Geoff Blum In-Studio! Arenado Says No (For Now), Wednesday BS and Texans-Chiefs Preview

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Two lifelong Houston sports guys named Adam talking Your Teams series,
Adam Clinton and Adam Wexler are the A Team A team.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
We got to Wednesday and you're treat here on the
A Team is several guest co hosted ours from your
friend Jeff Blum wex Jeff Day in here with.

Speaker 3 (00:29):
You the A Team midweek.

Speaker 4 (00:32):
Thanks for coming in, Jeff, good to be here. I'm
glad you got desperate enough to call me.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
Yeah, I mean Monday, no Tuesday now, but we got
to Wednesday. I like, all right enough already, we gotta
we gotta do something. Was thinking maybe maybe by Wednesday,
a couple of days after Kyle Tucker the Chicago Cub
set in, maybe other things regarding your Houston Astros might

(00:57):
fall into play. So far, nothing we will can can
you our thoughts about what might be next? What are
the people inside the organization thinking about how to augment
the talent level of this year's club and the future,
And what are the people they might be talking to
that are free agents that used to play third base
for the Astros that have only known one organization professionally

(01:18):
might be thinking on their side? And everything else is
going on in Major League Baseball. Obviously, yesterday the New
York Yankees, one team rumored to be in the mix
to land Alex Bregman landed somebody else who knows Alex
Bregman very very well, and that they lost to them
in the World Series just a couple of years ago.
Cody Bellinger, he's going to be a New York Yankee.

(01:40):
He's going to absolutely positively make them forget about Juan
Soto this upcoming season.

Speaker 3 (01:46):
Cannot wait for that. But yeah, a lot of things
on that front.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
It's Wednesday for us, technically Thursday for the Texans work
week as they get prepared to make their way out
to Kansas City. Another practice tomorrow, and then they're on
a bird to Kansas City to take on the thirteen
and one Chiefs. Obviously, injury news for both teams each
day becomes that much more important. Joe Mixon on the
Texan side, although he probably cleared everything up yesterday when

(02:10):
he said I am going to be on the field
on Saturday and playing, he was out on the practice
field today and everything looked like he tells the truth.
I would expect him to be out there. Patrick Mahomes's
situation a little bit different. Their team situation a little
bit different, sitting there at thirteen and one and two
games up on the Bills without having clinched that number
one seed though, and like the Texans, of course, the

(02:32):
Chiefs are on the same second game of the three
they will play over an eleven day stretch. Any thoughts
to three football games in eleven days is akin to
back to back double headers, flying to a new city
the next day and playing another double header, like their
bodies are going through a lot to make three games

(02:55):
work over an eleven day period. Every time we see
these postponements around Major NAE Baseball, because regularly scheduled doubleheaders
seem to be a thing of the past, but makeup
doubleheader seem to be a think of the current. You know,
when you know that you've got some rainouts during the
current day Major League Baseball schedule, how much are the
players dreading?

Speaker 3 (03:14):
Well, this is just going to be awful for us.

Speaker 2 (03:16):
Whatever the solution is to getting the one sixty two,
and if you're forced to play one sixty two, which
this year the Astros weren't.

Speaker 4 (03:23):
Nope, no integrity this season kind of goes by the wayside.
Depending on who you're playing. But at the same time,
when you do have those rain delays and throughout the
course of a schedule, when you start to see that
you've got a fifteen games straight that you have to
play with a couple of trips in between, or you
have to play twenty eight straight, like we've seen the
Astros play with some road trips in between, and you
start to realize that, oh my gosh, we got rained

(03:44):
out the second game and we have to play a
double hitter on a getaway day. That's probably the worst
case scenarios because you just want to get on a
plane and go to the next city and kind of
move on with the situation. Instead, you're packed up and
you've got to sit there for two ball games and.

Speaker 3 (03:58):
Then get out of there.

Speaker 4 (03:59):
But I can't imagine, And you know, you've talked to
plenty of athletes, we've all been around these guys, but
I think that there's a little bit more respect for
maybe what the NFL players are doing because of the contact,
you know, the different the hardest. The hardest thing we're
gonna make contact with is either the earth or first
base if we get that far, or the first basement
or the first basement. I mean, it's that incidental connect,

(04:20):
it's not that perpetual. You know, every play a contrast, No,
And I don't know how to recover from that. You know,
you talk to different guys on how they recover, and
they need the time to heal up before they can
go out there and try and do it again. So
that being said, I can't imagine trying to go through
three games in eleven days and speaking. We're in December,

(04:41):
by the way, mid December when we're trying to pull
this off, which is even more incredible. So a lot
of credit to those guys. And I'm sure that their
training staff, strength coordinators, everybody, nutritionists or maybe some pharmacists
might be helping out just a little bit, I hope,
because that's usually a pretty good way to go in
order to get through some of these sch when you're
playing crucial games down the stretch.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
Yep, working on trying to keep the guys off of
their feet as much as they can, versus when we
still need to kind of work on what it is
we're going to be up against. And just so happens,
the Texans are playing the number one team currently, the
Kansas City Chiefs. First and then maybe the most dangerous
offense after that. Certainly one of the most dangerous offenses
come Christmas Day against the Baltimore Ravens. Now, clearly Christmas

(05:27):
Day games don't come up on the baseball schedule. July
fourth games too. Astros have recently spent their July fourth
in Canada. Yeah, yeah, but yeah, it's usually a big deal.
And this is new to the NFL to set up
these games on Christmas Day.

Speaker 3 (05:44):
I thought NBA had total domination over that day.

Speaker 2 (05:48):
It's going to be a tear field day, sadly for
the NBA because it is their day.

Speaker 3 (05:53):
We've got five games.

Speaker 4 (05:54):
Sons are already going down as it is, and now
the NFL is taking over it.

Speaker 2 (05:56):
They're like, hey, hey, hey, hey, can we just have
Christmas Day please? I mean, we're in the middle of
our season.

Speaker 3 (06:01):
Can you give us this?

Speaker 2 (06:02):
And with a Wednesday Christmas Day, the NFL still said, nah,
we're diving into that. They've put a couple of Friday
games on the schedule this year. Now they're playing on Wednesday.
We thought during the COVID season, when because teams had
to keep well, we don't have enough players today.

Speaker 3 (06:17):
Can we push it back to Tuesday. How about they.

Speaker 2 (06:19):
Played a game on a Tuesday. I thought, oh, we'll
never play on that day. Now they're playing on a Wednesday,
middle of the week. The NFL does a players Association.

Speaker 4 (06:26):
I don't know enough about this, but I would imagine
is there any pushback or is the money just so
dominant that they could because I would imagine the players
union might be voicing a little bit of opinions saying
three games in eleven days is excessive. Now you're taking a
midweek and now I've got to sit for ten days
before i play my next game. There's going to be
some awkward situations in that scheduling. Let alone, all of

(06:46):
these guys have celebrated Christmas with their families up until now.

Speaker 2 (06:50):
Yeah, it's interesting that the four teams that are doing
that this year, they're four AFC teams. They're probably all
going to the playoffs. So the only one of the
four currently that hasn't clinched their playoff spot, and that
certainly could come before the end of this weekend. And
so you get the time off before the first of
those three then you scram in those three games, and

(07:11):
like you said, you got ten days off before you
get to your finale, which all four teams of those four,
one of them or two of them or more will
already know what their playoffs situation is, what seed they are,
and who they're up against, I think by the time
we get there, so it really actually might benefit them
in theory. They're still the body concern yourself with. We

(07:32):
don't know what you come out of those three games,
but you could potentially head into the playoffs with a
little bit of additional atypical rest period for some if
not more, of your key players. But they're not anywhere
near that yet, and it's not on the minds of
the coach. It's certainly not on the mind of Debiko Ryans.
Yet when they get there, if it is a benefit
to them, I'm sure they will do their best to

(07:53):
try to take advantage of it. Another day off for
the Houston Rockets. Of course, we'll have their next game
and all the games for you right here on Sports
Talk seven to ninety saying with Space City Home Network,
provided they're not playing in Vegas and that of coming
up Thursday night, Pelicans are coming in town. To that end,
Space City Home Network Houston Rockets reporter Vanessa Richardson will

(08:14):
join the show at five o'clock today and get her
on the phone and talk a little bit about the
additional break they got after not winning in Vegas against
Oklahoma City.

Speaker 3 (08:25):
So they've been off since the fourteenth.

Speaker 2 (08:27):
Probably something this team who's been going pretty full hard
for a while will benefit them as they move forward.
Through all that, I'll sprinkle in some of what's been
set over at the facility for the Texas throughout the
day and obviously start digging in on what is next.
Kyle Tucker did make an appearance yesterday with the assembled
media via Zoom, and if their media wasn't used to him,

(08:49):
certainly ours was myself, yourself and those involved in the
Zoom itself certainly could attest to that. Why would I
have expected anything different than vintage vanilla, half chuckle cliche
excellence from Kyle Tucker.

Speaker 4 (09:08):
He's spectacular And that was one of the things, you know,
obviously when this trade happened, and that I think I
still have ties in Chicago. But anyways, they gave me
a call and I had a chance to get on
the radio up there and talk a little bit about Kyle,
and obviously I'm gonna pump him because everything he's done
for the Houston Astros. But the one thing I did
kind of say to these these guys, I'm like, the
personality is not going to match up with you who

(09:30):
you might anticipate him being. He's got the driest sense
of humor you've ever heard. He's not going to be
over the top, you know, uber excited every time you
have that interview. So I thought it was kind of
nice to see him on that national stage, you know,
a zoom call, you know, so be it. But you know,
he was just kind of same old Kyle Tucker. You know,
he didn't phase us at all. But I'm sure some
of the some of the online commentary was probably like,

(09:52):
is this guy even awake?

Speaker 2 (09:54):
Yeah, subdued is a fair assessment of his on camera personality.
He even said it one time during roughly twenty five
minutes worth of questions. You know, I'm not always the
same with the media as I am with my teammates. Well,
I would imagine that's probably true.

Speaker 4 (10:08):
Yeah, it's good to have that persona too. You've got
to have that on air. Obviously, it's it's something you
have to do as an athlete. But at the same time.
I think that growing up in this clubhouse with the
Houston Astros and really kind of experiencing how the outside
world can treat you a little bit, you kind of
center around each other in that clubhouse. And that's exactly

(10:29):
what he's done, and that's where he's grown up. He's
known nothing other than the Houston area, the Houston media,
and being in a clubhouse that absolutely adores him and
allows him to be him. And that's kind of been
the beauty of the Astros clubhouse for every guy that's
come through here, is that you can be you personality wise,
because the only thing we worried about is going out
and hitting the ball and scoring runs and winning as

(10:49):
many games as we can.

Speaker 2 (10:50):
I will a little bit different for him in the
spot he holds, so to speak, a hierarchy on this team,
especially in the manner in which he was acquired. He
could easily just fit right in with the Astros from
the moment he made his major league debut to the
last game they played this past season in the postseason.
Because let's see if I can visualize this properly, to

(11:12):
his right, well, there's Jose Altuve, and before him, there
would have been Michael Brantley or Carlos Correa. Across the
aisle on the other side of the shower, there'd be
George Springer. On the other side of the opening for
the manager's office, there was jv and Garrett Cole and
Lance mccullors. And it was a team full of ballers

(11:35):
basically killers, winners, dominating players, big personalities. And he won't
have that last thing we said in Chicago, but he's
supposed to bring all those other things.

Speaker 3 (11:47):
He's the best player on the team now.

Speaker 4 (11:48):
Isn't that crazy to think about? He immediately gets traded
and he goes right into the top of that lineup,
and he is their threat every time. He's been a
threat in the Astros lineup for an extremely long time.
But he's always been kind of that peripheral, you know,
complimentary player because even after the Springers leave the carreas
some of these other guys that have gone on, it's

(12:09):
been Jordan Alvarez has been the guy, or jose L Twove,
Alex Bragman. But now you're going into a new city,
new lineup, new clubhouse, where everybody how about sitting down
and realizing that you're going to spring training and We've
got this guy we just traded for, and he is
better than a handful of us put together. That's kind
of what's crazy to think about is that he is
going to have to walk in and he's not a

(12:29):
guy that's going to command a clubhouse. But I think
that his reputation as a player will force him into
this situation where he will have to be a commanding
personality and not be a spokesman necessarily, but he is
going to carry that spotlight off of the Dansby Swansons
and some of these other guys who have been kind of,
you know, sharing the spotlight a little bit. And probably
their biggest personality was Cody Bellinger, who's gone now to

(12:51):
the New York Yankees. I mean, it's going to be
interesting to see how that clubhouse reacts.

Speaker 2 (12:54):
Yeah, biggest personality for twenty every afternoon, probably a little
more subdued than usual, Cody. We'll see how treats him
Eastern time when he's mellowing out as he does with
his new teammates they're in the Pinstripes. We will talk
about that a little bit more, just setting the table.
On the Wednesday edition of the show, A Wex Blum,
Dan Matthews here with you on the eighteam.

Speaker 1 (13:17):
The A Team on Sports Talk seven ninety. The A
Team continues continues on Sports Talk seven nineties.

Speaker 3 (13:32):
Just rolling out the Balls.

Speaker 2 (13:33):
On a Wednesday edition of the show, Jeff Blubb into
hang with us for the next several hours. Certainly a
little bit of talk about the Astros is warranted in
that regard, but everything else, of course, is fair game.
Here we head into the first college football playoff weekend
this week with four of the eleven games on our
slates for this holiday season. You gotta have eleven teams

(13:55):
eliminated in twelve team playoffs, I say, you know, there
are eleven games still to come. The last two standing
will play for all the marbles, and of course the
seeding is in question. The matchups we got for this
weekend some like, some don't. Probably Tennessee hates other teams
aren't too broken up about playing a home game though
it's not a true atmospheric home game, and that the

(14:16):
college football Playoff basically is taking over. So when Clemson
hits the field in Austin on Saturday afternoon, on the
hits the field in Austin at Darryl k Royal Texas
Memorial Stadium to play the Longhorns.

Speaker 3 (14:34):
My understanding is they.

Speaker 2 (14:35):
Will have their whatever it is they want to play,
fight song, pipe song, video accompaniment with them. As the
Ohio State Ad mentioned the other day about Tennessee, because
it's not the game ops. The production of the game
isn't the home team's responsibility. It's taken over by the NCAA.

Speaker 4 (14:57):
Why I thought it isn't the idea of having a
home game, as as you're the better seed, and this
is you've earned the right to day they did. Now
propaganda is your entire game.

Speaker 2 (15:05):
Your fans will be there, You're playing on your familiar field,
You're playing in your home locker room. But I believe,
and I kind of feel like Friday night, when we
get the first of those games Indiana and Notre Dame,
we'll find out exactly what that does mean. What how
much like Clemson has the ball club Nick's facing a
third and eleven, is the scoreboard going to see a
stomping bevo and everybody get on their feet for third down?

(15:28):
I'm thinking, no, are they selling half the tickets to
the opposing team coming? I know they're going to be
split down the middle.

Speaker 4 (15:34):
I think they're still going to have that, you know,
that sliver of the stadium in the corner where I
don't I don't understand that.

Speaker 2 (15:43):
And again I don't want to say it if it's
not completely factual, but my understanding is that a lot
of that isn't going to be in place.

Speaker 4 (15:49):
Well, I saw that SMU is out there practicing with
basically their audio system is playing everything that Penn State
would be playing inside their home stadium to get ready
to play on hostile territory, which I completely agree with.

Speaker 3 (16:01):
But I just.

Speaker 4 (16:05):
The home team gets to do what they want. That's
how it's always been. I know, I'm a little bit
jaded being.

Speaker 2 (16:08):
Well, that's what kind of comes into play here. Previous
bowl game, I mean, postseason, once the conference title games
are over, and that's kind of a new thing anyway.
But you know, forty years ago, there was no such
thing as a playing a huge after regular season game
in your own venue.

Speaker 3 (16:26):
You're off at the Rose Bowl, you're off at the
Sugar Bowl.

Speaker 2 (16:28):
You're you're playing for a national title on a neutral
field against your set up conference foe. For years and
years and years, and there was no playoff. There wasn't
even a four team playoff, and you were sometimes waiting
until the UPI and the AP had their votes out
so you could see who did actually finish a number
one and things like that. This will at least determine

(16:49):
I think we'll have most people saying I really do
believe this was the best team in the country. Whomever
it is will either have just won three games or
four games. It's one of the teams from this weekend.
At the end of it, I think we'd probably agree
it was. It was a pretty good way to determine
the champion and for the game, for college football and
for the fans. Now, fans who maybe like to travel

(17:11):
a lot, it's a little more difficult. You're probably not
going to three or four Clemson road games, three or
four SMU road games technically neutral sites in the future.
But we who are going to any of the games
but can watch them, I love it. Yeah, the whole
day of playoff games on Saturday, a game the night before,
another whole set of games two more times before we

(17:32):
get to the NFL playoffs.

Speaker 4 (17:34):
Yeah, before I get to to why this makes sense,
and I think why why we love it? So if
if SMU goes into Penn State and they win. What
happens to the next game. Where does SMU play? Do
they get the home games if it's a lower seed
or it's just playing just.

Speaker 2 (17:49):
These four opening games are given to the home team,
so every other game is associated with a previously in
place bowl like the Sugar Bowl will host this game
and the Cotton Boat host that game for the next
six games and then the national title game.

Speaker 4 (18:03):
I'm all for the home team getting to do what
they want. I mean, I understand you're trying to accommodate
the other ball club, but they kind of work their
way in in the lower seed and you got to
wear it. You're gonna if you're gonna move on, you've
got to win in a hostile environment and go do that.
The one thing that I can compare this to and
why I like the situation because we're always saying in
a four team playoffs, there's several teams that get snubbed
before you figure out who that top four is, and

(18:26):
then you only have a couple of games to figure
out who the best team is in college football, and
it was the same way in baseball. We talk about
the wild card era constantly we've expanded the playoffs, We've
brought more teams into the situation. And the part that
I love is the fact that we get to talk
about these teams a little bit later in the season.
And I think it's great for fan bases. I think
it's great for all of these schools to be able

(18:48):
to have the ability to say we made the college
football playoff. I think that says something. And in this
day and age of nil portals, how do you entice
these kids to come to your school and say, Hey,
we're a playoff team. You can come here. We're one
of the top twelve schools in the entire nation. You
can show up and we're gonna put you on a
national stage and then some because we're going this college

(19:08):
football playoff situation.

Speaker 3 (19:10):
So I love it.

Speaker 4 (19:11):
I think it's great and I do think it opens
up an opportunity for a team to get hot. But
I also think it opens up an opportunity for the
team that wins it all to beat teams that are substantial.

Speaker 3 (19:21):
Oh, for sure.

Speaker 2 (19:22):
The thing you were talking about, the bonuses, the pluses
of being these teams that make it to the playoffs,
all that stuff is great, and you're telling these kids
that and then they come back with their agent and say, yeah,
so how.

Speaker 3 (19:34):
Much, Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (19:37):
It's kind of odd that just kind of randomly was
looking around at other college football things and came across
the Washington State head coach earlier this week just talking
about how well December's for a college coach used to
be completely different, a little bit of a break. You know,
you're doing this, but now you've already you're a month
into re recruiting your own players. You're trying to prepare

(19:59):
for your bowl game. You're trying to accommodate visiting portal players,
you're trying to keep portal players. You're trying to raise
money to give to these players because they had just
lost their quarterback because of finances. They had put a
better than million dollar offer on the table and it
was not even enough to keep him from moving on

(20:20):
somewhere else.

Speaker 3 (20:20):
And just yesterday, I'm watching your eligibility left. I'm gonna
come back as a college quarterback.

Speaker 2 (20:25):
And I woke up this morning and he took the
wake Forest job. Yeah, and he gone, He's gone. It's
it's that part of it is really what started all this.
From a calendar standpoint the season's not over.

Speaker 3 (20:38):
I mean, how come college football can't figure it out?

Speaker 2 (20:40):
Well, there's an academic calendar that does kind of I
don't want to say muck things up, because it's the
academic calendar.

Speaker 4 (20:46):
Here's the fourth or fifth thing on the priority list
right now.

Speaker 2 (20:49):
So it doesn't match up with when you're trying to
get into classes and be in the portal and be
registered for the upcoming spring semester.

Speaker 3 (20:57):
I do think it's like those guys are concerned, very
very concerned.

Speaker 2 (21:01):
They're their academic progress post high school is that of
the utmost importance. But it's still it is such a
big business. There's so much money involved. It is getting
way out of hand from an nil standpoint, as we
all knew that it would, because there are no controls.
This is literal now. The coaches are basically saying it.
He basically said it. If you're not operating outside of

(21:23):
the rules your host, you can't just see.

Speaker 3 (21:26):
There aren't they rules and you still got to work
outside of them. Yeah, everybody, everybody's in that boat.

Speaker 2 (21:30):
And it just there's parts of it that make me
want to apply it to any other sport we follow.
And it's just it's so ridiculous, Like the Texans go
into these three games in eleven days, and after the
game this past Sunday, Dimiko's got to go down, up
and down the locker room and say, you know what's
it gonna take to have you stay here. You're not
gonna transfer out right now, I mean, free agencies open
and all. I know, there's three games left in the season,

(21:51):
but you know, or Joe spotted they wrap up their
season last year right before there get creating for the
Tigers to come to town. And Alex Bregman says, well,
I mean I got an ni I offer here. I
don't know if I can. I don't know if I'm
gonna stay.

