Brian McTaggart Joins After Astros Take Down Red Sox’s & Josh Hader Needing a 2nd Opinion

Brian McTaggart Joins After Astros Take Down Red Sox’s & Josh Hader Needing a 2nd Opinion 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
And right now, after a heavy first hour of astro's discussion,
please to be joined by someone who actually knows what
you're talking about with the Astros. Brian McTaggart astros dot com,
MLB dot com as well, Brian, A nice win by
the Astros yesterday, But let's get down to what is
the biggest topic going on with the astros. Josh Hater.

(00:20):
We got the news yesterday that he's seeking a second opinion.
We generally understand that that means the first opinion probably
wasn't good. We got a preview of Brian A. Bray,
you and Bennett Susa taking over the leverage spots last night.
Just in your eyes, how big of a blow is
this for the astros and the the body language or

(00:44):
just what you can kind of read about how severe
it could be for Josh Hater.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
Yeah, well, the fact that you know, a couple of
days ago, Joe spot A call it a punch in
the gut, and then yesterday, you know, obviously they're waiting
on the second opinion, and you know, as he wants
to give Josh space to see the doctors. So yeah,
you're right, I mean, your second opinion is never good
rarely does it seem like do they come back and say, hey,
second opinion, he'll be good to go here, you know

(01:10):
when the fifteen days are up. Joe even said it's
gonna be longer than the fifteen days, which will take him,
you know, probably into September, because you know, you're gonna
have to start building up a little bit, you know,
with a you know, throw a couple of bullpens and whatnot.
So it doesn't sound very good. I mean, we'll wait
for the prognosis tomorrow. But I felt that they were
probably already reliever short, you know, after the trade deadline.

(01:30):
I know they they looked at trying to get a reliever.
It just felt they could have used one more. And
now losing hater, Uh yeah, I mean a bray you
can close, SUSA can close, but you know, now you're
a little bit more limited in how you get the
ball to the ninth inning. The perfect formula would be
what happened last night, Your start to go sixty two, thirty, seventh, seven,
and then you only have six seven outs to cover.

(01:50):
But we all know that's not gonna happen every night.
So they're in a tough spot, and you know, we'll
see what the news is. Maybe we'll find out tomorrow
about Hater.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
Where where do you think they go to kind of
shore this up? You do have a lot of arms
coming back. Do you think guys like Luis Garcia, who's
been in the bullpen before, would be an option? Do
you think they would try to pick somebody off the
scrap heap? We keep getting ining dateated with Ryan Press
the questions here.

Speaker 2 (02:15):
Yeah, I bassed aroundabout Presley, and I get the idea
that they're not completely interested in that. I mean, I
think it would have happened already, you know, if if
they if it was gonna work out. You know, he
and Dana Brown didn't exactly leave on the best of terms.
So I don't know if that, you know, if that uh,
you know, hangs over their head as well. But I
think if if probably was gonna be an option, he'd
be here already. But uh, you know, they did get

(02:35):
De la Santo's sort of you know, off the scrap heap,
like you said, and his you know, his first adding
was okay. So I don't know, they're just gonna have
to piece this together the best you can. You Yeah,
they get some starters back they can move some guys
to the bullpen. I think Walter stuff would play well
in the bullpen out of the left side, you know,
deceptive three quarter arm slot left side. They you know,
Joe spot It pretty much admitted that when aj Blueball

(02:58):
went back down that he could be an option for
a you know, a bullpen starter role, sort of a
hybrid to come back up. So I think we'll see
two or three guys who can start, who can relieve,
and they're just got have to try to patch it
together the best they can. That they're just, you know,
Brian King, you know, struggle a little bit giving up
the long ball. So if they can get him back
back and form like he pitched the first you know,

(03:19):
half of the season, that that would help as well.
But it's just every day it's just going to be
a chess match for Joe, a spot of playing the
matchups and and maybe throwing a guy two winnings and
and then try to get that ball to the eighth
and ninth in.

