Speaker 1: Welcome aboard, Welcome to another Space City Saturday on Sports
Speaker 1: Talk seven ninety Dad Matthews Live and local h Town
Speaker 1: breakdown of the world that matters to you, the Houston
Speaker 1: sports world.
Speaker 2: All these great Houston fans here.
Speaker 3: We love you all, So finish up on that to
Speaker 3: do list.
Speaker 1: Slut up the cooler because you can't drink in talk
Speaker 1: sports all day if you don't start.
Speaker 4: Now bear me the eight. This is Space City Saturday.
Speaker 4: It's insane. Here's seven nineties Dad Matthews.
Speaker 5: Anyway, we go here from the Fertida Center on the
Speaker 5: campus of University of Houston. Later on today you're gonna
Speaker 5: get to the coves and the Iowa State cyclones coming
Speaker 5: your way over on at KPRC nine point fifty. But
Speaker 5: I'm here inside the jim Nantz Media Center inside for
Speaker 5: Tida Center. Dan Matthews here, Space City Saturday. We get
Speaker 5: going here and weatherwise, I mean, I can't think of
Speaker 5: a better place to be today than inside the Fortda
Speaker 5: Center because I mean it is yucky outside. I threw
Speaker 5: it out on Twitter yesterday that's I'm done with the
Speaker 5: cold weather. Like the cold weather has come and it's overstated.
Speaker 5: It's welcome I think we're all ready for it to
Speaker 5: take off and take a walk. So that's that's what
Speaker 5: we're dealing with here. But it is a good day
Speaker 5: to be able to sit inside, watch some basketball and
Speaker 5: see the Kougs try to pick up their twenty third win.
Speaker 2: Of the season.
Speaker 5: Twelve forty five is when the coverage over on KPRC
Speaker 5: nine to fifty is going to get going. But we
Speaker 5: are here, and if you follow us on Twitter and
Speaker 5: that's at Sports Talk seven ninety, you saw that I
Speaker 5: posted the pictures of both the game day bus but
Speaker 5: also to Jais Rhys Davis and the crew out there
Speaker 5: with ESPN on the court as I was coming to
Speaker 5: get settled in here in the Jim Nantz Media Center,
Speaker 5: but going to be a good game. A couple of
Speaker 5: more weeks of the regular season left, and a couple
Speaker 5: of weeks from now, U of H and the rest
Speaker 5: of the Big twelve going to be up in Kansas
Speaker 5: City for the conference tournament, and then before you know it,
Speaker 5: it's Selection Sunday and we get this thing going all
Speaker 5: over again and seeing if the Koogs can be able
Speaker 5: to finally capture the elusive national title. So we'll be
Speaker 5: talking a lot of U of H today here on
Speaker 5: the show.
Speaker 2: Might be joined at some.
Speaker 5: Time by Joseph d'Arte of the Houston Chronicle. He might
Speaker 5: drop by and talk a little bit of U of
Speaker 5: H with him, but he's busy with all the game
Speaker 5: day stuff happening right now. So that's going to be
Speaker 5: kind of a play it by ear programming note for
Speaker 5: you all over here on Sports Talk seven ninety. So
Speaker 5: we are actually going to be cutting at ten minutes
Speaker 5: early today because at eleven fifty that's when Robert Ford
Speaker 5: and the crew on the Astros Radio Network they're going
Speaker 5: to hit the air as the Astros starting off spring
Speaker 5: training action today.
Speaker 2: And it's going to be a split.
Speaker 5: Squad for the Astros, as you're going to have half
Speaker 5: the crew there in West Palm Beach and the other
Speaker 5: half is out in Port Saint Lucie taken on the Mets.
Speaker 5: But the crew that's going to be at Cacti Park
Speaker 5: of the Palm Beach is taking on the team that
Speaker 5: they share the spring training complex with the Washington Nationals,
Speaker 5: and of course going to have it right here on
Speaker 5: Sports Talk seven ninety, but also going to have it
Speaker 5: TV wise, so with our partners over at Space City
Speaker 5: Home Networks. So that's where the Astros will be today
Speaker 5: as they start their at twenty twenty five at campaign
Speaker 5: not in earnest that's going to be happening in about
Speaker 5: a month and a half when we get going at
Speaker 5: four excuse me, when we get going for the start
Speaker 5: of the season, as late in March is.
Speaker 2: When the season will get underway.
Speaker 5: So that's what we have with the Astros coming up
Speaker 5: a little bit later on. We'll be talking a lot
Speaker 5: of Astros here in the first hour, as you know,
Speaker 5: we ought to do here on Space City Saturday, because
Speaker 5: I mean, you know, it's the team that most of
Speaker 5: us here care about, but also, I mean, just so
Speaker 5: many things to talk about with this team, whether it's
Speaker 5: Jose Altuve out in left field, whether it's roster spots
Speaker 5: to be one Brendan Rodgers being added. And also going
Speaker 5: to let you hear from a couple of the newest
Speaker 5: Astros a little bit later on in the show, as
Speaker 5: Christian Walker had a chance to sit down with Matt
Speaker 5: Thomas and Ross phil Reale out in West Palm Beach
Speaker 5: earlier this week. So we're gonna have that for you
Speaker 5: and we'll be getting into a lot of astros talk
Speaker 5: as the show goes along.
Speaker 2: You know what we do around here.
Speaker 5: You get involved on the phone lines if you want
Speaker 5: to someon one three, two, one two five seven ninety
Speaker 5: is the number to get in on the phone lines.
Speaker 5: You can also get at me on Twitter if you
Speaker 5: don't want to put the voice behind it on the
Speaker 5: phone lines, that's fine, Hey, no worries about it. I'll
Speaker 5: you know, interact with you on Twitter as well. And
Speaker 5: I'm at Dan Matthews. Hou is where you can find
Speaker 5: me at Dan Matthews. Hou is where you can get
Speaker 5: at me on the Twitter spheres.
Speaker 2: So that's from there. But also too, we're.
Speaker 5: Five minutes into the show, hadn't even mentioned what happened
Speaker 5: over at Toyota Center last night as a game you
Speaker 5: heard right here on Sports Talk seven to ninety Rockets
Speaker 5: with a six point win over the Minnesota Timberwolves one
Speaker 5: twenty one fifteen. Nice night from Jalen Green thirty five
Speaker 5: points out of him. Also, you know along the away
Speaker 5: in the game, Alprin Shingoon twenty four points, thirteen rebounds,
Speaker 5: yet another double double before the All Star.
Speaker 2: On the Rockets roster.
Speaker 5: And it was also the return of Jabari Smith Junior
Speaker 5: played the most minutes.
Speaker 2: Out of you know, most of the guys on the
Speaker 2: floor last night.
Speaker 5: Well actually Jalen Green edged him out by a minute,
Speaker 5: but thirty eight minutes off the bench.
Speaker 2: So no restrictions out.
Speaker 5: Of Jabari Smith Junior since coming back from the broken finger,
Speaker 5: and fifteen points out of him, nine rebounds, couple of assists,
Speaker 5: and also had a block shot in the game. Did
Speaker 5: turn the basketball over five times, but still plus twelve
Speaker 5: in the plus minus category, so good to have him
Speaker 5: back in the fold. Still no Fred van Vliet though
Speaker 5: for the Rockets. They're trying to get him up back
Speaker 5: here in short order. And you know, we played yesterday
Speaker 5: on the A team. You might have heard it Tom
Speaker 5: Haverstrow who covers the NBA, talking about teams that could
Speaker 5: possibly make a deep run in the playoffs, and he
Speaker 5: said the Rockets, because he threw out the numbers.
Speaker 2: They're what thirty and thirteen?
Speaker 5: I believe when you have both Shingoon and Fred van
Speaker 5: Vliet on the floor and they're four and eight without them,
Speaker 5: well now they're five and eight because they won last
Speaker 5: night without one of the two on the floor, but
Speaker 5: having Shingoon out there.
Speaker 2: Was very nice.
Speaker 5: And you know, I think another guy that deserves some
Speaker 5: kudos for his performance last night Aaron Holiday. The eighteen
Speaker 5: minut he gave you off the bench ten points out
Speaker 5: of him. But he may Udoka first game out of
Speaker 5: the All Star Break going a little bit of a
Speaker 5: tighter rotation at two. As you know, really it was
Speaker 5: only a Smith junior and also Holiday as the guys
Speaker 5: that got the bulk of the minutes off the bench,
Speaker 5: as you only got seven minutes out of Jayshaun Tate
Speaker 5: and five out of Steven Adams, so most of the
Speaker 5: guys on the floor playing a good amount of the
Speaker 5: minutes in the game.
Speaker 2: And you know, you.
Speaker 5: Get Tarry Easton who will probably be down for tonight
Speaker 5: up in Utah. And as the Rockets a back to back, which,
Speaker 5: by the way, can we pick a bone here?
Speaker 2: Really quick? Permission to do that? Whose bright idea was.
Speaker 5: It with the NBA to have the first two games
Speaker 5: out the gate out of the All Star break for
Speaker 5: the Rockets be a back to back, and not only
Speaker 5: a back to back, but a home and road back
Speaker 5: to back. Like where's the common sense here? Like how
Speaker 5: about like have you know the Rockets and Jazz playing
Speaker 5: in Houston tonight as opposed to you know, I mean,
Speaker 5: if you're going to do it back to back, that's fine,
Speaker 5: but you know, make it consistent right out of the break.
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, have have it either be home
Speaker 2: and home or road and road. I mean, you know,
Speaker 2: who would have.
Speaker 5: Really complained last night if the Rockets, say had opened
Speaker 5: up the All Star break in Phoenix and then tonight
Speaker 5: you know, playing in Utah or even in Denver and
Speaker 5: then you know, the same deal there.
Speaker 2: So that's just what I can't understand.
Speaker 5: But anyway, it's going to be a late one out
Speaker 5: there in Utah, and the Jazz are one of the
Speaker 5: you know, the lowly teams in the NBA. So the
Speaker 5: Rockets are definitely hoping that they can be able to
Speaker 5: pick up two quick wins right out of the gate,
Speaker 5: and we'll see if they are able to do that.
Speaker 5: So again, that's coming your way a little bit later
Speaker 5: on tonight. And you know, it's a full sports schedule
Speaker 5: here today for us here on Sports Talk seven ninety,
Speaker 5: but not only with US, but also over on KPRC
Speaker 5: nine fifty is another place that you can be able
Speaker 5: to to catch some of the action. Today, So a
Speaker 5: full slate across the board tonight, and not only with
Speaker 5: the Rockets, but also to with you know, ut basketball
Speaker 5: coming your way a little bit later on, which by
Speaker 5: the way, that's gonna be over on KPRC nine to
Speaker 5: fifty as well. So just to kind of run through
Speaker 5: what we have here on our stations today. As I
Speaker 5: mentioned the Astros coming your way here in about an
Speaker 5: hour and a half, eleven fifty is when that's gonna
Speaker 5: get started them taking on the Nationals there in West
Speaker 5: Palm Beach. And then I mentioned the Koog's game that
Speaker 5: they're gonna be taken on at Iowa State that's coming
Speaker 5: your way at twelve forty five, and that's gonna be
Speaker 5: over on KPRC nine to fifty. Same deal with the
Speaker 5: South Carolina and Texas basketball game coming your way a
Speaker 5: little bit later on.
Speaker 2: And the Rockets and Jazz.