Speaker 4 (22:02):
There's an opening in wherever he wants to go, Dodger Stadium,
there's an opening at third base. I think I'm gonna
go over there because I'm going to play in a
bigger market and I'm gonna get paid more.

Speaker 2 (22:12):
So instead of Jim Crane going to knock on Joe's
office door, Joe has to go knock on Gym's door.

Speaker 3 (22:18):
Said he's been able to raise any money.

Speaker 2 (22:20):
I mean, I know he's making on millions already, on
top of millions, but yeah, free agency in the middle
of the season or in the late stage of the
season to be more fair to college football.

Speaker 3 (22:29):
That is literally what's happening.

Speaker 2 (22:31):
But it's always it's been like this for years with
the coaches, coaches not coaching conference title games, bowl games
because they've already left, which that's a dominoes in motion
of other coaches leaving.

Speaker 4 (22:43):
Well, aren't There are a ton of players also that
are get backing out of these games, going. Look, I'm
going to be the quarterback for Louisville next year, I'm
not gonna work.

Speaker 2 (22:49):
I'm headed into the NFL Draft. I'm not playing in
this bowl game.

Speaker 4 (22:53):
And that happens way more than you like to see
as well. But we love to watch it and we're
going to watch it crazy.

Speaker 3 (22:59):
We are.

Speaker 2 (23:00):
We got games here coming up right before the new
year begins with LSU and Baylor and all across the state.
Mentioned the playoff game in Austin this weekend, So yeah,
absolutely looking forward to it all. Wex blum Dan here
with you on the A team. I've a little bit
into the specifics of what might be on the horizon
in the pursuit of Alex Bregman for the Astros, the

(23:22):
Red Sox, the Yankees, the Tigers, and of course everybody's
favorite team, the mystery team that might still be out there.

Speaker 3 (23:29):
We'll do that when we come back here on the A.

Speaker 1 (23:30):
Team, The A Team on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 2 (23:36):
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as well, Fredhastoyotaworld dot Com to get yourself ready to

(24:23):
find that brand new vehicle of your dreams from Fred
has Toyota World.

Speaker 5 (24:30):
This is cambidmore here every Rockets game, more sports talk
seven nine hand streaming on the iHeartRadio app Home of
Your Rockets?

Speaker 3 (24:43):
Did you all see this?

Speaker 6 (24:44):
Can putting out with from five and fifty.

Speaker 7 (24:46):
Posts, four hundred people were arrested for things that they
said on social media.

Speaker 2 (24:51):
History repeats itself type bangles succeed.

Speaker 8 (24:56):
Never doubt that you're.

Speaker 3 (24:57):
The one to bustle no one building, Yo, the best.

Speaker 9 (25:02):
X.

Speaker 3 (25:03):
Nothing's gonna have top you know, yo, the best post
an every.

Speaker 2 (25:09):
Single day, you know, the best of breaking the entire Internet.

Speaker 3 (25:18):
Yeah, that's me.

Speaker 2 (25:19):
It's just gonna say, is our daily installment of the.

Speaker 3 (25:25):
Best of X.

Speaker 2 (25:27):
A little parody song to get everybody's Wednesday afternoon going
are you?

Speaker 3 (25:31):
Are you classically trained?

Speaker 10 (25:33):
Uh?

Speaker 3 (25:33):
Did it sound like it in that moment? Yes?

Speaker 2 (25:36):
Yes, right there at the end, I carried the Internet
for most of the stuff at the beginning. Definitely needed
a re record, but I just just said we're done.

Speaker 3 (25:45):
We're done for the day. Uh.

Speaker 2 (25:47):
There's always something good out there on social media, whether
it is truly the X platform or elsewhere. So we
try to treat the people with with what's going on
out there. My favorites for the best of X are
always Twitter beefs or beefs on this platform known as
X currently, and there almost always are some pretty good
ones out there or just some responses. We know a
lot of popular people check mark or not that we'll

(26:10):
see their name mentioned somewhere because they've searched for it,
and then we'll have a nice response and angry response,
legitimate response. One of those things happened. A lot of
coaching changes made. We're just talking about college football NFL.
There's a couple of interim coaches wondering if they'll get
a true shot at the gig moving forward, and they'll
probably be some other opening. So someone, just someone on

(26:30):
the old X platform wrote this, Hey at Ryan d Leaf,
any interest in coaching?

Speaker 3 (26:37):
You know who Ryan D.

Speaker 11 (26:38):
Leaf is.

Speaker 3 (26:39):
He's been on the show before.

Speaker 2 (26:40):
He's carved out a nice career as an analyst over
the last several years, doing a lot of college football
and some other in studio work. He's obviously made some
changes in his life. He saw this obviously he was tagged,
and he quote tweeted it and responded absolutely not.

Speaker 3 (26:59):
Starts off pretty harmless.

Speaker 2 (27:00):
And not yet so introspective, and then he dives right
into well himself and looks in the mirror. He goes,
absolutely not, I lost that right when I chose to
ask and steal pills from the players I coached. Coaching
young men and women is a privilege, not a right.
Like that's really blaming, that's that's really taking accountability to it.

Speaker 3 (27:24):
We know it happened, we.

Speaker 2 (27:25):
Were aware of the repercussions from when it happened, and
we know you were at a very low point in
your life.

Speaker 3 (27:30):
When it happened. And he just reminded everybody of it.
Just own it. He absolutely does.

Speaker 2 (27:35):
And he you know, like I said, we've we've talked
before and he says these things. He'll say it in
an interview, he'll say it when you're talking to him
on the side of run into him at an NFL
game before over the years and just a short little conversation,
and he recognizes it all fully and completely.

Speaker 4 (27:51):
He just picked the wrong error to do it. It
was so if he was doing it now, he'd be like, Oh,
this guy, he's fine.

Speaker 3 (27:57):
But did the coach really do that?

Speaker 11 (27:59):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (27:59):
Really did that? Well, it's okay, we're winning. Right, everything's
going on, nobody knows.

Speaker 3 (28:05):
You get more playing time out of it.

Speaker 2 (28:07):
Yeah, we can work through this week. We can find
a way. Players posting messages on social media, sometimes they're
referred to as cryptic because we have no idea what
they're talking about. Oftentimes they come during some sort of
drama or turmoil in their personal or professional lives, and
oftentimes they're just song lyrics that we can't figure out

(28:28):
what they're trying to say. So last weekend Sunday afternoon,
the Texans took care of the Dolphins. Tyreek Hill was
the last targeted receiver by tuatago I Looa, and he
actually caught the ball before Derrick Stingley Junior stole it
from him and ended the game with the second interception
of the day for him, which also earned him AFC
Defensive Player of the Week and AST earlier today and

(28:50):
quite obviously ended the game. So you tell me, Jeff,
what does at cheetah adam that's Tyreek Hill? What does
he mean when earlier today at exactly nine in the
am he posts on the X platform with no commas,
no punctuation at the end, nothing, just straight words. It's

(29:12):
time for me to go, coach.

Speaker 3 (29:14):
Oh damn.

Speaker 2 (29:15):
Really, he's saying, it's time that you and management find
a place for me somewhere else. Is he saying, Hey, man,
we lost, We're not playing great offense because of me.
It's time for me to go, coach, Like, let's go.
What is he what's he saying.

Speaker 4 (29:35):
Considering you got one catch that was not and what
was it? One target?

Speaker 2 (29:39):
He had a couple of targets on the day, had
one other catch for twenty yards at the year here
they just even with Tua's.

Speaker 3 (29:45):
Return, he hasn't that was the anticipation.

Speaker 2 (29:48):
Yeah, and in this game, Jayalen Waddle had already been
hurt and was not coming back in this game. So
even though they knew, they wanted to go to their
number one. So this coach, well, that's why I'm I'm
I am putting it out there as a pure, straight
up questquestion before I give you any more questions.

Speaker 4 (30:02):
What did he say? And does coach respond in the
similar fashion which he has responded, Oh, that's even better.

Speaker 2 (30:09):
Mike McDaniel, like NFL coaches, he had his availability today because.

Speaker 4 (30:12):
I don't know if he's frustrated in not getting the ball.
I hope it's a little more of personal reflection saying
I need to get going because I mean, we can
fill in anything we want. That's the beauty of this.

Speaker 2 (30:23):
I honestly, without the punctuation, I felt like that was
what he was saying.

Speaker 3 (30:27):
And I'm hoping that Tyreek is that kind of guy,
So I'm hoping for me. He talked after the game
and everything.

Speaker 2 (30:32):
I think now there have been other things that have
gone on with him that have nothing to do with this,
but I really don't think they again apply here. I
kind of took it in a non negative we.

Speaker 3 (30:44):
Have problems, kind of a very positive person.

Speaker 2 (30:46):
Yeah, the Dolphins aren't yet eliminated for the postseason.

Speaker 3 (30:49):
That could come this weekend.

Speaker 2 (30:51):
But Tyreek probably is a little bit disappointed in their
offense this season. He only has eight hundred and five yards.
He only has one hundred yard game so far this season.
He's been targeted thirty times in the last three games.
He has been a little bit of a fantasy whoopsie.
But I think you should have figured that out. The
second two got hurt against Buffalo in the second game

(31:11):
of the season, and Miami decided we are not going
to outfit our team with reasonable backup quarterbacks. For an
oft could cussed quarterback, good thinking general manager. But Mike
McDaniel's response, Yeah, I guess I read it as he's
talking about coaching.

Speaker 3 (31:28):
There isn't a comma.

Speaker 2 (31:30):
And remember Mike McDaniel is a he's a super thinker
when it comes to standing at the podium and taking
ten minutes to answer a minute long question where he
could get through it in a minute, it takes him forever,
but he's thoughtful. He was in great spirits during walkthrough.
You'll have to ask him.

Speaker 3 (31:45):
What he meant.

Speaker 2 (31:46):
So he didn't seem to take it badly. And I
haven't visually seen him say this. I doubt he meant
it quite as negatively as the end of it says.
When somebody is being talked to and he's being sent
the media is being sent in another direction, like you
have to ask him about it. Like I've been there before.
I was actually with the Astros. It was in the
manager's office. It was Larry Derker and it was Craig Bigio.

(32:10):
I think it was about an bat that didn't go
very well. Stories, Well, you better ask him about that.
That's that was the response from I believe the manager
to the player, or if I'm mistaken, is.

Speaker 4 (32:21):
It because we want to get down to that, like
we want to make sure we get the answer right,
or is it like I don't, I don't want any
part of this.

Speaker 3 (32:27):
You go ask him. It was the latter. It was, hey, man,
that's on him.

Speaker 2 (32:31):
You go ask him, as in, that's his decision, you know,
that's above my pay grade type of answers kind of
what it felt like.

Speaker 3 (32:38):
So again, I don't know.

Speaker 4 (32:40):
Like Mike McDaniel, I mean, there's so many there. There's
younger coaches, and I feel like some of these younger
coaches might be a little more savvy to the to
the internet, social media commentary. Yeah, I'm hoping maybe just
a little bit. But I appreciate the fact that he's
a little more calm about the situation. But why wouldn't
she was a head coach. When you're dealing with your
best receiver, no matter how many targets he's getting, you

(33:02):
don't want to ruffle that and make him force the
issue and go to management and say get me out
of here. I can't stand the coach either.

Speaker 2 (33:07):
For sure, and I don't think at this point in
the season I.

Speaker 4 (33:09):
Got to be able to nurture that relationship a little
bit because you're still not out of it.

Speaker 2 (33:12):
Like you said, this will be a non issue as
soon as Tyreek speaks again, which might not happen till
after the next game, or McDaniel acknowledges this was nothing.

Speaker 3 (33:22):
We're all good when he gets the first three targets
at the next game.

Speaker 2 (33:25):
Imagine how that happens. Aj Brown Philadelphia. That happened for sure.
That back and forth made it to the Best of
X last week. I'll leave you the one final thing
and we'll take it to break here because we'll continue
with this topic moving forward at rap Sheet. That's Ian Rapaport,
NFL Network Breaking news Monster. The Texans made a move

(33:45):
this morning with their roster, and it was all over
it after they announced it. He said, the Texans have
activated offensive lineman Kenyon Green from injured reserve, and then
he added some potential help on the way, which indicates
one thing to me, very loudly and very clearly.

Speaker 3 (34:04):
And I'll tell you what that is after the break
here on the A Team.

Speaker 1 (34:10):
The A Team on Sports Talk seven ninety. The A
Team continues continues on Sports Talk seven.

Speaker 2 (34:19):
Ninety deep into our number one. Jeff Blum in co
hosting for the next couple of hours. Appreciate him coming in.
Won't be long from now when whatever Astros are, the
twenty twenty five Astros visit their spring training facility, catch
up with the Nationals who share it, and set about

(34:41):
their twenty twenty five season. So we'll get into that
quite obviously here. Did want to carry over that one
simple best of from Ian Rappaport last segment, Some Help
is on the Way. Just had a conversation yesterday in
house in studio. John Alexander of the Houston Chronicle, who
covers the Texas was in here with me. He politely
agreed with my stance that if Kenyan Green is out

(35:04):
there on the field this weekend for the Texans, that
would be shocking. Now he was activated, his stint on
the IR has ended. They opened up his practice window
last week, and now after they hit the field yesterday,
they decided he could be a helpful healthy body. Now
we'll find out if they deem him a healthy, capable

(35:24):
body that they want on the field. They shifted Titus
Howard to guard so Blake Fisher could take his spot
at tackle. If Kenyan Green is playing, presumably he would
just reassume his former position that he's had for more
than anybody else this year when things were not going
very well for the unit as a whole, and likely
slide Titus Howard back to right tackle. I would suggest

(35:46):
politely that's not the way to go.

Speaker 3 (35:49):
Not the way to go.

Speaker 2 (35:50):
As you face an interior front that features Chris Jones
and others in Kansas City on the road in a game,
it might be nice to go ahead and scoop up
at W four, Maybe lift your spirits in a season
where you've kind of been a little good, a little bad.
Another close game, another mistake, we're not quite what we
thought we would be. Let's go ahead and get one

(36:11):
of these wins at this point in the season, like
they got one of those wins at the beginning of
the season when they beat the Buffalo Bills, who've been
the best or hottest team seemingly in the AFC for
three months, including a victory over the East Kansas City Chiefs,
whom the Texas have this weekend. The stance teams take
publicly on injuries. Now, just the last three managers we've

(36:35):
had here, Joe spotted for your year, Dusty for four,
and aj for all the Golden Era years before that.

Speaker 3 (36:41):
We've got Demiko Ryans here.

Speaker 2 (36:43):
All due respect to Lovey Smith and Coach Cully, anything
they said about injuries was unimportant because so were their games.

Speaker 3 (36:50):
But when you get to.

Speaker 2 (36:53):
The point where you're answering questions about that, and for
the managers talking about it's day of game, it's hours
before first pitch, it's a little bit before or potentially
after you've put the lineup out. It's after or before,
depending on who you are. You might be telling the
truth and say I don't know. I haven't talked to
him yet.

Speaker 1 (37:13):
Mm hmm.

Speaker 2 (37:14):
Like do we believe Pat Mahomes when he says I'm
gonna push it and my uncle's gonna be fine, And
you know I'm a full participate at practice. You know
Demiko doesn't ever want to divulge anything injury related. Do
you really think there's a whole lot to be gained
in any of these scenarios by keeping it under wraps.

Speaker 3 (37:31):
That's what I want to know. I think.

Speaker 4 (37:33):
I think with Patrick Mahomes you could argue that it
could because it's gonna affect Maybe you're the design of
your defense or how you're gonna decide to attack them,
because there might be emphasis more on the running game
as opposed to the passing game without a guy like that.

Speaker 3 (37:44):
Watch what happens here.

Speaker 2 (37:46):
We made them prep for Pat Mahomes all week and
now now you're getting Carson Wentz, who you're totally unprepared for.

Speaker 3 (37:54):
Good luck.

Speaker 4 (37:55):
But that's how I feel. I feel like it's it's
some strategy. I don't know if it's an unwritten rule
inside the NFL because it's so odd, but I feel
like it's kind of leaked over. And this the injury
situation in my job with the team that I work for,
has been the most awkward and awful situation that that

(38:15):
might be the worst part of my job. Is you
see what happens, You know something has happened, but you
can't say anything about what happened, And once you get
word that it did happen, you already knew what happened
before they said what happened happened. And that's the problem
is because I could say he's got body discomfort and
I wouldn't be far from the truth when it comes
down the pipeline, And that's that's how that's how we

(38:37):
get our information. But it's so different on the NFL
side because I don't know if it's scheming or how
you're going to line your defense up, or how you're
going to line up your offense against a team. I
have no idea how any of that works, because, like
you said, you're at the professional level. Your team is
good enough to go out there and beat the team
at full strength, or you're preparing for a team at
full strength. What would change if they unplugged a number

(39:00):
one quarterback in the situation? Would it really drastically alter
how you approach that game?

Speaker 3 (39:06):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (39:06):
I think on our side, we always feel like the
answer is the obvious, almost rhetorical.

Speaker 3 (39:09):
No, how much could it really change?

Speaker 2 (39:11):
I do think there's some belief inside the organizations on
the football side that we might not really have an
advantage here, So the only one we think we can
gain is wasting their time. I mean, they're gonna put
all this time and effort Sunday night, Monday night, Tuesday night,
Wednesday night, Thursday night, prepping their team for something that
they now aren't really going to have to see. And
it might be even though you might have lessened your

(39:32):
talent because they're preparing for your starter.

Speaker 3 (39:34):
They're preparing for or.

Speaker 2 (39:37):
The Texans a couple weeks back with Nico Collins, he
immediately went to IR when his practice window could open,
it opened, he practiced. They activated him, which you have
to do before the game. They did it on Saturday
afternoon before their Sunday game. Okay, well, the other team's
been preparing for his return and now it's confirmed, and

(39:58):
then he was inactive on game, so they actually burned
a roster spot in order to do that.

Speaker 4 (40:05):
You're gonna burn that rough spot. Why does it it
feel it? I feel like with as much coverage as
there is out there, I mean, especially with the NFL.
We know it's in every sport now, but I feel like,
with as much coverage as there is out there, I
feel like those comments and those you know, the reports
that come out are more for the media side of
football than anything else. And then to get even further

(40:26):
and deeper into it, I feel like it's more for
fantasy football.

Speaker 2 (40:29):
You've gotten the first the first thing it used to
be for is that you've mentioned. Now the second thing
fantasy football it's for. You've also mentioned the most important thing.
It's for as evidenced by the line changing three and
a half points yesterday. Patrick mahomes full participant at Chiefs
practice on Tuesday, all the Texans are no longer favored
by a point of the Chiefs are now favored by

(40:52):
close to a field.

Speaker 12 (40:52):
Well.

Speaker 2 (40:53):
I haven't checked in the last few minutes, but it's
completely shifted with one very very important player, quite obviously,
not only in who he is, but the difference in
what the Chiefs are when he's not out there. You know,
if Nico Collins can't play, then you move the next
guy up. Is Tank Dell can't let you move the
next guy when your quarterback can't play, and technically you
move the next guy up. It changes everything. Oh Ace

(41:14):
Level twenty seventeen. Justin Verlander scheduled to go in game one.
He slept wrong. We're gonna move the next guy up.
But because of the last series, our next guy is
actually our fifth starter, so he's gonna make the game
one start.

Speaker 3 (41:26):
You think that changes the potential outcome?

Speaker 2 (41:28):
I guess that's an NFL game with the quarterback every
single Sunday. If you're going from your ace number one
to anybody else behind him, a major difference, and we
still won't have the answer on Pat Mahomes when today
comes to a close, but we might be a little
bit closer to it. We're into the second of our
four hour parade. Today we'll get you in on more

(41:49):
of these topics and continue with Alex Bregman is Headed Where.

Speaker 8 (41:55):
The Aeed On Sports Talk seven.

Speaker 1 (41:57):
Ninety two lifelong Houston sports guys named Adam Talking Your Teams.

Speaker 13 (42:08):
Adam Clinton and Adam Wexler, r DA Team A.

Speaker 2 (42:14):
Team, Hello, listeners and viewers, to the A Team here
as we come to you on a Wednesday afternoon three
o'clock on Sports Talk seven to ninety. You know you
can always catch us via the iHeartRadio app, and as
you know, that is new and improved, the iHeartRadio App.

Speaker 3 (42:31):
It's like having a radio right there in palm of
your hand.

Speaker 2 (42:34):
You got presets scan, you get those song lyrics so
you can embarrass yourself singing along in the car, or
you can just be listening to us here on Sports
Talk seven ninety and US Today includes Space City, Home Networks,
ASTROS television analyst and frequent guest of the program, Dare
I say, Friend of the program, Jeff Blum and that
means those of you viewing the program today v are
simulcast now underway on Space City Home Network, are treated

(42:57):
to that mug as well.

Speaker 4 (42:59):
Lucky, lucky you. Thanks for having me on, man, I
appreciate you about it earlier. But yeah, a little, yeah,
I am. I'm the desperate person.

Speaker 2 (43:09):
I'm not sure how your holidays are going, or your
time away from the game and the field and the
the box scores.

Speaker 4 (43:16):
Every That's probably one question that I gets so much
as what is your off season like? And I'm grateful
that the Astros pretty much wear us out from April
till October, and then from October to April is pretty
much on our own time. And uh, I have chosen
to be a little extra busy this offseason. We've moved
the family, and I'm not leaving Houston. I don't understand

(43:38):
why the second that everybody was like, where's he going?

