November 20, 2025 • 7 mins
Turning back to baseball and focusing here on Houston for a moment, the Astros tee off the offseason with a huge splash in the league's legal tampering period following yesterday's recent departure of their utility player, Mauricio Dubón. Sending the Gold Glove winner to Atlanta, the Astros receive the Braves' shortstop and infielder Nick Allen in return. With a mix of emotions this morning, Dan and Cole take a moment to break down the Astros' recent trade and what a move like this says about the organization's push to return to the postseason.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
And we say goodbye to a fan favorite.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
All of that and much more to get into this morning,
but I mean, you know, it's kind of one of
those cool we could go one way or the other
here because we will do things a little bit different here.
Usually we just have the open of the show when
we play like a little highlight montage. But because one
of our good friends is going out the door, we've
got a special, a special open for you in the
(00:24):
eight o'clock hour that I would continue to get with
Triple Leon on production for it, because I feel like
the goodbye song from Boys to Men is probably needed
to go along with it, because well, I mean we'll
start there and then get into a little bit of
the rockets. We've heard that montage. But I gotta be
honest because last night I was doing pa over at
the UH volleyball game, shout out to UH Volleyball, and
(00:49):
I get out and I see a text message from Gordy, Hey,
what do you know about Nick Allen?
Speaker 1 (00:54):
And I'm like, who did we give up? And then
I see it.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
And I'm like, because I mean, obviously you know my
past even though he was after me there, but you know, still,
I mean kind of pay close attention, not close attention, but.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
You're keeping you're keeping the eyes. I check in every
once in a while.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Sure, absolutely, and I was like, not much of a hitter,
pretty good fielder, but I mean, I guess in a
certain way, maybe Dana Brown kind of looks at it.
As you know, Mauricio Dubon kind of had the same
thing thrown at him, and then we brought him here.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
He was very serviceable.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
So cost cutting, of course, but at the cost of
a good friend.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
It's a salary get dump to where you're gonna be
able to hopefully bring in someone with more offensive production.
That's what this comes down to. He's a two time
Gold Glover. He was great in the field. He was
great for position flexibility. It adds value, It adds incredible value.
I'm not going to stop here and act like it doesn't.
But they were also the same people who are complaining
about letting go of Mauricio Dubon, those being the loudest
(01:57):
about why see in the lineup every single day? Why
is he hitting anywhere outside of the number nine hole.
Why are we giving him more at bats, Why are
we not getting more people involved? Why is he playing
in love and we can see a little bit more
from Jesus Sanchez. Why is he playing at third when
we can see Ramona Rea is filling in into the
Carlos Correa. So it's like you're all complaining about his
offensive production and now you're sad that you're losing his
(02:18):
defensive production. The way that I view this, Dan, is
that sometimes you got to let go of someone who
you believe is a great fit to make sure you
go on the run that you need. This to me,
seems like you're setting up to go bring in another
player who adds in more offensive volume and can do
a lot of the same things as a guy like
a Mauricio Dubon. Hey, Brendan Donovan, what's you doing in
(02:38):
San Louis right now? Would love to be able to
get on the phone with you your agent, call my agent,
Let's go out and have a conversation about your come
and playing that Dike and Park.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Yeah, and with the move Chandler Rome last night throwing
this out on Twitter, the Astros parting ways with Chaz,
with Luis Garcia, Ramonirius and now Mauricio Dubon. This month,
MLB trade rumors projecting that that group before is going
to save them a combined fifteen point eight million in
arbitration negotiations. So about sixteen million dollars you just freed
(03:08):
up right now, So you for you up sixteen million dollars.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
You can use that to go out and bring in
two big names, in my opinion on the trade market,
a utility player that can play multiple positions, whether that
be in the outfield or the infield, i e. Brandon
Donovan number two starter in the rotation to replace from
er Valdez. I hate it because, like I like Mauricio,
He's a great clubhouse guy. He's easy to get along with,
he talks to the media. He actually is very much
a big vocal leader in the in the clubhouse, and
(03:33):
everyone seems to get along with him.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Good culture fit.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
But I'm not really worried about culture when the culture
right now is saying, hey, we're missing the playoffs every year.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Well, I mean, and it's also too I mean, let's
let's go back to the trade deadline last year. I mean,
that's a huge reason why he went out and got
Carlos Korea, right. I mean, for everybody, Hey, where's the
leadership in that clubhouse? Well, I mean you go back
and get a guy that was the glue of the
glue guys in there, and now due Bond was definitely that.
