October 24, 2023 • 38 mins
On this edition of the Crawford Boxcast, Ross Villarreal and Chris Gordy react to the Astros season coming to an end with an ALCS Game 7 loss to the Rangers. Where do the Astros go from here as they head into the postseason?
With rumors abound that Dusty Baker will be departing, who should the Astros target as their next manager? What should they do with their roster management? Will they have TOO MUCH starting pitching next season? We address all of it on the Crawford Boxcast, presented by Karbach Brewing and the Crawford Bock.
With rumors abound that Dusty Baker will be departing, who should the Astros target as their next manager? What should they do with their roster management? Will they have TOO MUCH starting pitching next season? We address all of it on the Crawford Boxcast, presented by Karbach Brewing and the Crawford Bock.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:09):
Astros fans cheers, Rocky Lucky.Welcome to the Crawford box Casts as proud
lead Ford for you by Crawford Bachfrom Carmak Brewey. You're getting da bear.
Oh my godness, the Crawford boxcast starts. Now here we go.
(00:30):
Here's Chris Gordy and Ross Viel andthis is the Crawford box Cast.
Welcome in is a Unfortunately, Sparky'snot getting wet right now. It is
an end of the Astro season episodeof the Crawford box Cast. Chris Gordy
here along with Ross Viel. Asthe Astros lose in ALCS Game seven,
(00:54):
they were one win away from athird straight trip to the World Series.
Unfortunately, the hated Techs Rangers showedup and made Minute Made Park their home,
winning all four games at Minute MayPark in the series. The Askers
did win all three at Global LifeField, but Ross I joked about it
on Tuesday. I said, man, somebody should have maybe burst a water
(01:17):
maine or something at Minute Made Parkand should have went, oh, guys,
we can't play this game here.We're gonna have to go play elsewhere
because so odd. The Astros justdid not play well. At their home
for so many weeks here. Yeah, that'll be one of the stories at
the I mean, well, Iguess we are at the end of the
year. But one of the storylinesof the whole season when we reflect black
(01:38):
on twenty twenty three, is thatfor whatever reason they don't seem to know,
Dusty Baker didn't seem to know,the players didn't seem to know,
because they could come up with areason, they would have fixed it and
they would have started winning at home. But they couldn't get it done.
I just couldn't. I guess I'mgonna have to continue to chalk it up
to one of those things unless they'regonna go ahead next year and start losing
all their games at minute made.But fifty five wins minute May last year,
(02:00):
only forty out of eighty seven gamesone at minute May this year.
Bottom line was though, you comehome with a three to two lead in
the series, and somehow, someway, they were the first team in
major American sports to lose four gamesat home in a seven game series in
twenty nineteen, and they've done itagain. I mean, it's difficult to
(02:23):
wrap my head around. But whenyou look at these last two games you
got out scored twenty to six.The Rangers flat out were better. They
played better, they pitched better,they hit better, all of those things.
They're the deserving, as much asit hurts to say, representatives of
the American League at the World Series. And the Astros are now off for
the offseason, which has a lotof question marks itself as we sit here
(02:46):
now towards the end of October waitingto watch the rest of the season play
out, but the Astros definitely withsome needs to address in this upcoming offseason.
Yeah, was to twenty seventeen.They are a better road team that
year than home team. I mean, it's so weird. So many times
throughout this great run, the Astroshave struggled to win big games at home
(03:06):
where they've been better on the road. The only exception I can remember is
the seventeen ALCS where the Astros Ithink it was every home team the home
team went against the Yankees. Butnonetheless, Yeah, it stings. And
what's crazy, Ross is you lookat the run differential. Game one,
Astros score, they get shut out, Game two, they score four,
(03:27):
Game six, they score two.In Game seven they score four. They
scored more runs in all three gamesin Texas, they score eight, ten,
and five. I mean, it'sit's just crazy to think that,
like they felt more at home andGlobalife Field, the offense did than they
did at at home. But generaltakeaways from what we saw in the game
the other night, I mean,there really was not just one thing that
(03:51):
went wrong for the Astros on Mondaynight. It was it was a combination
of a little bit of everything,from Christian Haavier not being able to give
you even an inning of work,to you know, almost every arm that
came out of the bullpen gave upa run, and you know, the
decisions to not walk a dol Scarcia, to you know, Martin Maldonado continue
to take big at bats in agame where you needed to score a bunch
(04:13):
of runs, where you're already ina six run deficit. It just there
was no one thing that went wrongfor the Astros on Monday. It was
everything. Yeah, it was everything. I mean, it's like a Christian
Javier. We saw all this talkright off season l Repteel He's cold blooded,
he's got no pulls, He's theguy you want on the mound.
They said that all the right thingsbefore Game three and they're like, yeah,
we're down, we got our backsagainst the wall, but we got
(04:33):
Javier on the mound. We're good. They said the same thing before Game
seven, and it's just one ofthose things. I mean, Christian Javier
for the rest of his major leaguecareer might not have a start barring injury
where he only recorded one out.I mean, what a disaster. It's
like it's like you like trained formonths for a marathon or something to set
(04:54):
your best time, and you ripyour acl like in the first half mile,
Like that's what it felt like.Like. We're all geared up for
Game seven, We're ready to go, and it's just a complete disaster from
the word go for the Astros,almost similar to a way and what you
got in Game two where from Ravaldezwas just all of a sudden, before
(05:14):
you blinked, the Rangers were upfor nothing in that game. So just
out of the get go from theword go, and really, Gordon,
doesn't it feel like that's been oneof the stories of this team when they've
been struggled. How many times werethey behind? How many times this year
where they were able to pull outwins like in game number five. They
just are giving up three four runsin the first couple of innings, and
it's like, well, now we'vegot to scratch and claw our way back,
(05:38):
and now we have to fight back. And then fortunately you continue to
get in those holes, you're notgoing to be able to climb out of
them enough. And that's what itwas for the Astros. And on the
yeah, I mean, maybe youwalk a Doulascar. See at that point
in the fourth inning when JP Franceis struggling and he can't find the strike
zone, and you're like, youknow what, two balls, go ahead
(05:59):
and walk a Dollascars. But thenyou're saying that's also at the same token,
you're saying, this guy can't findthe strike zone, let's load the
bases. So I probably would havewalked him in that scenario. I don't
know if it makes a difference.And then yeah, on the Martin Maldonado
getting pinch hit four. Bottom lineis Dusty when it's convenient for him,
he goes to the numbers, andthe numbers say, at least this year
(06:23):
Martin Maldonado is better against lefties thanyan your Diaz. But I understand that
one as well. Y On yourDas is the more talented hitter, Yan,
your Diaz is the better overall hitter. But you were facing Jordan Montgomery,
the lefty, And at the endof the day, I'm gonna go
ahead and say it kind of didn'teven matter you gave up. You only
scored four runs in the whole game, right, and three were given up
(06:45):
by Javier who you were gonna givewho you were gonna pitch no matter what,
and then two were given up byBrian A. Bray, you bestial
reliever. So even if you takeout everything else that happened, I mean,
you lose that game five to four, and of course you can't five
different pitchers giving Upright, just absolutedisaster, disaster, class performance from the
(07:05):
Astros these two games. Unfortunately,to to lose this series to the Rangers.
Yeah, and look, it's italso stinks who you lose to.
Right, If this was the ball, this let's go Rangers chance on the
minute made at minute made park,it hurt. Yeah. If this had
been the Baltimore Orioles, I thinkwe would have went. Look best,
they had the best record in theAmerican League much of the year, great
(07:29):
young team that just everything hit rightfor him, and hey, best of
luck to you guys. It sucksto loose to you, but hey,
good luck to you in the WorldSeries. Not these d bags from from
Dallas, Like, we're not nobody'srooting for them. We're not rooting cheering
for them. And if that wasso weird, I know you were at
the game. I was there fora bit and then listening on the broadcast
for a little bit, listening tothe radio, and I happen to flip
(07:51):
over to the TV broadcast at onepoint and I think it was was it
the the play by play guy orwas it who's my guy that was in
the Astros dugout Tom Verducci. Wellhe brought that up. But then one
of somebody said, hockey and notroot for Dulas Garcia. I mean,
look at this guy when he hejust puts a smile on your face and
(08:13):
I'm going, who, Like,he looks like the biggest d bag of
them all with the you know,over celebrating on every home run. And
look, kudos to him. Hekilled the Astros. He did, he
deserves to do it. Me personally, I'll take the jose L Tuve crush
a home run, put his headdown run the bases and you know,
(08:33):
just know, I'm I'm really goodand I don't need to over celebrate.
But nonetheless, like I was justso off putting, like, oh,
didn't this guy put a smile onyour face? No, I hope he
loses, and I hope the wholeTexas Rangers group loses in the World Series.
But yeah, what what really isweird here Ross is the dynamic And
we'll get into start to transition alittle bit into the off season for the
(08:56):
Astros, the Astros bringing back themajority of their roster next year. You
know, I was talking to somepeople today who say, ah, this
Rangers team, man, they're gonnabe a problem for years to come.
And I said, okay, butthe Astors are also going to be a
problem for them for years to come. The Astros are still very much set
up in this window of opportunity here, and you know, Rangers actually lose
a good bit. They have aboutlike a dozen or so free agents that
(09:18):
are going to come off this team. I compared it almost to you know,
this is this Rangers team reminds mea little bit more of that Cubs
team. Remember when the Cubs wonit, and then like within a year
or two, almost half the rosterwas gone. It wouldn't surprise me if
that happens to this Rangers team,Whereas the Astros have done a great job
of, you know, growing theirfarm, developing guys and having guys behind
(09:39):
guys, so when you lose guysin free agency, you can replace them.