Speaker 3 (43:42):
Why is he leaving? I'm not.

Speaker 4 (43:43):
I am not going anywhere. I'm just gradually creeping closer
to the loop and eventually hopefully be inside the loop.
But having four kids in college and having a large
home that needed to be downsized, and I need the
cash to pay for school, I opted to sell the
house and get a little bit closer. So my commute
getting to you today was nice, exemplary.

Speaker 2 (44:05):
It was great that to me, like school districts were important,
size of the house, nice house, nice stuff is important
and all. But how long does it take me to
get to and from work? How long does it take
me to get to Minute May Park? Until December thirty one,
twenty twenty four, and then January first, I'll be headed
to dyik In Park, Toyota Center, you know BBVA at

(44:28):
one time? Now Shell Energy? Where the stadiums? Where do
I live? Where's our office?

Speaker 3 (44:34):
Now?

Speaker 2 (44:34):
Granted I'm kind of cheat and that I'm not commuting
when everybody else is.

Speaker 3 (44:39):
I'm driving during squation too. Is the timing of the travel.

Speaker 4 (44:42):
I mean, one o'clock commutes are great downtown and eleven
pm commutes back home spectacular too.

Speaker 2 (44:49):
Yeah, heading over to Texans facility in the middle of
the day is pretty easy. Somewhere today they are going
through day two of practice for the Kansas City Chiefs.

Speaker 3 (44:58):
Well here from the coordinators.

Speaker 2 (44:59):
Try to sprinkle a little bit of that in over
the course in the next couple of hours, get a
little bit more of an updown on where things stand
from a health standpoint, but quite honestly, outside of a
fully fought Akasi, I would bet that the Texans are
in pretty good shape. Mentioned last segment. They have activated
Kenyon Green, so he's available if they deem him necessary
for this upcoming game. Joe Mixon not only said yesterday

(45:20):
he plans to play, he was also on the practice
field today in what would normally be a little bit
higher tempo, higher energy practice as they prepare for a
game in their case now three days out. Normally that's
their Thursday work. So I think the Texans are in
pretty good shape. There's clearly a major issue we won't
know an answer to probably until game time. With Patrick
Mahomes a total guest, but I would bet he's listed

(45:43):
as questionable even if he fully participates in practice today
and tomorrow, just because that's usually the nature of how
teams go about it, and we'll get final word that,
oh my god, he's on the active he's not on
the inactive list.

Speaker 3 (45:54):
Look who's gonna play today.

Speaker 2 (45:56):
Did give a gut feeling yesterday that I said, I
believe Patrick Mahomes will playing on Saturday. We will find
out also amidst spending some time with Ross on The
Matt Thomas Show. With Ross, I gave a gut feeling
about Astro's third baseman, Alex Bregman.

Speaker 3 (46:11):
Where might he go?

Speaker 2 (46:12):
What does he think about how things have gone this
off season, because the Astros have obviously made a very
significant change to their roster that isn't him. What does
the Astros think about moving forward? How much did they
already know about Alex's situation when they pulled the trigger
on the Tucker deal, because quite clearly they knew everything
they needed to know. I would assume about Kyle Tucker's situation,

(46:33):
either he plays here this year and then he's gone,
and whatever compensatory pick we receive is all will get
because we're not going to resign him after this year.
And I think that was a very reasonable assumption to make. Yes,
Kyle Tucker said yesterday when meeting with Chicago media, He's
willing to listen, and you know, I'll just see whatever happens.
He said all the right things about that possibility of hey,

(46:54):
maybe Chicago's my permanent home.

Speaker 3 (46:56):
We will see him in free agency.

Speaker 2 (46:58):
I feel pretty comfortable, but it's leave us with that
never ending question thus far this off season Alex Bregman's
next third base destination the Astros, is is it the
softest way to say it until he signs elsewhere he's
they're still in it, because that seems to be the
common refrain from those following it most closely, Like myself.

Speaker 4 (47:18):
Yeah, I think that is the that's the easiest thing
to say, and I think that's part of us kind
of holding out hope that there is hope that he
does come back. And I think in Alex's heart he
probably will keep that door open to the Houston Astros,
just because of his affinity for his time here. It's
obviously been lucrative as a contract. It's also been lucrative
for him as a person as well, thriving here, developing
a family here, and kind of putting his roots down.

(47:40):
But at the same time, you know that trade for
Kyle Tucker. You could look at it a couple of
different ways and say, look, they found a third baseman
that could potentially replace Alex when he leaves. Or you
could say they're preparing for the worst case scenario of
Alex leaving and saying we can plug esach Parades in
at third base and then we've got to figure out
first base. But if Alex does, I had to come back,

(48:00):
and there's a contract offer worthy of him coming back.
He plays third base and put parades at first base.
He's also played a little bit of outfield too, so
he's kind of that utility Paris Paradies. Yeah, Paradis is
more that utility guy. But he's also very similar in
the sense. And I'm not comparing him to Alex Bregman.
But if you look at the home run totals and
put parades in currently Minute Made Park soon to be

(48:23):
dyk In Park, they have the same number of home runs.
It would have been twenty six home runs for estoc
Parades at third base. But what are you replacing in
the clubhouse? And I think that's where there might be
some peripheral commentary from guys inside that clubhouse, you know,
maybe prodding Jim a little bit, going, can we just
get him a couple extra? Can we just bring him
back a little bit. But I'm always curious to see

(48:45):
how these guys produce after their time with the Astros,
because we've seen major changes with the George Springers, the
Carlos Correas and some of these other guys and they've
gotten their money, they've gotten their contracts, but they've just
become guys here. They have been phenomenal, superstar, integral parts
of championship quality teams and we just haven't seen that.

(49:07):
Maybe Garrett Cole thrust himself into that situation going to
the World Series last year, saying that he has become
a guy that can contribute to a winning organization, but
he's gone to one of those organizations that will pay
for a championship as opposed to a Minnesota Twins or
a Toronto Blue Jays, And that maybe is where Alex
is Alex in a situation where he wants to go
to a contender.

Speaker 3 (49:27):
Is he just going to chase the contract.

Speaker 2 (49:29):
Yeah, it's a situation where this is also new territory.
They're so far into this and maybe out of it,
and we'll find out. Golden Era. They've never sent one
of those players away. They might have figuratively done it
by never going to extension with George and kind of figuring, well,
we can pursue Garrett Cole all we want. We know
he's going to the Yankees. They never actually traded one

(49:51):
of those players away. They let George Springer play out
as many years as they had control for. They did
the same thing with Carlos Korea. There's probably more negotiations
with carl Those Korea and honestly maybe anybody else over
the years because it was multiple off seasons in a
row where I really think they tried to figure out
what might make the most sense. There were even times
where he said, uh, you know, I just don't I

(50:13):
don't feel like i'm I'm I'm playing the way that we.

Speaker 3 (50:15):
Should be negotiating. I should be doing more.

Speaker 2 (50:18):
I keep basically one of the off seasons really wasn't
interested in talking about a long term future because of
he had an injury riddle season.

Speaker 3 (50:24):
It wasn't super productive.

Speaker 2 (50:26):
And again that's you know, maybe leading it a little
bit to more wait till I have a huge year.

Speaker 3 (50:29):
But I think you get the idea.

Speaker 2 (50:31):
The Astros were, I think, genuinely interested for a long
period of time. I'm not so sure that the contract
they offered him initially indicated that with the limited amount
of funds that were next to the Zeros and the Commas,
and he ultimately signed two huge free agent deals and.

Speaker 3 (50:48):
Never played for those two seven plus.

Speaker 2 (50:51):
Then he signed with the Minnesota Twins ultimately with options used.
The option turned that into even bigger money. But your
comment is strictly about the performance. George has played okay
and has been on an expected turn for the worse
over the course of four or five years.

Speaker 3 (51:09):
That's normal.

Speaker 2 (51:10):
He was a little bit better when he first got
to Toronto, He's been a little bit less successful in
his time since. You know, Carlos Korea, I think is
similar to Alex in the all the attributes he brings
to a team, and I want to, selfishly, though, I
believe it, give him some credit for having Minnesota being
a very competitive team while he's been there. Even with

(51:32):
all the games that he's missed, he's produced and he
actually is coming off a very successful offensive season a
year ago. Again with not the number of games I'm
sure he'd like to be out there for or Minnesota,
but I do think he's helped their team play better baseball,
like individual players attack their individual games better because he's
their teammate and he helps them with that. I think

(51:54):
Alex Bregman is over the top in that category. These
visits to the mound that you know, some people like
myself try to, you know, really put out there on
the Oh my good, look, that's what you actually see.
You don't think he's spending time at Hunter Brown's locker
during the week, during the days, during flights, during road trips,
And same with any other pitcher, same with any other infielder,

(52:15):
same with any other hitter. I know how this guy's
going to attack you. I've been watching it all year.
Look at this, Look at this, Look at these numbers. Yeah,
I'm sure coach Murphy, if you're a pitcher, might have
told you this. Hi, maybe Alex Central told you this,
But I'm telling you this too. They have a third baseman,
a hitting coach, and a pitching coach all in one
with Alex Bregman.

Speaker 4 (52:35):
No, he's been phenomenal, and that is true. I actually
got sucked into a conversation with Hunter Brown and Alex
showed up and it just jumped right in and have
those conversations. But I know for a fact that he
was in on pitcher meetings, he was in on catchers,
he was in on defense, he was in on everything.
And that's part of what makes Alex one of those
grinder true baseball you know, kind of guys that you

(52:57):
want to have in your clubhouse and around some of
these younger guy and even if he's not here and
he moves on, you're gonna see a lot of guys
from that twenty twenty four roster. If those guys flourish,
like a Spencer Arraghetty or a Hunter Brown or some
of the Jeremy Painias, some of these other guys, they
will compliment Alex Bragman in the future and say that
I learned a lot just being around that guy and

(53:19):
listening the way he talked about the game. But yeah, selflessly,
we all want to see him come back.

Speaker 3 (53:23):
Yeah, we shall see.

Speaker 2 (53:24):
We'll kind of get some final thoughts on the three
o'clock prediction. I don't know where things might go with
Alex Bregman and the Houston Astros. Obviously, probably give you
a chance to hear a little bit of what Kyle
Tucker had to say yesterday when he met with the media.
He's definitely very complimentary about his former team, equally complimentary
about his new team. And I'll inform Jeff of my

(53:44):
bold prediction on Kyle Tucker's twenty twenty five season with
the Chicago Cubs, which is forthcoming. All that and much more,
as we continue here wex plum Dan on the A.

Speaker 8 (53:55):
Team, The A Team on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 2 (54:01):
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Speaker 1 (55:01):
The A Team continues one Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 3 (55:12):
Roll it through on the A Team.

Speaker 2 (55:14):
Jeff Blum in for the next hour and change spent
the two o'clock hour with us as well. During the
I guess we can call it the hot stove League.
It has been hot for some. It was certainly flaming
hot for Juan Soto. The numbers. Did those make you
a double take? Or were you kind of expecting that?

Speaker 4 (55:31):
Well, that's why I wanted to I thought the Winter
Meetings were fascinating in the sense that they were so
much hype around it. And I know Major League Baseball's
trying to compete with the offseason of the NFL. Stay relevant,
get eyes on them, can you know, continue to get
people to talk about the game. Aside from Brod Manfred's
idea of a golden something.

Speaker 3 (55:50):
I can't even remember what it was. I saw him.

Speaker 2 (55:53):
He had gave an interview the other day and someone
posted him talking about something and this actually should have
made it into the Best of X because a current
player had posted this a quote tweet of it, and
I thought this is just too perfect. So Manford acknowledged
major League Baseball needs to prove it's marketing the game
through the starting pitcher. You know the minimum innings rule,
uh huh. So he talked about that, and without even

(56:15):
caring what was said, Kevin Gausman quote tweeted Dad, he's
been a longtime major league pitcher, pretty successful one.

Speaker 11 (56:22):
He said.

Speaker 2 (56:22):
Don't believe a word this man says. Get ready for
six innings. You get to keep DH. If not a
fan hits in their spot.

Speaker 4 (56:30):
He's all over it. That's having your pulse on the situation.
And what a beautiful thing to be in a position
to be able to say that about the commissioner.

Speaker 2 (56:38):
So I applied with six innings from our starters, but
it's at your option if you'd like to have him
go fewer innings. We'll just take the DH away from
you and you can do a giveaway for the fan
and he can slide up there in the batter's box
and swing away.

Speaker 3 (56:51):
Yeah, that's a future of Major League bass. That's what
it is.

Speaker 4 (56:54):
That's how we're gonna bring that's how we're going to
bring in new fans.

Speaker 3 (56:56):
While we lose all.

Speaker 4 (56:57):
Of our old fans, just get rid of every just
jettison them off. But I was the thing I was
trying to say was the Winter Meetings felt felt a
little overblown. It felt like it was exaggerated for whatever reason.
I know, every time I turned on Major League MLB Network,
they're like, what's the Wan Soto news? And how often
have we actually seen where the Winter Meetings is where

(57:18):
you make your big splash. I know there's been some
in the past, but it really felt like Juan Sota
was being forced down our throats and that contract negotiation
was being forced onto somebody. And Steve Cohen was the
guy that jumped at it and precipitated why we had
to trade away Kyle Tucker because it.

Speaker 2 (57:34):
Was so funny about this whole scenario of what might
happen at a Winter Meetings. You thought, Okay, well, if
Wan Soto doesn't sign right before the meetings, which he did,
or at the meetings, it's probably gonna slow everybody else down. Well,
what it actually did, he signed. It didn't accelerate anybody else.
But I do think you're right. I do think it
did accelerate the Kyle Tucker trade and no other players

(57:58):
got it.

Speaker 4 (57:59):
But that was the thing, is I everybody was like,
here we go, the first chip is down. The market set.
I think the market got set and everybody went, holy market,
the hell is going on, and they pumped the brakes
a little bit. So I think that's why you're kind of,
you know, the it is kind of tepid right now
around guys like Alex Bragman, around Pete Alonso and guys
like that, where they're bona fide, superstar, all star talent

(58:22):
production type guys. But they probably sat there and went,
oh boy, I'm getting two hundred mili plus because the
market's out of control right now. Owners have just bookoo
bucks that we're gonna be throwing around. Look what they
did for Sodo. Tucker's getting traded away because all of
a sudden he's he went from a two hundred million
guy to maybe a four hundred five hundred million guy.
And now you're kind of seeing everybody kind of you know,

(58:44):
that that hangover maybe happening a little bit from all
of the uh you know, self pouring at the winter meetings,
and now everybody's going, man, those contracts are a little
crazy right now. We need to kind of pull back
a little bit, really analyze what we are going to
go out there pay for.

Speaker 2 (59:00):
So a couple of things about the players who did
sign some of the big money players, but first next offseason,
presuming neither sign long term deals with their current clubs,
what do you think would be most appealing to other
general managers? Which of these two players do you actually
think it's the biggest contract next off season, presuming they
hit free agency? Kyle Tucker leaving the Cubs Vladimir Guerrero

(59:24):
Junior leaving the Jays.

Speaker 4 (59:27):
I think Tucker offers you a little bit more, just
in the sense because I think it's a gold glove.
I think it's a it's a guy on the base
pads that can, you know, steal you some bags. You know,
he was what a stolen base away or a home
run away from being a thirty thirty guy. So I
think that carries a lot of weight. And I think
the defense that he brings with you, what maybe a
year apart as far as age is concerned, I think

(59:49):
they're both going to be like twenty eight twenty nine.

Speaker 2 (59:50):
With Vladimir will play this upcoming season after he turns
twenty six.

Speaker 3 (59:54):
In mind, so he's just a pup, so he might.

Speaker 4 (59:56):
I mean, as far as years are concerned, he may,
you know, he may value a little bit more as
far as years. But at the same time, I think
as far as value for one particular player, if you're
going on an annual average value, I think that Kyle
Tucker's my guy, just because there's so many more attributes
that he brings to the table. You know, Vladimir is
still a question market first base. Is he good enough
to play there consistently? He is constantly being noted as

(01:00:20):
being heavier, lighter, heavier lighter. So is that something that's
going to perpetuate throughout the course of his career, which
I would say yes. And you know, he's going to
be moving into a d H spot, which is always
going to be open for these guys when you sign
a ten, twelve, fourteen to fifteen year contract. But I
think that the athleticism of Kyle Tucker kind of appeals
to be a little bit more and he doesn't strike
out as much.

Speaker 3 (01:00:40):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:00:40):
Interesting, Just looking back a little bit at Guerrero's career,
I totally agree.

Speaker 3 (01:00:43):
I think he'll be highly sought after.

Speaker 2 (01:00:45):
I don't think he will get the offer that Kyle
Tucker gets provided they both have reasonably strong, healthy upcoming seasons.
He was unbelievable in twenty twenty one. And Guerrero Junior
got off to a pretty slow start this offseason, especially
when we were talking about it because everybody can going
off on it on social media. Should the Astros be interested?
Is this time to go get him? Well, he was down.
He turned out to have an awesome season. He had

(01:01:06):
about three months and being super hot, ended up with
an ops of nine to forty, an OPS plus of
one sixty six. And I hadn't realized it until I've
perused the numbers, including the COVID year where he played
all sixty games and all the way through last year,
which is another four seasons. He's been on the field
for all but twelve games over those five years.

Speaker 3 (01:01:27):
And he plays on Astra turn he does.

Speaker 2 (01:01:29):
Oh my, so one hundred and fifty six games or
more in all four of those seasons, and he continues
to produce and probably be a good market for him,
not knowing exactly what else will be on the market.
So it turns me back to what was on the
market this year. Blake Snell signed a deal with the Dodgers.
Would you think about both from the player's perspective, what
he was able to get after being one of the

(01:01:50):
Boris four that only got a one year deal with options.
He also had a slow start to his year and
then was essentially unhittable for four months and turned it
into an awfully lucrative deal with the defending World Series champions.

Speaker 3 (01:02:03):
Well, I know that you know, the Diamondbacks and George
Montgomery probably.

Speaker 4 (01:02:06):
Wish that they would have done that one year around
as far as that was concerned. But I think Blake
Snell kind of proved himself because that one year contract.
It was so interesting watching a guy of his caliber
sign as late as he did with the Giants last year,
and he took him a while to get his legs
under him and he finally figured it out. But I
think that might have been, you know, it was a mutual.

(01:02:28):
I'm not sure I guarantee you Blake Snell initiated that conversation.
The Dodgers are in on anybody who's going to be
worth a dam as far as contractor playing or contributing
to a ball club, but I guarantee you Blake Snell
made that or Ascot Boris, who is in LA said hey,
can you go down the street and ask Andrew Friedman,
can you can you kind of initiate this. I want
to get this done before anybody else tries to call

(01:02:50):
me and convince me to go anywhere else. And nobody
ever talks about that. I mean, that was one of
the more interesting things, as you've got a guy very
similar to Max Freed, maybe got him in a couple
of years experience, but very similar left handed pitcher. But
he goes out there and signs that deal immediately he
knows he's going to get the money he wants, doesn't
bother to go out there and negotiate with anybody else,
and says, I'm going to be a Dodger. And I

(01:03:11):
think that's a great move for them. I think that
they're they're gonna They're in really good shape as far
as that rotation is concerned, and that one guy that
they had, I think they can play both.

Speaker 3 (01:03:22):
They must be coming back.

Speaker 2 (01:03:24):
They just won the World Series the first year they
added MVP Offensive player show Heyo Tani, so that following
off season they add Blake Snell and then for zero
additional dollars they add Pitcher show. Heyo, TONI to their
World Series team?

Speaker 3 (01:03:44):
Is that not insane to think about? No, I'm glad
they're over there.

Speaker 2 (01:03:47):
I'm glad they're over I'll give them a little bit
of respect while AC is not here to tell me
to not do that with the Dodgers.

Speaker 3 (01:03:52):
But you talk about it, I mean pretty good. We
all love them.

Speaker 4 (01:03:56):
I mean we all hate them, and I mean their
fans have treated us terribly. But as far as an organization,
you've got it. I just appreciate you have an analytic
guy like Andrew Friedman in there who's come from an
organization where he had to be really fiscally responsible.

Speaker 3 (01:04:10):
But I feel like.

Speaker 4 (01:04:10):
He appreciates the talent and now he has the purse
to go out there and throw at these guys. He's
done a very damn it. He's done a very good
job at the National League. He's crazy good right now.

Speaker 2 (01:04:20):
So that brings me to the last comment on the
contract that some might have compared to a potential Bregman
contract the Adamus contract essentially for the same number of dollars,
they gave him an additional year. What do you think
about the deal from the team that signed him, and
what the player gets and we'll get to the Bregman
part in the next segment.

Speaker 3 (01:04:37):
No, I thought that was great.

Speaker 4 (01:04:38):
You know, when Matt Chapman signed that deal for the
San Francisco Giants last season, which was six and one
point fifty, I think it was right around there. And
then I truly felt the same way you did about
the Adamis deal. I thought, as soon as Willie Adamas
got his, I did the same thing. I subtracted a
year off it, and I said, that might be where
this guy ends up. And I think that is a
very competitive contract, and I know that Jim Crane and

(01:05:01):
Dana Brown have probably thrown that idea around. Could that
potentially be the number that gets Alex Bregman back. But
I also know that Jim appreciates the loyalty in some
of these guys, and if Alex wants to go out
there and play the field a little bit, so to speak,
and try some of these things out and look at
and see what's out there, Jim will always be there
waiting for Alex to come back. If he doesn't have

(01:05:22):
that conversation.