I mean, you know, I threw it out on Twitter
last night, and I think most of us who stuck
(04:01):
a microphone in front of him probably feel the same way.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Always available, always in the clubhouse.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
I mean, you couldn't walk into that clubhouse and not
see Mauricio Dubon in there. And I think that that's
a part that hurts. And it's always funny too that
fan bases seem to gravitate to a guy like him,
like are they the best player?
Speaker 1 (04:18):
No? Are they anywhere close to being the best player
on your team?
Speaker 3 (04:21):
No?
Speaker 1 (04:21):
The same deal there.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
I mean I almost and I'd even said it at
one time, I said, Mauricio Dubon is this generation's Bill Spires.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Bill Spires was a fan favorite.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Bill Spiers wasn't the best player, but I mean he
did everything that Mauricio Dubond did. He was the utility
of all utility players and you loved him for it.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
So I mean I get it.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
We'll no longer get to hear a group of Frontira
no se Va when Mauricio Dubon comes to the plate.
But I did have a lot of my former colleagues
in Atlanta, Hey, you know, what do you know about him?
And of course you know I was able to say,
you're gonna love him?
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Yeah? Great.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Did you see the report that he potentially is going
to be starting short stuff for opening day?
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (05:02):
I that to me, and I don't spend a lot
of time on break because we want to talk astros.
That to me feels like it's malpracticed when you're trying
to spend a lot more money to put yourself in
a position to be more competitive in the NL East.
He's a good I think, defensive replacement. He can fix
a lot of holes in your outfield. He can be
a good stopgap guy. So gotta go spend if you
can go, get like a Boba Shet by all means
(05:22):
do so. The Nick Allen thing in this again, I'm
not even paying attention to it. Like cool walking to Houston.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
If you make the.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Roster out of opening day and spring training, we'll welcome
you here.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
With open arms. I'm not putting a lot of stock
into it.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
I'm saying, at this point you may be a part
of the organization. This was the free up money to
go bring in somebody else in the off season. That's
all it was. No.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
I mean that's the thing too, is you know, me
and Gordy were talking about a little bit last night
and I just said, you know, I think you're looking
at it all wrong, man. This is the move to
set up for the move, right, that's I mean, that's
and you even just alluded to it because there is
the reports that they're interested in Brendan Donovan from Saint
Louis Cardinals. Of course Chandler roam all over that, and
you know, I mean, we'll see if that happens in
(06:02):
the next day or two. I mean, because this is
about the time last year when we got the Kyle
Tucker trade.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
I think it was it was right around Thanksgiving time,
so yeah, we were at the end of November.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
So no, it was it was in It was in
December now that I think about it, because it was
where the league meetings were happening, and there were reports
that hey, the Astros are shopping Kyle Tucker. So then
of course you know it's like, all right, is anything
gonna happen here? And then sure enough, yeah, something happened,
and they they ended up making that deal, and of
(06:34):
course at the time it was oh, the dynasty's over,
it's dead, it's it's done with. Then camp Smith comes
in and you're like, oh, this guy's exciting. This is
fun at least the early part of the season. East
sock barettis. I mean, you saw how much this team
missed he sock barettas once he was out of the lineup.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Dude, I'll be rerong.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
I loved the Hayden Misneski pick up when you first
got him, and then unfortunately he has TJ surgery. You
don't know his long term status. But like it was
a win win trade in the standpoint because of Chicago's
a bigger market and they're willing to spend the type
of money. Clearly they're not, but you think that they are.
You hit reset on right field, Get yourself a third basement,
permanent replacement for Bregman, get yourself a number five guy
(07:13):
in the rotation. So, like the dice wasn't ending, it
just was being refurbished.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
It was just being a.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
Little bit, you know, put into the shop and you
had to go ahead and change the oil. You had
to go get the bolts tightened on certain things. Like
that's what it was, and maybe that's what you're seeing
with the Mauriso Dubon move. But the thing right now
that I wonder you had to make this move because
of every single day that you don't have the money
in the payroll to be able to bring in a
Brandon Donovan or any one of those names. Another team
is making an offer to Saint Louis to go ahead
(07:39):
and bring him on in, and that hurts you. And
there's a team in Seattle that I can tell you
right now is gonna be looking at him.