We'll see, time will tell,but I do know those matchups with
the Rangers next year are going tobe a little extra spicy. Now,
yeah, I would say, honestly, no, I do think the Rangers,
if we're like just setting odds rightnow, they'd be the favorite for
the American League West, because,yeah, they do have a lot of
(10:00):
free agents. The Martine Perezes,Jordan Montgomery, Max Scherzer is under control
right but our old As Chapman isa free agent, so they are going
to have to Conch Garver, ChrisStratton, Robbie Grossman, Travis Jankowska.
I mean, these are guys whoall played, and he's just way more
than what the Astros are gonna lose. But those aren't their core guys.
(10:20):
Our core guys are Marcus Simon,He's gonna be there. Corey Seeger,
I mean Evan Carter is a rookie, and this guy has impressed from the
word go. He's only played basicallya month in change of Major League Baseball.
You figure he's going to get better. Josh Young was a rookie Year
of the Year contender. Is hegonna get better? Leo Leota Turbart.
You're talking about like impact rookies thatcould get better, and we know here
in Houston that doesn't mean they're alwaysgoing to get better, right Jeremy Payne
(10:41):
was what I was gonna say,we're all just assuming, Oh, Evan
Carter's gonna take that huge leap.Now what if he has a Jeremy Payne
you like sophomore season. You knowit's it's we're assuming a lot, but
but you you would expect the stockto go up when with rookies, and
clearly it didn't happen with Jeremy Paynewith the Astros, but they got a
lot of rookies in a Doolas Garciahe did. You do have guys that
(11:03):
hit over their head for the seasonand what you're normally used to Adolas Garcia
among them as well. Depending onwhat kind of advanced statistics you want to
look at, he was somewhat ofan average hitter actually last year than this
year. He hits thirty nine homeruns. Will he go back to Earth
because he's a guy that swings inmisses so much, and did he get
a little bit lucky? Simeon andSeeger were both awful in the first half
(11:24):
of their first seasons as the Rangers, but they were fantastic this year.
So still though, I think withgetting Jake de Gram back and this team
already comprised as it is, andthe fact that they've been willing to spend
money so they probably are going tokeep some key free agents, I probably
make them the favorites of the AmericanLeague West. But that doesn't mean the
Astros aren't going to have a say. Right, you get your guys back,
(11:46):
you get Lance mccullors, you getLouis Garcia. You would imagine the
outfield is going to improve when youshore up, either via trade or free
agency, what you had going onin left field for the majority of this
season. I mean, how manygames I want to say it was like
sixty five to seventy games Corey Jolksstarted for the Astros. Yeah, this
series out in left field in dahor wherever. He was like, you
(12:09):
have a lot of guys that factoredin this season that you don't think are
going to factor in next year.The Ronel Blancos, the Corey Jolkes's,
the Brandon b Lacks. Those typesof guys. So yeah, if they
can get healthy and then they canmake a move or two as well,
for sure, it's going to bebasically one A, one B and then
the Seattle Mariner somewhere in the mix. Probably a three team race for the
West next year. Yeah. Jacobde Grom, by the way, you
(12:31):
know, last pitch in the gameApril twenty eighth, and they'll get him
back. But when you talk aboutthe rotation, okay, it'll be aging
de Grom coming off of injury.He'll be I believe, thirty five,
thirty six. Next year you'll bringMax Scherzer, who's now into his forties.
Nathan Valdi, no spring chicken,he's been around a while, he's
mid thirties. Jordan Montgomery is afree agent, lotle of decision to be
(12:54):
made on him. Andrew Heen He'sgot a thirteen million dollar player option and
I don't think he's turned that down. So he's gonna come back. And
then John Gray, who they spenda lot of money on, he's kind
of been a big disappointment for them. So I'm just saying, like,
Okay, on paper, it lookslike a good rotation, but yeah,
what's your rotation though it's a fortyone year old Verlander, it's a Fromber
that you can't trust in the playoffsor down the stretch of the season.
(13:16):
And then it's a lot of questionmarks. Well, and that's where I
think, you know, the Astros. You know, I was getting into.
Somebody in social media was saying,well, the Astros just need to
move on from a lot of theseguys. That's not how this works.
This isn't the NFL. We can'tjust shed salary like crazy, like roster
cuts. Yeah, this is guaranteedmoney. You're not you know, somebody
was like, just move on fromfrom Javier and Fromber and all this and
(13:41):
go get this guy and that guy, and like, no, it's not
how it works. I'm not gonnago spend forty million a year on Blake
Snell. Like we're not. We'renot doing that. But but what you
do help Ross is that new voicesin the room, new coaches will help
maybe get these guys back on.I mean a track record of Christian Xavier,
(14:01):
who's been a very good big leaguepitcher from ber Valdez a stuff and
has been an ace kind of ofthis staff, and in the absence of
Justin Verlander throughout his Tommy John surgeryand all that, and even at times
with Verlander Fromber's outpitched him at timesin the past. So say all that
to say, we know Dusty Baker, they're moving on. The news came
(14:22):
out literally moments after losing the gamethe other night report from Ken Rosenthal in
The Athletic that there's gonna be inamicable parting of ways that the Astros basically
told Dusty Baker, Hey, we'regonna move in another direction, and Dusty
said, hey, I'm gonna moveon as well, and you know,
we'll wait for the official announcement forthe Yeah. And I think that's the
(14:43):
right way to go. Like,you don't want it to come out that
you're that you're firing Dusty Baker orwhatever. But this thing was always gonna
be sharp short term Ross he wasbrought in as the hired gun when the
cheating scandal came out and they firedaj Hinch. Jim Crane said, we
need somebody to come in and providestability, and ironically, Bruce Pochie was
one of the finalists that they interviewedin that process. But they settled a
(15:05):
Dusty Baker and mission accomplished. Dusty'sdid a great job coming in, keeping
this thing afloat, keeping the championshipwindow open, and look to his Hall
of Fame credit. The one thingmissing on his Hall of Fame resume was
winning a World Series and he finallygot over that hump in twenty twenty two
and got his ring. So,look, you won't look back on the
Dusty Baker years in Houston negatively.I think you'll look back on and say,
(15:30):
overall, he did a really goodjob. Was there things to nitpick
about, Sure, but the guydid a great job and he helped bring
one of the two World Series titlesto Houston, and he'll always be remembered
for that. Yeah, at theend of the day, it was a
successful tenure. Yes, he wasstubborn in parts when maybe he shouldn't have
(15:50):
been, and at the end ofthe day, he kind of just brought
in some of his Folksy old schoolsensibilities, and that's one of the reasons
he was hired because they needed aculture reset, they needed a palate cleanser
after the A. J. Hinchand Jeff Luno analytical driven era. They
wanted somebody that was more likable.They wanted somebody that was going to set
(16:11):
the tone culture wise and bring thatno nonsense old school mentality and also had
the resume. I mean, asfar as resumes go in baseball history,
it's tough to get much better thanDusty Baker what he accomplished as a player
and as a manager. So yeah, thanks to Dusty for everything. We
of course took a lot of callsand tweets and all that type of stuff,
(16:33):
getting all upset about him and MartinMaldemado and Janiar Diez. But I
think on his side, he'll say, hey, Justin Verlander and Christian Xavier
and Farmer Valdez and guys like CarlosCorrea. They sang the praises of Martin
Maldonado as well, so it's notlike it was just Dusty Baker all by
himself. So at the end ofthe day, successful tenure, you go
(16:53):
to two World Series, you winone and you almost went to a third.
Yeah that's a pretty are in goodrun? Could it have been better?
I don't know. I tend tobe one of the philosophy. At
the end of the day, it'sthe players that win and lose these games.
And Dusty Baker didn't tell Christian Aavireto go out there and not get
anybody out in the first inning.So that's really where this series was lost,
(17:17):
at least in terms of Game seven. And they also went two for
fourteen with Runders in scoring position.I can guarantee you Dusty Baker didn't say
for them to do that. Sooverall up and down, rocky tenure for
Dusty Baker, but successful because yougot a World Series ring out of it.
And a lot of people won't rememberthis, but I mean Dusty or
A. J. Hinch, wetook a lot of calls on him,
(17:37):
second guessing decisions he made and yes, you know, you know, leaving
Garrett Hole in the pen, allthat type of stuff. Yeah, that's
the biggest one. But I meaneven like at times, oh he left
Wade Miley in too long. Imean, people, newsflash, whoever the
main manager is, people are gonnagripe about it. I mean New York
Aaron Boone, I don't know howhe's still there. They gripe about him
every little thing he does there forthe Yankee. But nonetheless, now Ross,
(18:02):
we head into an off season wherea big, important decision has to
be made. Here. You know, some people kind of think, oh,
when you got a roster loaded withtalent, it doesn't really manage your
manage or matter who the manager is, And I think that's wrong. I
mean, we look at a Rangersteam that just largely underachieved for the last
six, seven, eight years,and they make you know, they made
(18:23):
some signings, but none bigger thanbringing in Bruce Boche. You go from
not even being in the Division raceto making it to the World Series in
year one. So I just saythat to say, whoever the Astro's next
manager is, it has to bea good one because this championship window is
still open. But you need somebodythat's gonna, you know, click all
(18:45):
the right buttons and be a greatfit. Yeah, Bruce Bochi did a
good job of having a Dolas Garciahaving a career year and getting Corey Seeger
and Marcus Simeon to follow up theirfreshman years and the Rangers and have big
years year. No, I'm justkidding, but I mean it does to
an extent, right, it matters, right, Like you can't just throw
me or you in there and thenit's going to be the exact same Chris
(19:10):
Chris Woodward and just need some levelof a guy that can manage a clubhouse
and all that type of stuff.For sure, you're gonna want certain qualities
that you're gonna find in a manager. Yeah, Chris Woodward and Jeff Banister,
I mean it was it was bad, like those guys did. They
underachieved. Well, Jeff Banister hadwon he won Ale Manager of the Year
in twenty fifteen and I think wona playoff game or two, but that
(19:30):
was about it. I mean ChrisWoodward went was was a sub five hundred
manager. And you know, againBruce Bochi steps in and year one they
win ninety games. So yeah,I mean a J. Hinch is very
successful in Houston and then he goesinto Detroit where the players are worse,
and well he's on his third straightlosing season I think there, although they
were much improved late in the seasonthis year. Yeah, let's let's dive
(19:51):
into just you know where the Astrosgo from here. That the favorite in
the clubhouse ross is going to beJoe Espada. He has been, you
know, the be coach for manyyears now. He was under the aj
Hinch tenure. He is a player'scoach. A lot of guys love him.
