Brian McTaggart Joins The Show Talking Recent Injury News Within Astros

Brian McTaggart Joins The Show Talking Recent Injury News Within Astros 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
All right, we spend ten quality minutes with our good
friend Brian McTaggart of MLB dot com on the Astros beat.
You know what, smart move by you not going to
Tampa Bay. My goodness, you'd a lost ten pounds. You
don't need to lose ten, probably more like fifteen or twenty.
But it's not here nor there. Tags howze your life,
that's very true.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
I'm good, I'm good. Yeah, it looked very hot and
very miserable.

Speaker 1 (00:27):
And what is the do we even know who the
long term solution is for them? They're not going to
fix the roof, are they? What's gonna what's gonna happen
in the rays? What are they playing in twenty twenty six?

Speaker 2 (00:34):
Do we even know? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (00:36):
Yeah, last I've seen that they are going back to
the Trop. I think they are going to fix the
roof and go back there. You know, they had all
these plans for a new ballpark, but uh, you know
that's all sort of fell through. A new ballpark right
in that same district in downtown Saint Pete's, So it
looks like they're going to go back to the Trop
and uh, you know, status quo and see if they
can maybe get that new ballpark off the ground again.

(00:57):
You know what, the Nashville Rays have a much better
sound to it, do they not. I think a team
in Nashville would be a great idea. I mean, look,
I love going and I think any sports writer will
tell you we love going to Saint Petersburg. The Trump
is a great place to work. There's not a lot
of crowds. Press box is great. Say, Pete's pretty cool,
So I'm okay with them staying there too.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
All right, now on the more important things. Dana Brown
was on this radio station about ninety minutes ago. He
says there'll be a further update on Renel Blanco. Brian,
you and I have been around these baseball streets a
long time. I am not expecting anything close to good news.
If if Dana speaks to the media later on this afternoon, Yeah, I.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
Mean I tend to agree.

Speaker 3 (01:41):
I mean, they just went through this with west Nesky,
and you know, they got the worst news possible with him.
Not that that's gonna happen with Blanco. We have to
wait and see. But you know, I'm not so sure
there'll be an update today. I Mean, these things tend
to drag out. We kept hearing that we're going to
be updates with Hayden and that you know, it dragged
on for a few days. But yeah, certainly not good
if you if you have an elbow issue and you

(02:03):
have to fly home. It's not like, Okay, he's going
to make his next start. Now, he's obviously going to
be out a while. So that just further uh trims.
They're they're starting pitching depth. If he does go in
the i L, you would have three fits of their
starting rotation out of the out of the.

Speaker 2 (02:18):
Opening day on the i L.

Speaker 3 (02:20):
And they're they're about at the ends of their starting
pitching depth right here. So I mean, I think Brandon
Walter was probably it. AJ used to have AJ Blue Bob,
but now you're just you're just counting on rookies, so
you don't know what you're going to get, despite you know,
blue balls a.

Speaker 2 (02:33):
Pretty good prospects.

Speaker 3 (02:34):
So they're they're they're in a tough spot pitching wise,
and certainly can't afford any more injuries. While they got
to hope for some some good news on Blanco.

Speaker 1 (02:41):
And the unfortunate part of all this is these guys
that are taking over the for the injured players tags
expectation levels are just get us through five six innings
if you can, and that just hasn't happened. I mean,
Walter gave you five of the day, but most these
guys have had a difficult time getting there. And I'll
also include Lance McCullers who's fresh off the injured list. Uh,

(03:03):
this bullpen started to show its wards a little bit
the last couple of days.

Speaker 3 (03:07):
Yeah, they've had to cover a lot of innings and
you know, the bullpen has been really, really good the
strength of the team, but yeah, they you know, they
that combined with the offense not scoring a lot of runs,
You're you're being asked to cover a lot of innings
and you have a one or two run lead most
days just because the offense is not scoring runs.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
It just puts a lot of pressure on those guys.

Speaker 3 (03:26):
And yeah, they they let a game get away in
Tampa that they would like to have. They would have
won that series and had a winning road trip. Didn't happen.
But that, Yeah, I mean, Gusto is gonna pitch Friday.
You know, if you're the Astros, you want to get
five out of him. Maybe your your TVA for Sunday
which which could be Colton Gordon and you're gonna be like,
we got to get five out of him. Fortunately for

(03:47):
the Astros, they have an off day Monday, so maybe
they can reset a little things a little bit before
the A's come to town. But this could be a
pretty difficult series to our team is playing really well.

Speaker 4 (03:59):
Yeah, we talked about mccolors, and it's funny how it
kind of feels like it's changing a little bit with
all these injuries Brian to where it felt like beginning
of the season, Okay, if he can be your fourth,
fifth guy, anything he can give you can be a plus.
But right now it seems like there could be some pressure.
The Astros need him to produce.

Speaker 2 (04:17):
They do.