Speaker 5: I'll get you started with Rockets launch pad coming your
Speaker 5: way at seven point thirty, so we'll have that and
Speaker 5: then get you into the game. And as I mentioned,
Speaker 5: hopefully the Rockets are able to pick up a good
Speaker 5: win there on the road. But it was good to
Speaker 5: see them back on the floor last night. I mean
Speaker 5: looked like a rested and refreshed team. I don't think
Speaker 5: anybody can dispute that, because I mean, this was a
Speaker 5: team that was scuffling in the worst way going into
Speaker 5: the All Star Break, and I mean, you had that
Speaker 5: awful game against the Golden State Warriors and you had
Speaker 5: to he meet U Dooka after the game saying, yeah,
Speaker 5: you know, some guys looked like they probably you know,
Speaker 5: we're already at the All Star break, paraphrasing him, of course,
Speaker 5: but still, I mean, this was a team that was,
Speaker 5: you know, struggling mightily, not only with injuries, but just
Speaker 5: with poor play, a lot of turnovers, just poor basketball really,
Speaker 5: and all of a sudden able to take that time
Speaker 5: away from the floor, get refreshed and rested and now
Speaker 5: back out there and thirty five in twenty one on
Speaker 5: the season, so trying to improve that mark. Fred van
Speaker 5: Vliet already out for tonight's game for Utah Collins Sex
Speaker 5: in his game time decisions. We'll see what happens with them.
Speaker 5: But I mean, this is a Jazz team that only
Speaker 5: has thirteen wins on the season. But as we found
Speaker 5: out though, during that rough stretch, the Rockets had where
Speaker 5: they went two and seven in their last nine games
Speaker 5: before last night. I mean, you know, there were a
Speaker 5: couple of games in there against the Brooklyn Nets, and
Speaker 5: the Brooklyn Nets are about the same as the Utah Jazz.
Speaker 5: So I think that probably the messaging inside the locker
Speaker 5: room before the game tonight is don't take these guys lightly.
Speaker 5: They want to be able to, you know, mess up
Speaker 5: the good thing that you have going right now. So
Speaker 5: this is the stretch that the Rockets really need. I mean,
Speaker 5: you know, you're gonna be taken on the Jazz quite
Speaker 5: a few times here in the later you know, parts
Speaker 5: of the season, and the Rockets, of course trying to
Speaker 5: get even up further into the Western Conference standings. Is
Speaker 5: currently right now, there's a game ahead of the Lakers
Speaker 5: for the four spot and the Western Conference there are
Speaker 5: two games back of the Denver Nuggets, and also two
Speaker 5: games back of the team that's in their own Division
Speaker 5: two as well, the Memphis Grizzlies, as they do have
Speaker 5: the season series over the Grizzlies, so even if you
Speaker 5: finish up the regular season tied with Memphis, you get
Speaker 5: that spot ahead of them. So, I mean, you know,
Speaker 5: it's one of those things and I was thinking about
Speaker 5: it this morning. I mean, this is so important for
Speaker 5: the Rockets to get either the two or the three,
Speaker 5: because I think if they get either of those, they
Speaker 5: have a pretty clear path to be able to get
Speaker 5: to the Western Conference. I mean, you know, you've got
Speaker 5: the Minnesota Timberwolves there in the play and round. I mean,
Speaker 5: that's a dangerous team. The Mavericks starting to play good
Speaker 5: basketball two as well, so you got to see what
Speaker 5: happens with those group of four, with the Warriors and
Speaker 5: Kings also in there, and you've got the Stuns lurking,
Speaker 5: and I mean, I guess you could say even without
Speaker 5: Victor Wimbenyama, the Spurs aren't too far behind. But still,
Speaker 5: I think that probably concern yourself more with the first
Speaker 5: few teams that I mentioned there that are currently seven
Speaker 5: through ten. But you know, it's also too, I mean,
Speaker 5: a different conversation that we're having about the Rockets right
Speaker 5: now than we've had in past years.
Speaker 2: So that's a good thing.
Speaker 5: I mean, you know, to be able to talk about
Speaker 5: a team that's in playoff contention, it's not something that
Speaker 5: we've had the last few years. I mean, we had
Speaker 5: it a little bit last year, but still I think
Speaker 5: that most of us probably were looking at and saying, yeah,
Speaker 5: you know, playing around, that'd be nice. But if it
Speaker 5: doesn't happen, well, at least you had a marked improvement
Speaker 5: in a huge step forward from what you've been the
Speaker 5: previous year. Is when you're in the middle of phase
Speaker 5: one of that rebuild, and now the rocket's trying to
Speaker 5: be able to take the second phase even up further.
Speaker 5: And I guess the third phase would be making the playoffs.
Speaker 5: So hopefully they are on the doorstep of doing that.
Speaker 5: But as I mentioned, we're gonna be a lot of
Speaker 5: astros here in the first hour of the show. You
Speaker 5: want to get in on that conversation, you can do so.
Speaker 5: Sub one three two one two five seven ninety. Once again,
Speaker 5: that's sub one three two one two five seven ninety.
Speaker 5: And once again, like I said, I am here inside
Speaker 5: the jim Nantz Media Center, inside the Fortita Center on
Speaker 5: the campus University of Houston is the Koubes taking on
Speaker 5: the Iowa State cyclones. A little bit later on today
Speaker 5: again over on KPRC nine fifty twelve forty five, that's
Speaker 5: when that coverage of the game and a one o'clock
Speaker 5: tip here inside the Fortida Center, So looking forward to
Speaker 5: seeing some good basketball this afternoon and also to some
Speaker 5: good basketball tonight. Just talking about the Rockets there for
Speaker 5: a second, so we'll get into them as the show
Speaker 5: goes along. And also too, as we've been talking about
Speaker 5: the past couple of days here the Texans in the
Speaker 5: stadium situation, that's fair game as the show rolls along.
Speaker 5: So if you got some thoughts on that, absolutely throwing
Speaker 5: my way. We we'll chop that up too if you
Speaker 5: want to do that. So all of that is at
Speaker 5: your veil again the number sev one three two one
Speaker 5: two five, seven ninety.
Speaker 2: As we're just.
Speaker 5: Getting started here on Space City Saturday. But coming up
Speaker 5: next the Astros conversation. The criticism of this guy is
Speaker 5: something that I just really cannot understand, and I think
Speaker 5: you'll know what I'm talking about on the other sides.
Speaker 5: We'll do that right here on Space City Saturday, on
Speaker 5: your home of the Astros and the Rockets, Sports Talk
Speaker 5: seven ninety.
Speaker 1: It's Space City Saturday on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 5: Sports Talk seven ninety, Space City Saturday, live here inside
Speaker 5: jim Nance Media Center, that's the Fertida Center you've h
Speaker 5: taken on Iowa States at one o'clock today again twelve
Speaker 5: forty five, when we're gonna get started with the game
Speaker 5: coverage over on KPRC nine point fifty. Astros also going
Speaker 5: to be on your radio today right here, Sports Talk
Speaker 5: seven ninety so Robert Ford, Steve Sparks and the crew
Speaker 5: calling the Astros and the Nationals there from the Cacti
Speaker 5: Park of the Palm Beaches in West Palm Beach. And
Speaker 5: I mentioned too, it's a split squad action as it
Speaker 5: seems like most of the veterans that are likely going
Speaker 5: to be breaking camp on the twenty six man roster,
Speaker 5: it seems like they made the trip over to Port
Speaker 5: Saint Lucy to take on the Mets today as Channel
Speaker 5: Rome posting the lineup for that one, so we'll see
Speaker 5: who's going to be behind Ryan Gusto, who gets the
Speaker 5: start today for the Astros there in West Palm Beach.
Speaker 5: So that's where spring training action gets going. And speaking
Speaker 5: of the Astros, want to get into that conversation here
Speaker 5: again if you want to weigh in, and I think
Speaker 5: after I throw out this topic you probably will want
Speaker 5: to way in. Someone three two, one, two five seven
Speaker 5: ninety is the number to get in on the phone lines.
Speaker 5: What's what the criticism of Dana Brown Like, I really,
Speaker 5: just for the life of me, can't understand why people are,
Speaker 5: at least a section of Astros fans are so dissatisfied
Speaker 5: with the Astros GM. I mean, from our perspective, the
Speaker 5: media perspective, I don't think you can ask for a
Speaker 5: better guy on the job. He does his weekly visit,
Speaker 5: which not a ton of gms do as so we're
Speaker 5: able to have him every week over on the Sean
Speaker 5: Salisbury Show, and pretty much anytime you see him there
Speaker 5: behind the batting cage or you know, on the field
Speaker 5: before a game, if you've got a question for him,
Speaker 5: he's willing to applo you on that. And again that's
Speaker 5: not what a ton of GMS do. I mean, you'll
Speaker 5: even have some guys that you've got to go through
Speaker 5: the team, they'll avoid you do all of those different
Speaker 5: types of things, and I mean it's pretty much a
Speaker 5: you know, impossible feat in its own right to be
Speaker 5: able to track down an executive of a team and
Speaker 5: then finally you get them, and you know, maybe it's
Speaker 5: not necessarily the answers that you're hoping to get.
Speaker 2: So that's from that perspective, but it's also too.
Speaker 5: I mean, he did have some huge shoes to fill
Speaker 5: when he took over the job.
Speaker 2: Jeff Luno.
Speaker 5: It's undeniable the job that he did when he was
Speaker 5: in charge of that part of the team. I mean,
Speaker 5: you got a world championship, probably two of them, because
Speaker 5: of the vision and the execution that he put into
Speaker 5: the job. And then James Click able to do the
Speaker 5: same thing. Some of the great trades that he made.
Speaker 5: I mean, you don't have yinor Dias in your lineup
Speaker 5: right now without James Click pulling off a trade that
Speaker 5: all it cost you was Miles Straw going to the
Speaker 5: Cleveland Guardians, and in return you got philm Maton, who
Speaker 5: gave you some good things on the mound while he
Speaker 5: was here in an Astros uniform. And obviously, janer Dia
Speaker 5: is a guy that is trending to be an All
Speaker 5: Star at some point in his career, one of the
Speaker 5: better hitting catchers in the game right now. So that
Speaker 5: was a nice pickup. But I mean it is also
Speaker 5: something that I think Dana Brown gets blamed for that's
Speaker 5: not necessarily his fault. And one thing that I saw
Speaker 5: somebody point out is somebody said, oh, it was the
Speaker 5: unrealistic hope that he was giving Astros fans that they
Speaker 5: were going to bring back Alex Bregman. We must be
Speaker 5: listening to two different Dana Brown's than in that regard,
Speaker 5: because I think, if anything, he was tamping down expectations
Speaker 5: that Alex Bregman would be back here at some point
Speaker 5: this season. As a matter of fact, the point that
Speaker 5: I brought up with that person who brought it up
Speaker 5: on Twitter is I said, I was at the media
Speaker 5: event at the Astros throw every year before they head
Speaker 5: out to West Palm Beach for spring training, and he
Speaker 5: was talking about Alex Bregman in the past of saying,
Speaker 5: when you lose a guy like Tucker and Bregman, I
Speaker 5: mean that should have been the giveaway right there of Hey,
Speaker 5: guess what, despite any effort, we're not going to have
Speaker 5: number two in an Astros uniform going forward. Estakpretis is
Speaker 5: our third baseman now, like get used to it, get
Speaker 5: to know it, and that's the way the situation is
Speaker 5: going to be going forward. But it's also too from
Speaker 5: the efforts of Dana Brown. Why I think he's done
Speaker 5: a fantastic job as the Astros GM of the draft,
Speaker 5: and I've told you what his strategy is for the draft,
Speaker 5: and it's very similar to the way that he handled
Speaker 5: things when he was in Atlanta with the Braves. And
Speaker 5: this is a strategic approach of draft up the middle.
Speaker 5: Draft catchers, draft a lot of pitchers, draft center fielders.