And we say goodbye to a fan favorite.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
All of that and much more to get into this morning,
but I mean, you know, it's kind of one of
those cool we could go one way or the other
here because we will do things a little bit different here.
Usually we just have the open of the show when
we play like a little highlight montage. But because one
of our good friends is going out the door, we've
got a special, a special open for you in the
(00:24):
eight o'clock hour that I would continue to get with
Triple Leon on production for it, because I feel like
the goodbye song from Boys to Men is probably needed
to go along with it, because well, I mean we'll
start there and then get into a little bit of
the rockets. We've heard that montage. But I gotta be
honest because last night I was doing pa over at
the UH volleyball game, shout out to UH Volleyball, and
(00:49):
I get out and I see a text message from Gordy, Hey,
what do you know about Nick Allen?
Speaker 1 (00:54):
And I'm like, who did we give up? And then
I see it.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
And I'm like, because I mean, obviously you know my
past even though he was after me there, but you know, still,
I mean kind of pay close attention, not close attention, but.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
You're keeping you're keeping the eyes. I check in every
once in a while.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Sure, absolutely, and I was like, not much of a hitter,
pretty good fielder, but I mean, I guess in a
certain way, maybe Dana Brown kind of looks at it.
As you know, Mauricio Dubon kind of had the same
thing thrown at him, and then we brought him here.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
He was very serviceable.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
So cost cutting, of course, but at the cost of
a good friend.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
It's a salary get dump to where you're gonna be
able to hopefully bring in someone with more offensive production.
That's what this comes down to. He's a two time
Gold Glover. He was great in the field. He was
great for position flexibility. It adds value, It adds incredible value.
I'm not going to stop here and act like it doesn't.
But they were also the same people who are complaining
about letting go of Mauricio Dubon, those being the loudest
(01:57):
about why see in the lineup every single day? Why
is he hitting anywhere outside of the number nine hole.
Why are we giving him more at bats, Why are
we not getting more people involved? Why is he playing
in love and we can see a little bit more
from Jesus Sanchez. Why is he playing at third when
we can see Ramona Rea is filling in into the
Carlos Correa. So it's like you're all complaining about his
offensive production and now you're sad that you're losing his
(02:18):
defensive production. The way that I view this, Dan, is
that sometimes you got to let go of someone who
you believe is a great fit to make sure you
go on the run that you need. This to me,
seems like you're setting up to go bring in another
player who adds in more offensive volume and can do
a lot of the same things as a guy like
a Mauricio Dubon. Hey, Brendan Donovan, what's you doing in
(02:38):
San Louis right now? Would love to be able to
get on the phone with you your agent, call my agent,
Let's go out and have a conversation about your come
and playing that Dike and Park.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Yeah, and with the move Chandler Rome last night throwing
this out on Twitter, the Astros parting ways with Chaz,
with Luis Garcia, Ramonirius and now Mauricio Dubon. This month,
MLB trade rumors projecting that that group before is going
to save them a combined fifteen point eight million in
arbitration negotiations. So about sixteen million dollars you just freed
(03:08):
up right now, So you for you up sixteen million dollars.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
You can use that to go out and bring in
two big names, in my opinion on the trade market,
a utility player that can play multiple positions, whether that
be in the outfield or the infield, i e. Brandon
Donovan number two starter in the rotation to replace from
er Valdez. I hate it because, like I like Mauricio,
He's a great clubhouse guy. He's easy to get along with,
he talks to the media. He actually is very much
a big vocal leader in the in the clubhouse, and
(03:33):
everyone seems to get along with him.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Good culture fit.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
But I'm not really worried about culture when the culture
right now is saying, hey, we're missing the playoffs every year.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Well, I mean, and it's also too I mean, let's
let's go back to the trade deadline last year. I mean,
that's a huge reason why he went out and got
Carlos Korea, right. I mean, for everybody, Hey, where's the
leadership in that clubhouse? Well, I mean you go back
and get a guy that was the glue of the
glue guys in there, and now due Bond was definitely that.