Bregman is very close with him.He's close with a lot of the
Latin players as well. They theyhe's very well respected. He's a he's
(20:14):
a coach's a player's coach. Theonly concern with that Ross would be he'd
be a first time manager in chargeof you know, basically having then the
keys to a ferrari to a guysaying here, go get it done.
But also being a player's coach likethat, and everybody loves you will they
also be willing to listen when it'stime for you to be the authoritarian and
(20:36):
put your foot down and go,guys, I know what I'm doing here,
trust me. Joe Spott. Itcould be all that, and again
I think right now he's the favoritein the clubhouse literally the clubhouse to do
it. But there would be there'dbe a few concerns there though, with
a spot a just track record ofnever having done it before being number one.
Yeah, but I mean he's beena bench coach for a long time,
(20:57):
and I mean I wouldn't be toosurprised if he did slot in.
There has been some talk as well. Stephen Vogue is of course a former
catcher, and he's been on theSeattle Mariners staff. People floating that name
around Gabe Kapler. I think it'sprobably a long shot, even though he
seems like a guy that interviews welland very well spoken, but seems like
(21:18):
the players didn't like him in SanFrancisco. There's a number. I think
Bob Melvin might be available again.Well in those types like I don't know
if you saw, yeah, he'she's taken the Giant's job. I don't
know if you saw. Was thatright? Oh? I didn't see that.
I'm sorry. When did that comeout? Like in the last thirty
minutes? Oh? Really, Okay, I guess I missed that. So
there you go, Bob Melvin offthe list. So I don't know exactly
(21:41):
where they're gonna go with what they'regonna go with, but uh, I
mean, as long as it's somebodywho can just run the day to day
of a clubhouse and manage a clubhouseand keep the guys in a good mood
and and not make players. Basically, your job as a manager in twenty
twenty three in baseball is to makeplayers not want to hate coming to the
clubhouse and hang out and be teamlike. Just keep things light, have
(22:02):
fun, bring the guys some chocolateflawn like Dusty Baker's doing, and banana
pudding, and then let the playersdo their thing. And then look at
your to your reports, and yourbench coaches, and your your pitching coaches
and your hitting coaches when it comesto decision making. Yeah, so let
me give you. We trust Bovadaa little bit. Right They've put out
the odds for next Astros manager.They have Joe a Spota minus two hundred
(22:26):
ross. So that's a pretty that'sa pretty overwhelming favorite right now. And
to get to me again, itwould be the safe pick you keep continuity
going. A spot has been here, done that, everybody knows him,
loves him, He's interviewed for acouple of jobs. Let's just give him
the keys to the to the joband he could do it. Here's where
we get into a few longer shots. At plus seven hundred Will Venable,
(22:48):
who is an assistant on the onthe Texas Rangers staff, So that mean
me that to me, that wouldbe a big slap in the face to
the Rangers. Hey, we justtook one of your top assistant coaches,
Bucks show Wall. I want nothingto do with so he said plus seven
hundred. Don Mattingly is on thislist again, these are just retreads of
we've done the old retread guy.I'm good on that. They actually have
(23:11):
a j. Hinch at plus sevenhundred. I look, he's still under
contract with the Detroit Tigers, soI don't know how all that would work.
You can trade for there is precedentfor trading managers. I believe Ozzie
Gian was traded to the White Sox. I'll have to see what the compensation
was. Yeah, I know thisross and everybody loved Ajay and I think
a lot of people still love him. You know, cheating scandal be damned,
(23:33):
but there's a reason why MLB andRob Manford said we're suspending you for
a year, and Alex Korra andCarl Speltrand and you can come back.
And Jim Crane put his foot downand said I'm firing his ass. I'm
firing AJ Hinch and jeffern I justfind it very hard to believe Jim Craid
would make that decision, being theshrewd businessman he is, and coming back
(23:56):
years later and going, well,come on back, AJ, all's forgiven.
He seems like they that said,look, we love AJ, but
he ain't coming back here. Yeah, I'm with you. I don't think
it's gonna be aj Hinch, althoughI guess the argue that the counter argument
would be that aj Hinch did tryto stop this the scheme, and he
did destroy multiple monitors and try tomake his feelings felt that he didn't think
it was helping. They shouldn't havebeen doing it, but it was player
(24:18):
driven, et cetera, et cetera. But yeah, I think it's very
unlikely to happen. And now I'mpulling it up. Yeah, gie In
traded to the White Sox from theMarlins in twenty eleven for two minor leaguers.
Yeah, how wild is that?Well, look, you could you
could definitely if you want to havethat conversation, you could have that conversation.
I just feel like Jim Crane,it would be a non starter for
(24:41):
him. Yeah, so just alittle of reading I did on Will Vennable.
You mentioned the Texas Rangers angle.He also is somebody who has been
in the front office for guys liketheo Epstein and Jed Hoyer, and Epstein
I know is an analytic guy.He's also a Princeton grad Ie leaguer,
So like just kind of reading aroundand stuff like that. I'm on board
with the Will Venables coming from theRangers and having that analytical and back type
(25:07):
of background. If he can dealwith the players as well. I'm always
in favor of somebody who's going tobe a little bit more forward thinking,
certainly the Dusty Baker, which itprobably most managers in baseball are more forward
thinking than Dusty Baker as it is. Yeah, and well Venable. By
the way, we'll have a birthdayin the next couple of days. He
will turn forty one, so nothinglike I mean guys like my age,
so it gonna be would be veryyou know, much like when they hired
(25:30):
AJ Hinch, like a younger guythat but even younger I believe in when
Aj got hired. So you know, you want a young, fresh voice
that that players can relate to.That would certainly be the guy. The
other names to throw out here,Craig Counsel, who just had a nice
run with the Milwaukee Brewers the lastyou know what's he been there like almost
a decade, it feels like,but a lot of underachieving, like a
(25:53):
lot of years ross where they've wonninety plus games and won the division,
but like wild call first round exits. And you know, I think that
he got to the CS once andthe DS once and the other three were
all wild card early exits. Soyou know, a guy who's nice regular
season manager, but kind of underachievedwhen he got to the postseason. So
(26:15):
I don't know if Creg Council willbe high on anybody's list. And then
the other ones to keep an eyeon. It's funny they have this name
on here because this was a nameI heard. But I'll give you two
of them, Walt Weiss, whois one of the assistant he's the bench
coach for the Atlanta Braves. AndEric Young, who was the first base
coach for the Atlanta Breans. Nowwhy would they be interested in those guys?
Well, Dana Brown the Astros GMjust came from Atlanta. If either
(26:40):
of those guys were hired. Thoseare guys he has a lot of film
familiarity with, and he would absolutelybe on the same page with either of
those guys. Whereas we heard throughoutthis year that you know, not that
Dana and Dusty were butting heads constantly, but they were apart on different ideas
and different discussions and lineups and allthis kind of stuff. So you know,
if Dana wanted to start off histenure, you know, bringing in
(27:03):
his guy, you certainly couldn't arguewith going and bringing an assistant over from
the Braves. And by the way, if it was one of those guys,
it would be a guy with achampionship ring that he won with Atlanta,
so you know, a lot ofchampionship pedigree there. Yeah, wouldn't
make I mean, would make awhole lot of sense if either of those
guys got involved for the Astros.So I don't know, there's a lot
of names. I'm probably gonna beon board with most of them because,
(27:26):
like I said, as long asyou have a baseline of hiring somebody who's
smart and gonna be able to managea clubhouse, the players can go out
there and do their thing. That'sgoing to be the most important part.
So well, we'll set the linehere, spot of the favorite will go
with Venable as the second. I'llput Walt Weiss and Eric Young behind them,
and then somewhere down that list,I'll put Craig Counsel, and then
(27:47):
way down the list, I'll puta j hints just because I don't think
it's gonna happen. But that wouldbe my unexpert handicapping of the Astros manager
opening. But again, it's itfeels like you can't go wrong with with
really many of those names. Ross. But you know, again, if
it was so easy to find achampionship manager, certainly some of these other
teams would be doing it. Butyeah, you know, the covers loaded,
(28:10):
so you just need to make theright hire here. Yeah, definitely,
it's it's I mean, it's it'scertainly important. It certainly is a
storyline. And how about selfishly Gordyjust somebody that'll answer questions directly Tuesdays on
the Matt Thomas Show. Well,you you you brought that up when we
talked to Rocco Baldelli up there inMinnesota, that it was just kind of
refreshing. Hey, Rocco why'd yougo with this guy in left field?