Speaker 5: And with that last part right there, it is a
Speaker 5: situation where you're looking for roster versatility. At that point,
Speaker 5: you can draft a guy that comes out of high
Speaker 5: school or college and they're a middle endfielder, they're a
Speaker 5: center fielder, and you can put some weight on them.
Speaker 5: Put him over at third base, put him, you know,
Speaker 5: over at first base, put him in right field, put
Speaker 5: him in left field. You know, just be able to
Speaker 5: have that chance to be able to, you know, move
Speaker 5: them along as they go through the minor league system,
Speaker 5: playing different positions, and you know, therefore, when you get
Speaker 5: him up to the major league level, they're not just
Speaker 5: a guy that's played one position their entire life. There's
Speaker 5: somebody that you know, is Joe Aspota looks at his
Speaker 5: lineup card is able to say, Okay, I can plug
Speaker 5: that guy out and right I can plug him out
Speaker 5: in left field, and you know, a guy that's a
Speaker 5: shortstopper a second basement and mostly you know, shortstops is
Speaker 5: what he goes with there. But I mean, you know,
Speaker 5: being able to create some sort of versatility all throughout
Speaker 5: the minor league system and the elephant in the room,
Speaker 5: I think when it comes to Dana Brown.
Speaker 2: Is what he had to do when he took over
Speaker 2: this job.
Speaker 5: I mean the two off season signings that the Astros
Speaker 5: had made, not through him, but through somebody that was
Speaker 5: the acting GM at the time.
Speaker 2: I mean, Brown finally.
Speaker 5: Came along and when he gained the trust of Jim
Speaker 5: Crane said we're not going to Grin and Barrett with
Speaker 5: these guys on the field anymore. You know, Raffael Montero,
Speaker 5: he's not getting it done. We're going to DFA And
Speaker 5: they brought him back and they have him in the
Speaker 5: minor league system and we'll see if he's able to
Speaker 5: break camp this year. But money be damned, I mean,
Speaker 5: you need to win ball games when it's all said
Speaker 5: and done. You need to be able to throw strikes
Speaker 5: and get outs on the mound, and that's not what
Speaker 5: he was able to do.
Speaker 2: And then the same deal with you know, Joseah bray you.
Speaker 5: I mean, I think the Astros tried their best, but
Speaker 5: they finally got to a point where they just said, yeah,
Speaker 5: this just isn't working. We wish you the best, and
Speaker 5: if you get back in the Major League baseball, well,
Speaker 5: you know, hopefully you're able to figure some things out.
Speaker 5: But with your advanced age and you know, just the
Speaker 5: swing looking like it's slowing down, all those different things,
Speaker 5: we just don't see a path that this is going
Speaker 5: to get any better. And we'll just eat the money
Speaker 5: and go from there. And that's the part of all
Speaker 5: of this that I think that people are hung up
Speaker 5: on is thinking that this last offseason the Astros took
Speaker 5: the cheaper approach of trying to build this team. Well,
Speaker 5: I mean, for starters, they had to because of where
Speaker 5: they are against the competitive balance tax. Also too, I
Speaker 5: mean for the money that you already have on the
Speaker 5: books having you know, you're sending out money by trading
Speaker 5: away Ryan Presley and that creates a huge need in
Speaker 5: the back end of the bullpen. But I mean it's
Speaker 5: also for all of the criticism that he had last
Speaker 5: year for how can you trade Joey loperfdo Will Wagner
Speaker 5: and the crew that you sent up to Toronto for
Speaker 5: a rental for you, say, Kakuchi, Well, the Astros don't
Speaker 5: win the West last year without you, say Kakuchi, that's
Speaker 5: number one. That's for starters, And I mean, you don't
Speaker 5: make that deal. You're probably talking about the Seattle Mariners
Speaker 5: winning the West and the Astros not even getting to
Speaker 5: the wild Card round to lose to the Detroit Tigers.
Speaker 5: That would have been Detroit taking on Seattle at that point,
Speaker 5: so you know, the streak of making it to the
Speaker 5: postseason winning the Ale West that would have been out
Speaker 5: the window. So he knew that a move had to
Speaker 5: be made. Time he did what was needed to be
Speaker 5: able to make the move. And while it hurt to
Speaker 5: see Loperfdo go away, you know, at the same time,
Speaker 5: I mean, you know you're you're not putting yourself in
Speaker 5: position to compete for the Aos. So I had zero
Speaker 5: issues with that. But the flip side of it widely
Speaker 5: lauded for what he got in return for Kyle Tucker.
Speaker 5: I mean, I think, if anything, it was a even
Speaker 5: better trade for him in that regard of what you
Speaker 5: get in return of now your top prospect. Cam Smith
Speaker 5: also to Kyle Tucker, you know, was going to be
Speaker 5: in a walk here as is, and I mean you
Speaker 5: had a slim to none chance with Alex Bregman being
Speaker 5: able to bring him back this year, you had no
Speaker 5: chance at being able to bring back Kyle Tucker next year.
Speaker 5: And Dana Brown went against what the Astros norm has
Speaker 5: been for players in a walk here. Usually in the
Speaker 5: past it's been now, let's let it ride and then
Speaker 5: we'll see what happens in the offseason. He knew without
Speaker 5: a shadow of a doubt. Okay, kind of like we
Speaker 5: talked about with the Yusai Kakuchi trade, that the Astros
Speaker 5: can compete this year and they can win with Kyle Tucker.
Speaker 5: But then after that, what are we talking about. You're
Speaker 5: having to try to supplement through trades and also through
Speaker 5: free agency with one less trade chip going forward, and
Speaker 5: while you have them under club control, go ahead and
Speaker 5: get the most you can right now. And that's what
Speaker 5: they decided to do. And you're able to, as I mentioned,
Speaker 5: get Smith back. You're able to get a guy that
Speaker 5: plays really well to Dyke in Park in East Okperetis,
Speaker 5: who has great pull power and somebody that people believe
Speaker 5: playing in that ballpark this year could be a thirty
Speaker 5: plus home run guy in an Astros uniform. And also
Speaker 5: to getting Hayden was Nesky, I mean somebody they feel
Speaker 5: pretty good about, you know, being able to go through
Speaker 5: the pitching program that the Astros have with Josh Miller
Speaker 5: and the crew over there that have been able to
Speaker 5: have a reclamation project or two during their time in
Speaker 5: the Astros systems. So I mean fantastic trade right there,
Speaker 5: going out and finally getting a solid first baseman, something
Speaker 5: the Astros have not had since twenty twenty two when
Speaker 5: Julie Guriol was last in an Astro's uniform. I mean,
Speaker 5: you had some good things in twenty three, you know,
Speaker 5: later on the season from a bray you, but then
Speaker 5: you had an absolute hole over there last year. I mean,
Speaker 5: you liked what John Singleton was able to give you
Speaker 5: at times, but you're not a postseason contender with John
Speaker 5: Singleton over at first base.
Speaker 2: And it was something that kind of surprised.
Speaker 5: Me a little bit when they went out and got
Speaker 5: Christian Walker, because I thought with all the money they
Speaker 5: had tied up in a bray you over there, that
Speaker 5: they were just going to say, hey, let's kind of
Speaker 5: platoon it for one more year, and then the following
Speaker 5: year we'll make a run at it. So I mean,
Speaker 5: without seeing what the free agency crop is out there,
Speaker 5: I think that they probably looked at it and said, yeah,
Speaker 5: it's not gonna be that great next year, so let's
Speaker 5: go ahead and lock up our guy now, and we'll
Speaker 5: be able to go from there with you know, having
Speaker 5: a good solid first basement over there. So for all
Speaker 5: the moves that he's made and for all the messes
Speaker 5: he's had to clean up, I think that if nothing else,
Speaker 5: I mean, you know, it's one of those things too.
Speaker 5: When I brought this up with wex off the air,
Speaker 5: Adam Wexler, you know, he had said, okay, well, let's
Speaker 5: also look at it as if he hadn't done anything,
Speaker 5: like you know, how how would people look at Dana Brown?
Speaker 5: And I said, I think they look at him just fine.
Speaker 5: I mean, I think if nothing else, he's been able
Speaker 5: to find good fines out there in players, and you
Speaker 5: know also too, I mean, I think the most recent
Speaker 5: example is a guy that's been a two to sixty
Speaker 5: plus hitter his entire career and a Gold Glove winner
Speaker 5: that you were able to get on a one year
Speaker 5: deal earlier this week in Brendan Rodgers, and I understand
Speaker 5: what his splits are at Corsfield. Away from Corsfield, all
Speaker 5: of that, that's fine, But look at the Astros track
Speaker 5: record of being able to bring guys in, get them
Speaker 5: through their system, get them with their hitting coaches, the analytics,
Speaker 5: everything else that they've been able to put forth with
Speaker 5: players in the past and seeing the results. I mean,
Speaker 5: a few years ago you traded for a little known
Speaker 5: utility player from the San Francisco Giants and Mauricio Dubon
Speaker 5: and now he's become really kind of one of the
Speaker 5: cornerstones of your team going forward, and you were fully
Speaker 5: prepared before adding Rodgers to have him likely be the
Speaker 5: every day, almost every day second basement with Al Twove
Speaker 5: out in left field. So I think he's done a
Speaker 5: fantastic job. I mean, I know that he's got some detractors,
Speaker 5: and I mean, being a GM in any sport is
Speaker 5: one of the most thankless jobs known to man, because
Speaker 5: it's kind of like quarterback and football. You can throw
Speaker 5: four four touchdown passes in a game, but you throw
Speaker 5: that interception late, that's what everybody's gonna remember about you.
Speaker 5: And I mean it's kind of the same thing that
Speaker 5: executives in any of the major sports have to deal with,
Speaker 5: and you know, Dana Brown's not excluded from that.
Speaker 2: So I get all of that.
Speaker 5: But I mean, if you're looking for perfection out of
Speaker 5: the job, I don't think you're ever gonna find that.
Speaker 5: I think you're gonna be sadly disappointed. So been very
Speaker 5: pleased with the work of Dana Brown during his time
Speaker 5: with the Astros. Again, if you want to get in
Speaker 5: on the phone lines, you can do so Sebone three
Speaker 5: two one two five seven ninety. Once again, that's Sebon
Speaker 5: one three two one two five seven ninety. As I
Speaker 5: mentioned earlier this week, Matt and Ross were out in
Speaker 5: West Palm Beach. They had a chance to catch up
Speaker 5: with many members of the Astros organization, Dana Brown, Joe
Speaker 5: a spot up. But coming up next, we're gonna hear
Speaker 5: their conversation they had with Christian Waller has mentioned him
Speaker 5: as being one of the newest Astros added over the
Speaker 5: off season. Really good conversation out of a guy that
Speaker 5: I think is going to become a clubhouse leader for
Speaker 5: this team. So we'll hear from him coming up next, right,
Speaker 5: here on at Space City Saturday. Is again Dan Matthews
Speaker 5: here at the Fetida Center inside the Jim Nance Media Center.
Speaker 5: By the way too, before we go to break, shout
Speaker 5: out to Jeff Conrad and the U of H sid
Speaker 5: department here.
Speaker 2: Jeff's a consonant pro and.
Speaker 5: He has treated us really well over the years and
Speaker 5: able to set us up here today inside the Nance
Speaker 5: Media Center. So appreciate that and always want to give
Speaker 5: a shout out to JC whenever have a chance. So
Speaker 5: we'll here from Christian Walker next right here on Space
Speaker 5: City Saturday, as that's.
Speaker 2: Coming your way.
Speaker 5: Right here, Dan Matthews here on your home of the
Speaker 5: Astros and the Rockets, Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 1: Exact Space City Saturday on Sports Talks.