Speaker 2 (01:05:24):
Seven years, one hundred and eighty two million, the deal
Adamis got from the Giants after a really strong several
years with Milwaukee Tampa before that with Andrew Friedman.

Speaker 4 (01:05:35):
Bragman might be a little more consistent or safe for
bet too.

Speaker 2 (01:05:38):
Very much, a little bit older, but not probably enough
to have too much pause from most of the ownership
groups and gms outside of Houston that have been more
willing to give longer contracts for more money, which quite
obviously to me is at least why he is still
an unsigned free agent commodity at the top of the
list everybody's wish list for Christmas, which is almost here.

Speaker 1 (01:06:01):
The age on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 3 (01:06:06):
Hey, it's a man top every Rockets game.

Speaker 12 (01:06:12):
Sports Talk seven ninety streaming on the iHeartRadio home of
Rockets Basketball.

Speaker 2 (01:06:22):
As per usual, when you bring in a strong guest
like Jeff Blum, your off air conversations are excellent.

Speaker 3 (01:06:29):
Yeah, we try to make the ones on air just
as good.

Speaker 2 (01:06:32):
We continue the conversation about where we left you last
with the Astros and Alex Bregman, and maybe where things
stand is as we rolled out of the winter meetings
and into kind of a dead period, it's wide open.
Free agency didn't close, but not a whole lot of
activity after the Kyle Tucker trade. A couple of different
things have happened. Obviously, the Cody Bellinger deal did go down.
We mentioned he was no longer cub and he is

(01:06:53):
now a New York Yankee. Uh so certainly want to
continue in that regard seOne three two one two five
seven ninety at Blumber twenty seven on the social media's
I'm at Adam J.

Speaker 3 (01:07:04):
Wexler, Dan at Dan.

Speaker 2 (01:07:05):
Matthews Hou If you want to communicate with us that way,
just as easy to get in on the show doing
it as such. The Bellinger deal I basically put their
lineup back together just as it was a year ago.
Just pull Soto out and slot Bellinger in. Give them
all the protection you could hope for. With Judge batting
behind him. I don't know who they've got lead off.
I don't think they're very interested in seeing Glabor Torres anymore,

(01:07:26):
if you didn't have to read between the lines. When
Brian Cashman met with the media this offseason, he seemed
pretty clear about, well, I'm sure he'll do well.

Speaker 4 (01:07:34):
You know, they've exhausted every opportunity.

Speaker 3 (01:07:36):
For that guy they like.

Speaker 2 (01:07:38):
I mean, as we sit here today, it's fair to
say the Astros haven't gotten better with moves that have
been made the off season. That I mean trying to
be reasonable about Tucker going out and the three players
coming in. Doesn't mean they got the raw end of
the deal. It means you were trading a player heading
into the final year of his contract that obviously impacts
his trade value, and you did the necessary move. The Yankees,

(01:07:59):
by the same token, I believe they thought they stood
a pretty good chance to retain Juan Soto. They clearly
put a lot of money behind their offer. They were
also in the seven hundred million dollar range, but losing
the second best offensive player in the AL no worse
than third if you give some credit to what Bobby
wit Junior is, so they lose that from their lineup.

(01:08:20):
Their lineup was pretty awful when won Soto wasn't in
it a year ago. If you recall, there were the
A's at the bottom of the major league scales in
batting average, and right ahead of them at twenty ninth
was the Yankees. They were twenty ninth in batting average,
not the end all be all, but certainly an indicator
of how bad their offense was.

Speaker 3 (01:08:42):
In twenty twenty three, changed a lot.

Speaker 2 (01:08:44):
When one Soto came aboard, you had two MVP caliber
offensive players. Both of them were in the lineup nearly
every day.

Speaker 3 (01:08:49):
That's another thing.

Speaker 2 (01:08:50):
They had five of their nine regulars play one hundred
and forty nine games or more last year.

Speaker 3 (01:08:54):
You never know if that happens again.

Speaker 2 (01:08:57):
Just to kind of assessing those teams, Baltimore is still
very good. The Red Sox appear to be trying to
play with those top teams again, and if Alex Bregman
is there, they will have accomplished that.

Speaker 3 (01:09:10):
The Rays.

Speaker 2 (01:09:11):
I almost feel like, even in Houston, an entire segment
of what the Rays are in store for this year
because of the ballpark is like a whole conversation in
and of itself. But I'm eliminating them from the postseason
race today.

Speaker 3 (01:09:24):
I completely Yeah, I think you can. The Yankees are
They're worse.

Speaker 2 (01:09:27):
The Yankees are worse than they were a year ago,
even with adding Bellinger in trade and signing Max Freed
and trading for Devin Williams.

Speaker 3 (01:09:35):
Am I right?

Speaker 2 (01:09:36):
Or should I pump the brakes on saying they're not
as good? Those are three helpful, very helpful players in
and of themselves.

Speaker 3 (01:09:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:09:43):
Well, offensively, you get worse Wan Soda, Like you said,
top three in all of baseball. You know, he's a
perennial what on base percentage type guy. We saw quickly
what the impact he can have on a lineup, and
just his mentality and his approach kind of trickled down it. Actually,
I feel like Sodo Judge is going to do Judge things.

(01:10:04):
I feel like Sodo mate Gian Carlos Stanton better. I
don't know how or why, but maybe just by osmosis
and being around him, being a little more selective and
swinging it better pitches made Stanton a better hitter. But
you unplug him out of that line up. Cody Bellinger's
not gonna put up the same numbers. He may put
up home run numbers, but you're gonna lose on base percentage.
You're gonna lose you know, contact, He's going to strike

(01:10:25):
out a little bit more defensively. I think is where
you kind of if you're a Yankee fan, you're going, okay,
now we have a center fielder. We can move Aaron
Judge back to right field and not have him roaming
around in center field putting himself. I don't know if
in Harm's way is the way to put it. But
you put him in the right field and maybe protect
him as far as the miology puts on that body
day in, day out, and so you have a little

(01:10:45):
bit more refreshed, refreshed Aaron Judge, but adding Max Freed,
I feel like the Yankees, and this goes back to
the seventies. They love the sexy names, they love the
sexy free agents, but more often and the not they're
the bombers and the strikeout guys. They're never the closers.
They're never the relievers. They're never those role play guys

(01:11:09):
in the bullpens that can help you solidify wins. They
always do a great job of getting a lead, They
do a great job of establishing good starting pitching. Then
they go to their bullpen and everybody goes, what the
hell is Aaron Boone doing? And I'm going, what does
Aaron Boone have to work with? And that's part of
the issue.

Speaker 2 (01:11:25):
Yeah, I mean that's I wasn't surprised that Clay Holmes
was allowed, I guess, to sign with the Mets. Trading
for Devin Williams could address what you're talking. You're open,
probably should, probably possibly will but in kind of looking
at all those things, we mentioned all the same teams,
I think because it's still accurate, the Yankees, the Mets,
the Phillies, the Tigers, the Red Sox, the Astros, the Diamondbacks.

(01:11:48):
Maybe I left some mysteries team out, but I don't
think so. Among the teams that make the most sense,
I could buy it if it happens that Alex Bregman
is going to be putting one of their jerseys next year.
I mean, where things stand today, what kind of feeling
do you have for maybe how do you think Alex
views the situations in each one of those teams, presuming

(01:12:09):
the money's probably not that dissimilar among those outside of
Houston Choices.

Speaker 4 (01:12:14):
There's so many different layers to the Alex Brigman situation.
And I think if you said dark horse, I agree
with you as far as Arizona Diamondbacks, just because he
has a little bit of an affiliation with the Phoenix area.
So I would kind of throw in my dark horse
might be everybody in Arizona for spring training. That might

(01:12:34):
give you an opportunity to kind of keep Alex at
home or in the vicinity a little bit. But the
interesting thing about the Diamondbacks, Is it's really not the
scale that Alex wants to go out there. He likes
being a businessman, he likes the market that Houston gave him,
and he did a great job of establishing himself as
having other interests outside of the game of baseball. Is

(01:12:55):
he going to find that in Phoenix? Is it going
to give him the platform to be a little more
notable out there? And I think all of the East
Coast teams are obviously highly appealing for several reasons, because
the markets are great, the money, like you said, is
obviously going to be there, and maybe some of the
stadiums out there a little more conducive to what Alex
Bragman brings to you as a ballplayer, because we've seen it.

(01:13:16):
He likes to stand on top of the dish. He
talks about elevating to the pole side because that's where
a majority and what I say a majority, I want
to say twenty five of twenty six home runs last year,
we're all to left field. He had one to the
opposite field and I think that was here at Minute
Made Park. So what is going to be conducive to
that swing for Alex Bragman? Boston short porch. You're going
to play eighty one games with the Green Monster out

(01:13:38):
there in the ballpark that is very similar to what
the Houston Astros playing on a daily basis. And then
you have Philadelphia kind of a small ballpark all the
way around to right field and to the pole side.
As him being a right handed hitter, and you know,
Detroit is the one that kind of threw me for
a loop. I'm going that sounds great to reunite with
aj Hinch. You know, I'm sure plenty of guys have

(01:13:58):
had the idea of doing that, but Aj Hinch manages
a team that is in an absolute graveyard. It crushes
guys out there. There's very few Maglio or Donias Ardonia's is.
There's very few Miguel Cabreras in their prime that can
take advantage of that. And if you do have that
opposite field power as a right handed hitter, you could

(01:14:19):
make the argument that you could go to Detroit and
be successful as far as power. But eighty one games
in that ballpark, I just do not see how that
plays into the idea of Alex putting up numbers on
a consistent basis. That would you know, that would prove
that contract worthy.

Speaker 2 (01:14:34):
Yeah, i'd be it's tof sell and from my opinion
in that they don't often consider themselves or go out
there and become big spenders. Recently they did once they
gave Hobby Bias an incredibly lucrative deal.

Speaker 3 (01:14:47):
They got better when he didn't show up.

Speaker 2 (01:14:49):
Did not work out very well, and he's still there.
So they might have a little bit of wo woa
wo who. Even though Hobby Bias and Alex Bregman very
dissimilar players, but big contracts are what they are.

Speaker 3 (01:15:00):
We'll continue with Jeff here on the eighteen.

Speaker 8 (01:15:04):
The eighteen on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 3 (01:15:09):
Hey, it's Blummer.

Speaker 4 (01:15:10):
The eighteen continues with Adam Clinton and Adam Wexler.

Speaker 8 (01:15:18):
There's more asses on this show than a certain mix
a lot video and like your mother would not be proud.

Speaker 3 (01:15:22):
Right now, baby's got those hot takes.

Speaker 2 (01:15:30):
Yeah, I remember those days. Somebody called me that kind
of stuck.

Speaker 3 (01:15:35):
But that's okay. That's why I'm surprised you call me.

Speaker 2 (01:15:38):
Well, it didn't come from out of nowhere, It didn't
come from out of left field. You didn't just say
something out of turn. I kind of understood. I kind
of resembled that remark a little bit on occasion, usually
between two and.

Speaker 3 (01:15:48):
Four all of us. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:15:50):
Every once in a while it comes up. AC will
hit me with something. I'll say, yeah, well deserved earned.

Speaker 3 (01:15:56):
I'll wear it.

Speaker 2 (01:15:57):
I get it seven one three two one two five ninety.
Adam Waxler, Jeff Blum, Dan Matthews here with you on
this Wednesday afternoon edition of The A Team. Last conversation
revolving around the future of the Astros and the big
picture and things like that, and as it kind of
relates to the rest of the American League. I haven't
really talked about those teams in this division. You could
probably argue that some moves of significance have made the

(01:16:20):
more significant. The move that's been made by a team
in this division outside of Houston is probably a team
that's further down the list of competing. Because of the
two teams that really weren't competing last year, the A's
and the Angels, they've probably made the most I don't
know if I say alarming or surprising, but maybe the
most significant moves. We'll get to what the Rangers have done.

(01:16:41):
But you know, Kakuchi is an Angel. Kakuchi will hopefully
take some of what he learned here in Houston about
which of your awesome pitches to throw more often and
where and when in counts? Which showed as much as
that deal, I think it was painful for a lot
of people, maybe in the you know, it took three
of your potential players from the future and put them elsewhere,

(01:17:02):
and you knew that the odds two months later if
you having nothing to show for it, were very I
That's exactly how it turned out. They also got Kyl Hendrix,
the A's one of their largest offseason spends going and
getting Louis Severino. They actually have some pretty good offensive
talent now, especially with Rooker and Butler, and gave a

(01:17:22):
lot of teams fits over the final three months of
the season, regardless of what their record was. But the
two teams competing with the Astros last year and the
year before are probably the same two teams competing with
them this year, the Rangers and the Mariners. And starting
with the Mariners, I think we're already done like they're
the same team right.

Speaker 4 (01:17:41):
Literally, I mean there hasn't. I mean, I know there's
plenty of rumors, and I think when I heard the
first rumor that Luis Casteele might possibly be on the
block and might be one of those guys that they
were able to trade. And the reason that they might
be thinking of trading a guy of his caliber is
because he's not home grown, he's got a decent contract,

(01:18:02):
and he's a little bit. He might be the oldest
guy in that rotation, so he might be a little expendable.

Speaker 2 (01:18:07):
It's so weird because he was such an unbelievably awesome
get like for them to get him the way they did,
who the Mariners went after him in trade and obviously
we were paying attention to them so much because of
who they are in this division. It seemed like, well,
that's not good, and he's pitched very well and he
is the elder Railar season that he pitched well enough

(01:18:30):
in the postseason until until this was that Game one.
I mean, wrap your head around what happened in that
game one. JV's out there and yikes, and Luis Castillo
is out there and also yahiuse things were going well
and then they were not, and the astro. We focused

(01:18:50):
so much on the obvious we should, everybody should, Jordan's
blast off ray and everything, but what led up to.
It was the Astros got back in the game. The
Astros put all these good at bats together, they got
to Castile. They made that late game. At that matter,
they made Scott Servis had to think about going to
his left handed starter to face Jordan Alvarez.

Speaker 3 (01:19:11):
Thank you very much? Oh the best?

Speaker 4 (01:19:13):
Yeah so, I but Luis Castillo is not He's not
the anchor in that rotation. I mean, if you're really
trying to go get somebody, you're trying to get a
Bryce Matthews, Logan Gilbert. These are young, phenomenal arms on
the on the uptick. They don't have many many rounds
out of them. They still have plenty in the tank.
But it just shocks me that you've got that much
pitching talent and they still have two or three guys
in their rotation in Tacoma and Tripaa that can move in.

(01:19:37):
But why don't they go and find offense? It feels
like Seattle is And I'm not saying the organization. I'm
not saying Jerry Depoto or Dan Wilson or whoever's managing
this place. I'm not saying that. I'm saying that the environment,
the stadium, whatever it is. It just absorbs the power
of anybody they signed to go in there and drive

(01:19:59):
in runs and then all of a sudden they just
figure out how to swing and miss it everything. It
is unbelievable to me that you had the highest swing
and miss team in twenty twenty three. You jettison the
guys that you thought were the swing and miss culprits,
and you proceed to sprike out more than you did
the previous year with the guys you brought in. And
I know that Pete Alonzo's out there, been rumored to

(01:20:20):
go out there, but I think it would really behoove
them if they actually did pull off a trade with
somebody like the Boston Red Sox that has some young
position talent to go out there and maybe put into
that environment and say, just go play the game, don't
worry about power, don't worry about this. But that's what
frightens me about Pee Alonzo and what might be keeping
Pete Alonzo from a green to a contract in the

(01:20:41):
Great Northwest travels hell and then try to hit the
ball out of the ballpark out there consistently is just
as bad.

Speaker 2 (01:20:48):
Yeah, And there's still a little part of me that
wonders from the Mets perspective, because there's no line that
Steve Cohen won't cross. There's no cbt that he's concerned with.

Speaker 3 (01:20:58):
It's gotta be going there.

Speaker 2 (01:20:59):
If you're going all, well, then we say it and
we know it's not true about any other owner.

Speaker 3 (01:21:03):
I think even the Yankees.

Speaker 2 (01:21:05):
We as we're watching it's it's literally happening there where
there is a line, and there is only so much
they'll spend. I wonder if there really is, if I've
gone out and spent all this money on Soto, if
I just watched this team almost immediately come back from
our awful twenty twenty three and we're in it, and
we're a playoff team, and I've added one, so well,
why not just add another? Why not continue? And in
this case, they would be keeping Pete Alonzo. But you

(01:21:27):
know the Mariners, like you said, hey, Haneo Suarez, strikeout game,
we can't have that, you gotta go, ti Oscar Hernandez
strikeout king, we can't have that, you gotta go. And
then they struck out more as a team this year,
just like you said in Crewle and they did both
have good offensive So he's a little surprised that Suarez
remained where he went and from that contractual standpoint, and

(01:21:48):
Hernandez is a free agent. His one year with the
Dodgers was a good one. I'm sure they're interested in
bringing him back. He's probably interested in making a lot
of money, and they might not be the team to
give it to him. It does bring us to the Rangers,
you know, the Rangers have actually been very active. Now
that's just a matter of what do you think about
what they've done and how much does it get them
back to You know, they were under five. They weren't

(01:22:08):
a very good team last year, as it turned out,
for a number of different reasons. You know, five fairly
significant transactions have been made to make them better. One
of them is keeping Valdi. Another is adding Hagashioka as
a backup catcher. And each time I mentioned his name,
I'd always like to point out Kyle Hagashioka and Aaron
Judge had the same number of postseason home runs last year.

Speaker 3 (01:22:30):
It was three, and Kyle did it in half. The Abats.
Do you like Jake Berger?

Speaker 2 (01:22:34):
I actually think that was I think they gave up
a lot, so it means they must like him. He's
gonna hit twenty five to thirty homers in the Rangers lineup,
isn't he No?

Speaker 3 (01:22:42):
I think he is, and he can rotate him.

Speaker 4 (01:22:44):
He's going to d age probably more than he's going
to play the position of third base or first base
or wherever he's at. You got to remember, Skip Shoemaker
or Schumacher, whatever you would choose to call him, was
the manager in Miami for Berger. So he brought Berger
to the Rangers now being in as to Chris Young
and the baseball ops there in Texas. So I do
think that they are trying to bring a little more contact,

(01:23:06):
a little more thump. The question I have with the
Texas Rangers is in twenty twenty three when they won
the World Series, did they overachieve and did they underachieve
in twenty twenty four or did they just get exposed
in twenty twenty four? And I think that watching some
of the moves that they're making kind of makes me
feel the latter, because you bring in a guy like Burger,
high contact power, he's gonna he's going to enhance your lineup.

(01:23:29):
And it also tells me something about how they feel
about their catching position, because I think Higashioka is going
to come in and catch every day. Wow, I think
that he is going to be their starting catcher because
he is gonna work better with the pitchers. He's gonna
handle them better, call a better game, and they're gonna
give up what limited offense they had from the guys
that they had in their previously.

Speaker 2 (01:23:49):
Be interesting to see exactly how that part of it
plays out. Pitching injuries were clearly a big factor the
last couple of years and probably will be again.

Speaker 3 (01:23:57):
Max Scherzer, like.

Speaker 2 (01:23:58):
Justin Verlander, looking for their next home as free agents.

Speaker 1 (01:24:04):
The a t on Sports Talk seven ninety Let me
tell you how to move those tickets.

Speaker 2 (01:24:09):
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Quick Assists is going to hook you up. They're going
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Speaker 3 (01:24:17):
That is Quick Assists. That's q u ic k A
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It's how you find them on the App Store or
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Speaker 1 (01:24:42):
Two lifelong Houston sports guys named Adham Talking Your Teams series,
Adam Clinton and Adam Wexler are the A Team.

Speaker 6 (01:24:54):
A t.

Speaker 2 (01:24:57):
Four o'clock hour brings us a little football here on
the A Team, Adam Wesler, Jeff Blum here with you,
and we get to take it out to Kansas City
Chiefs and Texans this Saturday from Arrowhead Stadium, home of
the thirteen and one Kansas City Chiefs. Todd Lebo of
Sports Radio eight ten in Kansas City joins us here
and got a lot to get into for two teams

(01:25:19):
that'd like to potentially either lock down or improve their seating.
Not too much history with this era of Houston Texans,
plenty from the previous era. How do you think the
Chiefs view this Houston Texans team as they head into
town this weekend?

Speaker 11 (01:25:36):
Well, I think certainly the coaching staff.

Speaker 14 (01:25:38):
We talked to Steve Spagnolo today, Chiefs de pensil coordinator.
He's got a lot of respect. He was mentioning that,
you know, he hasn't coached against CJ. Stroud yet, right
because they haven't played, you know obviously last year with him,
and he's really impressed by everything you've seen. But you're right,
it really is a different kind of feel for the
Houston Texans. I mean, there's several Texans on the Chiefs

(01:25:59):
now at this point, some guys that they competed against
the four with Justin Reid and DeAndre Hopkins and Charles
at Minihew.

Speaker 11 (01:26:04):
These guys are Chiefs now. It's just kind of the
nature of the business.

Speaker 14 (01:26:07):
But I think there's certainly a healthy amount of respect,
and especially for the way the Texans have had played
more recently. I know a lot of people were a
little bit like, eh, maybe this is kind of a
sophomore slump, but it looks like the Texans are coming
around at the right time right now.

