwhen runners are on base. I
think that'll help a ton. Andthen, yeah, the back end of

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their bullpen. When you look atthe whip and the eras that these guys
have, it's pretty staggering. Andyou know, I'm not trying to be
sunshine and rainbows here, but RyanPresley. I think Ryan Presley's allowed seven
earned runs this season. Four ofthem came in one appearance. Same thing
with Josh Hater, However, manyearned runs he's allowed this year, half

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of them came in that appearance againstthe Braves, So really one outing for
both of those guys is skewing everythingelse. But no one wants to hear
that when you're six and fourteen,and I completely understand that. Yeah,
they've got I think more than thoseguys have to pitch better, but I
think the Astros as a whole,like they have to get They have to
do what they did yesterday. Theyhave to get the game to the seventh

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inning, have those three guys linedup on all rested and ready to go.
That hasn't happened a ton this year. I think maybe there's been two
or three games I can remember thatthey got a lead after the sixth inning,
they had those guys rested, readyto go and could deploy them,
and I don't think in any ofthe three games it worked out for him.

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But they need to do that morning. You know, Josh Hater's only
had two save situations in twenty games. They've got to find a way to
get these guys to let them pitchmore comfortable roles, in roles that they're
more familiar with, protecting leads,waiting games because Josh Hater's already pitched this
year. Josh Hater has already pitchedin as many games with his team trailing

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as he did all of last season. So he's just he's being put in
on and again he's being paid nineteenand a half nineteen million dollars whatever,
like he's supposed to pitch well nomatter the circumstance. But these things do
matter. So I think, yes, there's a lot of other things that
they can fix that would get thisteam a lot better than you know,
everyone harping on what's going on atfirst base, and it's understandable you get

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the nineteen nineteen and a half milliondollars per year players mixed up on this
roster right now. But no,we're talking to chandeler Rome. With the
use of the athletic I should say, is you know, yesterday Alex Bregman
was in the three hole, andnormally that'd be another thing that maybe you
don't pay a lot of attention tojust because well, you don't have only
six wins through their first twenty games. But he did have one of his

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more productive games of the season.And I know that so much is made
oftentimes about you know, where someone'sbatting. I mean, we've heard this
NonStop about Jordan Alvarez being in thetwo hole before we ever even started the
season. Do you think that's somethingthat could stick just because of what happened
yesterday and it looked like, byall accounts, the Astros were on their
way to actually salvaging that series untilhe didn't. Yeah, I think so.

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I think they're going to try thislineup out for a little bit to
see how it goes. And youknow, I think credit to Joe A.
Spada, who you know, JoeSpata has been pretty aggressive and proactive
in adjusting his lineups. You know, Joseah Bray, you spent about four
days hitting fifth before he precipitously felldown the batting order. They tried this
configuration for nineteen games, and thenthey're gonna switch up a little bit.

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I don't envision al two Vey orAlvarez moving out of the one or two
hole, not that I would thinkthat that's even a consideration, just given
how well both those guys are hitting. But again, I think a lot
of this will be fixed if Bregmancan get going a little bit. Kyle
Tucker, it's kind of funny forthat article that's posting tomorrow. I was
looking at some of the expected stats, and he has been just incredibly unlucky

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all year. Just you look atthe quality of his contact and the way
he's hitting the ball, and he'sjust got really nothing to show for it.
Again, no one wants to hearany of this when you're six and
fourteen. I understand that, butthere are some underlying metrics and some things
that suggest that maybe this isn't asdire as it seems. And look,
I mean, they're six and fourteen. They have dug themselves a hole that's
going to be very difficult to getout of. But when I watch this

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team play, and when I lookat the numbers, and when I look
at kind of how this thing isconstructed, like, I don't think that
they're this is gonna sound odd.I don't think they're playing that poorly.
Like they've They've had a couple inningswhere they've kicked the ball around, they've
had a couple innings where pitchers haveimploded, but all in all, like
I do think also like they've playedsome really good teams and they've just gotten

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beat They're zero and five and onerun games. There's some luck involved in
that, there's some execution involved inthat. I just I'm not I don't
watch this team and think, man, this team is hopeless. This team
has done this team can't do anythingright. I think they're playing they're not
playing well, but they're also notplaying just atrocious baseball. I think they're

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just they're playing okay, and they'rerunning up against teams, really good teams
that are playing well. Last thing, since you were there beyond the numbers,
what did your eyes tell you,even though it was two starts ago,
What are your eyes tell you aboutwhat you might expect from Justin Verlander
when he makes his season debut tomorrowin Washington. He threw in Sugarland through
in Frisco, and now he willthrow in the majors. I think from

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listening to him the other day,I think he was trying to say without
saying it, that he probably doesneed another tune up, or his stuff's
probably not where he wants it tobe right now to step on a big
league mound. But he feels ready, he feels healthy. You know.
I think you look at the resultsfrom the rehabit signment, obviously they're going

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to give you a pause, justgiven how many hits he gave up and
everything. But I think in hisfirst rehabit signment he threw like twelve or
fifteen change ups. He's not goingto do that at the big league level.
There's some sequencing stuff, there's somestuff he was working on that may
have contributed to that. But justlistening to him talk when he talked on
Monday, it sounds like, youknow, if there was a perfect world,

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he would have maybe had a littlemore time to refine his stuff.
But there's nothing wrong health wise.I think he feels like his pitch count's
built up. I think he feelslike he's ready to get big league hiders
out. I would not expect himto go eight or nine innings. I
would not expect him to throw aone hundred pitches. You're probably looking at
anywhere from eighty five eighty to eightyfive pitches. If he can get you

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five or six innings out of that, I bet they'd be thrilled with the
off day they just had. Theyshould have their their bullpen pretty rested.
The Nationals are not good, sothat'll help. That would help. I
think that the Nationals are not agood team, so you know, maybe
they can get some momentum going.They have their best starters going in this
series. I cannot believe I'm sayingthis, because I did not think I

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would ever say this, but theyreally really have to like the Ronel Blancos
pitching Sunday look more to that.That's just how crazy the season has been
that you look forward to Ronel Blancostarts. But yeah, I think this
is a series where they can getright. They've they've got good memories in
that ballpark, obviously from the twentynineteen World Series. You know, this

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is this is a team that thisthis would be the first team in the
first series that you look at andyou're like, all right, the Astros
are demonstrausly better on paper than theNationals. Now, you don't win games
on paper, but this is gonnabe a reprieve. I think this whole
road trip really, they're gonna playthe Rockies in Mexico. The Rockies are
just an abomination and the Cubs are. You know, the Cubs are reeling
a little bit. They don't havesays as Zuki, but they can still

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hit it that they're a competent team, but certainly This is a trip that
you would think if Berlin is certainlycoming back Friday, but they've talked about
fromber Valdez maybe coming back before theyget to Mexico as well. This could
be a trip that maybe propels thema little bit, maybe kind of awakens
them from whatever has gotten in thefirst twenty games. Good. I can't

(13:41):
take much more of this, Chandler, appreciate the visit as always, and
we'll catch up again next week.All right, Thanks guys, Chandler Roam
of the athletic here on Sports Talkseven ninety