(28:32):
Well, let me tell you exactlywhy. Here was my thought process and
like, oh, I forgot whatthat was like with a manager. Certainly,
no disrespect to Dusty, but youknow, sometimes Dusty liked to dance
around topics on he didn't be inquestioned. He's like, you know what
I've got. I've got almost twothousand hits of the player World Series Champion.
You don't have to question me.But I did. And I understand
where he's coming from because he allthose things that are true. But it
(28:56):
is nice. And we used toget a lot with aj Hinch when we
had him on weekly. It wasnice to get Yes, I'm being questioned.
He understands that that's part of thejob and I but I can still
give you a thoughtful answer on myprocess of why I did something, rather
than saying I did it because I'mthe manager and you're not. And again,
as of this recording, the Astroshave not officially announced a parting aways
with Dusty Baker, but Ken Rosenthaland the Athletic pretty trustworthy source there,
(29:21):
so we'll go with that. Ido want to touch a little bit on
this roster. Ross moving forward,because this is a team that went from
maybe not enough pitching throughout this postseasonto get it done to they're going to
have a surplus of pitching next year. When you talk about a rotation that
brings back Justin Verlander one, fromberveld As to Christian Javier three, I
(29:41):
think you would agree with me.That's their top three, right, Yes,
Okay, So that's one, two, three, four and five are
up in the air, and here'swhat you're gonna have. It sounds like
Lance mccullors Junior is going to befully healthy for the start of spring training.
And if he is, and ifhe looks good, and by the
way, he looks in phenomenal shapeseeing him in the clubhouse these last couple
(30:02):
of weeks, the dude has beenhitting the weights and is in an amazing
shape. Probably been hanning a littlebit too. I mean, he just
looks looks really probably the best shapewe've ever seen Lance mccullors junior. But
you know, how does that lookon the mound? How does that translate
to being a great pitcher? Again? We will see, but I hope
he is. He would slot inas the four or the five, and
then you know, look, JoseOrkeaty, I would assume, you know,
(30:25):
could could be that five. Butyou've also got Hunter Brown and JP
France that's six and seven and Rosssome point, about four to six weeks
into the season, we're gonna getLuis Garcia back. Now, will he
be able to come back immediately andbe stretched out and be a starter.
Probably not. He's probably a guywho's gonna have to take some time to
you know, coming back from thatTommy John and work up his his his
(30:47):
stamina and endurance and all that.But really what we're talking about, Ross
is eight viable arms. At somepoint next year, any one of those
guys could be in this rotation.Do you consider moving any of these guys?
If somebody calls an off wants tooffer you something for JP France or
Hunter Brown, do you entertain it? Absolutely? I think that's what you're
gonna talk, that's what you're gonnalook at, and I think that's maybe
(31:08):
something that's gonna happen. I don'tknow, but we'll see what Dana Brown
gets done or anything like that.But now, you of course, you
don't want end up in a situationlike you did this year where you have.
You know, we thought the samething last year. Hunter Brown was
supposed to be the number six guycoming in and he ended up for a
stretch of this season being like thetwo or three guy for the Astros because
you can't get a rash of injuries, but you do have Justin Verlander back.
(31:30):
But at the end of the day, like you want guys, I'm
not gonna be completely dismissive of theregular season. You gotta get through it.
But also we want to be backwhere we are this year, and
you want guys that you can counton, Like before the game, you
know, when Frober Valdez is onthe hill, You're like, we don't
know what we're gonna get before thegame. Yeah, Javier was great his
first couple starts, but he hadbeen shaky at stretches of the season.
(31:51):
You don't know what you're gonna get. You want guys that you can trust
in the playoffs, front line guys. So it wouldn't be shocking if they
found some team that feels like theyare a couple of years away and you
want to give him them a youngguy like a Hunter Brown or somebody else,
and you try to get a frontline guy, I think you would
want to try to package some ofyour depth for more high end talent.
(32:15):
Yeah, and again just that concernin the back of your mind of oh
god, what if something happens.I mean, justin Verlander is you know,
he's got the four in front ofhis age now, so you know
you just worry about, you know, endurance with him throughout all full season.
You know fromber and Christian Aavia area healthy all year, but who's
to say one of them can't sufferan injury miss time. So you want
(32:36):
to have a depth of pitching.But the good news is Ross, as
far as free agents go, theonly ones you're gonna lose. You basically
have five guys you're gonna lose,Michael Branley and Martin Maldonado. I think
we're all on board with those guyswalking, Ryan Stanik, Phil Maton,
and Hector Nerris are all or yourthree other free agents now. Narris has
a player option which all sides pointto him declining that, and he's gonna
(33:00):
at the market. I've heard thatthe Cubs are ready to go heavy,
hard and heavy after Hector Nerus.The problem is Ross, you wish you're
just a year removed from paying Martinaor what's his face Montero a ton of
money. You wish you could buyswip shits like I wish I could pay
Nerus what we paid Montero and letMontero walk. But unfortunately, sounds like
(33:21):
there's gonna be a big market forHector ners Yeah, that's fine. I
mean really, if you look atsome of his peripheral numbers and stuff like
that, and like field independent pitchingand other things, he was actually somewhat
of a statistical anomaly this year withhaving the era as well as he was.
Think about how many times were likeHector Nerras is working himself into trouble,
(33:42):
working himself in a trouble, andboom, like some sort of magic
act he gets himself out of it. That could only last for so long,
So I would be I wouldn't besuper happy if Hector Narris walked,
but I would understand at a certainprice point, because you don't want to
end up in a situation where youend up paying a guy for a career
year like you did with Arfreiel Monterolast year. It'd be nice to see
Phil Mayton back as well. Helooked pretty good. He was kind of
(34:06):
getting shaky towards the middle of theseason, but then he went on the
il after he got hit with thatcomebacker, and he was much better and
very good in the playoffs. Andyou know, he's fine as a sixth,
seventh inning type of guy. Soyou need those guys on your staff.
And then Ryan Stanick, to me, not just a guy definitely above
average, and also somebody with youknow, eer numbers that can get wonky,
(34:29):
especially for relievers. You don't thinkof him as a shutdown guy,
but he can throw a hundred milesan hour. He can get you some
outs. I'd like to see allthree of them back, but I just
don't know of how realistic that's gonnabe. Yeah, I think maybe two
of the three. I think maybeMayton or Stank decides to stay. Nerris
loves this locker room and he lovesthese guys, but I think he also
realizes it got my ring and Ilike to go get paid big money,
(34:49):
so he can't blame him if hedecides to go that route. But man,
those guys run deep together, himand Fromber and Javier, and those
guys love laving and joking together.And maybe Nara says, you know what,
I want to be in Houston.Let's figure out how to make the
money work. Last thing, Rossbefore we wrap up this edition of the
Crawford Box Cast presented by Carbach Brewing. Looking ahead, you know we talk
(35:10):
about pay the man and all thiswith Kyle Tucker and from Bervaldez. They
had discussions, they couldn't get anythingworked out on long term deals. But
from Bravaldez, Kyle Tucker and JoseOrkeaty all hading into the final years of
their arbitration the year after next,So twenty twenty four and twenty twenty five
is when those guys will all beup for money. The problem is,
(35:30):
Jose Al Tuvan and Alex Bregman willbe free agents in twenty twenty five.
Do you still go down the rightof trying to figure out a long term
deal with Tucker and or fromber ordo you prioritize Counter your prioritization and say,
you know what, let's lock upAl tu Van Bregman long term.
We don't want to see those guysever wear another uniform, and we'll figure
(35:51):
out the rest with the other guys. Yeah, I'm it'll be interesting to
see how it plays out, becauseI mean, you want to make you
know, your heart wants to makeJosel Tuovay an Astro for life, right
like, say, get him aten year even though he's thirty three.
Get him a ten year contract rightnow and call it a day. But
you know that's not practical, that'snot the smart way to run a team.
(36:13):
And it'll be interesting to see whatAlex Bregman was good for him that
he had a great year at thirdbase, He had a pretty good year
at the plate. Not necessarily eighteennineteen prime Alex Bregman. But I think
that guy has just gone because wehaven't seen it since then, so there's
no reason to think that it's comingback. So it'll be interesting to see
the way it plays out. Andalso, I mean, after these playoffs,
(36:34):
do you feel super enthused about lockingup either of Kyle Tucker or from
Bravaldez long term. I think,on its face, at least before the
playoffs started, you're like, Okay, Kyle Tucker is the one we have
to prioritize. But it just seemslike there's been a steely relationship between the
Astros front office and the Tucker representationthe last couple of years because nothing ever
(36:57):
gets done and nobody seems to wantto talk about it. I kind of
get in big time. I'm GeorgeSpringer, vibes like the guy's just going
to be gone and he doesn't wantto stay. And then from Rivaldez,
I think you have, even beforethe playoffs, and even before this bad
run, you had some concerns abouthim long term because unfortunately, whether right
or wrong, the emotional way withwhich he pitches on the mound that can
(37:21):
fuel him to no hit performances,or that can set him a blaze to
where he's going out there and pitchingtwo and a third innings and giving up
five runs or something. Well,we certainly have plenty of topics to dive
into over the next couple weeks rosson the Crawford box Cast, and we
will continue talking all about it throughoutthis offseason. Going to be fascinating,
the search for a manager, newcontracts, who do they get in free
(37:44):
agency. We'll be breaking it alldown right here on the Crawford box Cast,
presented by Carbock Brewing. And makesure you guys, last season may
be over, but make sure you'reenjoying an Ice cl Crawford Boch from our
friends at Carboch Brewing. He isRoss Viial, I'm Chris Gordy. We'll
talk to you guys next week righthere on the Crawford box Cast
Astros fans cheers, Rocky Lucky.Welcome to the Crawford box Casts as proud
lead Ford for you by Crawford Bachfrom Carmak Brewey. You're getting da bear.