Speaker 3 (03:32):
It is interesting, Brian, as this team starts to get healthy,
they bring you know, Christian javey Or and s Spencer
Araghetti are back on this team and they're trying to
work into uh establishing themselves back into the rotation and
both last outing for both were better. And then you've
got Jason Alexander who's had a couple of good starts
again for this team, Brandon Walter working his way back.

(03:54):
We'll see if he gets closer to a reap start.
We know Luis Garcia had another good outing last night
for Triple A as he rehabs, and we know mccullors
is getting closer. I bring all this up to say,
if the math maths here, Brian and these guys all
start to get healthy and they truly are with the
void of Josh Hater, do you does Dana Brown have
a conversation with somebody to say, hey, I need there's

(04:16):
not enough rotation spots here. Do one of you guys
take on a bullpen mentality? Here? Is is that maybe
some of those conversations going on behind the scenes.

Speaker 2 (04:27):
Oh yeah, I mean I think they'll they'll have to.
I mean if they and that's a great problem for
them to have if they can get all those guys back,
if they get Garcia back and mccolors in France and
Walter and you know, you have seven eight starters. Now, yeah,
they're gonna have to put a couple of those guys
in the pen. I think they would all be willing
to do it pretty much Like I said, they've already
sort of had that discussion with blue Ball, and they
might have had it with a couple others so far.

(04:47):
And you know, we've seen this team in the past
put starters in the pen late in the season and playoffs,
and you know a lot of teams have done that
as well. When you get to the playoffs, you're gonna
use pretty much three starters, four at the most, so
you're gonna have some extra arms in the bullpen. So man,
they just got to do what they can to try
to get to the playoffs, and I think they'll be
in a lot better shape when they get there. But

(05:10):
certainly I think they have to win the games at
Hunter Brown or fromber Start. They just feels like they
need to win every one of those games and then
hope that Javier and Ragetty continue to get better. I mean,
Xavier was better than I thought he was going to
be as Vlo was there, and I think he'll be fine.
Arraghetty's last start was better than his first, so those
are all positive things if you're the Astros.

Speaker 1 (05:32):
Brian McTaggart with us here on Sports Talk seven ninety
and name. We haven't mentioned much Lance McCullers Junior. I
just feel like we talk about him, and I feel
like I can see it playing out in so many
different ways with him. What is your kind of gut
feeling on him coming back and how he fits into
the puzzle?

Speaker 2 (05:52):
Boy, that is a really good question. Ross. I don't know.
I mean, I it's this whole thing is really weird,
being out a couple of weeks with a blister now
and you know, back on the mound Friday night Sugarland
making a rehab start.

Speaker 3 (06:06):
Yeah yeah, I.

Speaker 2 (06:07):
Mean if he goes out there and he can get
people out, do you give him another shot in rotation?
Have they had that discussion with Lance of you know,
maybe putting him in the bullpen and that being said,
I mean, he's you know, he's he's you know, maxing
out at ninety two to ninety two point five miles
an hour at this point, So they're gonna have to,
you know, make a tough decision. I'm not sure where
he fits right now. I know he wants the ball
and he wants to compete, but especially to get some

(06:30):
of these other guys back. And you know, but you know,
he's got a shot if he if he goes out
there and pitches well and stays healthy, I think we'll
get another shot in the big leagues. But he's gonna
have to come up here and get people out because
they got a quarter of the season left and they're
in a dog fight here with a really good Mariners team.

Speaker 3 (06:44):
So they're just gonna have.

Speaker 2 (06:45):
To put their best foot forward and put their best
arms out there.

Speaker 3 (06:49):
Brian, let's talk a little bit about the offense. Man.
It feels like every time I see something disparaging about
either jan er Diez or Christian Walker, they make me
look stupid that and go off. And last night it
was jan ar Diez with with two hits in the
big home run, but on a night well he had
just four hits. I mean, the two home runs were
as big as you can get, but I just I'm

(07:11):
looking for more consistency. And I hate to harp on
this guy, but Hazy Sanchez and they had some hits,
a bunch of doubles when he first got up here
with the Astros. But we're working on going on almost
a week without a hit for him. Do you continue
to bat him two hole top of that top of
that lineup if he continues to not hit here?

