Chandler Rome of The A-Team: Bregman Has Been Great Since Mid-May

The Athletic's Astros beat writer, Chandler Rome, joins The A-Team for his weekly visit. He gives us an update on the Astros lengthy injury list. Plus, he talks about what things could look like for the Astros post All-Star break. Also, the play of Alex Bregman, while the Astros have been without key players like Kyle Tucker. 

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
No better time than the present tobring in our good buddy Chandler Rome of
the Athletic here on Sports Talk sevenninety First and foremost, Chandler, other
than appreciating the time, are youdoing okay? Post storm? I am?
I got power back. Actually duringthe game last night, I think
about eight o'clock, I got powerback. So I'm very lucky. I

(00:22):
know there's a lot of people outthere that don't have power. I hope
you're hanging in there. Hope youhave enough liquor to keep you nice and
lubricated. I hope you have boxfans to keep you nice and cool,
and maybe you can listen to adultsand tones of Robert Ford and sees Parks
tonight flowing you to sleep. Theydid produce an entertaining product last night.

(00:43):
Earlier on the show, I calledit basically an Alex Bregman game, the
type of games his career has beenlittered with, but in twenty twenty four
there have been far fewer of them. Huge hit to bring home McCormick,
huge home run to put him backin front the second time and final time,
and more of that. Clearly isall always needed, but it does
seem like the post All Star Breakportion of the season, which maybe will

(01:06):
include Kyle Tucker, Will, jordOn Alvarez and Alex Bregman batting in succession.
In this lineup, They're just goingto need more of that. What
has he just kind of continued toI guess slowly but surely talking about Bregman
get more and more comfortable at theplay on a daily basis rather than falling
into these ruts here and there.Yeah, I think I think he's been
great since probably middle of May.I mean, his numbers have been in

(01:32):
line with what he's on his wholecareer. It's just he got off to
such an awful start and it waslonger. It was a longer bad start
than normal, So the numbers aregoing to take a while to kind of
skew a little bit. But Imean he's been everything that they've needed him
to be. The only thing isthe on base percentage is a little bit
now. You know, he's stillswinging to good pitches. The chase rate

(01:52):
isn't high, and you know,he's been one of the more vocal people
that said that they're swinging at toomany pitches, they're swinging too much,
And I think even put him helpin that category. You've got the highest
swing rate of his career right now. That's been kind of a lineup wide
problem, but it has dissipated alittle bit lately. I think just watching
this team, they, yeah,bas have looked a little more patient.

(02:15):
They're not swinging at everything, andwhen they are swinging at everything, they're
usually swinging at good pitches and hittingthe ball in the line, hitting the
ball well, So yeah, theyI don't think this year we've really seen
a lineup with a fully functioning Gregman, Altuve, Tucker and Albarez all together,
And if we have, it's beenfor only stretches of like five or

(02:37):
six games. So the promise ofthat after the All Star Grate has to
be great. But what this offenseis doing right now without Tucker, the
ass have to be really encouraged,because I mean they have consistently been really,
really good offensively for about almost goingon a month. Now, Well,
did you bring up Kyle Tucker.We'll try to quick fire it if
you could on what do you knowand where do things stand with Tucker and

(03:00):
Verlander and Lance mccullor's and Louis Garcia, Tucker is still not doing anything on
the field until he does that.Until he gets on the field, can
do things. He can do asmuch baseball activity inside as he wants,
but there's not going to be anymeaningful progress until he gets back out on
the field. Luis Garcia, it'sa little interesting. Joe's spotta was pretty

(03:24):
like specific that they wanted him tothrow a bullpen today before going out on
another rehab start. He did notthrow that bulton today, and Joe's spotta
said they'll get him here tomorrow toquote see how he feels and then see
if he's gonna throw a bolton.But Joe spot It insisted that he is
healthy, that he feels fine.It's just a byproduct of the storm,