Oh my godness, the Crawford boxcast starts. Now here we go.
(00:30):
Here's Chris Gordy and Ross Viel andthis is the Crawford box Cast.
Welcome in is a Unfortunately, Sparky'snot getting wet right now. It is
an end of the Astro season episodeof the Crawford box Cast. Chris Gordy
here along with Ross Viel. Asthe Astros lose in ALCS Game seven,
(00:54):
they were one win away from athird straight trip to the World Series.
Unfortunately, the hated Techs Rangers showedup and made Minute Made Park their home,
winning all four games at Minute MayPark in the series. The Askers
did win all three at Global LifeField, but Ross I joked about it
on Tuesday. I said, man, somebody should have maybe burst a water
(01:17):
maine or something at Minute Made Parkand should have went, oh, guys,
we can't play this game here.We're gonna have to go play elsewhere
because so odd. The Astros justdid not play well. At their home
for so many weeks here. Yeah, that'll be one of the stories at
the I mean, well, Iguess we are at the end of the
year. But one of the storylinesof the whole season when we reflect black
(01:38):
on twenty twenty three, is thatfor whatever reason they don't seem to know,
Dusty Baker didn't seem to know,the players didn't seem to know,
because they could come up with areason, they would have fixed it and
they would have started winning at home. But they couldn't get it done.
I just couldn't. I guess I'mgonna have to continue to chalk it up
to one of those things unless they'regonna go ahead next year and start losing
all their games at minute made.But fifty five wins minute May last year,
(02:00):
only forty out of eighty seven gamesone at minute May this year.
Bottom line was though, you comehome with a three to two lead in
the series, and somehow, someway, they were the first team in
major American sports to lose four gamesat home in a seven game series in
twenty nineteen, and they've done itagain. I mean, it's difficult to
(02:23):
wrap my head around. But whenyou look at these last two games you
got out scored twenty to six.The Rangers flat out were better. They
played better, they pitched better,they hit better, all of those things.
They're the deserving, as much asit hurts to say, representatives of
the American League at the World Series. And the Astros are now off for
the offseason, which has a lotof question marks itself as we sit here
(02:46):
now towards the end of October waitingto watch the rest of the season play
out, but the Astros definitely withsome needs to address in this upcoming offseason.
Yeah, was to twenty seventeen.They are a better road team that
year than home team. I mean, it's so weird. So many times
throughout this great run, the Astroshave struggled to win big games at home
(03:06):
where they've been better on the road. The only exception I can remember is
the seventeen ALCS where the Astros Ithink it was every home team the home
team went against the Yankees. Butnonetheless, Yeah, it stings. And
what's crazy, Ross is you lookat the run differential. Game one,
Astros score, they get shut out, Game two, they score four,
(03:27):
Game six, they score two.In Game seven they score four. They
scored more runs in all three gamesin Texas, they score eight, ten,
and five. I mean, it'sit's just crazy to think that,
like they felt more at home andGlobalife Field, the offense did than they
did at at home. But generaltakeaways from what we saw in the game
the other night, I mean,there really was not just one thing that
(03:51):
went wrong for the Astros on Mondaynight. It was it was a combination
of a little bit of everything,from Christian Haavier not being able to give
you even an inning of work,to you know, almost every arm that
came out of the bullpen gave upa run, and you know, the
decisions to not walk a dol Scarcia, to you know, Martin Maldonado continue
to take big at bats in agame where you needed to score a bunch
(04:13):
of runs, where you're already ina six run deficit. It just there
was no one thing that went wrongfor the Astros on Monday. It was
everything. Yeah, it was everything. I mean, it's like a Christian
Javier. We saw all this talkright off season l Repteel He's cold blooded,
he's got no pulls, He's theguy you want on the mound.
They said that all the right thingsbefore Game three and they're like, yeah,
we're down, we got our backsagainst the wall, but we got
(04:33):
Javier on the mound. We're good. They said the same thing before Game
seven, and it's just one ofthose things. I mean, Christian Javier
for the rest of his major leaguecareer might not have a start barring injury
where he only recorded one out.I mean, what a disaster. It's
like it's like you like trained formonths for a marathon or something to set
(04:54):
your best time, and you ripyour acl like in the first half mile,
Like that's what it felt like.Like. We're all geared up for
Game seven, We're ready to go, and it's just a complete disaster from
the word go for the Astros,almost similar to a way and what you
got in Game two where from Ravaldezwas just all of a sudden, before
(05:14):
you blinked, the Rangers were upfor nothing in that game. So just
out of the get go from theword go, and really, Gordon,
doesn't it feel like that's been oneof the stories of this team when they've
been struggled. How many times werethey behind? How many times this year
where they were able to pull outwins like in game number five. They
just are giving up three four runsin the first couple of innings, and
it's like, well, now we'vegot to scratch and claw our way back,
(05:38):
and now we have to fight back. And then fortunately you continue to
get in those holes, you're notgoing to be able to climb out of
them enough. And that's what itwas for the Astros. And on the
yeah, I mean, maybe youwalk a Doulascar. See at that point
in the fourth inning when JP Franceis struggling and he can't find the strike
zone, and you're like, youknow what, two balls, go ahead
(05:59):
and walk a Dollascars. But thenyou're saying that's also at the same token,
you're saying, this guy can't findthe strike zone, let's load the
bases. So I probably would havewalked him in that scenario. I don't
know if it makes a difference.And then yeah, on the Martin Maldonado
getting pinch hit four. Bottom lineis Dusty when it's convenient for him,
he goes to the numbers, andthe numbers say, at least this year
(06:23):
Martin Maldonado is better against lefties thanyan your Diaz. But I understand that
one as well. Y On yourDas is the more talented hitter, Yan,
your Diaz is the better overall hitter. But you were facing Jordan Montgomery,
the lefty, And at the endof the day, I'm gonna go
ahead and say it kind of didn'teven matter you gave up. You only
scored four runs in the whole game, right, and three were given up
(06:45):
by Javier who you were gonna givewho you were gonna pitch no matter what,
and then two were given up byBrian A. Bray, you bestial
reliever. So even if you takeout everything else that happened, I mean,
you lose that game five to four, and of course you can't five
different pitchers giving Upright, just absolutedisaster, disaster, class performance from the
(07:05):
Astros these two games. Unfortunately,to to lose this series to the Rangers.
Yeah, and look, it's italso stinks who you lose to.
Right, If this was the ball, this let's go Rangers chance on the
minute made at minute made park,it hurt. Yeah. If this had
been the Baltimore Orioles, I thinkwe would have went. Look best,
they had the best record in theAmerican League much of the year, great
(07:29):
young team that just everything hit rightfor him, and hey, best of
luck to you guys. It sucksto loose to you, but hey,
good luck to you in the WorldSeries. Not these d bags from from
Dallas, Like, we're not nobody'srooting for them. We're not rooting cheering
for them. And if that wasso weird, I know you were at
the game. I was there fora bit and then listening on the broadcast
for a little bit, listening tothe radio, and I happen to flip
(07:51):
over to the TV broadcast at onepoint and I think it was was it
the the play by play guy orwas it who's my guy that was in
the Astros dugout Tom Verducci. Wellhe brought that up. But then one
of somebody said, hockey and notroot for Dulas Garcia. I mean,
look at this guy when he hejust puts a smile on your face and
(08:13):
I'm going, who, Like,he looks like the biggest d bag of
them all with the you know,over celebrating on every home run. And
look, kudos to him. Hekilled the Astros. He did, he
deserves to do it. Me personally, I'll take the jose L Tuve crush
a home run, put his headdown run the bases and you know,
(08:33):
just know, I'm I'm really goodand I don't need to over celebrate.
But nonetheless, like I was justso off putting, like, oh,
didn't this guy put a smile onyour face? No, I hope he
loses, and I hope the wholeTexas Rangers group loses in the World Series.
But yeah, what what really isweird here Ross is the dynamic And
we'll get into start to transition alittle bit into the off season for the
(08:56):
Astros, the Astros bringing back themajority of their roster next year. You
know, I was talking to somepeople today who say, ah, this
Rangers team, man, they're gonnabe a problem for years to come.
And I said, okay, butthe Astors are also going to be a
problem for them for years to come. The Astros are still very much set
up in this window of opportunity here, and you know, Rangers actually lose
a good bit. They have aboutlike a dozen or so free agents that
(09:18):
are going to come off this team. I compared it almost to you know,
this is this Rangers team reminds mea little bit more of that Cubs
team. Remember when the Cubs wonit, and then like within a year
or two, almost half the rosterwas gone. It wouldn't surprise me if
that happens to this Rangers team,Whereas the Astros have done a great job
of, you know, growing theirfarm, developing guys and having guys behind
(09:39):
guys, so when you lose guysin free agency, you can replace them.