I mean, you know, I threw it out on Twitter
last night, and I think most of us who stuck
(04:01):
a microphone in front of him probably feel the same way.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Always available, always in the clubhouse.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
I mean, you couldn't walk into that clubhouse and not
see Mauricio Dubon in there. And I think that that's
a part that hurts. And it's always funny too that
fan bases seem to gravitate to a guy like him,
like are they the best player?
Speaker 1 (04:18):
No? Are they anywhere close to being the best player
on your team?
Speaker 3 (04:21):
No?
Speaker 1 (04:21):
The same deal there.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
I mean I almost and I'd even said it at
one time, I said, Mauricio Dubon is this generation's Bill Spires.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Bill Spires was a fan favorite.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Bill Spiers wasn't the best player, but I mean he
did everything that Mauricio Dubond did. He was the utility
of all utility players and you loved him for it.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
So I mean I get it.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
We'll no longer get to hear a group of Frontira
no se Va when Mauricio Dubon comes to the plate.
But I did have a lot of my former colleagues
in Atlanta, Hey, you know, what do you know about him?
And of course you know I was able to say,
you're gonna love him?
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Yeah? Great.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Did you see the report that he potentially is going
to be starting short stuff for opening day?
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (05:02):
I that to me, and I don't spend a lot
of time on break because we want to talk astros.
That to me feels like it's malpracticed when you're trying
to spend a lot more money to put yourself in
a position to be more competitive in the NL East.
He's a good I think, defensive replacement. He can fix
a lot of holes in your outfield. He can be
a good stopgap guy. So gotta go spend if you
can go, get like a Boba Shet by all means
(05:22):
do so. The Nick Allen thing in this again, I'm
not even paying attention to it. Like cool walking to Houston.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
If you make the.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Roster out of opening day and spring training, we'll welcome
you here.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
With open arms. I'm not putting a lot of stock
into it.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
I'm saying, at this point you may be a part
of the organization. This was the free up money to
go bring in somebody else in the off season. That's
all it was. No.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
I mean that's the thing too, is you know, me
and Gordy were talking about a little bit last night
and I just said, you know, I think you're looking
at it all wrong, man. This is the move to
set up for the move, right, that's I mean, that's
and you even just alluded to it because there is
the reports that they're interested in Brendan Donovan from Saint
Louis Cardinals. Of course Chandler roam all over that, and
you know, I mean, we'll see if that happens in
(06:02):
the next day or two. I mean, because this is
about the time last year when we got the Kyle
Tucker trade.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
I think it was it was right around Thanksgiving time,
so yeah, we were at the end of November.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
So no, it was it was in It was in
December now that I think about it, because it was
where the league meetings were happening, and there were reports
that hey, the Astros are shopping Kyle Tucker. So then
of course you know it's like, all right, is anything
gonna happen here? And then sure enough, yeah, something happened,
and they they ended up making that deal, and of
(06:34):
course at the time it was oh, the dynasty's over,
it's dead, it's it's done with. Then camp Smith comes
in and you're like, oh, this guy's exciting. This is
fun at least the early part of the season. East
sock barettis. I mean, you saw how much this team
missed he sock barettas once he was out of the lineup.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Dude, I'll be rerong.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
I loved the Hayden Misneski pick up when you first
got him, and then unfortunately he has TJ surgery. You
don't know his long term status. But like it was
a win win trade in the standpoint because of Chicago's
a bigger market and they're willing to spend the type
of money. Clearly they're not, but you think that they are.
You hit reset on right field, Get yourself a third basement,
permanent replacement for Bregman, get yourself a number five guy
(07:13):
in the rotation. So, like the dice wasn't ending, it
just was being refurbished.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
It was just being a.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
Little bit, you know, put into the shop and you
had to go ahead and change the oil. You had
to go get the bolts tightened on certain things. Like
that's what it was, and maybe that's what you're seeing
with the Mauriso Dubon move. But the thing right now
that I wonder you had to make this move because
of every single day that you don't have the money
in the payroll to be able to bring in a
Brandon Donovan or any one of those names. Another team
is making an offer to Saint Louis to go ahead
(07:39):
and bring him on in, and that hurts you. And
there's a team in Seattle that I can tell you
right now is gonna be looking at him.
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