(03:44):
and the storm kind of throws himselfoff and threw him out of his routine.
Lance mccullor's there isn't much of anupdate other than you know, he
had a setback. He's not growing, and it sounds like they're going to
have a meeting here in the nextcouple of days to kind of just it's
next for him. And then JustinBerlander played what I would label as a
very intense game of catch today.Just watching it from the press box,

(04:09):
really seemed like he was putting afoot down and getting after and letting it
go a little bit. Had apretty long conversation with Josh Miller, Joe
Spaonna, and trainer Jeremiah Randall afterJoe Sponna didn't really divulge what was said
or kind of give me more ofa timetable, but it did look like
he was throwing with more intensity.But again, until he gets off of
the mound, there's really gonna beno meaningful progress. Talking to Chandler Roam

(04:31):
with the Athletic here on Sports Talkseven ninety for his weekly visit, speaking
of pitching, I guess a twoparter about Renel Blanco. Were you as
surprised as many were that he didnot make the All Star team? And
then secondly not just so much theAll Star Game, but is it kind
of a blessing in disguise as thisguy's you know, never never, I

(04:51):
guess approached the threshold of innings he'sabout to pitch this year and they're going
to ask him to pitch. Iwas prize that he didn't make it,
But then one time I look atthe voting breakdown kind of how the guys
got in like it made logical sense. It's a tough rule. It's a
rule that you know, every teamhas to have representative and it just so

(05:13):
happened that Tyler Anderson and Logan Gilbertwere the two representatives of the Mariners in
the Angels, Gartt Crochet too.The Gary Crischie was going to be an
all start no matter of what teamhe played for. You know, there
were and then you look at theplayer balloting, Tan or how got in
on the player balloting back didn't.And then if it seems like the one
that you can maybe quibble with isCole Reagan's getting in over him by that's

(05:35):
an MLB selection. But Cole Reagan'shad thrown I think fifteen more innings than
Blanco at that point. And youhate to keep bringing this up, but
you do wonder if Renal Blanco doesn'tget suspended for that foreign substance violation,
he probably makes at least one morestart, maybe two more starts, and
if he pitches the way he hadhitched all year, then he's probably in

(05:57):
the all start. You know,is whether it's a blessing, you know,
I don't know what they're going todo on Sunday, there's still TBA
if he pitches Sunday, and whichwhich he has lined up to do,
is if they stay on schedule wherean Oblanco would pitch Sundays and Rangers,
that would leave him ineligible to pitchin the All Star Game, and unfortunately
for him, would probably prevent himfrom getting a spot altogether. Because look,

(06:21):
I think at the end of theday, where an Oblanco does deserve
to be named an All Star,whether he pitches at the game or goes
to the game, like who reallycares, But he deserves that accolade of
being named in All Star because that'ssomething that you know that goes on your
resume forever. And I do wonderif they pitch him on Sunday, if
they announce he's pitching on Sunday,then that may you know, the league,

(06:44):
the league's going to need replacements forsome of these pitchers that aren't going
to be available. If they listenfor an a Blanco as their scheduled started
on Sunday, that may mean thatthey're just not going to take him,
because they're not going to give aspot to someone that's not going to pick
especially a replacement start. Yeah,but yeah, to answer your other question,
yes, he needs a break.We saw it last night. The
velocity was down. He got throughit because the Marlins are awful. But

(07:10):
if the velocity continues to trend downa little bit, that's going to be
a big concern. And you wonderhow effective he can keep being because he's
going to enter the All Star Grateprobably at about one hundred and seven hundred
and eight innings pitch and he's neverplarned more than one hundred and twenty five
in a season. He's a big, strong dude. But that's good.
Take it as toll. They're goingto really have to monitor him to make

(07:30):
sure this stuff stays Christy. Yeah, over the next four days for the
Astros of the final four games beforethe break, Jake Bloss acknowledged as Tomorrow's
starter by Joe Spotta, but they'veleft it to TVD for those games that
you mentioned against the Rangers over theweekend. The Mariners have actually listed their
probables for their final four games Thursdaythrough Sunday, and Logan Gilbert is their
scheduled starter for Sunday, which wouldput him in that situation. You were