We'll see, time will tell,but I do know those matchups with
the Rangers next year are going tobe a little extra spicy. Now,
yeah, I would say, honestly, no, I do think the Rangers,
if we're like just setting odds rightnow, they'd be the favorite for
the American League West, because,yeah, they do have a lot of
(10:00):
free agents. The Martine Perezes,Jordan Montgomery, Max Scherzer is under control
right but our old As Chapman isa free agent, so they are going
to have to Conch Garver, ChrisStratton, Robbie Grossman, Travis Jankowska.
I mean, these are guys whoall played, and he's just way more
than what the Astros are gonna lose. But those aren't their core guys.
(10:20):
Our core guys are Marcus Simon,He's gonna be there. Corey Seeger,
I mean Evan Carter is a rookie, and this guy has impressed from the
word go. He's only played basicallya month in change of Major League Baseball.
You figure he's going to get better. Josh Young was a rookie Year
of the Year contender. Is hegonna get better? Leo Leota Turbart.
You're talking about like impact rookies thatcould get better, and we know here
in Houston that doesn't mean they're alwaysgoing to get better, right Jeremy Payne
(10:41):
was what I was gonna say,we're all just assuming, Oh, Evan
Carter's gonna take that huge leap.Now what if he has a Jeremy Payne
you like sophomore season. You knowit's it's we're assuming a lot, but
but you you would expect the stockto go up when with rookies, and
clearly it didn't happen with Jeremy Paynewith the Astros, but they got a
lot of rookies in a Doolas Garciahe did. You do have guys that
(11:03):
hit over their head for the seasonand what you're normally used to Adolas Garcia
among them as well. Depending onwhat kind of advanced statistics you want to
look at, he was somewhat ofan average hitter actually last year than this
year. He hits thirty nine homeruns. Will he go back to Earth
because he's a guy that swings inmisses so much, and did he get
a little bit lucky? Simeon andSeeger were both awful in the first half
(11:24):
of their first seasons as the Rangers, but they were fantastic this year.
So still though, I think withgetting Jake de Gram back and this team
already comprised as it is, andthe fact that they've been willing to spend
money so they probably are going tokeep some key free agents, I probably
make them the favorites of the AmericanLeague West. But that doesn't mean the
Astros aren't going to have a say. Right, you get your guys back,
(11:46):
you get Lance mccullors, you getLouis Garcia. You would imagine the
outfield is going to improve when youshore up, either via trade or free
agency, what you had going onin left field for the majority of this
season. I mean, how manygames I want to say it was like
sixty five to seventy games Corey Jolksstarted for the Astros. Yeah, this
series out in left field in dahor wherever. He was like, you
(12:09):
have a lot of guys that factoredin this season that you don't think are
going to factor in next year.The Ronel Blancos, the Corey Jolkes's,
the Brandon b Lacks. Those typesof guys. So yeah, if they
can get healthy and then they canmake a move or two as well,
for sure, it's going to bebasically one A, one B and then
the Seattle Mariner somewhere in the mix. Probably a three team race for the
West next year. Yeah. Jacobde Grom, by the way, you
(12:31):
know, last pitch in the gameApril twenty eighth, and they'll get him
back. But when you talk aboutthe rotation, okay, it'll be aging
de Grom coming off of injury.He'll be I believe, thirty five,
thirty six. Next year you'll bringMax Scherzer, who's now into his forties.
Nathan Valdi, no spring chicken,he's been around a while, he's
mid thirties. Jordan Montgomery is afree agent, lotle of decision to be
(12:54):
made on him. Andrew Heen He'sgot a thirteen million dollar player option and
I don't think he's turned that down. So he's gonna come back. And
then John Gray, who they spenda lot of money on, he's kind
of been a big disappointment for them. So I'm just saying, like,
Okay, on paper, it lookslike a good rotation, but yeah,
what's your rotation though it's a fortyone year old Verlander, it's a Fromber
that you can't trust in the playoffsor down the stretch of the season.
(13:16):
And then it's a lot of questionmarks. Well, and that's where I
think, you know, the Astros. You know, I was getting into.
Somebody in social media was saying,well, the Astros just need to
move on from a lot of theseguys. That's not how this works.
This isn't the NFL. We can'tjust shed salary like crazy, like roster
cuts. Yeah, this is guaranteedmoney. You're not you know, somebody
was like, just move on fromfrom Javier and Fromber and all this and
(13:41):
go get this guy and that guy, and like, no, it's not
how it works. I'm not gonnago spend forty million a year on Blake
Snell. Like we're not. We'renot doing that. But but what you
do help Ross is that new voicesin the room, new coaches will help
maybe get these guys back on.I mean a track record of Christian Xavier,
(14:01):
who's been a very good big leaguepitcher from ber Valdez a stuff and
has been an ace kind of ofthis staff, and in the absence of
Justin Verlander throughout his Tommy John surgeryand all that, and even at times
with Verlander Fromber's outpitched him at timesin the past. So say all that
to say, we know Dusty Baker, they're moving on. The news came
(14:22):
out literally moments after losing the gamethe other night report from Ken Rosenthal in
The Athletic that there's gonna be inamicable parting of ways that the Astros basically
told Dusty Baker, Hey, we'regonna move in another direction, and Dusty
said, hey, I'm gonna moveon as well, and you know,
we'll wait for the official announcement forthe Yeah. And I think that's the
(14:43):
right way to go. Like,you don't want it to come out that
you're that you're firing Dusty Baker orwhatever. But this thing was always gonna
be sharp short term Ross he wasbrought in as the hired gun when the
cheating scandal came out and they firedaj Hinch. Jim Crane said, we
need somebody to come in and providestability, and ironically, Bruce Pochie was
one of the finalists that they interviewedin that process. But they settled a
(15:05):
Dusty Baker and mission accomplished. Dusty'sdid a great job coming in, keeping
this thing afloat, keeping the championshipwindow open, and look to his Hall
of Fame credit. The one thingmissing on his Hall of Fame resume was
winning a World Series and he finallygot over that hump in twenty twenty two
and got his ring. So,look, you won't look back on the
Dusty Baker years in Houston negatively.I think you'll look back on and say,
(15:30):
overall, he did a really goodjob. Was there things to nitpick
about, Sure, but the guydid a great job and he helped bring
one of the two World Series titlesto Houston, and he'll always be remembered
for that. Yeah, at theend of the day, it was a
successful tenure. Yes, he wasstubborn in parts when maybe he shouldn't have
(15:50):
been, and at the end ofthe day, he kind of just brought
in some of his Folksy old schoolsensibilities, and that's one of the reasons
he was hired because they needed aculture reset, they needed a palate cleanser
after the A. J. Hinchand Jeff Luno analytical driven era. They
wanted somebody that was more likable.They wanted somebody that was going to set
(16:11):
the tone culture wise and bring thatno nonsense old school mentality and also had
the resume. I mean, asfar as resumes go in baseball history,
it's tough to get much better thanDusty Baker what he accomplished as a player
and as a manager. So yeah, thanks to Dusty for everything. We
of course took a lot of callsand tweets and all that type of stuff,
(16:33):
getting all upset about him and MartinMaldemado and Janiar Diez. But I
think on his side, he'll say, hey, Justin Verlander and Christian Xavier
and Farmer Valdez and guys like CarlosCorrea. They sang the praises of Martin
Maldonado as well, so it's notlike it was just Dusty Baker all by
himself. So at the end ofthe day, successful tenure, you go
(16:53):
to two World Series, you winone and you almost went to a third.
Yeah that's a pretty are in goodrun? Could it have been better?
I don't know. I tend tobe one of the philosophy. At
the end of the day, it'sthe players that win and lose these games.
And Dusty Baker didn't tell Christian Aavireto go out there and not get
anybody out in the first inning.So that's really where this series was lost,
(17:17):
at least in terms of Game seven. And they also went two for
fourteen with Runders in scoring position.I can guarantee you Dusty Baker didn't say
for them to do that. Sooverall up and down, rocky tenure for
Dusty Baker, but successful because yougot a World Series ring out of it.
And a lot of people won't rememberthis, but I mean Dusty or
A. J. Hinch, wetook a lot of calls on him,
(17:37):
second guessing decisions he made and yes, you know, you know, leaving
Garrett Hole in the pen, allthat type of stuff. Yeah, that's
the biggest one. But I meaneven like at times, oh he left
Wade Miley in too long. Imean, people, newsflash, whoever the
main manager is, people are gonnagripe about it. I mean New York
Aaron Boone, I don't know howhe's still there. They gripe about him
every little thing he does there forthe Yankee. But nonetheless, now Ross,
(18:02):
we head into an off season wherea big, important decision has to
be made. Here. You know, some people kind of think, oh,
when you got a roster loaded withtalent, it doesn't really manage your
manage or matter who the manager is, And I think that's wrong. I
mean, we look at a Rangersteam that just largely underachieved for the last
six, seven, eight years,and they make you know, they made
(18:23):
some signings, but none bigger thanbringing in Bruce Boche. You go from
not even being in the Division raceto making it to the World Series in
year one. So I just saythat to say, whoever the Astro's next
manager is, it has to bea good one because this championship window is
still open. But you need somebodythat's gonna, you know, click all
(18:45):
the right buttons and be a greatfit. Yeah, Bruce Bochi did a
good job of having a Dolas Garciahaving a career year and getting Corey Seeger
and Marcus Simeon to follow up theirfreshman years and the Rangers and have big
years year. No, I'm justkidding, but I mean it does to
an extent, right, it matters, right, Like you can't just throw
me or you in there and thenit's going to be the exact same Chris
(19:10):
Chris Woodward and just need some levelof a guy that can manage a clubhouse
and all that type of stuff.For sure, you're gonna want certain qualities
that you're gonna find in a manager. Yeah, Chris Woodward and Jeff Banister,
I mean it was it was bad, like those guys did. They
underachieved. Well, Jeff Banister hadwon he won Ale Manager of the Year
in twenty fifteen and I think wona playoff game or two, but that
(19:30):
was about it. I mean ChrisWoodward went was was a sub five hundred
manager. And you know, againBruce Bochi steps in and year one they
win ninety games. So yeah,I mean a J. Hinch is very
successful in Houston and then he goesinto Detroit where the players are worse,
and well he's on his third straightlosing season I think there, although they
were much improved late in the seasonthis year. Yeah, let's let's dive
(19:51):
into just you know where the Astrosgo from here. That the favorite in
the clubhouse ross is going to beJoe Espada. He has been, you
know, the be coach for manyyears now. He was under the aj
Hinch tenure. He is a player'scoach. A lot of guys love him.