Speaker 2 (01:26:19):
Yeah, kicker Justin Reid, former Houston Texan, that's right, right?
Is he Is this a team where they will employ
him on kickoffs again? And maybe even in light of
their continued kicking issues with Butker and others mainly due
to injury.

Speaker 11 (01:26:33):
Well, I asked Dave Tobe.

Speaker 14 (01:26:35):
They call him the special teams coordinator, right, He's specially
team's coach, assistant head coach.

Speaker 11 (01:26:40):
He's been here for a long time.

Speaker 14 (01:26:40):
He's got lots of titles today if that was the plan,
and he said it's trending towards likely Harrison kicking off
this week, but probably will split duties.

Speaker 11 (01:26:50):
I'll just give you a little hint.

Speaker 14 (01:26:51):
What he said was, if they want to kick it
deep and like have no return, they'll probably use Butker.

Speaker 11 (01:26:55):
But if they want to kick it into to.

Speaker 14 (01:26:57):
The zone, they like Justin Reid doing that because they
gives him an extra tackler and he's pretty good at
kicking it to about the two or one. He doesn't
have the leg that will generally in this type of
weather outdoors who can get it through the end zone.
So if you see Justin read out, they're probably gonna
re return. If you see Harrison Bucker, they're hoping he
kicks it through the end zone.

Speaker 2 (01:27:17):
It is remarkable, even though it's a very small part
of most people's NFL game conversations, but he's been asked
to kick off the last couple of weeks.

Speaker 3 (01:27:25):
They've only had one touchback.

Speaker 2 (01:27:27):
That's obviously suggesting just what you said, Todd, the idea
of wanting the other team to return it that you
can keep them from getting to the thirty yard line.
It seems like something they would be willing to do,
and I wouldn't be so surprised that is the attack
they take against the Texans. Even though the Texans are
widely regarded as having one of the best special teams
units in the NFL, I don't know that that necessarily
applies to their likely kick returners, and this week is

(01:27:48):
probably Damian Pierce and Robert Woods, as it has been
for several weeks. I guess I could get to the
most important question, even though I feel like it's no
way you could have an answer. How about Patrick Mahomes.
He gonna give it a go and say.

Speaker 14 (01:28:01):
Well, I think Vegas thinks. So this line's been running
back and forth.

Speaker 11 (01:28:05):
Right.

Speaker 14 (01:28:05):
It open as the Chiefs were a favorite, then then
it was the Texans. We're gosh up to maybe two
and a half points, and that's back to the Chiefs
being a favorite.

Speaker 11 (01:28:13):
He has been practicing. We don't get to watch practice.
They allow us to watch a.

Speaker 14 (01:28:17):
Little bit of stretching at the beginning. Yesterday was a
very short practice, what they call it ten ten to ten.

Speaker 11 (01:28:22):
The Chief's availability.

Speaker 14 (01:28:23):
I don't know how they work it down there in Houston,
but the Chief's availability is you get to talk to
guys before practice, so just in time to not know
what happened to practice and if anyone got hurt. So
tomorrow we will get to hear from Andy Reid for
the last time. And they normally call that a fast Friday,
but this will be a Thursday because the game's on Saturday,
and Andy's not very talkative on those days.

Speaker 11 (01:28:42):
Sometimes he will tell you if someone's going to be
up or down. Sometimes he doesn't.

Speaker 14 (01:28:46):
Sometimes he'll say, uh, you know, we got to just
see how you know, how he feels and all this stuff.
So I think it looks to me like Patrick Mahomes
wants to play in the game. He told us yesterday
that this injury did not feel as bad as the
one he suffered against the Jacksonville Jagson in the playoffs a
couple of years ago, in which he came back and
played in the game and then played every snap in

(01:29:08):
the rest of the postseason when they won a Super Bowl.

Speaker 11 (01:29:11):
But I don't know if it's the smartest thing to do.

Speaker 14 (01:29:13):
Is the Chiefs offensive line, and you're probably gonna ask
about it's kind of a mess right now. The Texans
good after the quarterback but my thought is, if Patrick
Mahomes wants to play and is healthy enough to play,
he's probably gonna play. And so if you're asking me
right now this instant, I think he's gonna play.

Speaker 11 (01:29:29):
Sounds like change that tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (01:29:30):
We will see.

Speaker 2 (01:29:31):
And yes, that's luckily here it works the opposite way
it has for most of our coaches. But for both
years of Demiico, they speak after practice. I mean, if
you're speaking, why would you do that.

Speaker 11 (01:29:42):
Yeah, it's not the way we do it here.

Speaker 2 (01:29:43):
If you're speaking before practice, you're you're just telling us
without telling us. Well, you're not gonna find anything out,
And so I appreciate that they don't do that here. So, yes,
the media got to catch up with the coordinators today.
We'll get our last conversation with Demiko Ryans tomorrow. The
activity on the field suggests it's a very very healthy
Texans team, and Joe Mixon's likely to play. Curious about

(01:30:05):
Hollywood Brown, do you think this is the week he
will return?

Speaker 14 (01:30:11):
I think he probably will, going back to the special
team's stuff. So they activated Harrison Butker, and then they
had to cut the kid, Matthew Wright, who had kicked
the game winner before.

Speaker 11 (01:30:22):
That's how the roster works in and out.

Speaker 14 (01:30:24):
Well, so I don't know if you saw this and
didn't probably rate everywhere else, but Clyde Edwards Hilaire, who
was on the Chiefs roster, was erased, former first round
draft picked to kid from LSU.

Speaker 11 (01:30:33):
He was released two days ago.

Speaker 14 (01:30:36):
You know, he tweeted out thanks for everything, Kansas City,
and they have not made a corresponding move on the roster.
It's generally one in, one out, so most people feel
that that's going to be Hollywood getting elevated tomorrow or
maybe Saturday morning. I mean, there's times that you have
to do those things, but it could it's probably tomorrow.
My guess is will be tomorrow after we've already met

(01:30:58):
with coach Reid, so we won't be able to ask
for That's exactly how it's going to work. But I
think Hollywood will be activated and I think he's going
to be active in this game. That is my guess,
just by taking the fact that Clyde was released and
no other move was made to put someone active until now,
so so nothing's happened yet, so I think that will
happen this week.

Speaker 9 (01:31:18):
Well.

Speaker 2 (01:31:18):
As a matter of fact, Todd on Monday. We did
pay attention to at clydedro Underscore twenty two's comment about
leaving Kansas City, because that was when we were unsure
of Joe Mixon's health status. He had just been hurt
in Sunday's game, even though he returned. The Texans are
what I would call rather thin at running back. They
would have likely needed to go to their own practice
squad to find a running back and elevate them for

(01:31:40):
the game.

Speaker 3 (01:31:40):
But don't need to look at Clyde.

Speaker 2 (01:31:41):
Don't need to do that. It looks like Joe Mix
and Damian Pearson, Daria and Goumbalwali will all be good
to go for this game. There's talk here about the
quarterback play of c J. Stroud this year compared to
last year. Maybe it's a bit of a downturn, and
I think here we talk about some of the reasons
why if that same conversation is being held in Kansas
City about Patrick Mahomes, even while his team is thirteen

(01:32:02):
and one, is there a downturn in the way he plays?
The numbers certainly have gone in that direction, but they're
also winning. How's that conversation being held this year? About Mahomes, well.

Speaker 14 (01:32:15):
You know, I've said for like six years that he
doesn't fit into whatever your definitions are for quarterbacks and stats.
Right there's been a like they had a game of
this year against the Niners where his you know, quarterback
rating was atrocious, but he made like three absolute winning
plays that not every quarterback can make.

Speaker 11 (01:32:33):
So he's kind of incalculable on what he can do.

Speaker 14 (01:32:37):
That being said, he had some really bad interceptions this year, awful,
but he is on a streak right now not thung interceptions,
so he's kind of cleaned that up. But their offensive
line's been an absolute disaster. You know, they kind of
got young and cheap.

Speaker 11 (01:32:50):
You have to do that.

Speaker 14 (01:32:50):
And when you're paying Patrick Mahomes a lot of money're
paying Chris Jones a lot of money, You're paying Travis
Kelsey a lot of money. You've got a lot of
guys making money on this team. You have to get
cheap somewhere. So they had Donovan Smith, who was you know,
old left tackle last year and they said goodbye to him.
And they had two young, you know tackles, Kingsley Suamanta
a hat a bigger and Wanya Morris who played a
little bit last year who played at Tennessee in Oklahoma,

(01:33:12):
and they thought they were they were good with them.
Well it turns out they weren't good with them. They're
just not good enough. So they went and got DJ
Humphries right, and DJ Humphries played for three quarters of
a game then hurt hamstring because he's an old guy
who had who had an NCL or whatever last year
ACL and so he is not practiced yet. So then
they're like, well, let's just take Joe Tooney, who's a
great guard, and put him over a left tackle. And

(01:33:34):
that's kind of how it's gone. So the front in
front of Patrick Mahomes has been a little bit of
a mess.

Speaker 11 (01:33:38):
And then you add that Rashid Rice got hurt, Hollywood
Brown got hurt.

Speaker 14 (01:33:41):
They had all these plans of doing all this, like
deep throws and everything, and then all of a sudden
everyone was hurt. DeAndre Hopkins wasn't a thought to be
on this team, you know, four months ago, so they've
had to scramble. So I think most people will give
a pass to Patrick on just how everything has kind of.

Speaker 11 (01:33:54):
Happened, But his numbers aren't what you want. I mean,
if you're a fantasy football owner, you know Patrick Mahomes
have not done you well.

Speaker 14 (01:34:01):
But if you're a Chiefs football fan, Patrick Mahomes has
helped you get to thirteen to one, and that's the
part that matters to the organization, not the fantasy numbers.

Speaker 2 (01:34:08):
Yep, the numbers don't necessarily match up with the win total.
And I totally agree with about the statistical analysis of him.
But the first seven games this season, he threw an
interception or more in every game they went seven and zero.
The last seven games, he's only thrown an interception in
one of those games, the pair he had against Buffalo
that's obviously their only loss.

Speaker 3 (01:34:25):
They've won every other loss. It's pretty remarkably off.

Speaker 14 (01:34:29):
He's a pretty incredible player because, like I said, he'll
just have this game.

Speaker 11 (01:34:33):
He's like, oh, this is just like he was not
good the other day against the Browns.

Speaker 14 (01:34:37):
If you get six turnovers against the Cleveland Browns and
you only score twenty one points, that's kind of embarrassing, honestly, right,
and you didn't turn it over yourself.

Speaker 11 (01:34:49):
It's one thing.

Speaker 14 (01:34:49):
If you've got six turnovers, you turned over four times
six to zero on turnovers and you only win twenty
one to seven because they just did not have what
it took offensively to get the job done. He completed
less than fifty percent of his passes. They sometimes forget
you're supposed to run the ball. Sometimes during the middle
of a game, they'll go like three possessions without running it.

Speaker 11 (01:35:06):
They should have just.

Speaker 3 (01:35:06):
Been his reigning.

Speaker 11 (01:35:07):
It was cold. Just get out of Cleveland, you know
what I mean. Just run the ball and leave.

Speaker 14 (01:35:12):
But they continue to try to throw it at times,
and they went for a fourth down they got their
guy hurt. So I mean, I don't think they've done
a whole lot right this year if you want a nitpick,
except win games, and that's the most important part.

Speaker 2 (01:35:23):
Well, Todd, I appreciate your time, and we'll leave you
with the thought of something you just said you had
me at get out of Cleveland. I think that is
a very smart thing to say for just about anybody
football teams.

Speaker 11 (01:35:34):
Hey, otherwise, go to the Hall of Fame and that's it.
Go to the Hall of Fame and that's it.

Speaker 3 (01:35:37):
Nothing else.

Speaker 2 (01:35:38):
Totally agree, absolutely great analysis of the Chiefs. Who appreciate
your time and look forward to the game this week
and enjoy it.

Speaker 11 (01:35:46):
All right, you guys call me anytime.

Speaker 2 (01:35:47):
You got appreciate it. Todd Levo of Sports Radio eight ten.
There WHB in Kansas City, the Rock and Roll Hall
of Fame, definitely worth a visit. In Cleveland, the Football
Hall of Fame right up the road, Canton. Maybe catch
a baseball game probably that's about it. Obviously, catch a
game at Arrowhead if you have the opportunity. And hey,

(01:36:08):
who knew? The Kansas City Royals are actually a fun
outfit to watch. They're not making it hard on the astros,
which they have done some in the recent past. Texans
Chiefs a little bit more of that obviously at our
signature segments at four point thirty. Of course, still have
a little bit more on a few of the things
we have not gotten to. By the way, five o'clock,

(01:36:29):
another guest will join us. That is Vanessa richardson Stay tuned.

Speaker 8 (01:36:35):
The A team on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 2 (01:36:39):
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Speaker 11 (01:37:40):
There's a space City Home Networks.

Speaker 8 (01:37:41):
Todd Kallis, there's the at you got them.

Speaker 3 (01:37:45):
It's Adam Clinton and Adam.

Speaker 1 (01:37:47):
Webfler Clinton stop impersonating me on Sports Talk seven Nights.

Speaker 3 (01:37:56):
Hanging Out on the eighteen.

Speaker 2 (01:37:57):
It's Todd's TV booth partner, Jeff Blum and good news
for TK Today at least AC will not be doing that,
but I can't promise you on any other days he
will still probably do that a little bit more often
than you're liking. Appreciate todd lebo our last guest. Two
things to quickly update everybody on. I know everybody was

(01:38:18):
on pins and needles about what exactly was the latest
status of Clyde Edwards Hilaire. He actually just signed with
the Saints to their practice squad, and in the last
twenty minutes or so, a report from John Denton, Mark
fin Sand and our own Brian mctagger of the MLB
dot Com Aeronauto blocks potential trade to Astros.

Speaker 3 (01:38:41):
So does that mean something was done?

Speaker 2 (01:38:43):
So if I were to say so, you're saying there's
a chance. The answer is no, there is no chance.
But yes, my belief is you don't reach that stage.
Which is odd. But in following all these baseball deals
where no trade clauses are involved, it seems like that
they don't really bother with asking the player and his
agent if this is a team they should even negotiate with,
until they even negotiate with that team, come up with

(01:39:05):
parameters of what is the framework of a deal and
then they put the player in the position to you
can say no to it, even though we've put all
this work into try and put it together.

Speaker 4 (01:39:15):
Yeah, you figured you could kind of beat the whole
thing to the punch and say, hey, if give me
some teams I can talk to, and if the Astros
weren't on it, then you wouldn't even wasted your time,
because it feels like you're write A lot of effort
and wasted text and phone calls led to the decision
by Nolan Ernatto.

Speaker 3 (01:39:31):
I know, I'm sure Dana Brown is.

Speaker 4 (01:39:32):
Neighbor either way back in Cali, yep. I worked out
with him a couple of times. He's really good. Good
ideal truck was kind of hefty though.

Speaker 2 (01:39:39):
Yeah, seventy five million ish left on that deal, I
think technically was seventy four million. According to the story
from Brian and the other two I mentioned, Cardinals were
willing to and we knew this add money to the deal.
Apparently fifteen to twenty million as part of the deal.
The Rockies are actually still on the hook for part
of that. And this goes all the way back to
that twenty twenty one trade they made with the Cardinals.

(01:40:01):
Nolan Aeronado is also a player who has some deferred
money on his contract to the tune of about twelve million,
So the current present day value I believe is in
the neighborhood of sixty. So the Astros, based on all
that fuzzy math, I think, would have been in line
for about forty to forty five million dollars worth of
it over three years. That's certainly a lot different than
twenty five and a lot of times for effect, or

(01:40:25):
maybe the whoever said it just didn't really know. I mean,
if you're saying the Astros are looking to trade for
Nolan Aeronado and at twenty four point seven seven million
dollars a year, that sounds ridiculous. That clearly is not
really how the framework of a deal for Nolan Aeronaudo
would come into play. It's much more like seventeen sixteen
million somewhere in that rage, maybe even fifteen or fourteen

(01:40:47):
that your team, the Astros, who are involved in this
deal would have been on the hook for. So I'm
not sure that there would be any reason for the
source to say there were still ongoing talks between the clubs.
Another source indicated the Astros aren't holding out much hope
that the deal will get done. Why would you hold
out any hope at this point? Is the information you

(01:41:07):
need not clear? My only question is he doesn't want
to be there.

Speaker 3 (01:41:14):
That is clear.

Speaker 2 (01:41:15):
He doesn't want to play for Saint Louis anymore. That's
why they're looking to move him. Is he does he
look at the Astros situation as not a good one
for him? Because I have to assume is it? I mean,
could be anything. I only I can only speak to
the baseball if there's other personal reasons, family reasons, location reasons,
American League reasons.

Speaker 3 (01:41:35):
I don't know. Is he looking at this team in
a negative way? I don't. I don't think so.

Speaker 4 (01:41:39):
I personally, just just like knee jerk reaction is he
doesn't want to be in the Central time zone. And
I've got to be brutally honest. If you look at
the American League West and you're getting courted by Houston Astros,
the travel is kind of crazy. I mean, you're going
coast to coast and you've got to go to Seattle

(01:41:59):
a couple of times. I know with this, you know
this quote unquote balance schedule. Now it eliminates one opportunity
to go up there, but maybe doesn't just doesn't want
to play in this division. He's a West Coast guy,
like I talked about. Maybe he's got maybe ideas of
going back to the West Coast somehow. I'm not sure
where that fits in or who he decides to go
back to, because I know that some of the preliminary

(01:42:20):
reports were that the Angels were actually looking to trade
for another third baseman with a ginormous contract. I'm not
sure what they would do with the one they currently have,
but I've heard rumors that they might be thinking about
trying to go out and get a guy like Nolan Aronado,
and that would make a lot of sense, just considering
he lives out there in Orange County.

Speaker 2 (01:42:40):
Most of next year, he'll be playing as a thirty
four year old turns thirty four in April. There was
a clear downturn in his offensive performance in twenty twenty three.
There was a second downturn in his offensive performance in
twenty twenty four. Should that in and of itself, regardless
of what money you might have been up against as
an Astros organization, isn't that enough of a turnoff?

Speaker 10 (01:43:02):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:43:03):
It should be.

Speaker 4 (01:43:03):
But at the same time, you say, okay, if we
take his number, If you take his numbers in the
last three four years and even the downturn in the
last two years, and you put him in minute May Park,
do they look any better? Is there potential that they
get any better? You know, there was a whole Colorado
effect when he gets traded out of out of Colorado
to Saint Louis. But I think that window that we

(01:43:25):
always talk about where the guy is gonna go out
and make the most money, do the best job, is
going to be between that twenty eight, thirty three, thirty
four year old here and now he's on that regression
part of the analytics. So I think that maybe putting
him in this ballpark might have changed their minds a
little bit with the potential of a couple of more
fly balls leaving in left field. But I think it's
kind of a big ask on a contract, is the

(01:43:45):
size of that. But they took a shot.

Speaker 3 (01:43:47):
Didn't work.

Speaker 2 (01:43:49):
Quick work by the Wexler research team. Appreciate them staying
with us all afternoon.

Speaker 3 (01:43:53):
They are money.

Speaker 2 (01:43:54):
His seventy two home runs over the last three seasons
thirty two years ago and only sixteen this last year,
three years ago, and only sixteen this past year. But
the research shows that seventy of those seventy two home
runs were hit to the left of center field. Thus,
balls that were pulled by that right handed hitter would

(01:44:14):
tend to play well at minute made park. I think
I don't think he was quite this much of a
pole hitter, if memory serves. I think as years have continued,
he has become is certainly from a power standpoint that
But I have a hard time looking at a guy
who played all three years in the same ballpark with
the same team Saint Louis from twenty twenty two to
twenty twenty four, to see the ops go from eight

(01:44:36):
ninety one to seven nineteen, the slug go from five
thirty three to three ninety four, from ages thirty one
to thirty three, that that would be, and.

Speaker 4 (01:44:44):
Taking on a contract like that, you would expect either
either comparable numbers or better numbers than Alex. And that
doesn't that doesn't compute, It doesn't make any sense.

Speaker 2 (01:44:53):
Alex Bregman was quite clearly a better offensive.

Speaker 3 (01:44:57):
Player last year defensively too, I would think.

Speaker 2 (01:44:59):
So, I I'm not gonna sit here and say I
watched him every single day, and him not winning the
Gold Glove doesn't mean he's awful, because Matt Chapman is
a National leaguer and he's very very good. But he
is two years removed from his last Gold Glove. He's
really really good. He could probably still make the argument
that Bregman, Chapman, and Aeronatto are probably the three best

(01:45:20):
very close.

Speaker 4 (01:45:21):
As like lateral move, you're gonna get a very competent
third baseman.

Speaker 2 (01:45:26):
Yeah, and without that, and with no Bregman, it's it's
there aren't many other options that are going to keep
you in very good standing. I actually think Peretis will
be a little bit better than adequate.

Speaker 3 (01:45:36):
I don't.

Speaker 2 (01:45:37):
I think that's a little bit of a it's not
giving him enough credit for I think the third base
he can play defensively, not expecting Gold Glove caliber play,
But I do think he's a slightly above average third baseman. A.

Speaker 3 (01:45:49):
I think he would be ideal at first base. There
you go.

Speaker 2 (01:45:54):
I mean, I don't know the nicest way to say it,
but he looks like he has a first baseman's body.