Speaker 2: Space City Saturday.
Speaker 5: Jeez, roll along here from the Fortita Center again a
Speaker 5: little bit later on today Houston taking on Iowa State.
Speaker 5: Dan Matthews here inside the Jim Nance Media Center and
Speaker 5: college game day happening out there. So while we hear
Speaker 5: from Christian Walker, might head out there and see what's
Speaker 5: happening out on the floor inside for Tita Center. Is
Speaker 5: a lot of exciting stuff here and also to Astros Baseball,
Speaker 5: coming your way an hour from now is when we
Speaker 5: will start the coverage from there in West Palm Beach
Speaker 5: between the Astros and the Nationals.
Speaker 2: But speaking of.
Speaker 5: Christian Walker, we're gonna hear from him right now, the
Speaker 5: newest Astro on a new three year deal to play
Speaker 5: first base, and the early returns from Joe Aspata and
Speaker 5: everybody have been incredibly positive.
Speaker 2: I think you really enjoy this visit that he had with.
Speaker 5: Matt Thomas and Ross Villarrial where the conversation started with
Speaker 5: the guys asking Christian, hey, you know, a little bit
Speaker 5: of an interesting offseason for you.
Speaker 2: What was different about this one?
Speaker 3: Definitely quiet periods and and crazy periods of the off season. Fortunately,
Speaker 3: we had a little bit of leverage coming in, so
Speaker 3: I wasn't too worried about, you know, if if somebody
Speaker 3: was gonna call, It was just a matter of finding
Speaker 3: the right fit and the place that that I wanted
Speaker 3: to play.
Speaker 1: There.
Speaker 3: There's not a lot of chances and opportunities in the
Speaker 3: business side of things these days to get.
Speaker 6: To pick where you play.
Speaker 3: Yeah, try to pick a place where you want to play.
Speaker 3: So so we were we wanted to use that to
Speaker 3: our advantage, and you know, Arizona was great, but but
Speaker 3: it was pretty far from home for us. We live
Speaker 3: in South Carolina, so so going into the off season,
Speaker 3: my wife and I had Houston circled. It was a
Speaker 3: city that we were excited to be a part of
Speaker 3: and just super pumped when when the front office reached out.
Speaker 7: And what's it been like for you getting here, getting
Speaker 7: acclimated obviously first full team workout here today, but from
Speaker 7: the outside looking in and now kind of being here
Speaker 7: for a little bit, getting to know the guys that
Speaker 7: the the Astros.
Speaker 2: It's the club clubhouse, he feel for you. Yeah, it's great.
Speaker 3: It's uh, you can tell winning is is at the forefront.
Speaker 3: But in the same sense, you know, at this time
Speaker 3: of the year, it's just getting back into the swing
Speaker 3: of things, and it's it's a pretty lighthearted attitude.
Speaker 2: I think.
Speaker 3: You know, you see guys working hard and getting their
Speaker 3: reps in, but also you know, joking around and having fun.
Speaker 3: It's it's a it's a good time of year. We're
Speaker 3: all we're all got the itch after a long off
Speaker 3: season and uh, you know, being being back in the
Speaker 3: good weather and playing playing baseball again is what we want.
Speaker 8: Did Judy recon about the astros An organization when you
Speaker 8: knew they were on the short list for yourself.
Speaker 3: A little bit, a little bit other than the obvious things.
Speaker 3: You know, it's it's cool, uh, you know, meeting a
Speaker 3: guy like Bagwell, getting to have some conversations with him,
Speaker 3: how much pride he has for this organization. And you know,
Speaker 3: he said something today he's been wearing this this uniform
Speaker 3: since nineteen ninety so so here and hearing little things
Speaker 3: like that really reminds you of the culture and uh,
Speaker 3: you know, the the winning tradition.
Speaker 8: Three straight gold gloves for yourself. First of where are they?
Speaker 8: I mean, do you have them in your at the house?
Speaker 8: Or where where can I find the gold glove of yours?
Speaker 3: Yeah, they're they're in the house. I have a little
Speaker 3: workout room upstairs with some some gears, some bats that
Speaker 3: I've had signed by guys and some teammates, and and
Speaker 3: they're in there, you know, on the on the.
Speaker 2: The trophy rack if you will. Who was your first
Speaker 2: baseman idol growing up? That's a good question.
Speaker 3: So I didn't actually start playing first base until college.
Speaker 3: Growing up, high school, middle school, I was I was
Speaker 3: in infielder, but mostly third base.
Speaker 2: You know, I loved watching Scott Roland. He was he
Speaker 2: was my guy.
Speaker 3: I got a chance. I was a Phillies fan growing up,
Speaker 3: so he came through Philly and and you know, watching
Speaker 3: him was was a lot of fun. And then and
Speaker 3: then Ryan Howard. You know that that first year he
Speaker 3: had that rookie year, broke onto the scene and that
Speaker 3: was that was a lot of fun to watch too.
Speaker 4: I was.
Speaker 6: I was in high school for that.
Speaker 2: When we were growing up, and probably you as well.
Speaker 8: A lot of the first basemen were big stye guys.
Speaker 2: Just find a place for him. First of all.
Speaker 8: I grew up watching Jeff Bagwell, so I knew there
Speaker 8: was intricacies to it, uh, Juligiel before a couple of
Speaker 8: years before your same situation. The art of playing first base, thankfully,
Speaker 8: I think is no longer just put.
Speaker 2: The fact out there.
Speaker 8: It's a skill holding runners on fielding your position. Well,
Speaker 8: tell me the biggest adjustment for you going from the
Speaker 8: left side of the to the right side of the
Speaker 8: infield and being able to say, yeah, I want to
Speaker 8: own this part of the field.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 3: I think what helped me was was playing on the
Speaker 3: other side of the enfield at one point and knowing
Speaker 3: what it's like to feel like you have to make
Speaker 3: a perfect throw, feel like you got to hit somebody
Speaker 3: in the chest over there for them to make the play.
Speaker 3: And you know, I pride myself on not being that guy.
Speaker 3: I want to be somebody that, you know, my shortstop
Speaker 3: can lay out in the hole and come up and
Speaker 3: throw from his knees and know that if he gets
Speaker 3: it close, we're going to make the out. That that
Speaker 3: always helped me as an infielder, know when I had
Speaker 3: somebody over there. So you know, that's something that's important
Speaker 3: to me playing first base.
Speaker 8: Now, Grescer Walker, newest Houston astro with us here on
Speaker 8: the radio program.
Speaker 2: Very excited that you came here because.
Speaker 8: We were all anxious about what's going to happen with
Speaker 8: Alex and figuring out with Kyle and whatnot. When you
Speaker 8: finally signed on the dotted line. Tell me what it
Speaker 8: was like trying to find your teammates, know what was
Speaker 8: going to be there, and honestly, this infield is going
Speaker 8: to be completely different. How long do you think it's
Speaker 8: gonna take? And is there gonna be a magic day
Speaker 8: that you're go all right?
Speaker 3: We as a collective group know what we're doing in
Speaker 3: here now, it's hard to pick a data. I think
Speaker 3: I think Tony Perry's cheek is gonna do a great
Speaker 3: job of making sure we get quality reps out there together.
Speaker 3: I think practicing fast is important. Yeah, you know, feeling out,
Speaker 3: feeling out each other's range and and you know, like
Speaker 3: something little like knowing that you know, Juban is such
Speaker 3: a great arm Uh. But but trying to figure out
Speaker 3: his arm action. Does he does he cut it? Does
Speaker 3: he does he does he throw it clean? You know,
Speaker 3: is it is it a true ball? Does it have armside?
Speaker 3: You know, everybody has the has their tendencies. So so it's, uh,
Speaker 3: it's fun to get to know, you know, some new
Speaker 3: really really good infielders. How long can that take to
Speaker 3: get used to in that climation this time of the year,
Speaker 3: it happens pretty quick. It's uh, it's never really a struggle.
Speaker 3: It's just you know, before we know it here, we're
Speaker 3: gonna have hundreds of ground balls together and you know,
Speaker 3: hundreds of double plays that we've turned on the backfield.
Speaker 3: So it happens quick, i'd say, here, and you know,
Speaker 3: about a week or so, we you all start feeling
Speaker 3: pretty comfortable with each other.
Speaker 8: You have a lot left in your career, But once
Speaker 8: the clock turns thirty and beyond, did you have to
Speaker 8: adjus getting ready for this season, getting maybe a little
Speaker 8: sooner as compared to maybe when you're in your twenties
Speaker 8: coming up in the game.
Speaker 2: I mean, yes, I know.
Speaker 3: I think there's there's a side of it where the
Speaker 3: more time you spend around the game, the more you
Speaker 3: know yourself and you know your routine and you know
Speaker 3: what you need to be ready for a season. Sprint trainings,
Speaker 3: it can be. It can be a long amount of
Speaker 3: time and it can be short.
Speaker 2: It's a right.
Speaker 3: It's like some years you feel like you just you're
Speaker 3: not clicking. You're not clicking, and then all the opening
Speaker 3: day comes and it's it's it's it's lightning, and and
Speaker 3: then other years it's like by ten at bats in
Speaker 3: you feel like you're in a good spot and you
Speaker 3: could go to opening Day the next day. So it's
Speaker 3: you know, the the the age or anything like that.
Speaker 3: That's that's that's nothing that's on my radar. My body
Speaker 3: feels good. I spend a decent amount of time in
Speaker 3: the weight room. It's something that I pride myself on
Speaker 3: It's it's helped me stay on the field for a while, so,
Speaker 3: you know, feeling strong, feeling feeling ready to go and
Speaker 3: looking to looking forward to playing a lot of games.
Speaker 8: Your overall thoughts about playing it at what Dyke and
Speaker 8: Park now you've been there obviously a few times over
Speaker 8: your career.
Speaker 3: Very excited. I like the dome field. I think that's cool.
Speaker 3: I think I think the consistency in the environment, knowing
Speaker 3: you know that the weather in Houston and the rain
Speaker 3: I'm sure, I'm sure it can come as in quick
Speaker 3: and the humidity and all that. So knowing if there's
Speaker 3: a home game we're playing, that mental uh, just just
Speaker 3: knowing what to expect, getting into a routine. You know,
Speaker 3: there's there's nothing like waking up on a gloomy day
Speaker 3: and trying to figure out if there's going to be
Speaker 3: a delay or if you're hitting VP on the field
Speaker 3: and this and that. So so I'm looking forward to that.
Speaker 3: And then you know, the fans. It's something that's always
Speaker 3: stuck out to me coming in as a visiting team,
Speaker 3: is playing in front of the fan base.
Speaker 7: What was your conversation's been like so far with Joe's
Speaker 7: Spott because I mean, as you know, first base was
Speaker 7: in flux for the last couple of years. Now you like,
Speaker 7: give you a big hug, say, I'm happy to put
Speaker 7: you at first base every day. Any conversation is also
Speaker 7: about DG and can.
Speaker 2: You play left field? Yeah, we're trying to figure out
Speaker 2: leftover man. The mother wants to play left field.
Speaker 3: Of Parlan and I actually coming up with a few
Speaker 3: different teams. There was a lot of really good first
Speaker 3: basement in front of me, so I have played left field.
Speaker 6: Oh that's glare.
Speaker 2: We got funks head.
