June 14, 2024 • 7 mins
MLB.com'Astros.com beat writer Brian McTaggart joins Ross Villareal for his weekly visit on Astros On-Deck. He talks about what led to this move being made on Jose Abreu. He talks about what it means for the team in the immediate future. Plus, what they could do over the long haul in trying to get back to the postseason.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
His name is Brian McTaggart covered theAstros for MLB dot Com Astros dot Com.
Uh, Brian kind of a playofffield tonight with all the people and
the media today with this jose ofbrave news. Yeah, big news.
I mean, I think we allknew this was probably gonna come sooner or
later. I didn't think it wouldbe this weekend, you know. I
thought maybe they would give him theyou know, the games next week and
(00:22):
against his old team, the WhiteSox. But you know, it was
clear this had to happen. Imean, it just you know, even
after he came back from the minorleagues, he just the timing was not
there. Went over seven and theseries against the Giants. I mean,
he hit a couple of home runsin the last couple of weeks, but
considering where they are on the standings, they needed to move on and now
they got to address what they're gonnado at first Place. Yeah, I'm
(00:45):
with you in that I knew weall knew it was coming, but I
didn't necessarily know that it was goingto come today. But just from your
eyes, a long time coming aswell. Well, how do you feel
like the way that they handled this, of course the fans saying it drove
it just droned on too long.But with the contract and all that type
of stuff, what do you thinkabout the way the organization handled the situation.
(01:07):
I mean, he's not even halfwaythrough his three year of contract,
so this is still they're still cuttinghim pretty early. I mean, they
gave him a month at the beginningof the season, didn't work out,
got the three weeks in the minorleagues, and then he came back and
played in twelve games. I mean, I mean, they gave him a
pretty good opportunity here. I youknow, I don't when he comes back
off from the minor leagues, you'renot gonna play him five games. You're
(01:27):
gonna They gave him a couple ofweeks, so and they just had to
get Jim Crane to sign off onthis eventually. I mean, I think
Joe a. Spotta was probably atthe point to where he probably wanted to
move on a little earlier, butCraye is the guy that's gonna have to
be eating the money, and eventuallyhe said, okay, I agree,
we need to move on. Whatdo you think, I mean, what
(01:47):
happened to Jose bray you because therewas a little bit of decline in twenty
twenty two, but it wasn't thissteep and then all of a sudden just
last year and this year. Imean, can you recall usually guy's age
a little bit more gracefully, gracefullythan what happened here. Yeah. I
do remember last year when he cameto camp prior to his first year with
(02:07):
the Astros in spring training that you'rea coach mentioning to me that they were
surprised how old he looked, justthe way he was moving, not only
the field but in the weight room. They just were kind of first sight
of him, they were just kindof shot he had a back brace on
or something. Yeah, yeah,maybe I don't know, but you know,
when they signed him, and theytalked a lot about the back of
(02:27):
the baseball card, but yeah,when they signed him, the metrics were
all still really good. He washitting, he was barreling balls up in
twenty just the year before so andwhen they signed him, I think everybody
thought, wow, this is aperfect fit. He's going to replace Uriel,
a veteran guy who still is playingat you know, a pretty high
level, and just didn't work.Out. It was a pretty sharp and
(02:49):
steep decline. Prime attacker MLB dotCom, Astros dot Com with us here
on the Astros on Deck show.So now he's gone, it's over,
it's done. The play moving forward, Dana Brown Joe spot of both saying,
sounds like it's John Singleton and hisjob. But you do have Mauricio
Dubon in the lineup tonight at firstbase, so you're gonna get some good
(03:10):
looks at him. Would imagine,Yeah, it sounds like a platoon situation.
But if I'm the Astros, Ihave to address this at the trade
deadline, and Dana Brown did itmid today. They need a bat,
they need to They need someone whocan play first base. You want to
if you want to get an outfielderin the mix, but they need somebody
that can put it first base.I still don't think Don Singleton's the answer.