Speaker 4 (01:45:59):
Yeah, he's thick, he's stout, we shall say. But I
think that, you know, the East sac Paradis is a
name that I have heard internally just hanging around certain
entities during the course of the season last year. When
he became available in Tampa, you know, there was some
I'm sure the Astros kicked the tires on him potentially

(01:46:19):
coming over even with an Alex Bragman here, much like
you said, because he could be that first base guy
that you could plug in there maybe platoon with a
John Singleton or whoever it may be over there at
first base. But at the same time, I think that
the inside the organization there's certain there's certain staff members
that really think that Paradis is a worthwhile guy to
go out there and get. And obviously including him in

(01:46:40):
that Tucker trade, it fills a gap either at either
corner for the Astros.

Speaker 2 (01:46:44):
A guy you'd want in your everyday lineup. We're not
saying he definitely fits with the top of the lineup,
although it looks that way. He certainly is much better
than what it looks like the bottom of your order
will be ex all star. He has played good baseball
and he was a desired asset this pass trade deadline,
the Cubs were still in it and obviously we're pretty
much to the end of the season.

Speaker 3 (01:47:03):
It felt like he would help them. He didn't.

Speaker 2 (01:47:06):
I mean it's not on him. It's not Pereta's fault.
They didn't make it.

Speaker 3 (01:47:09):
But he was not particularly good in Chicago.

Speaker 4 (01:47:12):
Now sometimes a little bit different market. I mean that's
one thing, you know, being an All Star in Tampa
Bay sometimes is a little bit different than being an
altar an All Star inside Chicago. So I think they
kind of coming back here a little bit to the Astros,
and there's always that stigma that kind of comes with it.
This is our this is our trade deadline pickup, so
you put a little extra pressure on yourself, and obviously

(01:47:34):
the attention you get in Chicago can pile up a
little bit. But I think he'll be perfectly comfortable in
this clubhouse and the idea of looking over his left
shoulder at the Crawford boxes, which are still going to
be the Crawford boxes, I assume. But he''ll be pretty
comfortable here. I think he'll be all right.

Speaker 2 (01:47:49):
Yeah, everything for a lot of his profile, he's seeing
some analytics talk about he's doesn't have the highest hard
hit rate, he doesn't have the best batted ball. There's
some things that haven't been deal but a guy who
hits a lot of fly balls to right field, he
does have pretty good plate discipline.

Speaker 3 (01:48:07):
Top he's not at the bottom.

Speaker 2 (01:48:09):
It will be an asset in what the current makeup
of the twenty twenty five Astros lineup looks to be
a potential scenario where you know four of your five
top hitters, you know who they are right now with
al two, b A Alvarez, Diaz and Isak Perettis. You
can maybe hold that two spot open for ab if
he so desires. See if that maybe works out for him.

(01:48:30):
Hey man, we can offer you something nobody else. Can
you get to bat in front of the ord On
Alvarez if that's what Joe wants to do this year,
which I bet he does.

Speaker 3 (01:48:37):
Sounds pretty good to me.

Speaker 8 (01:48:41):
The AE on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 2 (01:48:45):
Let me get you out to Cushata so you and
yours can enjoy this holiday season. Just up the road
in Kinder, Louisiana. The largest casino resort in Louisiana, that
is Coushata, massive gaming floor, tons of tables and slots.
They've got an awesome poker room. They've redone and upgraded
and renovated their High Limit room. And you know all

(01:49:07):
about the Red Sports Book. We talk to you about
that constantly. It is a great place to hang out,
easy to watch and of course wager on all the games,
and there are plenty of them going on essentially all
the time during this holiday season. Whether it's pig skin
or hoops or football or.

Speaker 3 (01:49:23):
Whatever you'd like.

Speaker 2 (01:49:24):
It's right there and easy to access, right there on
the betting kiosks located inside the Red Sports Book. This
coming Saturday, December twenty first, the Big two hundred thousand
dollars Holli Jolly Cash giveaway your chance to win up
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Speaker 8 (01:49:45):
Myers crushes its.

Speaker 12 (01:49:47):
Goodbye, Hey, Jake Myers.

Speaker 9 (01:49:49):
Catch every Astros game on Sports Talk seven ninety before
the iHeartRadio app Home of Your Astros.

Speaker 1 (01:49:59):
A little help ball for the hump with some Wednesday Bs, two.

Speaker 3 (01:50:03):
Adams, and a whole lot of bit stealing.

Speaker 1 (01:50:05):
Bit stealing with dump Bit Steelers, better known as the eighteen.

Speaker 2 (01:50:11):
Oh It's Wednesday Here on the A team, we've reached
signature segment time four thirties. Each and every day on
the A team, it is signature segment time on the Thursdays,
we wonder what's up with that? On Fridays each with
our stone cold locks. By the way, our game of
the week this week, duh Clemson in Texas. They will
be playing on Saturday afternoon, so that will be among

(01:50:33):
the five selections we will make on Friday Wednesdays.

Speaker 3 (01:50:37):
We bit steal.

Speaker 2 (01:50:38):
We tip our cap to the geniuses that fill the
airwaves here on Sports Talk seven to ninety when I'm
not doing that, or Dan's not doing that, or Jeff's
not doing that, or AC's not doing that.

Speaker 3 (01:50:48):
That's Sean and Brian and Ross and Matt Dan.

Speaker 2 (01:50:51):
At other times, Doug Pike, even if he does any
bits on the Outdoor Show, We'll be happy to steal it.
But I ask, what are we stealing today.

Speaker 15 (01:51:00):
Again here live again, tap here, live again, Tampa here,
live again, tamp it care, leve again, dampident care, let me again,
tamp here, leave again, time here, let me again, Tampa it.

Speaker 3 (01:51:12):
Sure we are going with what's everybody's favorite bit? I think?

Speaker 2 (01:51:18):
On the Mat Toma Show, anybody got time for that?
Or shut your backside up, as some might say, Uh,
anything going on in y'all's world that you need to
say that to somebody. Maybe you're out and about and
listening to us in your vehicle on the all new
and improved iHeartRadio app. And if you're in line for
a hot cup of Joe, not real happy with the

(01:51:39):
person in front of you, won't bust off a phone call.

Speaker 3 (01:51:41):
Maybe they'll leave and hear you.

Speaker 2 (01:51:42):
Seven one three two one two five seven ninety seven
one three two one two five seven ninety Uh. Actually,
I don't really want to pile on this coach because
I think he's saying a lot of things that are true.

Speaker 3 (01:51:53):
But I can't help myself.

Speaker 2 (01:51:55):
I brought up the Washington State coach earlier giving an
impassioned answer to the media earlier this week about how
it is in college football and it's all about money
and it's all about nil and you know, it's all
we can do to keep our players here, run a practice,
recruit new players, you know, get guys in the portal
all while we're trying to get ready for another game.

(01:52:16):
And you know, it's just it's the name of the game.
We just we don't have the money for it, and
we lose a player for seven figures. We came up
with seven figures and it still wasn't enough, and that's
just the way it is.

Speaker 3 (01:52:26):
And then he left for.

Speaker 2 (01:52:28):
A new coaching job, and seven figures Jake has said
goodbye to Washington State and hello to Wake Forest. I
don't know about the rest of the players on the
team because I'm putting words under their mouth, but I imagine
they ain't got.

Speaker 3 (01:52:42):
Time for that.

Speaker 8 (01:52:43):
Hey' nobody got it.

Speaker 3 (01:52:44):
Like I said, there are a lot of things going on.

Speaker 2 (01:52:46):
I feel like every time we've stolen this, I kind
of drift into the same direction. If it's non sports,
and I don't really care for it, it usually is
from me being behind the wheel and the driving habits
of those around me. I'm not saying they're getting in accidents.
I'm not saying they're doing anything dramatically wrong, but the

(01:53:08):
amount of times and I try to curtail it when
my kids are with me, one of them about to
be sixteen, so doing the driving thing. The other one
drives rather infrequently, and that she is in college with
no vehicle, so I want to make sure they know
what's up and good drivers, which they both are, but
probably learning how to drive. For me, that's fine driving

(01:53:29):
with me when I'm the driver, and reacting to the
other drivers, probably not quite as much. I do so
much talking to the other drivers who clearly can't hear
me when I'm driving, but it feels good, it feels awesome,
and I can't. I think the thing I say the
most is pay less attention. Please pay less attentions, like,
come on, do you really not see what's about to happen.

(01:53:50):
I'm here, you're there. There's a perfectly good spot for me.
If you just pay attention. I'm going faster than you.
I'm not riding your bumper, I'm not even in the
same lane as you. Just pay a little attention and
I can be about my way and what I'm gonna do.

Speaker 3 (01:54:05):
For you, I'm not even gonna make you hit your brakes.

Speaker 2 (01:54:07):
That's the speed I'm going. I'm going under the speed limit.
You're going way under the speed limit, but you're not
even gonna know I'm there if you just pay attention
a little bit. Most of this is freeway stuff, quite obviously,
and the amount of people who I want to say
they're just not paying attention. But I think you guys
know what they're actually doing.

Speaker 3 (01:54:25):
Oh, every time you pass them, I got something else
on their head.

Speaker 2 (01:54:27):
Their phone could not be closer to their face. I'm
gonna say I haven't been in every new vehicle. I've
been a lot of the new vehicles over fred has
Toyota World. Now you know how easy it is to
bluetooth your phone to that. You know how many different
places that everybody on the TikTok shop is trying to
sell you where you can put your phone stand up,
this great new magnetic phone stand. All you do is

(01:54:49):
you push the button and your phone's never gonna believe
you can turn a sideways, you knew a Lansley, whatever
you want, get it out of your hand at least time.
I will look at my phone here and there during
a drive somewhere, usually for directions, if it's not already
on my console.

Speaker 3 (01:55:03):
But you can't. You can't do it.

Speaker 11 (01:55:04):
I can't.

Speaker 2 (01:55:04):
I can't handle that. I know you're driving before I've
even approached you a certain way. And when I get
side by side and I do a little pleasant glance
over to my right, and there's the phone in your
hand in your face the road and you're driving. Couldn't
be further from your mind.

Speaker 3 (01:55:20):
I get time for that. Ain't nobody you feel that
a little bit?

Speaker 4 (01:55:27):
My question is I mean, obviously I've been here plenty
driving in my career of driving here in Houston, but
I am astonished at the lack of speed in the
far left lane. And I don't understand it. I do
not understand it. You know, you know what the get

(01:55:48):
out of the way?

Speaker 2 (01:55:50):
Is there a number? Let's let's just pretend it's sixty five.

Speaker 3 (01:55:54):
Yeah, I mean, we all know that should not be
the number, but it is. Let's just say you're in
that situation.

Speaker 2 (01:55:59):
And so you're in it, yep, and you're going let's
say you're going eighty yep. If the car behind you
in the left lane is clearly going more than eighty,
do you get out of the way or do you say, look,
I'm going fast enough, I'm not going to speed up
or get out of the way. If you want to
go that fast, I'm sorry, but you're gonna have to
go around.

Speaker 3 (01:56:19):
What's the call on that? Is it bad that it
depends on the vehicle?

Speaker 2 (01:56:22):
How long do you have this spot? And if they're
coming fast enough. You only have so much time to
decide to say.

Speaker 4 (01:56:26):
If they're blowing me up and just coming up in
a hurry, I'll move out of the way and just
let them go, because obviously the flow traffic is more
important to me than being the nozzle that's going to
stop and force them to go around.

Speaker 3 (01:56:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:56:37):
I can see up to a certain speed. I may
be in the lane, I may be going faster than
the people to my right, but there are also people
in the left hand lane that are going much faster
than I am. I would like to think, and I
know sometimes I'll get out of the way. There's a
certain speed, I feel like I'm I belong here, pushing
me out.

Speaker 3 (01:56:57):
You can go out, you can do something else.

Speaker 4 (01:56:59):
I feel like I'm going, you go ninety five, I'm
gonna force you around me to go do that.

Speaker 3 (01:57:03):
I get that.

Speaker 4 (01:57:03):
I get that because I think if you are going
eighty at least you're trying, you're paying attention, and you're trying.

Speaker 2 (01:57:09):
You will definitely get a what are you doing if
you're in the left lane and you're going much slower
than you should, Oh my gosh.

Speaker 4 (01:57:15):
The other one is is even if there's a constable
share for whatever the name is for the law enforcement
if you slow down below the speed limit because of that,
I don't understand that either.

Speaker 3 (01:57:28):
And they're going faster than that almost every time.

Speaker 4 (01:57:31):
Every time, and you're gonna you're gonna say it is
sixty five again and you pull back to sixty. I
don't get that. You're not gonna get pulled over for
going sixty five seventy.

Speaker 3 (01:57:41):
I don't know, probably not what they're there for.

Speaker 2 (01:57:43):
I think they've got other things to concern themselves with
keeping us all safe.

Speaker 3 (01:57:46):
We do appreciate, oh absolutely. I don't know that.

Speaker 2 (01:57:48):
Making sure the sixty eight mile an hour vehicle on
a sixty five is something they've got to get after
to keep us all safe.

Speaker 3 (01:57:56):
How often have you played?

Speaker 4 (01:57:57):
Have you done this game and it's been a coach
or a player because of the portal or nil because
my guy could be uh, Fernando Mendoza, the Cal quarterback, okay,
who beat Stanford in the big game and had a
walk off and is crying his eyes. I'm so happy
to be in calibert here going somewhere else and I'm
not playing in the ball game.

Speaker 3 (01:58:16):
You guys can beat it. Thanks Bye, spare me that
I love the where I'm at right now. Screw that.

Speaker 4 (01:58:22):
Every athlete out there, if you're going in the portal,
just say hey, I'm happy to be here. I'll be
somewhere else next year. Don't cry.

Speaker 2 (01:58:28):
Sounds like, yeah, you're doing all that, and you crank
out a super long, sappy social media post about your departure.

Speaker 3 (01:58:35):
Jeff ain't reading it. Uh huh.

Speaker 8 (01:58:39):
The A team on Sports Talk seven.

Speaker 2 (01:58:41):
Ninety let me tell you about hooking everybody up. I'm
gonna go ahead and knock some bud light out here
for you. It's always a great opportunity for you to
enjoy the ice cold refreshing bud Lights. Football season, yes, check, well,
guess what goes in the cool or guess what you
need to be tail getting with. That's your ice cold
refreshing bud Light. If it's NFL season and it is well,

(01:59:04):
bud Light is well, that's the official beer of the NFL,
the official.

Speaker 3 (01:59:08):
Beer sponsor of the NFL.

Speaker 2 (01:59:10):
That's your ice cold refreshing bud Lights, your tailgates, your family,
your friends, your tradition, your bud light. Make it all
happen this weekend and always enjoy your Bud Light just
like I do safely and responsibly.

Speaker 13 (01:59:22):
Adam Clinton, Adam, wait for it, the eight Team.

Speaker 2 (01:59:32):
It's back here for the final segment of the five
o'clock or four o'clock hour. Before he gets five o'clock,
Vanessa richardson Space City Home Network set to join us
at five o'clock. Talk a little bit about hoops. Now
we're back in regular regular season mode. The NBA Cup
champion has been crowned. Rockets will be in action coming.

Speaker 3 (01:59:50):
Up tomorrow night.

Speaker 2 (01:59:51):
We are obviously talking about the Astros pursuit of a
third baseman, which continues even though east Ok Perettis is
an Astro, Alex Bregman is not, and apparently Nolan Aeronado
will not be. A reporting from Brian McTaggart, Mark Finesan,
and John Denton all indicating and even with a quote
from Cardinal's GM John Mazaliac said they were still talking

(02:00:14):
with teams, but the report basically included the following he
said no to a proposed trade via his no trade
clause to the Houston Astros. Bob Nightingale has since indicated
the Astros pursuit of Alex Bregman remains alive. In light

(02:00:36):
of this recent news, the Houston Astros, according to A Robert,
are still very much in play for third Basement Alex Bregman.
After Cardinal's third Basement Nolan Aernado informed the Astros Tuesday
that he currently is not willing to waive his no
trade clause to Houston, So trade was close until Eronado's decision.

Speaker 3 (02:00:56):
As we discussed, it works backwards.

Speaker 2 (02:00:59):
Put the deal together, go through all that, don't tell
the players they're being moved yet because we don't know
if it's gonna happen, And then we'll ask the player
and his agent if he's okay with this, even though
we already know he has a no trade clause, and
most no trade clause, if not all of them include
the actual teams. You can if a team's not already

(02:01:20):
listed among the teams you're not gonna be traded too,
you can clearly always ask about them, or vice versa.
But this seemed to be already well known information, and
they went through all the process of nearing completion to
the deal before he said I don't want to play
for the Astros or I want to.

Speaker 4 (02:01:34):
Be In a similar situation in Detroit where he was
the no trade and he and he said, I'm gonna
go win a championship and he did.

Speaker 2 (02:01:40):
And that's why, even though it seems backwards, I think
these teams feel like we might have been on his
no trade list because of this reason or that reason.
But things have changed. His situation has changed, our situations changed.
And again I don't know the reason why Aeronautoo reportedly
has said no to Houston, the Astros, the organization, the
Central time zone, the American League.

Speaker 3 (02:02:04):
He just says no.

Speaker 2 (02:02:06):
Clearly the opening is still there at third base the
Astros if they pull that off. Let's say Aeronaudo said yes,
and considering how far along they were, that would have
been the end of it. Right the pursuit of Alex Bregman.
You have Perettis at first and aeronauto at third. Done,
you're out of the Alstro.

Speaker 3 (02:02:24):
So I don't know that.

Speaker 2 (02:02:26):
I'd say, you know, they're very much still in play
for Alex Bregman. Almost sounds like I don't know how
they could be. They're doing a lot of things that indicate.

Speaker 3 (02:02:36):
We are moving on.

Speaker 2 (02:02:38):
We need a third basement or a first baseman, depending
on what we can do with whoever we get they
got to play one of those two spots because Partis
will play the other. All indications are they're operating as
if he's not going to be an astro.

Speaker 4 (02:02:53):
Well, that would have been the second trade for the
second third baseman in the business Manfred's weird at all.
But they're not going to add a fourth in field bag.
Oh gosh, you never know with good old Rob. But yeah,
maybe this enhances the opportunity to go out there and
sign Alex because they've I don't know if they've exhausted

(02:03:14):
every opportunity. I'm actually kind of intrigued that they put
together a package to get a guy like Aeronato. I
know that money was involved in this situation, so they
probably had to take a little bit larger portion of
the contract because they didn't want to give away.

Speaker 3 (02:03:27):
Prospects or whatever it may be.

Speaker 4 (02:03:29):
But at the same time, in that trade, already, like
you're talking about with Kyle Tucker going to the Chicago Cubs,
you've got a what possibly could be a current third
baseman and a future third baseman in Cam Smith. Then
you almost traded for another current third baseman. So it
is kind of interesting in that sense that you know
is that the writing on the wall that says that

(02:03:49):
Alex is not coming back, or is it the writing
on the wall is saying, we wanted to go make
a trade for a potential replacement.

Speaker 3 (02:03:54):
We can't get it. Now, we'll go sign Alex.

Speaker 2 (02:03:58):
It is interesting, and you get I can't put myself
in his shoes quite obviously, very hard to do that,
not knowing all the things that he's thinking about, what
he wants and what he thinks this team is, but
understanding that they're working on they're actively working on replacing him.
You can look at it that way, or you could

(02:04:19):
take the baseball general manager's point of view, the organizational
point of view. We don't want to be caught with
no third basement. We are actively pursuing you. It's our
number one priority. We've put an offer on the table,
for all I know, they've put more than one offer
on the table.

Speaker 3 (02:04:32):
They've enhanced their offer.

Speaker 2 (02:04:34):
But when and if he says no, at some point,
some of these other options are not there anymore now,
Aaron Otto as a trade might be. And yeah, the
other reason why I think would scare a lot of
Astros fans to add him. In addition to the money
and you getting roughly five million a season from the
Cardinals to do so. That's usually means they're buying better

(02:04:55):
players from you when they're willing to eat some of
the salary pay for it.

Speaker 12 (02:04:58):
There.

Speaker 2 (02:05:00):
I mean, who you can't trade Jacob Melton, even though
he's not even a surefire guy, because you need him.

Speaker 4 (02:05:05):
You kind of need an outfielder. Well, that was the
only thing, is like, if you did pick up Aeronauto,
does eronat' go to first base? You sign Alex Bragman,
put parades in the outfit. I mean, it could have
been a myriad of things. But I'm with you in
the sense that that's why I'm kind of curious what
the package was going to Saint Louis, just, you know,
from a personal standpoint, to try and understand what the
market is for a guy like Aeronauto. Because you're right

(02:05:26):
in the sense that you lose Melton, there's not much
as far as outfield is concerned in that minor league
system to back up or look forward to in the
next this year or the next year. Because what was
interesting about Dana Brown talking about some of these young
guys is he's dropped us sixty days into the season,
we could see somebody come up, and that's usually right
around that hush Super two. That's Super two date where

(02:05:50):
you can kind of keep a guy for a little
bit longer under club control. So that kind of that
actually spoke to me a little bit on how Dana
maybe feels about a guy like a Jacob Melton.

Speaker 3 (02:05:59):
It is interesting saying I do like that.

Speaker 2 (02:06:00):
You actually said it out loud, so people can really
hear it and think, well, maybe so. Al Tuve plays
second and bats first, Bregman plays third, bats second. Jordan
Alvarez is the DH. He's batting third. Janer Diez is
catching and he's batting fourth. Nolan Aeronado's at first, he's
batting fifth and he's OK. Perettis is batting sixth and

(02:06:24):
playing left field.