Speaker 3: Here we go, hopefully when you just started a controversy
Speaker 3: and see it because it's not it's not pretty out there, no,
Speaker 3: I mean, I mean d H and cool like if
Speaker 3: that's something where you know, it's a way to maybe
Speaker 3: take a day and and and get the legs back
Speaker 3: under me. But but honestly, I like to be out
Speaker 3: in the field. I think it helped me stay in
Speaker 3: the routine offensively and you know, stay moving, and it's
Speaker 3: it's something that I've I've just grown up doing. I
Speaker 3: enjoy I enjoy being out in the field for sure,
Speaker 3: But but yeah, I think I think there's something too,
Speaker 3: uh coming in and feeling valued. You know that that
Speaker 3: makes you excited to play and makes you excited to
Speaker 3: prove everybody, everybody right, You know that the standards are real,
Speaker 3: the expectations are real, and it's it's something that that
Speaker 3: you crave as as a big leaguer. You want do
Speaker 3: you want somebody to put pressure on you and and
Speaker 3: you have to go out and prove it. So you're
Speaker 3: South Carolina or native Yeah, no, no, no, I grew
Speaker 3: up grew up at just tell Us out of Philly.
Speaker 8: Oh gonna say, because I was like, you have no
Speaker 8: accent whatsoever. You have a Philly accent, of a South
Speaker 8: Carolina accent, none of that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, they've they've both kind of disappeared. I I
Speaker 3: went to school there obviously, and and just fell in
Speaker 3: up with the area and never left. But grew up
Speaker 3: just outside of Philly, the.
Speaker 2: Same city as Mike Piazza and Gino Arima. Do your research, Matt,
Speaker 2: Come on, yeah, Telly, let's sort it by the way.
Speaker 2: We know, we know you. We know your dog's names too. Yeah,
Speaker 2: that's true.
Speaker 3: What was it Dottie and uh Jack Jackson, Millie Millie
Speaker 3: we had we had there's a cat. Oh, Okay, yeah,
Speaker 3: she's she's a she belongs to the neighborhood.
Speaker 2: Oh really, the neighborhood cat. Yeah, she's just so under.
Speaker 8: What part of South Caroln do you in Columbia itself or.
Speaker 3: We do just north of Columbia. We're like, we're like
Speaker 3: fifteen minutes from campus.
Speaker 8: So can you walk around town in cognito or do
Speaker 8: you do?
Speaker 2: People stuck at the grocery store.
Speaker 3: They they they recognized me for sure, But it's it's
Speaker 3: it's more from the game Cock days than from pro ball.
Speaker 3: The braves of the team there, so so everybody knows knows.
Speaker 2: The game Cocks more than more than that.
Speaker 8: Did they realize how many home aren't you hit in
Speaker 8: the last five years?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Yeah, Arizona. Arizona was cool. It's a crazy thing getting recognized.
Speaker 3: It's humbling and all that. But but back home in
Speaker 3: South Carolina, it's it's mostly from the from the national championships.
Speaker 8: Okay, uh As, I've never been to talk Kilana apparently
Speaker 8: quite an experience. I mean for football basketball, the women's
Speaker 8: team never loses.
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know that's all about.
Speaker 8: Yeah they did, they did any s SEC smack talk
Speaker 8: in the clubhouse at this point, not.
Speaker 3: Yet, not yet.
Speaker 6: I'm sure.
Speaker 3: I'm sure it'll start once, especially when football season starts
Speaker 3: back up, but but nothing, nothing so far.
Speaker 8: Well, we're very happy to have you here. Such a
Speaker 8: nice surprise when you came here. I mean, I mean,
Speaker 8: we're anxious, but this is.
Speaker 2: Kind of new to us.
Speaker 8: We we've known Briggs, we've known you you'rely Goarly a
Speaker 8: couple of years ago, and we've had JV and Kyle Tucker.
Speaker 8: This is, uh, you're actually coming on at a bad
Speaker 8: time because I think they're all your teammates trying to
Speaker 8: figure out what the.
Speaker 2: Vibe is going to be right now.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Yeah, it's a it's a fun time. It's it's uh,
Speaker 3: you know, guys, guys come and go. It's it's part
Speaker 3: of the business side of things. Unfortunately, you know, you
Speaker 3: never want to lose guys, especially people who you know,
Speaker 3: we're staple in the lineup and a part of a
Speaker 3: lot of successful years. But I think there's a there's
Speaker 3: a cool opportunity about that of being able to keep
Speaker 3: the success going with a different group of guys, different responsibilities,
Speaker 3: different roles. And so far the clubhouse has been great
Speaker 3: and I'm looking forward to, you know, Continuing to.
Speaker 8: Metch, he alluded to the DH for let you run.
Speaker 8: Do you like the DH once in a while to
Speaker 8: get off your feet a little bit? Or is that
Speaker 8: you just I need to be at I'm in the lineup.
Speaker 8: I need to be at first base.
Speaker 3: So I mean, I would much rather be at first base.
Speaker 3: But I would rather be in the lineup than not
Speaker 3: at all. A full day off, yeah, period, So you know,
Speaker 3: if that's a way to get some at bats and
Speaker 3: help the team on days where you know, maybe we're
Speaker 3: trying to rest up the legs or something like that,
Speaker 3: for sure, very very interested in something like that. But
Speaker 3: but if it was my call, I'd be at first
Speaker 3: every day.
Speaker 5: There you go, Christian Walker joining Matt Thomas and Rossville
Speaker 5: Reale earlier this week there in West Palm Beach.
Speaker 2: So good stuff from him.
Speaker 5: And if you miss any of that conversation with Christian Walker,
Speaker 5: you can of course check it out on the new
Speaker 5: and improved Free iHeartRadio app where of course you can
Speaker 5: have us as a pre set there, the fast forward function,
Speaker 5: all of those different types of things whenever you're listening
Speaker 5: to podcasts, whether with us here on Sports Talk seven
Speaker 5: ninety or any of our iHeart Radio properties that are
Speaker 5: on there, you can be able to do that. I
Speaker 5: mean this thing I'm telling you for my money and
Speaker 5: a guy that listens to a lot of podcasts is
Speaker 5: about as good a medium as you're going to find
Speaker 5: in terms of being able to get everything that you want.
Speaker 2: And we pretty much have everything on there.
Speaker 5: So you want some good music, bingo right there for
Speaker 5: you on the free, new and improved iHeart Radio app.
Speaker 5: All right, coming up next the Astros outfield situation, some
Speaker 5: massive question marks and all three spots. We'll dive into
Speaker 5: that as we close out the first hour. Also to
Speaker 5: if it's not here, coming up next maybe even the
Speaker 5: next hour, Joseph d'orte from the Houston Chronicle. I think
Speaker 5: it's going to stop by and join us for a
Speaker 5: few minutes, so look forward to being able to catch
Speaker 5: up with him. As again we are live here at
Speaker 5: the Fertida Center as the kop is going to take
Speaker 5: on Iowa State a little bit later on this afternoon,
Speaker 5: as we'll continue to move along here on Space City Saturday,
Speaker 5: Dean Matthews here on your home of the Astros and
Speaker 5: the Rockets Sports Talks seven ninety.
Speaker 1: We now return to Space City Saturday on Sports Talk
Speaker 1: seven ninety.
Speaker 5: Talks seven ninety Dan Matthews here live at the Fertida Center.
Speaker 5: As a couple of hours from now, you of h
Speaker 5: and Iowa State cann be taken on each other here
Speaker 5: inside the Fratida Center and we will have that over
Speaker 5: on kPr C in nine point fifty. Is the crew
Speaker 5: put it on that broadcast at twelve forty five and
Speaker 5: full sight of games today across not only here but
Speaker 5: over on KPRT nine fifty as well as mentioned exactly
Speaker 5: an hour from now, it's gonna be Astros baball hitting
Speaker 5: here and spring training acting.
Speaker 2: It gets under one of.
Speaker 5: The guys trying to fight for a spot on this team.
Speaker 5: A little bit of bad news this morning. I mean,
Speaker 5: you're gonna have injuries in there during spring training. Usually
Speaker 5: it's mostly on the pitching side, as we've found out
Speaker 5: with Caleb Boards, also with Sean Duban and even the
Speaker 5: guys too who are trying to make their way back
Speaker 5: and a Lance McCullers and also Luis Garcia. But Taylor
Speaker 5: Tremmel running the bases yesterday strained his right calf and
Speaker 5: the club says he's going to be out for a while,
Speaker 5: so we'll see what happens with him trying to make
Speaker 5: this club. But he's a guy that's trying to vie
Speaker 5: for some playing time in that outfield this year for
Speaker 5: the Astros. That without Kyle Tucker. Oh, let's call it.
Speaker 2: What it is.
Speaker 5: I mean, you know, you think you know what you
Speaker 5: have in Chas McCormick out there in right field. But
Speaker 5: the problem is last year was a little bit of
Speaker 5: a concern for you where you're kind of like, oh man,
Speaker 5: did the league catch up with him and he just
Speaker 5: wasn't able to make the adjustment, but able to make
Speaker 5: some adjustments over the off season.
Speaker 2: He says he feels good. The club likes what they've.
Speaker 5: Seen from him already with some of those offseason tweaks
Speaker 5: that he made to his swing and to his plate approach,
Speaker 5: and you know, hoping that he is able to be
Speaker 5: a factor for this team in at twenty twenty five.
Speaker 5: And with Jake Myers, I mean, it's one of those
Speaker 5: things with him that it's defense first, and that's first
Speaker 5: and foremost why you have.
Speaker 2: Him in the lineup.
Speaker 5: I mean, he's almost kind of, you know, to a
Speaker 5: certain point of he's not an offensive liability like Martin
Speaker 5: Maldonado was. But it was also to people questioning Dusty Baker, Hey,
Speaker 5: why do you continue to throw that guy out there?
Speaker 5: If you've seen the way that he handles a pitching
Speaker 5: staff and the way that he calls a game. Yeah,
Speaker 5: that's why I have that guy out there is because
Speaker 5: he's incredibly valuable from that perspective, And I mean it's
Speaker 5: kind of the same with Myers. He does give you
Speaker 5: a little bit more with the power, but the strikeouts
Speaker 5: are high, and the batting average it's not great, and
Speaker 5: you know, all the other offensive metrics still same deal
Speaker 5: with that. So you know, he's a guy that you
Speaker 5: know is going to be the nine hole hitter for
Speaker 5: this team this year and you're just hoping that you
Speaker 5: get just a little bit more offensively out of him.
Speaker 2: But the left field situation.
Speaker 5: I mean, it was even with Alex Bregman, you know,
Speaker 5: way out of the picture. You were, you know, trending
Speaker 5: towards having Jose Altuve out there and left and that's
Speaker 5: where he's continued to work throughout the first week of
Speaker 5: spring training. He's not going to be on the field
Speaker 5: playing in games. According to what Joe spottas said yesterday,
Speaker 5: for about another week, same deal with most of the
Speaker 5: veteran guys going to be able to kind of get
Speaker 5: them getting some work, live vps, all of those different
Speaker 5: types of things on the backfields there in West Palm
Speaker 5: before you get them into live action. But they also
Speaker 5: too want to continue to get him some work out
Speaker 5: there and left. And it's also I think, you know,
Speaker 5: again the internal discussions that you've heard Dana Brown mentioned
Speaker 5: with us numerous times. That was something that you know,
Speaker 5: even Joe Spotta had told us a few weeks ago
Speaker 5: at FanFest over at DIYK in Park that they had
Speaker 5: talked with Altove about this, and he said, yeah, hey,
Speaker 5: look helps us win ball game, then I'm all for it.