(07:55):
just mentioning about not being available forthat, so that could be interesting.
One other thing about what's been goingon on the field for the Astros and
now it's become a regular thing again, and that's John Singleton getting penciled in
at first base on our pretty mucheveryday basis, which is just what Joe
Spota kind of said from the beginning. I'm playing guys that deserve to be
out there, and for some ofthe time at the beginning of the post

(08:16):
Jose a Brew scenario, that wasMauricio Dubon and now with John Singleton earning
those days, is that essentially whatit boils down to. He's gone out
there and given them productive at bats, made a nice play defensively late last
night in the game, and continuesto get the call, especially obviously against
right handers. But more often thannot, he's just been there there guy
this last seven eight days. Yeah, I think it's a couple of things.

(08:39):
The advats or the adbats are alwaysgoing to be decent because he's alway
going to swing at strikes and notswing at balls, and that's at them
pages. But I think the otherthing too is like it seemed like it
was either walk or home run forhim earlier in the season. He's sprinkling
in singles, he's sprinkling into somegood bats and good contact to all fields.
And it's not just a lock ora homer, like he's able to

(09:01):
kind of pass him to town alittle bit more and get some hits things
like that. And I think he'sin prove defensively, he's made He made
a nice play last night, He'smade a couple of nice plays on the
road trip that kind of went unnoticeda little bit. And I think part
of it too is Mauricio Dubon's valueto this team is more as a utility
guy. They can sprinkle around everywhere, and you know, Chess McCormick's not

(09:24):
producing. They need someone to maybestep up in one of those corner outfields.
Puts the Mauricio Dubon to night andleft field. They need Dubon maybe
a little bit more to help inthe outfield, maybe at first pace.
So I think kind of all thosefactors are leading to it. But this
is I mean, John Singleton's earnedit. He's earned more run, he's

(09:45):
earned more consistent at bats, andJoe Spott is giving it to him.
You wonder if it can sustain likethis. But you know, for right
now, he's an above I meanyou look at his ops plus he's an
above average majorleague Hit it real quick, be where I'll let you go.
I just saw a quote from BrianCashman who's talking about being happy that the
Yankees got off to a hot start, and I'm paraphrasing so that they have

(10:07):
enough cushion to hopefully work through thisbecause it's gone on long enough. Is
is there annual swoon which usually happensright around this time of the year,
kind of getting more and more surprisingwith each passing year. I mean,
you know, they lost on CarloStanton, who's having a huge year for

(10:28):
them. Both these come back downto earth, and so is the dog.
I think for me, the pitchingis what's really kind of swamis to
me. I mean, Luis Healwas never going to have a sub one
e R all year, and he'skind of regressed pretty hard. Carlos Rodon
seems like a bastera at this point. I mean, Garrett Cole is always
gonna have his bumps coming back.He's been better lately. Strowman's just kind

(10:52):
of whatever. I think they're pitchinghas been the thing to me that has
been the most surprising of how they'vedone this. And you know, Aaron
Judge wants or like two of thebest players in baseball, and I think
this is showing again just like youknow the Angels have shown over the last
ten years. You can have oneor two of the best players in baseball

(11:15):
and it doesn't matter if you don'thave the time to support around them.
And I think the I think theYankees will be okay. I think there's
too much talent on that team forthem to not turn it around. But
they need people around Judge and Sodato step up because it's gonna It's been
a tough go for them. Andthe Orioles are really good. The Red
Sox are surprisingly like Alex Cora isjust like getting a bigger paycheck by the
day from whenever team is going tomanage next year. Just how this team

(11:39):
keeps playing and no reality, arethey as good as their record, But
Alex scor has got them playing well. They're They're really really good. And
I think that's a tough division.And if the aches aren't careful, they
could look up and they could beout of the playoff spot here on a
couple in a couple of weeks theydon't start playing better, that would be
really, really sad. Chandler,we really appreciate the time as always,
glad to hear you're safe and sound, and we'll do it again next week,

(12:03):
all right, thanks guys. ChandlerRoam of the Athletic here on Sports
Talk seven ninety on