Speaker 2 (07:31):
Oh no, I don't think Joe will either. Mean I
think he's in zero for twelve yeah, in the last
you know, six seven games or so. But yeah, I mean,
I think the lineup is long enough. Now you have
enough options to where if a guy struck to move
him down. We've seen camp camp smith it everywhere in
this lineup, from first to you know, ninth, and so
you know now with Urius, you know Chaz has swinging

(07:53):
it a little bit better against left handers, so you
have you have some more options from the left side.
And with Korey as well that you know you can
move things around him. He gives Corey the day off yesterday,
and and you know, you feel comfortable if you know
you got solid options to put out there at third base.
So Joe, he's not gonna be the same lineup every day.
And if a guy's struggling, he's already shown he's not

(08:14):
afraid to move him down to him out of the lineup,
and that's gonna be easier to do over the last
quarter of the season. But yeah, you traded Hayesus Sanchez
for a reason. You wanted an impact left handed bat.
He was that the first week. He hasn't been so
much in the last week. But you know, we've seen
Yander be really streaky this year. Walker got going, but
still he's a little bit streaky. Even even Jose al

(08:36):
Tube has been streaky. So it's gonna happen, and you
know they're gonna keep running Sanchez out there and see
if he can make an.

Speaker 1 (08:41):
Impact, continuing with Brian McTaggart and keeping on the injury front.
Jord On Alvarez, I feel like we've asked you about
him basically since May. At this point, he's going to
take live VP this weekend. They said that sounds good.
I'm gonna ask you, how crazy would you call on
me one to ten if I said I think that

(09:02):
he's maybe managing pain on something that he needs an
off season procedure for.

Speaker 2 (09:09):
Yeah, I wouldn't doubt it. I mean, we've been told
on numerous times he's pain free. I mean the okay,
the hand, the bone. I mean, I think Dana Brown
said at the day he's pain free. The fracture has
been healed for a couple of months now, so you know,
I'm not sure what the issue is. It's hard to

(09:30):
say if he's gonna need surgery out because I really
don't know what's wrong with him other than hand inflammation.
What's causing the hand inflammation we don't know. So, but
you know, he's dealt with hand problems for so long
now that you would think that if there is a
solution where they can do surgery, then they probably should
explore it and do it, just because this seems to
have been lingering in his career now for ever since

(09:51):
he came up. Really he's had these hand inflammation problems.
But who knows. I mean, the fact he's taking live
vps a really good sign. That's a big increase in velocity,
you know against pitchers down in West Palm Beach, and
the next step would be, uh, it would be a read.
So maybe there is a light at the end of
the tunnel. Who knows.

Speaker 1 (10:09):
Yeah, So before we get you out, Brian, just ask
you in general, this this hater thing going down. Obviously
they can kind of manage it, but in your eyes,
how much does this affect your feeling of the the
Astros to not just win the American League West, but
to win American League. Pennant, I think it's a big
blow to both. You know, one of the you lose

(10:31):
one of the best closers in the league. Yeah, I
mean that's really going to hamper your bullpen.

Speaker 2 (10:36):
Like you said, a bray you can close, that's fine,
but you know now how you're gonna get the ball
to a bray you and as Susan and King and
all that, you're just taking a huge piece of your
arsenal out. And we've seen him pitch an inning in
the third, we've seen him pitch two innings like he
did Friday night. You don't have that guy now, And
so yeah, I mean I think it's gonna make it
that much more difficult to fight off the Mariners, who
are playing really, really good baseball since the trade deadline,

(10:58):
and and we get to the playoffs, you know, the
bullpen use is magnified, and and being able to have
a guy to shut down in shortened games and get
those last three outs as Uh is huge. And so
if he is out, that's just that's that's a big
weapon that that Joe Spottle won't have. But we'll have
to find ways to overcome it.