(03:31):
He's really declined here in the lastfew weeks after he played pretty well.
You know, Duvon's his best roleis still a utility guy. Yeah,
you can put him at first everynow and then, but you know
you need him all over the field. They need to go out and get
somebody. Assuming in six weeks.They're not fifteen games out, and what
do you think that looks like?Especially with you know a lot of talk
(03:53):
about the the tax threshold going intothat second number. Peede Alonzo is a
name that has been mentioned, PaulGoldschmidt, others. I mean, how
do the Astros make this work?You don't have a really fully stocked farm
system either. I mean, whatdo you think Dana Brown has to work
with here? They're in a toughspot, and ultimately, I don't think
it's going to be a guy likePeter Alonzo. I mean, it's probably
(04:15):
and I don't have any names foryou, but it's probably somebody on a
roster who is, you know,putting up some pretty good numbers, but
would be better than what they havenow. Data is saying today that he
doesn't want to give up prospects forrentals, so you know, he wants
somebody that they have control of beyondthis year. Yeah, they're farm systems
not good. That's a combination oftrading guys away and losing first and second
(04:35):
round picks. But they do haveguys in their system that other teams will
cover it. But I don't thinkI don't think they're going to make a
blockbuster trade, but I don't thinkthey need to. They just need to
get somebody better at first base thanwhat they have. So obviously the struggles
now in thirty one and thirty eight, the story a topic a as we
say in radio, has been joseA Bray you all season long, what
(04:57):
do you think is the next biggestthing you're looking at? Say? The
Astros need to address this. Theyneed to get better here if they're gonna
turn this thing around. Yeah,I think now that a Brad's gone,
some other things are gonna come tolight, right, I mean, I
think the production of Chas McCormick's probablygonna come to the forefront. Bregman sort
of turned his season around. How'sthis outfield gonna look at the trade deadline?
Are they gonna trade away an outfielderget another outfielder? I thought it
(05:20):
was interesting today too. Dana Brownpretty much hinted that low Berfito would be
back up in a month, Imean in a week, and Uh,
to me, it sort of soundedlike he was hinting he could take some
at bats away from McCormick, ifyou know, if he's playing some right
field, so you know, ChasMcCormick is a guy now who probably you
know, needs to get it goinga little bit. But again, if
(05:41):
they're not totally out of it,they're gonna add another bat and that's gonna
have a ripple effect on the outfieldwhere they already have probably one too many
bodies at this point. Yeah,that's what I was thinking too. It's
like you just have a glut ofunfortunate options that aren't everyday option. Jake
Myers has a hot month and thenhe cools off in June. Chas McCormick
was hot last year and then he'snot hitting this year, and then Raso
Debond we like, but he's doesn'thave a lot of power, and then
(06:01):
Joey Loperfito. You're talking about aprospect. A postpect could come up and
struggle for a month, but youdon't really have that time or that luxury
for the astros. Yeah, andthey really don't ad on their forty man
roster. There's nobody that could reallycome up and help. I mean,
Kessinger is a backhand roster guy,so as Hensley. So they're in a
spot they need to add a playeror two and just sort of get this
(06:23):
outfield sit they need, they needMcCormick to get going, they need breaking
them to keep it up. Andthey got to, you know, cross
their fingers they don't suffer suffer anotherinjury in that pitching rotation. All right.
That is Brian McTaggart MLB dot com, Astros dot com and joins us
every Friday here in the Astros ondeck show Bryant, one last thing.
Do you have a tidbit for us? A tid nothing off top of your
(06:43):
head? I think, okay,how about I got a tidbit for you?
Minus one point six war for Joseabray you this year in only thirty
five games. That's pretty impressive.That that's hard to do. That's a
lot of bad pigs ball. SoI will say this. Everybody said,
Jose have brave, fantastic guy,the great guy in the clubhouse. Was
great with the media. I knowhe wanted to really do well and it
(07:03):
stinks for him, but he probablyagrees it's probably the best for everybody.