Bregman is very close with him.He's close with a lot of the
Latin players as well. They theyhe's very well respected. He's a he's
(20:14):
a coach's a player's coach. Theonly concern with that Ross would be he'd
be a first time manager in chargeof you know, basically having then the
keys to a ferrari to a guysaying here, go get it done.
But also being a player's coach likethat, and everybody loves you will they
also be willing to listen when it'stime for you to be the authoritarian and
(20:36):
put your foot down and go,guys, I know what I'm doing here,
trust me. Joe Spott. Itcould be all that, and again
I think right now he's the favoritein the clubhouse literally the clubhouse to do
it. But there would be there'dbe a few concerns there though, with
a spot a just track record ofnever having done it before being number one.
Yeah, but I mean he's beena bench coach for a long time,
(20:57):
and I mean I wouldn't be toosurprised if he did slot in.
There has been some talk as well. Stephen Vogue is of course a former
catcher, and he's been on theSeattle Mariners staff. People floating that name
around Gabe Kapler. I think it'sprobably a long shot, even though he
seems like a guy that interviews welland very well spoken, but seems like
(21:18):
the players didn't like him in SanFrancisco. There's a number. I think
Bob Melvin might be available again.Well in those types like I don't know
if you saw, yeah, he'she's taken the Giant's job. I don't
know if you saw. Was thatright? Oh? I didn't see that.
I'm sorry. When did that comeout? Like in the last thirty
minutes? Oh? Really, Okay, I guess I missed that. So
there you go, Bob Melvin offthe list. So I don't know exactly
(21:41):
where they're gonna go with what they'regonna go with, but uh, I
mean, as long as it's somebodywho can just run the day to day
of a clubhouse and manage a clubhouseand keep the guys in a good mood
and and not make players. Basically, your job as a manager in twenty
twenty three in baseball is to makeplayers not want to hate coming to the
clubhouse and hang out and be teamlike. Just keep things light, have
(22:02):
fun, bring the guys some chocolateflawn like Dusty Baker's doing, and banana
pudding, and then let the playersdo their thing. And then look at
your to your reports, and yourbench coaches, and your your pitching coaches
and your hitting coaches when it comesto decision making. Yeah, so let
me give you. We trust Bovadaa little bit. Right They've put out
the odds for next Astros manager.They have Joe a Spota minus two hundred
(22:26):
ross. So that's a pretty that'sa pretty overwhelming favorite right now. And
to get to me again, itwould be the safe pick you keep continuity
going. A spot has been here, done that, everybody knows him,
loves him, He's interviewed for acouple of jobs. Let's just give him
the keys to the to the joband he could do it. Here's where
we get into a few longer shots. At plus seven hundred Will Venable,
(22:48):
who is an assistant on the onthe Texas Rangers staff, So that mean
me that to me, that wouldbe a big slap in the face to
the Rangers. Hey, we justtook one of your top assistant coaches,
Bucks show Wall. I want nothingto do with so he said plus seven
hundred. Don Mattingly is on thislist again, these are just retreads of
we've done the old retread guy.I'm good on that. They actually have
(23:11):
a j. Hinch at plus sevenhundred. I look, he's still under
contract with the Detroit Tigers, soI don't know how all that would work.
You can trade for there is precedentfor trading managers. I believe Ozzie
Gian was traded to the White Sox. I'll have to see what the compensation
was. Yeah, I know thisross and everybody loved Ajay and I think
a lot of people still love him. You know, cheating scandal be damned,
(23:33):
but there's a reason why MLB andRob Manford said we're suspending you for
a year, and Alex Korra andCarl Speltrand and you can come back.
And Jim Crane put his foot downand said I'm firing his ass. I'm
firing AJ Hinch and jeffern I justfind it very hard to believe Jim Craid
would make that decision, being theshrewd businessman he is, and coming back
(23:56):
years later and going, well,come on back, AJ, all's forgiven.
He seems like they that said,look, we love AJ, but
he ain't coming back here. Yeah, I'm with you. I don't think
it's gonna be aj Hinch, althoughI guess the argue that the counter argument
would be that aj Hinch did tryto stop this the scheme, and he
did destroy multiple monitors and try tomake his feelings felt that he didn't think
it was helping. They shouldn't havebeen doing it, but it was player
(24:18):
driven, et cetera, et cetera. But yeah, I think it's very
unlikely to happen. And now I'mpulling it up. Yeah, gie In
traded to the White Sox from theMarlins in twenty eleven for two minor leaguers.
Yeah, how wild is that?Well, look, you could you
could definitely if you want to havethat conversation, you could have that conversation.
I just feel like Jim Crane,it would be a non starter for
(24:41):
him. Yeah, so just alittle of reading I did on Will Vennable.
You mentioned the Texas Rangers angle.He also is somebody who has been
in the front office for guys liketheo Epstein and Jed Hoyer, and Epstein
I know is an analytic guy.He's also a Princeton grad Ie leaguer,
So like just kind of reading aroundand stuff like that. I'm on board
with the Will Venables coming from theRangers and having that analytical and back type
(25:07):
of background. If he can dealwith the players as well. I'm always
in favor of somebody who's going tobe a little bit more forward thinking,
certainly the Dusty Baker, which itprobably most managers in baseball are more forward
thinking than Dusty Baker as it is. Yeah, and well Venable. By
the way, we'll have a birthdayin the next couple of days. He
will turn forty one, so nothinglike I mean guys like my age,
so it gonna be would be veryyou know, much like when they hired
(25:30):
AJ Hinch, like a younger guythat but even younger I believe in when
Aj got hired. So you know, you want a young, fresh voice
that that players can relate to.That would certainly be the guy. The
other names to throw out here,Craig Counsel, who just had a nice
run with the Milwaukee Brewers the lastyou know what's he been there like almost
a decade, it feels like,but a lot of underachieving, like a
(25:53):
lot of years ross where they've wonninety plus games and won the division,
but like wild call first round exits. And you know, I think that
he got to the CS once andthe DS once and the other three were
all wild card early exits. Soyou know, a guy who's nice regular
season manager, but kind of underachievedwhen he got to the postseason. So
(26:15):
I don't know if Creg Council willbe high on anybody's list. And then
the other ones to keep an eyeon. It's funny they have this name
on here because this was a nameI heard. But I'll give you two
of them, Walt Weiss, whois one of the assistant he's the bench
coach for the Atlanta Braves. AndEric Young, who was the first base
coach for the Atlanta Breans. Nowwhy would they be interested in those guys?
Well, Dana Brown the Astros GMjust came from Atlanta. If either
(26:40):
of those guys were hired. Thoseare guys he has a lot of film
familiarity with, and he would absolutelybe on the same page with either of
those guys. Whereas we heard throughoutthis year that you know, not that
Dana and Dusty were butting heads constantly, but they were apart on different ideas
and different discussions and lineups and allthis kind of stuff. So you know,
if Dana wanted to start off histenure, you know, bringing in
(27:03):
his guy, you certainly couldn't arguewith going and bringing an assistant over from
the Braves. And by the way, if it was one of those guys,
it would be a guy with achampionship ring that he won with Atlanta,
so you know, a lot ofchampionship pedigree there. Yeah, wouldn't
make I mean, would make awhole lot of sense if either of those
guys got involved for the Astros.So I don't know, there's a lot
of names. I'm probably gonna beon board with most of them because,
(27:26):
like I said, as long asyou have a baseline of hiring somebody who's
smart and gonna be able to managea clubhouse, the players can go out
there and do their thing. That'sgoing to be the most important part.
So well, we'll set the linehere, spot of the favorite will go
with Venable as the second. I'llput Walt Weiss and Eric Young behind them,
and then somewhere down that list,I'll put Craig Counsel, and then
(27:47):
way down the list, I'll puta j hints just because I don't think
it's gonna happen. But that wouldbe my unexpert handicapping of the Astros manager
opening. But again, it's itfeels like you can't go wrong with with
really many of those names. Ross. But you know, again, if
it was so easy to find achampionship manager, certainly some of these other
teams would be doing it. Butyeah, you know, the covers loaded,
(28:10):
so you just need to make theright hire here. Yeah, definitely,
it's it's I mean, it's it'scertainly important. It certainly is a
storyline. And how about selfishly Gordyjust somebody that'll answer questions directly Tuesdays on
the Matt Thomas Show. Well,you you you brought that up when we
talked to Rocco Baldelli up there inMinnesota, that it was just kind of
refreshing. Hey, Rocco why'd yougo with this guy in left field?