Speaker 3 (04:17):
It's I don't think it's a case of you know,
you know, we know in a month or six weeks,
you know, Lanceolly back to his old self. I mean,
they need him to start getting deeper in games, and
I think that's the last hurdle for him is just
becoming more efficient. He's searching, he's searching for that put
away pitch. I mean, he was constantly ahead of guys
in Arlington, a lot of two strike counts. He just

(04:40):
couldn't put the hitters away. There are a lot of
foul balls. He threw a lot of strikes. I think
he had a like sixty four percent strike percentage, so
he was putting the ball on his own, but just
controlled it in his own pretty well, but just could
not get the put away stuff and that lets some
of the bats get a little long as pitch count
went up. So that's gonna be the big step with
him when he takes the mountain. Can he put away hitters,

(05:02):
keep that pitch count down and at least maybe get
get past five and who knows, maybe six innings as well.

Speaker 4 (05:07):
Brian McTaggart MLB dot com, astros dot Com with us
here on Sports Talk seven ninety. So we have the
Mariners coming into town. You don't want to over sell
a series in the middle of May, but injuries are
piling up, and I mean, if you lose three out
of four in this series, you could be five and
a half back in the West. It feels like a
lot could hang in the balance. Again saying that it
is in the middle of May. Yeah, but yeah, this

(05:31):
is this is a big series. And you know, I've
always said that you know where you're at a Memorial Day.
Well they'll be at Memorial Day after this series. So
if you're the Astros, you don't want to be six
and a half out, seven and a half out. If
if you split or win the series, you're okay. But
I mean, this is a Mariners team that is coming
in pretty hot. I mean they've they've won six of eight.
They went to San Diego and swept them.

Speaker 2 (05:52):
They took two or three from the White Sox.

Speaker 3 (05:54):
So this is sort of the last leg of a
long road trip and they're throwing a couple of, well,
I guess three really good starters at you with. You know,
they got Louis Castillo coming on Sunday. George Kirby's coming
back off the injured list tonight, his first start of
the season. He's always pitched well against the Astros. They
have wu going on Saturdays, so this it's it's gonna

(06:15):
be a really, really tough matchup for the Astros.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
And they can swing a little bit too.

Speaker 3 (06:19):
I mean, they're not a not a great offense, but
they're certainly better than they were last year. So they're
they're a little bit more complete team than they were
last year when they when they blew that ten game lead,
and they're doing this, you know, with a couple of
their best starting pitchers on the injured list, and Miller
and Gilbert who's.

Speaker 2 (06:34):
Who's back tonight? Or and Kirby who's back tonight?

Speaker 1 (06:37):
Tags Christian Walker's of pro's pro His glove work has
been phenomenal, the reason why he's won three straight goal gloves.
Would he be getting the jose of brain treatment if
he wasn't the only one that was struggling right now
in this offense?

Speaker 2 (06:51):
I don't think so. I mean, I don't think.

Speaker 3 (06:53):
He's He's he's not performing as poorly as a bray
you did. He's not living up to his contract in
what what he did, certainly, and he'll be the first one.

Speaker 2 (07:02):
To tell you that. And he has told us that.

Speaker 3 (07:03):
You know, he says he feels a lot of presser
and embarrassment about the way he's played. You know, he
had that zero for sixteen, He broke out of it
in Arlington, hit some balls really hard, and then you know,
here he is again in another prolonged slump of though
he got a hit in his last at bat yesterday,
but it just seems like, uh, a lot of his
bats end with, you know, a close pitch on the
zone that he takes looking that he's not happy with.

Speaker 2 (07:27):
You know, I don't.

Speaker 3 (07:27):
I haven't seen enough of him to know if that's
sort of his mo or? I mean, does he have
to get a little bit more aggressive and uh some
of those pitches. But the deeper we get into this season,
you just wonder, you know, is he gonna get out
of it? I think he's hitting under two hundred now,
so you know, I brave was in the low one hundreds,
so not not in that territory, but certainly not anywhere

(07:47):
close to what the Astros meet or what he expected.

Speaker 2 (07:50):
And it you know, we're almost two months in now
and here we are god more minutes.

Speaker 1 (07:53):
The Brian McTaggart of MLB dot Com with us here
on Sports Talk seven ninety. The second base spot has
seen Rogers, it seemed dubond. We've seen a fair amount
of Jose al two by. Are you surprised at the rotation?
What would you like to see if you were whispering
to Joe as Botazier about what you think should be
done at second base? I'm saying it's a problem spot,
but it has probably been more of a variety than

(08:14):
think people and most teams would like to have that position.

Speaker 3 (08:18):
Yeah, it's been a revolving door, and I think it's
just kind of surprising because you know, the Astros have
had that one guy at second base. What for the
last last twelve thirteen years, it's been jose L two
Bay every day, So it's sort of unusual. I think
just seeing the rotation of different guys go through there,
I don't think they're I don't think we're going to
see like a steady guy there. I mean, you know,

(08:39):
Dubon is definitely their best defender at second, but you
need to play him at other positions, you know, all
two b I think's played a little more second base
lately than I would have anticipated. I think three of
the last six games he started at second, So maybe,
you know, the maybe they can put him at second
a little bit more, if you know, you got McCormick

(08:59):
now geting sum at bats and left and decenzos.