Speaker 5: And not only that, I mean it's also to the
Speaker 5: declining defense that he's had over at second base the
Speaker 5: last few years that they felt like they needed to
Speaker 5: improve that part of their infield and a way to
Speaker 5: do that is to have Valtuve playing elsewhere. And we've
Speaker 5: seen players in the past make a move out to
Speaker 5: the outfield. I mean, you know a couple of examples
Speaker 5: that come to mind. One current is Fernandelo Tatis with
Speaker 5: the Padres. I mean, he was a guy that was
Speaker 5: supposed to be one of the best young shortstops in
Speaker 5: the game, had some injury concerns, and they said, all right,
Speaker 5: kind of like what the Angels just did with Mike Trout,
Speaker 5: move them out to right field. And that way he's
Speaker 5: not exerting as much physically where he's not going to
Speaker 5: break down health wise, and you're able to continue to
Speaker 5: have him in your lineup. And that's what the Angels
Speaker 5: are hoping that they can have at Arvale this season,
Speaker 5: is a healthy Mike Trout now that he's no longer
Speaker 5: in center field. And I mean we saw Chipper Jones
Speaker 5: do it a few years ago with the Braves when
Speaker 5: they added Vinnie Castilla. They asked him, Hey, you cool
Speaker 5: with moving out to left field. He said, yeah, sure.
Speaker 5: I mean, you know, I've done a lot of good
Speaker 5: things over here at third base. But if that's gonna
Speaker 5: help us win ball games, then absolutely, I'm all for it.
Speaker 5: And seems like those have been the reports all across
Speaker 5: the board for AL two ve. I like to which
Speaker 5: Chandler roam throughout on Twitter yesterday too of L two
Speaker 5: A walking with the outfielders coming in, and said, the
Speaker 5: outfielders are coming through, so already adjusting it to his
Speaker 5: new life in an Astros uniform. And it's gonna be
Speaker 5: interesting to see number twenty seven out there at Dykin
Speaker 5: Park in front of the Crawford boxes, so I'm sure
Speaker 5: he will probably be well received by the fans out there.
Speaker 5: So we'll see what it looks like with jose Al
Speaker 5: Tuove out and left here coming up soon. But that's
Speaker 5: our one in the books. Our two coming up again.
Speaker 5: It's gonna be a shortened hour because at eleven fifty
Speaker 5: we're gonna break away and get you over to the
Speaker 5: Astros radio network for the Astros and the Nationals spring
Speaker 5: training action underway there in West Palm Beach, So we'll
Speaker 5: have that. But coming up next might be joined by
Speaker 5: Joseph Dwarte. But if he doesn't swing through, well let's
Speaker 5: get into the Texans Stadium situation, because I know a
Speaker 5: lot of you have some thoughts on that, and I
Speaker 5: do as well share some of them with you the
Speaker 5: other night on the Nightcap. But we can do that again.
Speaker 5: The number to get in someone three two, one, two,
Speaker 5: five seven ninety. Once again, that's some one three, two, one,
Speaker 5: two five, seven ninety as again our one in the books,
Speaker 5: right here Space City Saturday, right here in your home
Speaker 5: with the Astros and the Rockets. Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 1: Welcome aboard, Welcome to another Space City Saturday on Sports
Speaker 1: Talk seven ninety Dan Matthews Live and local h Town
Speaker 1: breakdown of the world that matters to you, the Houston
Speaker 1: sports world.
Speaker 2: All these great Houston fans here.
Speaker 3: We love you all, So finish up on that to
Speaker 3: do list.
Speaker 1: S loot up the tooler, because you can't drink in
Speaker 1: talk sports all day if you don't start.
Speaker 4: Now bear me in the eight. This is Face City Saturday.
Speaker 4: That's insane. Here's seven nineties Dan Matthews.
Speaker 2: Indeed it is.
Speaker 5: As we continue here our two of Space City Saturday.
Speaker 5: Dan Matthews here with you at the Ftida Center where
Speaker 5: the Kog's going to be taking on Iowa State. A
Speaker 5: little bit later on, a couple of hours from now,
Speaker 5: that game will get started and again at twelve forty
Speaker 5: five you can start to hear the coverage over on
Speaker 5: KPRC nine to fifty between U of H and Iowa State.
Speaker 2: The Coog's a seven.
Speaker 5: And a half point favorite in this one and the
Speaker 5: top ten matchup tonight here inside for Tida Center. So
Speaker 5: it's gonna be a good game, no doubt about it.
Speaker 5: And looking forward to seeing And I said seven and
Speaker 5: a half, that's where it started. The sharp's coming in
Speaker 5: huge on you of h as U of H now
Speaker 5: up to an eleven and a half point favorite according
Speaker 5: to ESPN bet, So it'll be a fun afternoon of
Speaker 5: basketball here a little bit later on tonight here on
Speaker 5: a Sports Talk seven to ninety, you're going to have
Speaker 5: the Rockets and the Jazz. Nice little win for them
Speaker 5: last night at Toyota Center one twenty one fifteen over
Speaker 5: the Minnesota Timberwolves. So they start the proverbial second half
Speaker 5: of the season. I mean that was game number fifty
Speaker 5: six on the year. You play eighty two in a
Speaker 5: regular season, so do the math a little over halfway
Speaker 5: through this season. But the Rockets a nice game out
Speaker 5: of them last night, and they'll take on the thirteen
Speaker 5: win Utah Jazz a little bit later on tonight, so
Speaker 5: you can hear that here starting at seven thirty with
Speaker 5: Rockets launch pad right here on Sports Talk seven to ninety.
Speaker 5: But again we've gotten into a lot of Astro's discussion.
Speaker 5: I wanted to get into some of the news that
Speaker 5: broke a couple of days ago from Jonathan m Alexander
Speaker 5: and the crew over at the Houston Chronicle of the
Speaker 5: Texans stadium suation. I know a lot of you have
Speaker 5: some thoughts on that if you want to weigh in,
Speaker 5: and Dylan McGinnis also part of that story. One to
Speaker 5: be able to give proper attribution to that. But the
Speaker 5: Texans pretty much right now face with two options. Number one,
Speaker 5: try to be able to renovate NRG Stadium and improve
Speaker 5: it as much as possible, or even to start doing
Speaker 5: the kicking the tires scenario of start looking at places, Hey,
Speaker 5: if we were to build our own thing, like where
Speaker 5: else could we go? And I mean, you know, there's
Speaker 5: a lot of different things, voting referendums, also to approaching
Speaker 5: the county, all of those other types of options that
Speaker 5: are out there. So that's what the Texans are dealing
Speaker 5: with at the moment. But one of the things that
Speaker 5: I think probably started to raise some antennas when it
Speaker 5: came to this scenario was when the Texans a few
Speaker 5: weeks ago hired Mike Toeman as their new team president.
Speaker 5: And immediately to see the background on Toneman and you see, oh,
Speaker 5: oh okay, yeah, he helped open up the stadium there
Speaker 5: in La same deal two with the Raiders in Vegas.
Speaker 5: So he has, as it quotes in the story, an
Speaker 5: extensive history in stadium developments. So immediately when that happened,
Speaker 5: I shot out some texts to some you know, colleagues
Speaker 5: in the industry, and I was like, this doesn't really
Speaker 5: seem like it's by mistake that this guy is here.
Speaker 5: Like we've been hearing, you know, rumors that the Texans
Speaker 5: wanted to do some improvements to NRG Stadium and that
Speaker 5: they were going to try to get working on that.
Speaker 2: Here pretty soon.
Speaker 5: But I also when I saw that, I said, I
Speaker 5: think this guy's here to try to convince those in
Speaker 5: power that's, hey, you know, this stadium is.
Speaker 2: Not good enough.
Speaker 5: We need to be able to play somewhere else here
Speaker 5: in the coming years. And I think that, you know,
Speaker 5: at least the story points out that that is a
Speaker 5: real possibility.
Speaker 2: So as the story states.
Speaker 5: In the Houston Chronicle that one point four billion dollars
Speaker 5: is needed over thirty years at NRG Stadium, according to
Speaker 5: a recent assessment, to be able to improve the stadium,
Speaker 5: so the Texans could look at it and say, all right,
Speaker 5: do we improve this thing or do we just go
Speaker 5: ahead and look elsewhere? Because if that type of money
Speaker 5: is going to be spent, why wouldn't we just do
Speaker 5: the ask for an entirely new venue. And the Harris
Speaker 5: County Houston Sports Authority is currently paying one billion dollars
Speaker 5: in bonds to help build NRG Stadium and that's going
Speaker 5: to be paid off by twenty fifty six. And also
Speaker 5: to that's part of you know, the funding for dyke
Speaker 5: In Park and for Toyota Center as well, and the
Speaker 5: Sports Authority themselves would not have the money to be
Speaker 5: able to finance a new stadium.
Speaker 2: So that's the other part of it.
Speaker 5: Is that, you know, it'd be the Texans going to
Speaker 5: the Harris County taxpayers and saying, hey, you guys, cool
Speaker 5: with fronting the money for us to build an entirely
Speaker 5: new venue. And I know a ton of you out
Speaker 5: there have said absolutely not. I'm not gonna have my
Speaker 5: property taxes and everything else go up because you want
Speaker 5: a shiny new toy to be able to get Super
Speaker 5: Bowls here, and you know, to be able to call
Speaker 5: your own, because, as I mentioned the other night, there's
Speaker 5: one thing that is a constant across sports when it
Speaker 5: comes to billionaire owners is when somebody else has a
Speaker 5: shiny new toy, well they want their own as well.
Speaker 5: And I'm assuming that probably Cal and Hannah have gone
Speaker 5: around to other new venues around the league and also
Speaker 5: to seeing some of them that have you know, nice
Speaker 5: little mixed use developments outside and that they're able to
Speaker 5: control that revenue and be able to add that to
Speaker 5: their bottom line and say, yeah, hey, you know I
Speaker 5: want that too. I want to be able to, you know,
Speaker 5: earn as much as possible and be able to, you know,
Speaker 5: you make this investment even better. And you know that's
Speaker 5: something else that the Texans might decide.
Speaker 2: So see some of you wanting the weigh in on
Speaker 2: the phone lines.
Speaker 5: If you want to do that, you can do so
Speaker 5: someone three two one two five seven.
Speaker 2: But I mean you also have to consider.
Speaker 5: That, you know, this is a scenario that I think
Speaker 5: probably has a little bit of a trained response from
Speaker 5: some remembering the old oiler days of you know, when
Speaker 5: Bud Adams and crew were trying to get the oilers
Speaker 5: in New Stadium and it was his dealings with the
Speaker 5: county and with the city of Houston. That really kind
Speaker 5: of rubbed them the wrong way that they were just like, okay, fine,
Speaker 5: if Nashville is flirting with you, go to Nashville, Like,
Speaker 5: we don't care.
Speaker 2: At this point, you've clearly.
Speaker 5: Given up on putting a product on the field that
Speaker 5: you necessarily care about, you know, winning ballgames, and actually
Speaker 5: want to do the best you can here in Houston.
Speaker 2: So if you want to move on, then move on.
Speaker 2: You know, no harm, no foul.
Speaker 5: And they said, all right, fine, we'll do that, and
Speaker 5: that's exactly what they did.
Speaker 2: I don't envision the Texans doing the same thing.
Speaker 5: I think the McNair's you know, relationship with the community,
Speaker 5: I mean while fractured at times, and you know, Ac
Speaker 5: brought up that point the other day on the show,
Speaker 5: and he's not wrong. Where you know, the Jackie Easter
Speaker 5: be yere that did a lot to you know, harbor
Speaker 5: some ill will towards the fans and also towards you know,
Speaker 5: just the fan reaction to the team as well. So
Speaker 5: I mean, you know, I think that that's been part
Speaker 5: of it. And you know, ever since then, with the
Speaker 5: hiring of Demiko Ryans and also winning on the field.