(28:32):
Well, let me tell you exactlywhy. Here was my thought process and
like, oh, I forgot whatthat was like with a manager. Certainly,
no disrespect to Dusty, but youknow, sometimes Dusty liked to dance
around topics on he didn't be inquestioned. He's like, you know what
I've got. I've got almost twothousand hits of the player World Series Champion.
You don't have to question me.But I did. And I understand
where he's coming from because he allthose things that are true. But it
(28:56):
is nice. And we used toget a lot with aj Hinch when we
had him on weekly. It wasnice to get Yes, I'm being questioned.
He understands that that's part of thejob and I but I can still
give you a thoughtful answer on myprocess of why I did something, rather
than saying I did it because I'mthe manager and you're not. And again,
as of this recording, the Astroshave not officially announced a parting aways
with Dusty Baker, but Ken Rosenthaland the Athletic pretty trustworthy source there,
(29:21):
so we'll go with that. Ido want to touch a little bit on
this roster. Ross moving forward,because this is a team that went from
maybe not enough pitching throughout this postseasonto get it done to they're going to
have a surplus of pitching next year. When you talk about a rotation that
brings back Justin Verlander one, fromberveld As to Christian Javier three, I
(29:41):
think you would agree with me.That's their top three, right, Yes,
Okay, So that's one, two, three, four and five are
up in the air, and here'swhat you're gonna have. It sounds like
Lance mccullors Junior is going to befully healthy for the start of spring training.
And if he is, and ifhe looks good, and by the
way, he looks in phenomenal shapeseeing him in the clubhouse these last couple
(30:02):
of weeks, the dude has beenhitting the weights and is in an amazing
shape. Probably been hanning a littlebit too. I mean, he just
looks looks really probably the best shapewe've ever seen Lance mccullors junior. But
you know, how does that lookon the mound? How does that translate
to being a great pitcher? Again? We will see, but I hope
he is. He would slot inas the four or the five, and
then you know, look, JoseOrkeaty, I would assume, you know,
(30:25):
could could be that five. Butyou've also got Hunter Brown and JP
France that's six and seven and Rosssome point, about four to six weeks
into the season, we're gonna getLuis Garcia back. Now, will he
be able to come back immediately andbe stretched out and be a starter.
Probably not. He's probably a guywho's gonna have to take some time to
you know, coming back from thatTommy John and work up his his his
(30:47):
stamina and endurance and all that.But really what we're talking about, Ross
is eight viable arms. At somepoint next year, any one of those
guys could be in this rotation.Do you consider moving any of these guys?
If somebody calls an off wants tooffer you something for JP France or
Hunter Brown, do you entertain it? Absolutely? I think that's what you're
gonna talk, that's what you're gonnalook at, and I think that's maybe
(31:08):
something that's gonna happen. I don'tknow, but we'll see what Dana Brown
gets done or anything like that.But now, you of course, you
don't want end up in a situationlike you did this year where you have.
You know, we thought the samething last year. Hunter Brown was
supposed to be the number six guycoming in and he ended up for a
stretch of this season being like thetwo or three guy for the Astros because
you can't get a rash of injuries, but you do have Justin Verlander back.
(31:30):
But at the end of the day, like you want guys, I'm
not gonna be completely dismissive of theregular season. You gotta get through it.
But also we want to be backwhere we are this year, and
you want guys that you can counton, Like before the game, you
know, when Frober Valdez is onthe hill, You're like, we don't
know what we're gonna get before thegame. Yeah, Javier was great his
first couple starts, but he hadbeen shaky at stretches of the season.
(31:51):
You don't know what you're gonna get. You want guys that you can trust
in the playoffs, front line guys. So it wouldn't be shocking if they
found some team that feels like theyare a couple of years away and you
want to give him them a youngguy like a Hunter Brown or somebody else,
and you try to get a frontline guy, I think you would
want to try to package some ofyour depth for more high end talent.
(32:15):
Yeah, and again just that concernin the back of your mind of oh
god, what if something happens.I mean, justin Verlander is you know,
he's got the four in front ofhis age now, so you know
you just worry about, you know, endurance with him throughout all full season.
You know fromber and Christian Aavia area healthy all year, but who's
to say one of them can't sufferan injury miss time. So you want
(32:36):
to have a depth of pitching.But the good news is Ross, as
far as free agents go, theonly ones you're gonna lose. You basically
have five guys you're gonna lose,Michael Branley and Martin Maldonado. I think
we're all on board with those guyswalking, Ryan Stanik, Phil Maton,
and Hector Nerris are all or yourthree other free agents now. Narris has
a player option which all sides pointto him declining that, and he's gonna
(33:00):
at the market. I've heard thatthe Cubs are ready to go heavy,
hard and heavy after Hector Nerus.The problem is Ross, you wish you're
just a year removed from paying Martinaor what's his face Montero a ton of
money. You wish you could buyswip shits like I wish I could pay
Nerus what we paid Montero and letMontero walk. But unfortunately, sounds like
(33:21):
there's gonna be a big market forHector ners Yeah, that's fine. I
mean really, if you look atsome of his peripheral numbers and stuff like
that, and like field independent pitchingand other things, he was actually somewhat
of a statistical anomaly this year withhaving the era as well as he was.
Think about how many times were likeHector Nerras is working himself into trouble,
(33:42):
working himself in a trouble, andboom, like some sort of magic
act he gets himself out of it. That could only last for so long,
So I would be I wouldn't besuper happy if Hector Narris walked,
but I would understand at a certainprice point, because you don't want to
end up in a situation where youend up paying a guy for a career
year like you did with Arfreiel Monterolast year. It'd be nice to see
Phil Mayton back as well. Helooked pretty good. He was kind of
(34:06):
getting shaky towards the middle of theseason, but then he went on the
il after he got hit with thatcomebacker, and he was much better and
very good in the playoffs. Andyou know, he's fine as a sixth,
seventh inning type of guy. Soyou need those guys on your staff.
And then Ryan Stanick, to me, not just a guy definitely above
average, and also somebody with youknow, eer numbers that can get wonky,
(34:29):
especially for relievers. You don't thinkof him as a shutdown guy,
but he can throw a hundred milesan hour. He can get you some
outs. I'd like to see allthree of them back, but I just
don't know of how realistic that's gonnabe. Yeah, I think maybe two
of the three. I think maybeMayton or Stank decides to stay. Nerris
loves this locker room and he lovesthese guys, but I think he also
realizes it got my ring and Ilike to go get paid big money,
(34:49):
so he can't blame him if hedecides to go that route. But man,
those guys run deep together, himand Fromber and Javier, and those
guys love laving and joking together.And maybe Nara says, you know what,
I want to be in Houston.Let's figure out how to make the
money work. Last thing, Rossbefore we wrap up this edition of the
Crawford Box Cast presented by Carbach Brewing. Looking ahead, you know we talk
(35:10):
about pay the man and all thiswith Kyle Tucker and from Bervaldez. They
had discussions, they couldn't get anythingworked out on long term deals. But
from Bravaldez, Kyle Tucker and JoseOrkeaty all hading into the final years of
their arbitration the year after next,So twenty twenty four and twenty twenty five
is when those guys will all beup for money. The problem is,
(35:30):
Jose Al Tuvan and Alex Bregman willbe free agents in twenty twenty five.
Do you still go down the rightof trying to figure out a long term
deal with Tucker and or fromber ordo you prioritize Counter your prioritization and say,
you know what, let's lock upAl tu Van Bregman long term.
We don't want to see those guysever wear another uniform, and we'll figure
(35:51):
out the rest with the other guys. Yeah, I'm it'll be interesting to
see how it plays out, becauseI mean, you want to make you
know, your heart wants to makeJosel Tuovay an Astro for life, right
like, say, get him aten year even though he's thirty three.
Get him a ten year contract rightnow and call it a day. But
you know that's not practical, that'snot the smart way to run a team.
(36:13):
And it'll be interesting to see whatAlex Bregman was good for him that
he had a great year at thirdbase, He had a pretty good year
at the plate. Not necessarily eighteennineteen prime Alex Bregman. But I think
that guy has just gone because wehaven't seen it since then, so there's
no reason to think that it's comingback. So it'll be interesting to see
the way it plays out. Andalso, I mean, after these playoffs,
(36:34):
do you feel super enthused about lockingup either of Kyle Tucker or from
Bravaldez long term. I think,on its face, at least before the
playoffs started, you're like, Okay, Kyle Tucker is the one we have
to prioritize. But it just seemslike there's been a steely relationship between the
Astros front office and the Tucker representationthe last couple of years because nothing ever
(36:57):
gets done and nobody seems to wantto talk about it. I kind of
get in big time. I'm GeorgeSpringer, vibes like the guy's just going
to be gone and he doesn't wantto stay. And then from Rivaldez,
I think you have, even beforethe playoffs, and even before this bad
run, you had some concerns abouthim long term because unfortunately, whether right
or wrong, the emotional way withwhich he pitches on the mound that can
(37:21):
fuel him to no hit performances,or that can set him a blaze to
where he's going out there and pitchingtwo and a third innings and giving up
five runs or something. Well,we certainly have plenty of topics to dive
into over the next couple weeks rosson the Crawford box Cast, and we
will continue talking all about it throughoutthis offseason. Going to be fascinating,
the search for a manager, newcontracts, who do they get in free
(37:44):
agency. We'll be breaking it alldown right here on the Crawford box Cast,
presented by Carbock Brewing. And makesure you guys, last season may
be over, but make sure you'reenjoying an Ice cl Crawford Boch from our
friends at Carboch Brewing. He isRoss Viial, I'm Chris Gordy. We'll
talk to you guys next week righthere on the Crawford box Cast
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.