All right, Brian, thanks forthe time, appreciate it. As always,
We'll talk to you next week,all right, Thanks us, appreciate it.
His name is Brian McTaggart covered theAstros for MLB dot Com Astros dot Com.
Uh, Brian kind of a playofffield tonight with all the people and
the media today with this jose ofbrave news. Yeah, big news.
I mean, I think we allknew this was probably gonna come sooner or
later. I didn't think it wouldbe this weekend, you know. I
thought maybe they would give him theyou know, the games next week and
(00:22):
against his old team, the WhiteSox. But you know, it was
clear this had to happen. Imean, it just you know, even
after he came back from the minorleagues, he just the timing was not
there. Went over seven and theseries against the Giants. I mean,
he hit a couple of home runsin the last couple of weeks, but
considering where they are on the standings, they needed to move on and now
they got to address what they're gonnado at first Place. Yeah, I'm
(00:45):
with you in that I knew weall knew it was coming, but I
didn't necessarily know that it was goingto come today. But just from your
eyes, a long time coming aswell. Well, how do you feel
like the way that they handled this, of course the fans saying it drove
it just droned on too long.But with the contract and all that type
of stuff, what do you thinkabout the way the organization handled the situation.
(01:07):
I mean, he's not even halfwaythrough his three year of contract,
so this is still they're still cuttinghim pretty early. I mean, they
gave him a month at the beginningof the season, didn't work out,
got the three weeks in the minorleagues, and then he came back and
played in twelve games. I mean, I mean, they gave him a
pretty good opportunity here. I youknow, I don't when he comes back
off from the minor leagues, you'renot gonna play him five games. You're
(01:27):
gonna They gave him a couple ofweeks, so and they just had to
get Jim Crane to sign off onthis eventually. I mean, I think
Joe a. Spotta was probably atthe point to where he probably wanted to
move on a little earlier, butCraye is the guy that's gonna have to
be eating the money, and eventuallyhe said, okay, I agree,
we need to move on. Whatdo you think, I mean, what
(01:47):
happened to Jose bray you because therewas a little bit of decline in twenty
twenty two, but it wasn't thissteep and then all of a sudden just
last year and this year. Imean, can you recall usually guy's age
a little bit more gracefully, gracefullythan what happened here. Yeah. I
do remember last year when he cameto camp prior to his first year with
(02:07):
the Astros in spring training that you'rea coach mentioning to me that they were
surprised how old he looked, justthe way he was moving, not only
the field but in the weight room. They just were kind of first sight
of him, they were just kindof shot he had a back brace on
or something. Yeah, yeah,maybe I don't know, but you know,
when they signed him, and theytalked a lot about the back of
(02:27):
the baseball card, but yeah,when they signed him, the metrics were
all still really good. He washitting, he was barreling balls up in
twenty just the year before so andwhen they signed him, I think everybody
thought, wow, this is aperfect fit. He's going to replace Uriel,
a veteran guy who still is playingat you know, a pretty high
level, and just didn't work.Out. It was a pretty sharp and
(02:49):
steep decline. Prime attacker MLB dotCom, Astros dot Com with us here
on the Astros on Deck show.So now he's gone, it's over,
it's done. The play moving forward, Dana Brown Joe spot of both saying,
sounds like it's John Singleton and hisjob. But you do have Mauricio
Dubon in the lineup tonight at firstbase, so you're gonna get some good
(03:10):
looks at him. Would imagine,Yeah, it sounds like a platoon situation.
But if I'm the Astros, Ihave to address this at the trade
deadline, and Dana Brown did itmid today. They need a bat,
they need to They need someone whocan play first base. You want to
if you want to get an outfielderin the mix, but they need somebody
that can put it first base.I still don't think Don Singleton's the answer.
(03:31):
He's really declined here in the lastfew weeks after he played pretty well.