Speaker 5: That's improved things as well. And you know, all of
Speaker 5: a sudden, a hot item again, and when you're hot
Speaker 5: and you have the popularity, that's the time to be
Speaker 5: able to go and do the ask for people to
Speaker 5: be able to.
Speaker 2: Front the money for you.
Speaker 5: So you know, I mean, I think this thing is
Speaker 5: going to be an ever changing story. In terms of
Speaker 5: the Texans leaving, I don't envision that being the case.
Speaker 5: I mean, where else could they go? And there there
Speaker 5: are no other major markets that would be able to
Speaker 5: support the team at this point. They're pretty much all
Speaker 5: taken up by the league. So you know, I think
Speaker 5: that option is off the table. But Montgomery County for
Speaker 5: Ben County, Yeah, that's a possibility too as well. I
Speaker 5: mean we've seen teams do that in the past. I
Speaker 5: mean when I was in Atlanta, the Braves did that,
Speaker 5: going to Cobb County and saying, hey, will you build
Speaker 5: us a brand new stadium? They said, yes, absolutely we will.
Speaker 5: So if you want to get in on this topic,
Speaker 5: you can do so again. SEB one three two one
Speaker 5: two five seven ninety. Once again, that's SEB one three
Speaker 5: two one two five seven ninety. Lets you all build
Speaker 5: up on the phone lines as we'll get to you
Speaker 5: on the other side, as we'll continue this conversation right
Speaker 5: here on your home of the Astros and the Rockets.
Speaker 2: Sports Talk seven.
Speaker 1: Ninety Space City Saturday continues fine Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 5: Sports Soox seven ninety Dan Matthews here live inside the
Speaker 5: Jim Nance Media Center at the Fertida Center, where about
Speaker 5: an hour and a half from now, the UH Cougar
Speaker 5: is taking on the Iowa State Cyclones number five versus
Speaker 5: number eight, So good top ten matchup to be able
Speaker 5: to watch today, and you know we're getting into the
Speaker 5: Texans Stadium converce here if you want a wigh in
Speaker 5: on that. I know a few of you of one
Speaker 5: or two. Martin John see you guys right there. Get
Speaker 5: to you all here in just a second. But seven
Speaker 5: one three two one two five, seven ninety is the
Speaker 5: number two.
Speaker 2: Get in there, you know.
Speaker 5: Speaking of today's game, I mean, if you guys listen
Speaker 5: to us on the A Team or you listen to
Speaker 5: the Matt Thomas Show, you guys hear about great sponsors
Speaker 5: of both of those shows. But Big City Wings can't
Speaker 5: think of a better place to be able to watch
Speaker 5: today's game. So Sam and the crew at the numerous
Speaker 5: locations around the city, they will be able to take
Speaker 5: good care of you and be able to watch.
Speaker 2: The Koogs or maybe a little bit later on the night.
Speaker 5: You want to go watch the Rockets or even along
Speaker 5: with the Kougs if you want to see some Astros
Speaker 5: spring training action on TV on Space City Home Network,
Speaker 5: go check out any of those great locations. And they're
Speaker 5: a great sponsor of us here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 5: We appreciate them a lot. And you know also too,
Speaker 5: if you want to join Big City Wings and you've
Speaker 5: got a business out there, you want to do some
Speaker 5: advertising with us, we'd love to have you here on
Speaker 5: Sports Talk seven ninety. If you ever have any questions,
Speaker 5: hit me up Dan Matthews at iHeartMedia dot com is
Speaker 5: where you can hit me up. And also too, you know, look,
Speaker 5: I mean, we've done some great things here on Space
Speaker 5: City Saturday with the Creek group.
Speaker 2: Appreciate all of them.
Speaker 5: Going to be out there actually in a couple of
Speaker 5: weeks for the Chili Cookoff. I think over at Onion
Speaker 5: Creek is where we're doing it this time. So looking
Speaker 5: forward to being able to do that. So, yeah, hit
Speaker 5: me up Dan Matthews at iHeartMedia dot com and I
Speaker 5: gotta tell you too. I mean, when you're an advertiser,
Speaker 5: it's not just about Hey, you know.
Speaker 2: You're giving us money to talk about you.
Speaker 5: I mean I've kind of learned in this business that
Speaker 5: you know, treat them like family, treat them like friends.
Speaker 5: I mean, you know, because that's exactly what you are.
Speaker 5: You are somebody that can you know, be both of
Speaker 5: those things with us, and you know, definitely want to
Speaker 5: make sure that you know you're appreciated to as well.
Speaker 5: So get to you on the phone lines here really quick.
Speaker 5: Before we get Joseph Warte from the Houston Chronicle in
Speaker 5: with us. Martin and Angleton wants the weigh in on
Speaker 5: the Texans Stadium situation.
Speaker 2: Martin, What's what's going on, buddy? Hey?
Speaker 6: Dan?
Speaker 9: I thought that there was an option of of the
Speaker 9: taxes being raised to pay for this through the visitors
Speaker 9: in convention bureau type situation where visitors into the city,
Speaker 9: like hotel taxes and whatever other taxes that visitors pay.
Speaker 9: I thought that that was a bible option.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean they've done that in the past.
Speaker 5: I mean, obviously that's how then Enron Field was built
Speaker 5: at dyk In Park. I think they did the same
Speaker 5: thing for Toyota Center and even for NRG Stadium as well.
Speaker 5: But I mean I think they're kind of tapped out
Speaker 5: on that. Martin is the problem. I mean, it's one
Speaker 5: of those Okay, you can continue to raise those, but
Speaker 5: then it starts to hurt your tourism and I mean,
Speaker 5: you know, people they come here. I mean, it starts
Speaker 5: to become a situation of you come here, you run
Speaker 5: a car, you you know, you you get a hotel room,
Speaker 5: and you see you know, you're getting taxed out of
Speaker 5: the gord for that, and you're just kind of like, well,
Speaker 5: do I even want to go back there if I'm
Speaker 5: going to have to pay all those fees. So, I mean,
Speaker 5: I just I think that they're kind of up against
Speaker 5: it with that. I mean, it almost kind of sounds
Speaker 5: like and somebody brought this up in the comments when
Speaker 5: we posted the video from the A team when I
Speaker 5: was in Atlanta and the Falcons built Mercedes Benz Stadium.
Speaker 5: They had said it from the beginning, it's a private
Speaker 5: public partnership where some of the money is going to
Speaker 5: come from the city, from Fulton County, but also too
Speaker 5: that Arthur Blank ponied up a lot of money of
Speaker 5: his own and said, yeah, I want this thing to
Speaker 5: become a reality, and that's how they were able to
Speaker 5: do that. And the Texans as of right now, I
Speaker 5: mean the story you know states they only pay four
Speaker 5: million dollars a year in rent to rent NRG Stadium.
Speaker 5: The county owns the stadium. The Rodeo owns the stadium,
Speaker 5: so it's this them as a tenant. And I mean
Speaker 5: they've got one of the best, you know, rent structures
Speaker 5: in the league, and I think they kind of want
Speaker 5: to continue doing that.
Speaker 9: Well, okay, I just thought it was still still uh
Speaker 9: an option.
Speaker 1: I don't.
Speaker 9: I don't, I don't. I mean, all these businesses that
Speaker 9: come in they have it has to do with oil
Speaker 9: and gas and natural gas and stuff like that. These conventions.
Speaker 9: I don't think they're going to worry about that too
Speaker 9: much because the companies are paying a lot of that,
Speaker 9: I think for their employees to come into Houston for
Speaker 9: stuff like that. But yeah, oh well, I just thought
Speaker 9: i'd throw it out there. I hope it gets built.
Speaker 9: I hope it gets built because it attract it attracts
Speaker 9: UH super Bowls and this and that and UH and UH.
Speaker 5: Anyway, that's definitely the goal for sure. Appreciate the call
Speaker 5: Martin Again. If you want to join Martin on the
Speaker 5: phone lines, you can do so seven one three two
Speaker 5: one two five seven ninety. Once again, that's seven one
Speaker 5: three two one two five seven ninety. But as promised
Speaker 5: us said that we would be catching up with this man,
Speaker 5: we're gonna do that right now.
Speaker 10: Uh.
Speaker 5: He is Joseph d'Arte Houston Chronicle joining here on a
Speaker 5: Space City Saturday for UH takes on Iowa State number
Speaker 5: five against number eight. Joseph, appreciate the time, man, It's
Speaker 5: good to see you again. It's been a while since
Speaker 5: we've been able to catch up. But you know, with
Speaker 5: this game today, I mean, this is a UH team
Speaker 5: that all season long has been playing good, consistent basketball.
Speaker 5: There was the scuffle a little bit out in Las Vegas,
Speaker 5: but aside from that, it's been a pretty good run
Speaker 5: for them this season. Is there anything necessarily that surprises
Speaker 5: you about this experienced team.
Speaker 10: Well, you know, you mentioned, you know, the four and
Speaker 10: three start, and they were sort of feeling their way
Speaker 10: through things.
Speaker 6: Had a new point guard, and Miles Susan.
Speaker 10: But I think it surprised me is the level that
Speaker 10: they they've sort of taken control of the Big twelve.
Speaker 10: I mean, you're fourteen and one. You want to believe
Speaker 10: it's eighteen of the last nineteen overall. So since that
Speaker 10: Vegas trip here, your only loss is by one point
Speaker 10: to Texas Tech. So they can play defense. We all
Speaker 10: know that they force turnovers and now they can shoot,
Speaker 10: and that's the rest to be for a deep march run.
Speaker 6: So I'm not sure if I'm surprised.
Speaker 10: I think it's just we knew they'd be good at
Speaker 10: some point, because that's what Keilvin Sampson does. I just
Speaker 10: think that the manner that they've sort of taken control
Speaker 10: of the Big twelve races has been a little bit
Speaker 10: of a surprise.
Speaker 2: How key is Emmanuel Shark to this team?
Speaker 6: Oh he's huge, you know.
Speaker 10: You know, he had gone through a little bit of
Speaker 10: a mini slamp, been dealing with a foot injury, and
Speaker 10: you know he's zero for ten going into the second
Speaker 10: half against Arizona State, theeld that I had over the
Speaker 10: last two games, and then he hits four to three.
Speaker 10: He's just like that boom boom boom boom. And that's
Speaker 10: when this team is at its best.
Speaker 6: You know that LJ. Crier is your consistent score.
Speaker 10: You've got Milos who's really turned into a really good score.
Speaker 10: You need Emmanuel Sharp and Keilvin Sampson said as much.
Speaker 10: They're at their best when he's at his best. So
Speaker 10: they've got to have him. And I thought it was
Speaker 10: a good sign and Timpy that he started to turn
Speaker 10: things around again.
Speaker 5: Joseph Dwarts He joined us here inside the Jim Nance
Speaker 5: Media Center for Tita Center ahead of today uh and
Speaker 5: Iowa State basketball game. You know one guy too that
Speaker 5: I think is kind of an unsung hero of this
Speaker 5: team is Juwan Roberts and what he's.
Speaker 2: Able to do.
Speaker 5: I mean, you know what you're gonna get from him
Speaker 5: on the offensive end, but it's mostly the defensive end.
Speaker 5: I mean, how much of a key for this team
Speaker 5: is he?
Speaker 10: Well, you know, you you just look at the experience
Speaker 10: and he's a six year guy. You don't see that
Speaker 10: very often, but you know, he's the glue that keeps
Speaker 10: things together. And especially in the front court. You've got
Speaker 10: guys like Jojo Tugler that look up to him and J. J.