Speaker 4 (02:06:25):
Maybe maybe I mean you could, I mean you could
hide him out there. He's played a little bit.

Speaker 2 (02:06:31):
So moving on from Kyle Tucker in the eighteen nineteen
twenty million he would make this year. Giving Bregman twenty
nine a year including this first year, and giving Aeronado
fifteen this year doesn't really seem like that's what they
have in mind.

Speaker 3 (02:06:45):
Nah, that's wild speculation, But I like the sound of
that first sixth in the lineup. Yeah, all right, right, yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:06:52):
It would be one last thought on a player we've
barely talked about this entire off season, and certainly not today.

Speaker 3 (02:06:57):
Just quick thoughts.

Speaker 2 (02:06:59):
Yaner Diez has the everyday regular catcher this year will
do what offensively.

Speaker 3 (02:07:04):
I think he's going to do the same thing he
did this year.

Speaker 4 (02:07:05):
He's going to be He actually proved to me a
little bit more as far as the batting average side
getting much closer to three hundred being more consistent. He
had very few heavy slumps, and I think a lot
of the reason for that was he was able to
hit the ball to go in the other way. Another
thing that kind of spoke to me is that he
has the potential to be a pretty good run producer

(02:07:26):
in the sense that he goes the other way with
pitches because he doesn't sell out and say I have
to hit two run, three run, four run home runs
in order to drive in runs. If I'm in a
tough count against a tough pitcher, I can give up
a little bit, punch the ball the other way and
still show on a pretty good hitter as far as
coverage is concerned. To drive that runner in. So I'm
kind of hoping that this maturation kind of continues for

(02:07:47):
younger Diaz, because I think he's a great hitter and
he kind of figured out how to manage being an
everyday catcher.

Speaker 2 (02:07:53):
For me worked out pretty well. Years one and two.
We'll see what year three is all about. That's three
hours in the books. Jeff, appreciate you get it all
that you brought to us today right day.

Speaker 3 (02:08:01):
Yeah, I mean, I know I'm selling you short.

Speaker 4 (02:08:03):
Go only three of the four quarters that you're going
in this afternoon, but I appreciate you having me on in.

Speaker 3 (02:08:09):
It was a good time. Fourth quarter begins next.

Speaker 1 (02:08:13):
The A Team on Sports Talk seven ninety two lifelong
Houston sports guys named Adam Talking your Teams. Adam Clinton
and Adam Wexler are the A Team.

Speaker 11 (02:08:33):
A Team.

Speaker 2 (02:08:36):
It is five o'clock, final hour of a Wednesday program,
but a little bit all over the place with Jeff
Blumman for the last three hours. We will focus in
on hoops here this segment, as Vanessa Richardson nice enough
to join us here on the A Team. Of course,
over at Space City Home Network Rocket sideline reporter often
see here handling duties on the baseball side as well

(02:08:57):
fronting your respective magaze shows revolving around the Astros and Rockets,
and she has joined us here. Great to have you
on the program. Hope to get you in house sometime soon.
Looking forward to seeing you again on Thursday night tomorrow night,
as it feels like a break in the season is
now passed by with the NBA Cup participation by the

(02:09:18):
Rockets in Vegas. But back on the court against the Pelicans.
I hope you like the team enjoyed a few days
away from the court.

Speaker 6 (02:09:27):
I did. I did. Thanks for having me. Definitely going
to come in studio soon. But yes, it is nice
in the middle of any busy work season, regardless of
what you do for a living, to get a couple
of days to do your laundry and call people and
sleep in. So you know, it's been a welcome break.
But I'm ready to get back out.

Speaker 11 (02:09:46):
There for sure.

Speaker 2 (02:09:46):
Certainly feels like the team is also ready for that.
They're able to get on the practice court here in
the virtue of not advancing in the NBA Cup after
they reached Vegas losing Oklahoma City.

Speaker 3 (02:09:58):
I did not have a game since that.

Speaker 2 (02:10:00):
At night the fourteenth, won't play again until tomorrow night
against the Pelicans. Pelicans have been an extremely banged up
team throughout the entire season, their record indicative of that.
At five and twenty two. You've been with this team
the last several seasons, so both sides of where they
were and where they are now competitive with the best
teams in the Western Conference. All the time you spent

(02:10:21):
with some of the coaches this offseason the team getting
ready for the season, did you have a sense that
a leap from forty one and forty one was on
the immediate horizon.

Speaker 6 (02:10:32):
I can only say yes because you can go back
to my Twitter and you can check. I one hundred
percent felt that, and I predicted a very significant leap
for a Men and Tari again publicly, not to pat
my own back, but it was one of those things
to where we hadn't Atari only played in twenty two
games last year, a Men dealt with not only being
a rookie and the organic ups and downs that come

(02:10:55):
with that, but illness injury, and so I thought the
two of them would have been years and obviously with
the emergence of the Terror twins, fortunately that was correct.
But yeah, I mean, look like Obviously I'm biased, but
when I saw the fact that e May and his
staff were able to gathered information for a year, get

(02:11:16):
a year with these guys, and what they were doing
in training camp, how together everybody was, how committed everybody was,
and how how malleable the guys were to learning new things.
You know, a men Thompson had to learn to play
off ball, he literally had.

Speaker 9 (02:11:32):
I mean, he admitted that.

Speaker 6 (02:11:34):
We've got young talent. So the Rockets have so many
young guys that it is something that some of the
guys have had to learn that it's not going to
be your night every night. And so when I was
watching that over the summer and in training camp, I
did feel like a great leap could be coming. And
it has been refreshing that it happened so soon, and
you know, early on in the.

Speaker 3 (02:11:54):
Season, for sure, there's no doubt it is fun.

Speaker 2 (02:11:56):
So I don't have to ask you how fun, but
the fun of you brought them up the Terror Twins.
How that has evolved this season with Tari being back
on the court like you said, and the two of
them usually being the first two off of the bench
in some order and really taking the game completely out
of order with all the disarray they put the opponents in.
It does seem like the perfect nickname, and it seems

(02:12:17):
like everybody involved, especially the two players, absolutely have embraced
the fact that we're here to mess things up for
you guys.

Speaker 6 (02:12:25):
Yeah, and they like doing it together. Like each one
of them. You know, both Tari and the Men make
an impact on their own, but they have great chemistry.
Ed Tari has told me that they just look at
each other before they come off the bench and they say,
let's dominate, and they do that. And I just think
to watch it in real time and to watch both
of them grow, you know, alongside their teammates. But again,

(02:12:46):
just look, the starters can be great, but at the
end of the day, you have to have that second
unit that can come in and tear it up as well.
And when you're staggering players that are effective and you
get that consistency from your bench, it's like it's just
been really cool to see, and it's been cool when
I've asked, you know, the different coaches around the league

(02:13:10):
about the Terror Twins and what they bring to the table.
People just talk, you know, Chauncey Billups, whoever. I've asked
a couple of different coaches, and just the narrative is
like they're just so disruptive, Like it's hard to gain
plan for guys that are that disruptive. So I'm a
big Terror Twins fan. You know, I've been a fan
of both of these guys since they got drafted. But

(02:13:31):
they talked about it this summer. Tari and the men
talked to each other and texted each other, and you know, said, like,
if if these are the guys that they say are
the best in the NBA at defending, we can be
better than that. And they've proven it.

Speaker 3 (02:13:44):
It's been pretty awesome.

Speaker 2 (02:13:45):
Vanessa richardson Rocket Sideline Reporter right there on Space City
Home Network where you're watching us right now via r simulcast,
and well you'll catch her again on Thursday night with
the Rockets and the Pelicans. You mentioned the word disruptive,
and I feel like that word would all so apply
to most postgame on court interviews that you've had recently.

(02:14:06):
Are you a cognizant that as soon as you've asked
the question of your individual player, that one or two
other Rockets are about to attack.

Speaker 6 (02:14:15):
I wouldn't have it any other way. And if you
want to go to my Instagram at Sports Vanessa. I
always upload it because it's so much fun. But you know,
that just speaks to the chemistry of this team. And
I would never you know, name names or name teams.
But not every team is like that. Not every team
has guys that you know, all right, one guy maybe
only scored five points, wasn't at his best, but his

(02:14:36):
teammate scored thirty, so he's going to go congratulate his
teammate and make it a funny thing on TV. Or
you know, you have like Chuck Landell and Dylan Brooks
who played against each other Canada VERSUS Australia and have
just spilled that rivalry onto them, you know, being a
teammates and it's just so much fun. And you really
saw it when the Rockets won the Cup game in

(02:14:58):
Minneapolis and that ugly green court behind me, there were
like I think I counted like seven guys that interrupted
my interview with Dylan. So it just makes it so
much fun. And I love this group so much.

Speaker 2 (02:15:11):
It is pretty awesome because that interview is with Dylan
and another interview will be with a man or Tari whomever,
and it hardly matters there's somebody that wants to get involved,
somebody that's got to say something to it. Jeff Green
gets involved, especially when there's sometimes locker room interviews, because
it isn't fake, it's not manufactured. They're having an awesome
time as a basketball family.

Speaker 3 (02:15:32):
Basically, Yeah, they are.

Speaker 6 (02:15:35):
And when you travel six months, seven months out of
the year with a group of guys and you know,
you get to know them very well, and I'm very
fortunate to have that. And then you think about those
guys training together all summer and their you know, their
moms and dads sit together at games and get to
know each other. And not every franchise has a team

(02:15:56):
that feels like a family. And you know some teams,
the older veteran team, yeah they get along, but they're
all married, they all have kids. There's just not that young,
boyish charm that this Rockets team has. So yeah, it's
been it's been really fun. And the way that they
support each other. Dylan Brooks have said, I mean he

(02:16:18):
was the first one to bring it up that their
team motto is sometimes you, sometimes me, and always up.
And I think that you really see that selflessness coming
together and creating some really beautiful wins for this team.

Speaker 2 (02:16:30):
Well, you definitely see it on the defensive end. They've
been among the best defensive teams throughout the season, still
second in defensive rating. Sometimes it makes for games where
neither team can score, like in the most recent game
with the Oklahoma City Thunder. But you know, EMA seems
to believe and we'll see if it plays out. They're
still doing things right on offense, still doing some of

(02:16:51):
the things they want to do. They're getting open shots,
They're creating the kind of opportunities that it seems like
they want with whatever five is out there, and they
simply have not enough shots. Do you feel like the
team still has confidence in what they can become offensively,
certainly better than they have started the season, one hundred percent.

Speaker 6 (02:17:10):
And they have said in their postgame interviews with the media,
they know that they need to make shots. They're generating,
they're getting open looks, and you know, despite what some
people Charles Barkley might say that they don't know how
to play basketball, they absolutely know how to play basketball.
This is a team that is obviously defense first. That
is their strengths. When you take inventory and you look

(02:17:33):
at Dylan Brooks and the terror twins and the strength
of even like a Jabari Smith junior, and how he's
using his length, and you know he may being able
to put him at the five at certain times and
go the small ball route. This team knows how to
play basketball. They will start making their shots, and the
rest of the league better be careful when and if
not even if when they start making their shots, because

(02:17:56):
they've pretty much got everything else, the athleticism, the defense,
the selflessness. Sometimes you sometimes we always us when they
start making those shots, it's gonna get fun. I mean
it's already fun. It's gonna get more fun.

Speaker 2 (02:18:09):
Weck, yeah, it's been. It's a whole lot of fun
watching them play. Honestly, last year when they want forty
one and forty one, the style of play was was
the kind of basketball I would think everybody wants to
see coming to the arena. We can certainly see it.
The atmosphere at their last game was unbelievable. At home,
the later start and everything that went into much fun
it was phenomenal. So I do think that's definitely on

(02:18:30):
the horizon. I am looking forward to what the rest
of the season brings. It doesn't feel like we're already
twenty six games in the Thursday night game is number
twenty seven. I'll be out there tomorrow night on the
call on the radio side, you of course doing what
you do with Craig and Ryan on the TV side
on the sidelines, right there in the middle of all
the action. We really appreciate your time, love the insight,
and look forward to doing it again real soon.

Speaker 6 (02:18:53):
Yes, thank you for having me on talk.

Speaker 8 (02:18:55):
To Team WEX.

Speaker 3 (02:18:56):
We'll do it.

Speaker 2 (02:18:57):
But Essa Richardson, of course of Space City Home Network,
Rocket sideline reporter and also jack of all trades as
she was when we work together at KPRC Channel two.

Speaker 3 (02:19:08):
They need it that she can do it handling a
lot of their.

Speaker 2 (02:19:11):
Hosting duties with the Astros Rockets all access and Astros
bases loaded as well mention the Rockets will be back
on the court tomorrow night. Kind of kicking off this
last leg of the twenty twenty four portion of the season.
They come back from Vegas for just this one game.
The three that follow all on the road. They've got
a New Year's Day game on the horizon, moved away

(02:19:33):
from the New Year's Eve Day game, which had become
somewhat of an annual schedule for them, and now they're
playing on the first, So all that on the horizon.
We've got plenty still to come here this hour on
the show, including at five thirty, we will get you
caught up on a few items we probably have not
given enough time too. And in case you missed it,
Next up, a revisit of where things stand with the

(02:19:54):
Texans and Chiefs following the second of their three practices
this week from a health standpoint.

Speaker 8 (02:20:00):
Next the Age on Sports Talk seven.

Speaker 2 (02:20:04):
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Speaker 1 (02:21:06):
To be a Houston sports fan isn't easy, but hey,
imagine living in Los Angeles or New York and not
understanding the dignity and class. Now that's gotta be hard,
really hard. Back to Adam Clinton and Adam Wexler. Find
Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 2 (02:21:30):
Full day here on Sports Talk seven ninety plenty more
for us to discuss. Having taken things over to the
Texans facility all that often, this afternoon a chance to
do that here, Day two of three of practice. Again,
everything gets bumped up, a day when the game gets
bumped up a day. The second of their three games
and eleven days begins with the Chiefs kicks off from

(02:21:52):
Arrowhead this Saturday, both teams going through their second day
of three workouts. Today's probably considered the more strenuous day
and a little bit hand a little bit better handle
on where things stand with players who are not quite
at one hundred percent for the coaching staff as usually
indicated on the injury report. It was another day of
Patrick Mahomes being listed as a full participant. And even

(02:22:14):
though earlier I said he'd probably be listed as questionable,
and I still think that's probably true, he's playing on Saturday.
He said he was felt like you'd be able to
push it into practice. We'll maybe get an idea from
Andy Reid tomorrow. As our guest reminded us, we mentioned
it earlier this week. The Chiefs unfortunately talked before practice

(02:22:35):
during their work week, so anything that might have taken
place at practice, well you don't really get much of
an answer for because you don't to talk to anybody. Texans,
on the other hand, talk after practice, so if anything
is significance happened during the day, you might be able
to get an answer. You also might have open locker
room after practice you usually do, so you can certainly
go directly to the source. Just strictly from an injury standpoint,

(02:22:56):
on the report, Hollywood Brown, who runs, probably runs a
pretty good chance of being activated and on their roster
for this game. One of the guys they thought they
might be counting on this year, but injury has had
him sideline the entire year, the shoulder injury. He's a
full participant at practice for the second straight day. Practice
window is open, but they wouldn't need to activate him

(02:23:18):
on Friday in order to have him on their active
roster in game on Saturday. So we'll find out more
about that before we call it a week. Most of
the other players involved also will for all participants involved
with injury. Harrison Butker, who is still dealing with that
left knee injury, but he was activated last week and
was their acting placekicker. Mister Fieldgal made us extra points.

(02:23:38):
Mahomes with the ankle injury, it's a high ankle sprain
he suffered late in the game against the Browns. He
did not return to the game. They also didn't need
him too because they were playing the Browns and we're
up by fourteen points. Texans side of things, Maybe there's
a little bit more concern about one other player. I
figured the Texans would probably be without three guys this week.
Fully fought Akasi, who left last week game with an

(02:24:00):
ankle injury, didn't practice yesterday, did not practice today. Yesterday's practice,
to be truthful, was merely an estimation of a player's
participation in practice was more of a walkthrough. Juice Scruggs,
who missed last game with a foot injury, is expected
to miss this game similarly with that foot injury, and
he has not practiced this week. Katee Stover had the
emergency appendectomy last Saturday evening. Thus he missed the game

(02:24:24):
against the Dolphins, and I think the timeline for his
full recovery will have him also sidelined this week.

Speaker 3 (02:24:31):
He has not practiced this week due to that illness.

Speaker 2 (02:24:34):
But John Metchi the third who was pretty used, I
guess for their game last week. He and Robert Woods
both serving in different looks that they were giving the
Dolphins as the third wide receiver with Tank Dell and
Nico Collins. Late in the game, you saw a few
more snaps for Xavier Hutchinson, and you might see even

(02:24:55):
more with Mechi not practicing either day this week due
to his shoulder injury. So that's something to definitely keep
an eye on. Joe Mixon did practice today. They list
him as a limited participant, but he is very very
likely to play. I would say he said as much yesterday,
and the way he was out there today from what
I saw from others as I was not there, I

(02:25:16):
think he's good to go and probably can expect without
a recurrence of the injury and a third hip drop tackle,
I imagine he'll be seeing a very similar workload to
most weeks offensive line. They made a move today. They
did activate Kenyon Green. The shoulder injury that had him
on IR had him missing all the games since he

(02:25:36):
was hurt against the New York Jets when their quarterback C. J.
Stroud fell on his shoulder. He's out on the active
roster now, so he could be active for the game,
but it's not a guarantee that he will be. It
could provide them some depth opens the door for potential
change in the offensive line. We'll get to that in

(02:25:57):
a second. First, the reigning AFC Defensive Player of the
Week is Derek Singley Junior, coming off of another great performance,
he also had two interceptions. He played a great game
with or without the interceptions, but five of them have
him at the top of the team's chart, along with
Kaylen Bullock.

Speaker 3 (02:26:14):
Since he entered the league.

Speaker 2 (02:26:15):
His eleven interceptions or among the five most of any
player in this league. So he's certainly taken to playing
cornerback at the NFL level very well. His defensive coordinator
is Matt Burke. He was on the podium today talking
about Sting.

Speaker 9 (02:26:29):
I never take for granted all everything these guys do,
And you know, it's been cool to see staying like
always special talent, and but just to see the level
of play kind of start to really rise up to
that matchup consistently play and play out like he's.

Speaker 3 (02:26:45):
He's he's becoming.

Speaker 9 (02:26:46):
A very very special player force and obviously I think
like an elite level corner in this league.

Speaker 3 (02:26:50):
So but I never take any that for granted.

Speaker 9 (02:26:52):
Man, I'm in all of everything these guys do here,
so I don't take what he does for granted.

Speaker 3 (02:26:57):
He makes it look easy, but it's not.

Speaker 2 (02:27:00):
Definitely wasn't easy to basically steal that second interception. The
ball was in the hands of Tyreek Hill for sure.
His first interception. I've watched a bunch of times, and
I just I can't really figure out what Tua was
thinking there. I understand he threw into coverage on the
second one. It's late in the games. The first play
of what should be or could be a two minute drive.
They're down eight points. They were gonna push the ball

(02:27:21):
down the field. The Texans certainly thought they were, and
that's exactly what happened. Throwing at Stingley as a risk,
and the ball was slightly underthrown. He was able to
pull it away from Hill. The first interception in the
red zone. Also throwing at Hill. It's not a very
good decision and not a very good throw. You couple
those two things together, and Derek Stingley Junior rather easily
picked that one off.

Speaker 3 (02:27:42):
I keep watching it and.

Speaker 2 (02:27:43):
Wondering what exactly he saw there, why exactly that was
where the play was designed to go and that part
of the field. But certainly the Texans will take it.
One other notes or notes I guess on Derek Stingley
the announced today as the AFC Defensive Player of the Week.
He's the first player franchise history at least five interceptions
now in back to back seasons, got career highs across

(02:28:05):
the board, seventeen passes defense for TFLs and last week's game.
I am amazed that this had not happened before. I mean,
seems like there's been a lot of football played and
it would come up. He was the first corner in
NFL history to have a two interception game coupled with
two TFLs in the same game. I just didn't realize

(02:28:29):
that was something that a player in the secondary grant
at a corner. Grabbing TFLs is not necessarily an everyday occurrence.
But he's been very good and run support all throughout
the season, and against the Dolphins, it actually presents itself
a little bit more often. They throw non north south
passes a lot east west passes behind.

Speaker 3 (02:28:49):
The line of scrimmage.

Speaker 2 (02:28:50):
At the line of scrimmage, it is kind of an
extension of their passing game, the amount of times they
target mostert or eight chan out of the backfield, even
John hus Smith close to the line of scrimmage. It
afforded Derrick Stinglely Junior to go ahead and go up
there and make those plays, which he did. Also, kudos
to him the Kenyan Green situation. I said, we're here
for Bobby slowk on that his thoughts about their offensive

(02:29:13):
line moving into this game on Saturday.

Speaker 16 (02:29:15):
Yeah, I mean, we'll see what happens as we go
through the week. You know, I think there's always moving
pieces with who's healthy as we keep going through practice,
and who's not. But I thought Titus to the a
heck of a job in what was a tough situation
last week, asking him to bump inside, and really I
thought he played a heck of a game on the inside.
He had, you know, one or two things here there
that's just a little different when you go from from

(02:29:35):
tackle to guard. How fast it is on the inside,
how quick things happen. But he adjusted, I want to say,
within like six snaps, and he was rolling. He played
really well, which was which was really cool to see.
In credit to.