Speaker 2 (09:02):
So I don't think things are going to change.

Speaker 3 (09:04):
I think we're just going to continue to see how
two Vay and Rogers get most of the playing time
at second base with Dubond in there a little bit
as well, uh, you know, Bryce Matthews is a triple
a's on the injured list with a concussion, and he's
playing a little bit better, but he's still I don't
think it in any position to help you at this point. So,
you know, I think when they get to the trade
deadline and they're looking at needs, they're gonna be looking

(09:26):
at some other things other than second base. It is
gonna be what it is. I mean, they're gonna be
looking at starting pitching, maybe a left handed bat that
can help them in the outfield.

Speaker 2 (09:33):
But they're just.

Speaker 3 (09:34):
Gonna have to keep this second base rotation going and
try to figure it out.

Speaker 4 (09:39):
Dana Brown also said earlier here on Sports Talk seven
ninety that Jordan is still just hitting off of the tee.
We had heard that possibly he would play over the weekend.
So how concerned should we be?

Speaker 3 (09:52):
Well, I think every day that he hits off a
tee and doesn't do anything else, I think Astros fans
should be more and more concerned because initially this was
gonna be a ten day thing. He would only be
on the injured list ten days. I think we're three
weeks into it now, and so, uh, the longer he
stays out. I think that, you know, the better chance
he's gonna have to go on on rehab. I know

(10:13):
that David said today that's probably not gonna happen, But
he still doesn't look like to me a guy who's
really close to coming back.

Speaker 2 (10:18):
I mean, he's gonna be have to.

Speaker 3 (10:20):
He's gonna have to hit off some velocity off pitching
machines and really test that hand before they can bring
him back. So I'd be surprised if he plays in
this series. You have an off day Monday, maybe you
can get him back. But as long as they don't
have him, this offense is gonna continue to sputter and
just not be itself. Because now you compare the offense
to last year, you don't have Bragman, you don't have Fucker,

(10:41):
you don't have Alvarez.

Speaker 2 (10:43):
Al TV is not playing.

Speaker 3 (10:44):
At the last expected to walk come in and give
you a lot more production. He has that, So it's
about Alparez is just gonna be some tough sledding with
the bats.

Speaker 1 (10:55):
Last question, going back to uh west Nesky is gonna
be on TJ. There's been lots of different players that
have had variety of arm ailments and it feels like
there's been an uptick Brian since.

Speaker 2 (11:06):
The pitch clock.

Speaker 1 (11:08):
If we were to pull Rob Manford aside and give
him some tangible evidence of injuries that are continuing to
hit not only just the Astros, but any Major League
Baseball team. Is Rob manfor the kind of commissioner? Do
you think that would go? Oh, you're just pulling out
selective numbers. I've got a sample size that says that
the pitch clock has helped baseball and it does not

(11:28):
increase arm injuries.

Speaker 2 (11:30):
Or is there any thought that maybe.

Speaker 1 (11:32):
In the next two to three years, if we continue
to see this rise of guys going through these types developments,
they may reconsider this because I know the pacing of
baseball is good. They love that. They're about to find
a new television partner, may be NBC next year. I'm thinking,
what level of concern does Rob Manford really have that
so many pitchers are going through the types of things

(11:53):
right now that the Astro pitchers are going through right now.

Speaker 3 (11:57):
Yeah, it's been a League white thing, and I mean,
I mean Major League Baseball is obviously concerned about this.
They they did a report I think it was last year,
maybe December they released a report, well, they interviewed over
two hundred experts from all areas about pitching injuries that
happened over the last few years and are getting worse.

(12:17):
I mean that was you know, surgeons and pitching coaches
and pitchers themselves, and and there are a lot of
different factors. I mean, pitchers chasing velocity was up there.
I think that's probably one of the biggest things. Is
guys now are max effort and that's led to an
increase in injuries. I think, you know, pitchers they come
to spring training now have been thrown four or five bullpens.

(12:39):
Before in the past, the guy would come and throw
his first bullpen and sort of get off the ground.
It seems like they're they're ramping up quicker. Even even
the guys coming up now, they've they've been throwing hearts
since they were kids. Now they chased the velocity when
they were when they were amateurs and on these travel teams.
So I think the pitch pock is here to stay,
just because the results of it have been so good,

(13:00):
with the timing games and the pace of play has
been so much better. I think there's a lot of
other contributing factors in the injuries that are probably more
culpable than the pitch plot tags.

Speaker 1 (13:11):
Looking forward to reading your updates tonight for the Ballpark
Astros and Mariners four game series. I'll have it for
you on seven ninety and look forward to catching all
your stuff at MLB dot com.

Speaker 2 (13:19):
Thanks for the visit as always,