You know, Duvon's his best roleis still a utility guy. Yeah,
you can put him at first everynow and then, but you know
you need him all over the field. They need to go out and get
somebody. Assuming in six weeks.They're not fifteen games out, and what
do you think that looks like?Especially with you know a lot of talk
(03:53):
about the the tax threshold going intothat second number. Peede Alonzo is a
name that has been mentioned, PaulGoldschmidt, others. I mean, how
do the Astros make this work?You don't have a really fully stocked farm
system either. I mean, whatdo you think Dana Brown has to work
with here? They're in a toughspot, and ultimately, I don't think
it's going to be a guy likePeter Alonzo. I mean, it's probably
(04:15):
and I don't have any names foryou, but it's probably somebody on a
roster who is, you know,putting up some pretty good numbers, but
would be better than what they havenow. Data is saying today that he
doesn't want to give up prospects forrentals, so you know, he wants
somebody that they have control of beyondthis year. Yeah, they're farm systems
not good. That's a combination oftrading guys away and losing first and second
(04:35):
round picks. But they do haveguys in their system that other teams will
cover it. But I don't thinkI don't think they're going to make a
blockbuster trade, but I don't thinkthey need to. They just need to
get somebody better at first base thanwhat they have. So obviously the struggles
now in thirty one and thirty eight, the story a topic a as we
say in radio, has been joseA Bray you all season long, what
(04:57):
do you think is the next biggestthing you're looking at? Say? The
Astros need to address this. Theyneed to get better here if they're gonna
turn this thing around. Yeah,I think now that a Brad's gone,
some other things are gonna come tolight, right, I mean, I
think the production of Chas McCormick's probablygonna come to the forefront. Bregman sort
of turned his season around. How'sthis outfield gonna look at the trade deadline?
Are they gonna trade away an outfielderget another outfielder? I thought it
(05:20):
was interesting today too. Dana Brownpretty much hinted that low Berfito would be
back up in a month, Imean in a week, and Uh,
to me, it sort of soundedlike he was hinting he could take some
at bats away from McCormick, ifyou know, if he's playing some right
field, so you know, ChasMcCormick is a guy now who probably you
know, needs to get it goinga little bit. But again, if
(05:41):
they're not totally out of it,they're gonna add another bat and that's gonna
have a ripple effect on the outfieldwhere they already have probably one too many
bodies at this point. Yeah,that's what I was thinking too. It's
like you just have a glut ofunfortunate options that aren't everyday option. Jake
Myers has a hot month and thenhe cools off in June. Chas McCormick
was hot last year and then he'snot hitting this year, and then Raso
Debond we like, but he's doesn'thave a lot of power, and then
(06:01):
Joey Loperfito. You're talking about aprospect. A postpect could come up and
struggle for a month, but youdon't really have that time or that luxury
for the astros. Yeah, andthey really don't ad on their forty man
roster. There's nobody that could reallycome up and help. I mean,
Kessinger is a backhand roster guy,so as Hensley. So they're in a
spot they need to add a playeror two and just sort of get this
(06:23):
outfield sit they need, they needMcCormick to get going, they need breaking
them to keep it up. Andthey got to, you know, cross
their fingers they don't suffer suffer anotherinjury in that pitching rotation. All right.
That is Brian McTaggart MLB dot com, Astros dot com and joins us
every Friday here in the Astros ondeck show Bryant, one last thing.
Do you have a tidbit for us? A tid nothing off top of your
(06:43):
head? I think, okay,how about I got a tidbit for you?
Minus one point six war for Joseabray you this year in only thirty
five games. That's pretty impressive.That that's hard to do. That's a
lot of bad pigs ball. SoI will say this. Everybody said,
Jose have brave, fantastic guy,the great guy in the clubhouse. Was
great with the media. I knowhe wanted to really do well and it
(07:03):
stinks for him, but he probablyagrees it's probably the best for everybody.
All right, Brian, thanks forthe time, appreciate it. As always,
We'll talk to you next week,all right, Thanks us, appreciate it.
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