Speaker 2 (02:29:46):
Him, All those six snaps are now in the rearview mirror,
so hopefully each of the snaps he takes this coming
week are He's good to go. I don't run the team.
I certainly don't run the offense, and they don't pay me.
But the same offensive line they played against the Mia
Dolphins is the one they should be playing on Saturday.
I think it's pretty obvious, and I am I'm gonna
give the Texans a little bit of credit for recognizing

(02:30:07):
that beforehand. I believe they will know that. I believe
they will do that. It's a very different group of
pass rushers, and coach Spagnola runs their defense quite differently
than what the Dolphins do. I think the Dolphins probably
are a little underrated up front because their sack numbers
are so low. Two of the four players they put
out there on nearly every snap, chop Robinson and Siler,
are very good players. Chop Robinson turned out to be

(02:30:29):
one of the best defensive rookies in this class. And
you know, Blake Fisher did a pretty good job against him.
A lot of his day was spent against chop Robinson,
sometimes with help but sometimes without. I thought he accounted
for him pretty well. And looking at one play in
particular that I've pointed out a few times since Sunday,
and you know, the final snap of the game for
the Texans on offense before the kneel downs, you know,

(02:30:51):
they had an opportunity to consider, you know, dropping back
and throwing the ball on that third down versus running
the ball and obviously making Miami do what they needed
to do there with the time on the clock, and
they chose to go for it and with the pass,
which I plot that's how you win a football game
if the other team has fewer points than you, and

(02:31:11):
you have the football.

Speaker 3 (02:31:13):
Guess what they can't win.

Speaker 2 (02:31:15):
I'm almost always in favor, and they were far enough
down the field, they weren't so deep in their own territory.

Speaker 3 (02:31:20):
It was also only third down.

Speaker 2 (02:31:22):
Go ahead, win the game. You get the first down,
the game's over, you go into victory formation. You never
give the ball back to their offense to it and
I have an opportunity for some miracle play. You don't
have to potentially run into the wrath of the officials
who want to call pass interference. There was pretty much
a jail break on that play. Laramie Tunsel, I think
had his block on the left side. The Dolphins ran

(02:31:42):
a very good stunt up the middle, and that's where
the two guys up front got vibes actually hit by
a third guy was CJ. And they got the sack
one of those plays instead of ten of those plays.
That's what was happening a few weeks back. Only one
such play this time we got. In case you missed it,
that's coming your way.

Speaker 1 (02:32:01):
Next the eighteen on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 2 (02:32:07):
But I'm gonna tell you about top Dog fireworks right now.
The celebration season, Holidays season, New Year's is a foot,
head on over to Top Dog Fireworks and get your
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Speaker 3 (02:32:24):
I've seen it.

Speaker 2 (02:32:25):
It's massive, full first warehouse wall to your left. You
will see them one hundred booming choices at any one
of the locations here in Houston for Top Dog Fireworks.
You can find those locations by visiting Topdog Fireworks dot com.
So you find one of their fourteenth sparkling locations near you.
You can enjoy twenty five percent off of everything that

(02:32:47):
includes the buy one, get one items.

Speaker 3 (02:32:50):
You can spend two hundred and fifty bucks, and then
you get to light up the night with a free
firework valued at eighty nine to ninety nine.

Speaker 2 (02:32:55):
And again when you head on into the store, when
you visit one of the Top Dog Fireworks locations and
you see those massive fireworks, go ahead and crank up
that QR code and you can watch exactly what it does.
Top Dog Fireworks say with a boom at Top Dog Fireworks.

Speaker 10 (02:33:12):
Nice stream Davis talking about frog Baseball House Strike one.

Speaker 11 (02:33:17):
Hey you dummies.

Speaker 10 (02:33:18):
Listen to Astros baseball and Rockets basketball games on any
device with the free I Heart Radio app.

Speaker 2 (02:33:28):
Five point thirty. It is the eight team, Wex and
Dan here with you. Great to be spending some time
with both Jeff Blama and Vanessa Richson earlier this afternoon
from Space City Home Network. And hope you guys are
continuing to enjoy our simulcast each and every weekday afternoon
from three to six right there on Space City Home Network.

(02:33:48):
But this is a part of the day where we
hit you with in case you missed it. I actually
feel like there's a fairly important in case you missed
it involving the Astros in their third base spot from
News of the Day.

Speaker 10 (02:33:59):
Yes, yes there is, because I know you and Blummer
of course broke down the news that came down earlier
of the Mark fineciand report that Nolan Aernaudo said, no,
I'm not going there. Well some context to it. Katie
Wu of The Athletic said that, per sources, part of
Aeronado's decision was from a preference to not make a
decision this early in the off season. It's unclear whether

(02:34:21):
the Astros will continue to pursue Aeronauto or pivot to
other options, So basically it's not a hard no. Is
pretty much what her reporting is, and Chandler Rome even
goes a step further to say, yeah, that's the case.

Speaker 3 (02:34:35):
This is not end things.

Speaker 2 (02:34:36):
Yeah, I did question that when I first read that
Katie covers the Cardinals for the Athletic. Of course, Chandler,
you know very well it'll be with us for some
period of time tomorrow or excuse me, Friday. I'll also
spend some time on the Matt Thomas Show. You've heard
a bunch of him lately, and for good reason. Baseball season,
and to covers the Astros in Major League Baseball, also
for the Athletic. It is interesting that that would be

(02:34:59):
the the stance taken by a player knowing I mean,
I'm all for doing what's best for you, and that's
kind of clearly what it would appear Nolan Aeronaudo is doing.

Speaker 3 (02:35:10):
It leaves the.

Speaker 2 (02:35:11):
Teams involved more the Astros than the Cardinals, I think,
in a weird situation. I mean, the Cardinals were looking
to move him for reasons that have little to do
with what's out there in free agency at the top end.
The Astros were looking to acquire him seemingly much more
to do with what is out there in free agency.
I think the Astros envision a very productive, winning division

(02:35:35):
title season in twenty twenty five, and orchestrating a deal
to completion with Nolan Aeronauto would help them do that.
Having that deal hang out in limbo, so to speak,
it puts them in a very weird place. As we
told you, they are still involved and Astros are still
involved in negotiations for Alex Bregman. He still remains unsigned

(02:35:57):
by any of his pursuers, and they I didn't technically get,
according to the reports from Katie and Chandler, an.

Speaker 3 (02:36:04):
Absolute hard no.

Speaker 2 (02:36:06):
It's a no for now on December eighteenth, twenty twenty four.

Speaker 3 (02:36:11):
Very interesting.

Speaker 10 (02:36:12):
Well, I mean it's almost kind of it feels like
it's a little bit of preservation on Aeronado's end, if
you don't want to be known as the guy that
turned it down. But it's also too the Astro side,
you can't sit and wait like that's where it's just
kind of a okay, you know, thanks for your somewhat interest,
We've got to move on.

Speaker 11 (02:36:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:36:28):
I don't know if it even opens the door really
for the Cardinals to pursue a different trade that he
might say yes to, or he might say no to.
Depending on where that team sits on his no trade
clause list. So yeah, it's not what I expected today.
I certainly actually didn't expect to know of any kind
for Marinado. An opportunity to leave where you clearly don't

(02:36:49):
want to be, and an opportunity to play in Houston
for the Astros with Jose al Tuvey and Jordan Alvarez
and in a division that you're gonna be at least
as competitive as you were the Cardinals for most of
the time there. So that was a little bit surprising.
But the endgame has not been reached.

Speaker 8 (02:37:05):
What else?

Speaker 11 (02:37:06):
All Right?

Speaker 10 (02:37:07):
So I think I've given you the concept of the
pay no Mind list before, and I think probably on
your pay no Mind list it would be Danny Cane
when it comes to anything college football, provided.

Speaker 2 (02:37:17):
Unless I need something for two thirty weekday afternoons.

Speaker 10 (02:37:21):
There you go, then we can pay mind at that time.
But I have somebody on my list. And there's been
a topic going around with the reports of NBA viewership
being down, the league's popularity seems to be by the
wayside right now. Jason McIntyre of The Herd is on
my list because they were talking that very topic on
the show and just get a load of this take

(02:37:43):
from him.

Speaker 7 (02:37:44):
His take probably won't be very popular.

Speaker 3 (02:37:46):
Let's start.

Speaker 7 (02:37:47):
I would argue that Inside the NBA, the show that
everybody loves, has done more damage to the NBA in
the last decade than anything. Forget about this woke and
left and right now. Inside the NBA goes on every
week and just trash's player trashes the style of play. Colin,
You look at any other show MLB Network, NFL network,
these shows that are network. We're all positive, we're excited,

(02:38:09):
we're talking about the games. Inside the NBA. They just
hammer the players. Charles Barkley's on TV. The Rockets are
in the final four for that NBA Cup. Oh, the
Rockets don't know how to play basketball.

Speaker 3 (02:38:18):
They stink, they don't know what they're doing. What are
you doing.

Speaker 7 (02:38:21):
You're damaging your product on a nightly basis, hammering it.

Speaker 3 (02:38:26):
So you disagree, all right?

Speaker 10 (02:38:29):
So just on basically the crux of his point right there,
I'll go ahead and tell you what the difference is
between Inside the NBA and those other shows.

Speaker 3 (02:38:37):
Those other shows are boring.

Speaker 10 (02:38:39):
That's the biggest thing inside the NBA, if anything, is
the complete opposite, It brings the casual fans in because
I would probably venture to guess right now, with the
lack of star player star power in the game, that
people say, oh it's on TNT, I'll watch. I want
to hear what Chack Kenny and also Charles have to
say about this.

Speaker 2 (02:38:58):
Yeah, that's there's no question that that is correct in
my opinion, what you're saying about it. I don't dispute
that they could it could be less of a concern
for the NBA, because I guarantee you it is a
concern and it has been a concern all these years.
Some of the things that are said there that are
extremely negative about the league. But McIntire's almost doing the

(02:39:21):
exact same thing Charles is doing. They how long is
inside the NBA on on any given night when when
they have a doubleheader, you got you know, thirty to
forty five minutes of pregame covers, they're there again at halftime,
you got another forty five minutes to an hour plus
some nights for postgame coverage couple hours. So Charles Barkley
said that, and guess what it was. It was probably
met with the other guys either agreeing with him or

(02:39:42):
disagreeing with him for one portion of their multiple hours
out there.

Speaker 3 (02:39:47):
Charles says, those things we brought up.

Speaker 2 (02:39:49):
Brought this up on the show earlier this week when
he actually said it, or last week when it was said, um,
he doesn't watch the games. He was watching that night's game.
McIntyre's paying no mind to the program itself, the entertainment
value of the product. They're appealing to NBA fans, people
who either want to watch basketball or as you described,

(02:40:10):
some more casual fans watching it specifically because this group
is talking about it, is he aware of the recent
negotiations and lawsuit. If this was damaging their product, then
it would not have been We have to save this
for the future of our TV contracts. They basically told

(02:40:31):
TNT to get lost, even though it's in your contract
to have an opportunity to match these new media rights
deals that we've signed. And because they brought up a lawsuit,
because they wanted to find a solution, and because they
want to make more money.

Speaker 3 (02:40:43):
They're putting them on their most important.

Speaker 2 (02:40:46):
Network for coverage on ESPN and ABC in the future
after this season runs out. So as per usual, I agree,
mister McIntyre, is incorrect.

Speaker 10 (02:40:57):
All right, real quick, here a bunch of big of
quarterbacks in the NFL. Michael Pennix Junior is now in
for Kirk Cousins in Atlanta, Mason Rudolph in for will
Levis and Tennessee, and Dorian Thompson Robinson is the new
signal caller for the Browns.

Speaker 3 (02:41:14):
No more Jameis Winston. Would you call it a benching
in New Orleans?

Speaker 2 (02:41:18):
When Spencer Rattler runs out with the first unit this weekend,
it should be Derek carrs awful well, Jake Hamer's playing
for Derek Carr was even worse, so I would assume.
I don't think coach Ritzi has announced it, but I
believe Spencer Rattler will be starting this upcoming game for
the New Orleans Saints.

Speaker 3 (02:41:35):
I mean, it's Monday night football, after all, you'd like
to show yourself very well.

Speaker 2 (02:41:39):
Probably be another couple of quarterback changes this week, also
for other reasons, but yeah, the big one is Kirk Cousins.
They've played some awful football of late, all while they're
still have an opening to win their own division. About time, Atlanta,
what's one good decision this year?

Speaker 1 (02:41:59):
The age on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 2 (02:42:10):
If you were listening last segment, you heard one of
the items. In case you missed it, it was relating
to the change of quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons. The
last couple of games for Kirk Cousins were rather disastrous,
throwing the ball to the other team far too often,
not generating a whole lot of offense, and just general
malaise for the team as they've won once in those

(02:42:32):
five starts. Immediately after the game, or He Morris was
asked about it the next day and said, hey, man,
we just got done with this game. You know, we
got to evaluate things. Did kind of leave the door
open again when asked if there'd be a quarterback change,
and then the next day they did make it official.
He said that they're going to make a change of quarterback.
Kirk Cousins will now sit, and their rookie first round

(02:42:54):
pick number eight overall, Michael.

Speaker 3 (02:42:56):
Pennock Junior, will start.

Speaker 2 (02:42:58):
Michael met with the media today not too long ago
in Atlanta and Dan, You'll have to think really, really
hard about this is not a trick question, but you're
going to have to really focus. If I were to
tell you I am a huge, huge, Michael Pennock junior
fan because of the answer he gave to the question

(02:43:22):
when asked.

Speaker 3 (02:43:23):
Where he was when he got the news? What do
you think?

Speaker 2 (02:43:26):
His answer was, Oh God, I really really appreciated the
answer about his whereabouts when he got the news that
he was going to be the starting quarterback waffle House.
That's an awesome guess. You're definitely on the right wavelength.
But why I am a huge fan of Michael Penix
junior is because he bought a hot dog for one

(02:43:48):
dollar and fifty cents because he was at Costco when
he got the news, told.

Speaker 3 (02:43:53):
The media he was at Costco.

Speaker 2 (02:43:54):
Today, he says he looks up to Kirk, he looks
forward to the opportunity and we'll see what happens movie forward.
I hope everybody got their phill of Michael Pennix junior
in his college career at multiple places successful went on
the field, successful enough to have played his last college
football game right here in Houston, the national title game
with the Huskies taking on the Wolverines, just a little

(02:44:17):
bit after he had taken the Horns out of the
postseason last year. Was absolutely spectacular in that game, less
so against the Michigan defense, but that Washington team was loaded.
You've seen a bunch of their players rookies this year
in the NFL doing some pretty good things, and I
hope that he is next. A lot of chatter about

(02:44:39):
what they did this offseason, though, and I still can't
get them off the hook for it. It's all well
and good that they drafted their quarterback of the future
with the number eight pick, and where the team to
take a chance on an older, very injured college quarterback
because they believed in him. That is kind of what
you're supposed to do if you don't have an answer
at quarterback. Well, they technically didn't have an answer at quarterback,

(02:45:01):
but they spent non guaranteed one hundred and sixty million
dollars to get an answer, long before the draft and
long after most of your.

Speaker 3 (02:45:12):
Draft process have been completed.

Speaker 2 (02:45:15):
They spent one hundred and sixty million dollars, again not guaranteed,
and they certainly won't pay one hundred and sixty million
now for Kirk Cousins this off season in free agency.
Free agency opens before the draft, the combine has taken place,
the visits, not all of them pro days, not all
of them will take place in and around If not

(02:45:37):
before that time, don't you have a pretty good idea
that you've fallen in love with one of the draftable
quarterbacks you already knew you had the eighth pick in
the draft, go ahead and just don't spend big money,
whether or now it turns out to be a fear
a year, everybody's trying to calculate the way out of
the Kirk Cousins deal, and it's actually not awful. Maybe

(02:45:58):
in the neighborhood of twenty seven and a half million.
If they cut him and have that June first designation,
with the bonus involved and the amount of guaranteed money
that he's due, it's not the end of the world.
And they could probably manipulate their way around the cap
even with it. And they just don't have any reason
for him if Michael Penick Junior works out.

Speaker 3 (02:46:18):
And that's where I have a little bit of.

Speaker 2 (02:46:19):
A problem with the commentary from people today saying, look,
stop crapping on the falcons for what they did see
where they are now, that's why.

Speaker 3 (02:46:28):
They picked him.

Speaker 2 (02:46:29):
Okay, Well, he hasn't played yet. Who's to say he's
going to be good? Things are so bad with Kirk Cousins.
No surprise to me that they have to make this move.
They don't know that Michael Pennock Junior is going to
be great. They don't know that he's even gonna get
him to the playoffs. They don't even know if they're
gonna win any games with him at quarterback. Presumably based
on their schedule, they probably will. But that's how compelled

(02:46:52):
they are to say we cannot keep playing Kirk Cousins anymore.

Speaker 3 (02:46:56):
Absolutely a perfect.

Speaker 2 (02:46:57):
Fit for today's edition of our signature segment. The Falcons said,
ain't nobody got time for this anymore with Kirk Cousins,
and so they have made this change. It's been a
really successful year for this group of rookie draft picks,
even with what's going on in Chicago with Caleb Williams,
the number one overall pick, where their defense has turned

(02:47:18):
into one of the worst units in the NFL. The
moment they've told Matt Eberflis to get lost. Their offense
has been total in total disarray since the sixth game
of the season, if not sooner. Remember the Bears were
four and two. They've lost every game since, and Caleb
Williams hasn't thrown an interception in any of them, and
they still can't win. I don't think he is the problem.

(02:47:39):
I definitely think he could be playing better, but he's
a rookie with an awful offensive line. I kind of
get it. I'm not sour on Caleb Williams moving forward.
I just think things who have gone a little bit
more smoothly for his development. Now, run through the rest
of the list of quarterbacks in the first round that
have gotten on the field. The number two pick is
going to the playoffs. Jayden Daniels with the Commanders has

(02:47:59):
been excellent. He's thrown the ball way way better than
people are giving credit for because they're still looking at
him as a guy who extends plays with his feet runs,
but he's made.

Speaker 3 (02:48:09):
Some really nice throws.

Speaker 2 (02:48:10):
He's been a lot of plays, and he's also kind
of had three different seasons dynamo out of the gate,
a little bit of a lull in the middle, and
it looks like things are picking back up again.

Speaker 3 (02:48:20):
And his connection with Terry McLaurin is phenomenal.

Speaker 2 (02:48:22):
To have a receiver like that in your first year
and probably for many years to come, that's huge. Drake
May Patriots offensive line is so bad they didn't want
to put him out at the beginning of the season,
so they decided to put him out there against the
Texans first first start, one of the most disruptive, deadly
pass rushes in the NFL. Yeah, three interceptions or three
turnovers that day, and everything's been fine since they don't

(02:48:46):
have a great offense. He hasn't been great yet, but
that looks like the right pick to me. That looks
like it was a quarterback worth saying. I think this
guy is the right guy. I think this is a
guy we can build around. And they put him on
the field for the final eleven twelve games of their season.
We'll see what happens the next couple of weeks. Michael
Pennix Junior was the eighth pick. This will be his
first real playing opportunity seen the field, but hasn't really

(02:49:07):
played with any great time.

Speaker 3 (02:49:10):
And then the last of those guys is bon Nicks.
His team is going to the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (02:49:13):
All seven AFC teams could have their playoff berths clinched
by the end of this weekend, and that includes Bonnicks
and the Broncos. He comes off a three interception game
against the Colts which they won and scored thirty one points.
He's made mistakes, and usually in those same games, he's
made enough plays to overcome it. Colts helped him out
quite a bit by throwing a touchdown pass to the

(02:49:35):
Broncos defense and by taking points off the board when
Jonathan Taylor decided to drop the ball before he got
to the goal line. But all that being said, Bears, Commis, Patriots, Broncos,
they all drafted their quarterback of the future in hopes
they would do that, and I think they all got
it right. There's a lot of season left and we

(02:49:57):
were here not that long ago, try one year ago
with CJ. Stroud, it was a given at this point
in the season they drafted the right guy.

Speaker 3 (02:50:05):
I haven't changed my mind.

Speaker 2 (02:50:06):
I think the majority of people of Houston haven't changed
their mind based on what they've seen this year with CJ.
But there are some out there who wonder, Okay, well, now,
now he's had a good year in a not so
quite good year, let's wait and see, let's reevaluate. The
playoffs also haven't come yet. Let's see what the CJ.
Stroud leed Houston Texans do this postseason. The guy drafted
right in front of him. Awful rookie season, awful start

(02:50:30):
to year two, they benched him. Now Bryce Young is
playing perfectly good football, not necessarily put the team on
his back, and they're gonna win a bunch of games.
Team's not super talented, definitely looks like there's a chance
he could actually play. Hope you enjoyed the program today.
Love putting it together for you and bringing it to you.
Appreciate Vanessa Richardson joining us, Todd Lebo from Kansas City

(02:50:51):
joining us, and of course Jeff Plum spending three hours
with us. We'll get started to get tomorrow. At two o'clock,
I'm heading to.

Speaker 3 (02:50:57):
Go see Cougar's hoops.

Speaker 8 (02:50:59):
Now the A team won Sports Talk seven ninety

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