Speaker 10: Vier or Francis has has come along with the help
Speaker 10: of Jay One. But you know, he's a guy that
Speaker 10: not only does he play on the defensive end, they
Speaker 10: go through him a lot on the offense and they
Speaker 10: try to make things happen, and when teams try to
Speaker 10: take it away like they did on the last trip,
Speaker 10: at opens up things for the guards. So huge part
Speaker 10: of the team. And what's amazing, Kelvin's been here eleven years.
Speaker 10: Jaywan Roberts been here for six of those years. He
Speaker 10: has about two hundred and eighty six wins. Roberts has
Speaker 10: about one hundred and fifty of those. So that just
Speaker 10: shows you the impact and the imprint that he's had.
Speaker 10: And the funny thing was Kelvin joke the other night
Speaker 10: he was probably about a one point seventy five star
Speaker 10: when they recruited.
Speaker 2: I mean, he.
Speaker 6: Didn't give him that too. Jay Wan'll tell you he
Speaker 6: was a three.
Speaker 10: But it just shows you they develop and the player
Speaker 10: eventually turns into a star.
Speaker 5: And you know, as I was walking into the building today,
Speaker 5: you know, was listening to the game day crew out
Speaker 5: there on the courts and I think it was Seth
Speaker 5: Greenberg that they had showed the twenty twenty one Final
Speaker 5: four banner and he said, this team's better than that
Speaker 5: twenty one team.
Speaker 2: I mean, are you seeing the same things?
Speaker 10: You know, that was a really good team, and I
Speaker 10: think since then those are what the others have been
Speaker 10: measured against. But shooting wise, I think it can be better.
Speaker 10: I think from one to eight, one to nine they
Speaker 10: are deeper. But until you get to the tournament and
Speaker 10: you actually do it that those are big shoes to compare.
Speaker 10: But I think that if you look at the way
Speaker 10: the whole nation is set up right now in which
Speaker 10: teams could factor in, Houston's on a very short list
Speaker 10: of schools that could win it. And it's just a
Speaker 10: matter of you got to stay healthy, and that has
Speaker 10: not happened for them, and you've got to get hot,
Speaker 10: and you got to be consistent. And I think those
Speaker 10: things will happen because Kelvin sort of, you know, demands it.
Speaker 10: You just got to stay healthy and that's the key, and.
Speaker 2: I mean a huge part of that.
Speaker 5: And you know, having conversations with you know, U of
Speaker 5: h fans about this is it seems like that's been
Speaker 5: the issue the last few years. It's just this demanding
Speaker 5: physical style they play well, there's a shelf life to that.
Speaker 5: I mean, as you pointed out, I mean we've seen
Speaker 5: it play out. We saw it play out that way
Speaker 5: last year when they got to the sweet sixteen. But
Speaker 5: do you think that maybe there is a little bit
Speaker 5: of tweaking with the rotation that we've seen from Kelvin
Speaker 5: Sampson this year to kind of, you know, be able
Speaker 5: to keep those guys as fresh as possible done stretch.
Speaker 10: Well, that was the that was the question asked this week,
Speaker 10: and he admitted that somebody like l J. Cryer, he'd
Speaker 10: like to get him some more in and out of
Speaker 10: the game to give him a breather. Beyond that, you
Speaker 10: want to keep some type of rhythm going this type
Speaker 10: of year, so you're not just gonna mass sub and
Speaker 10: hold guys out. You're not gonna pull back, so to speak.
Speaker 10: But I think you do try to find your moments
Speaker 10: where you're not pushing a guy thirty five thirty eight.
Speaker 6: Minutes a game.
Speaker 10: And unless these games are really tight, I don't think
Speaker 10: he'll see that the rest of the way. I think
Speaker 10: you will see him being selective, trying to get some
Speaker 10: guys some breathers because you know they don't practice. It's
Speaker 10: not the same in November and December as it is
Speaker 10: now in terms of practice. And so the whole theory
Speaker 10: of does this just cause them to break down in March,
Speaker 10: I'm not buying that Jamal shed was just a freak
Speaker 10: injury with his ankle. Guys like Sasser when he had
Speaker 10: his shoulder, you know, those happened during the season. So
Speaker 10: you could say that it's just wear and tear the grind.
Speaker 10: But Kelvin's not going to change a lot. He just
Speaker 10: may may kind of finesse things a little bit and
Speaker 10: get some guys some extra breathers between now and the
Speaker 10: start of the tournament again.
Speaker 5: Joseph to Warte, Houston Chronicle join us here at Fatida
Speaker 5: Center here on Space City Saturday.
Speaker 2: And you know, with.
Speaker 5: The u of H basketball program, now, I mean you
Speaker 5: talk college sports, you gotta talk name, image, likeness, you
Speaker 5: got to talk just what's the new landscape in sports?
Speaker 5: Is part of you kind of surprised that Kelvin's been
Speaker 5: able to keep this going with all of those things
Speaker 5: at their disposal. And not only that, I mean transfers.
Speaker 5: We've seen guys leave this program and go other places.
Speaker 5: I mean, how impressive has it been that he's been
Speaker 5: able to keep this going with having to deal with
Speaker 5: those two factors.
Speaker 10: Well, on the transfers, I believe it's only one or
Speaker 10: two like starters that they've had that have actually left
Speaker 10: guy like a Caleb Mills a few years ago.
Speaker 6: But in terms of.
Speaker 10: NIL, they're on a different level. You know, football at
Speaker 10: most schools is the top NIL earner, but basketball sort
Speaker 10: of does their own thing here and they don't have
Speaker 10: the exact number, but I've been told, you know, top
Speaker 10: tier schools usually have at least a four million type
Speaker 10: of NIL budget or what they have for their players,
Speaker 10: and you know it hasn't stopped them. They have three
Speaker 10: ESPN like Top twenty top twenty five guys that are
Speaker 10: coming here next year. And on top of that, you know,
Speaker 10: Kelvin made it a point to say, these guys aren't
Speaker 10: coming here necessarily for NIL, They're coming here for the
Speaker 10: opportunity and what this program provides with the thinking that
Speaker 10: that NIL is going to be on the back end.
Speaker 10: It may be, and their pro contract it may be
Speaker 10: in year two or three, but the NIL when it
Speaker 10: comes to Kelvin Sampson's program is not the main.
Speaker 6: Draw or the enticement.
Speaker 10: There are many other things that they that they offer
Speaker 10: before they even talk in IL.
Speaker 5: And you know up there today saw Willie Fritz was
Speaker 5: up there with the football team. And last year I
Speaker 5: think they did some impressive things. But you know, this
Speaker 5: coming year, I mean, is bowl game of possibility for
Speaker 5: his program.
Speaker 6: Lune At schedule. I think it should be.
Speaker 5: You know, I.
Speaker 10: I think that just the way it sets up, you know,
Speaker 10: you could be two and zero to start, you could
Speaker 10: win all three non conference and then you know, depending
Speaker 10: on whether like Oklahoma.
Speaker 6: State or you see back after really bad seasons.
Speaker 10: You know, I put them in that minimum six win
Speaker 10: category which gets you in the bowl. I think this
Speaker 10: is a possible seven and five type team. I would
Speaker 10: be shocked just based on bringing in an experienced quarterback
Speaker 10: in Connor Wegman and upgrading the old line in some
Speaker 10: other areas that this would be a team that would
Speaker 10: either stay at four wins or just be at five.
Speaker 6: I think this is a bowl team.
Speaker 2: Very good.
Speaker 5: Joseph, do Towarte again. Houston Chronicle will join us here
Speaker 5: at Fertida Center.
Speaker 2: Joseph's could see again. Man.
Speaker 5: It's always great to catch up with you and appreciate
Speaker 5: your work with chronicle.
Speaker 6: Thank you for having me on.
Speaker 5: All right, there you go, Joseph dowarte again, join us
Speaker 5: here at the Fertida Center. All right, so we talked
Speaker 5: to Astros, we've talked Rockets, We've talked to you of
Speaker 5: h We talked pretty much all of it today. If
Speaker 5: you want to weigh in on any of those topics,
Speaker 5: you can do so. Someone three two one two five
Speaker 5: seven ninety one. Skin at someone three two one two
Speaker 5: five seven ninety one. More segment to go before we
Speaker 5: step aside for Astros baseball that's coming up next right
Speaker 5: here on your home of the Astros and the Rockets.
Speaker 2: Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 4: Welcome back to Space City, Saturday one. Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 2: Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 5: Dan Matthews here with you live inside the Jim Nants
Speaker 5: Media Center here at the Ftida Center. UH taken on
Speaker 5: Iowa State. Shout out to Joseph d'Arte who joined us
Speaker 5: last segment. Good conversation with him, getting into a little
Speaker 5: bit of UH basketball as well as the football program,
Speaker 5: trying to get them back to their winning ways. Says
Speaker 5: A few years ago, nice little trip to the Peach
Speaker 5: Bowl went over Florida State and ever since then, you
Speaker 5: of H trying to get the program back to that
Speaker 5: level yet again, and full confidence Willie Fritz can do that.
Speaker 5: Huge fan of him, huge fan even going back to
Speaker 5: his Seam Houston days and even with what he was
Speaker 5: able to do at Tulane getting them to the Cotton
Speaker 5: Bowl a couple of years ago beating USC, so you
Speaker 5: know that he is able to build up a program
Speaker 5: and hoping he can do that here at EU of
Speaker 5: H a few more minutes here on the show, you
Speaker 5: want to get in on the phone lines, you can
Speaker 5: do so. Subone three two one two five seven ninety one.
Speaker 5: Skin at subone three two one two five at seven
Speaker 5: ninety mentioned. You know the Rockets taking on at the
Speaker 5: Jazz tonight and I little went for them last night,
Speaker 5: still without Fred van Vlietz. And usually with ankles, especially
Speaker 5: to basketball players, you're probably looking at about a month
Speaker 5: that you need for that injury to be able to
Speaker 5: heal up before you feel like you're able to get
Speaker 5: that explosiveness and get.
Speaker 2: Back to action the way that you want to be
Speaker 2: able to get back to it.
Speaker 5: And that's you know what the Rockets are kind of
Speaker 5: counting on with Van Vliet, I mean, trying to get
Speaker 5: him healthy enough. And you know, I talked about it
Speaker 5: earlier what he means the team not only from an
Speaker 5: offensive end, but also too. I mean some of those
Speaker 5: defensive breakdowns we've seen late in games before the All
Speaker 5: Star break, where you know, I think you could probably
Speaker 5: point to not having Fred van Vliet out there is
Speaker 5: what allows for some of those breakdowns to happen. And
Speaker 5: I mean you've seen teams cutting into the basket, being
Speaker 5: able to get you know, offensive rebounds, all of those
Speaker 5: different things and just how important he is. And I
Speaker 5: mentioned too that Haberstrow stat that he threw out that
Speaker 5: this team, when they have both Shingoon and Van Vliet
Speaker 5: on the floor, they're thirty and thirteen, and with the
Speaker 5: win last night, they're now five and eight. When you
Speaker 5: don't have both of those guys out there, you were
Speaker 5: able to have Alpi and what he was able to do.
Speaker 5: But still, I mean, you know, without Van Vliet you
Speaker 5: miss a lot in terms of the offensive sets and
Speaker 5: just you know, just overall just general organization out there,
Speaker 5: I feel like.
Speaker 2: Is what you lose without him.
Speaker 5: And you know, the funny thing is, and I talked
Speaker 5: about this with Jackson Gatlin a few weeks ago when
Speaker 5: we had him on Rockets launch Pad. You know, he
Speaker 5: brought this up on his podcast that I feel like
Speaker 5: people look at Fred the wrong way, and it's the
Speaker 5: shot selection, it's the misshots, all of those different things.
Speaker 5: I get that, but his point is incredibly valid. That's
Speaker 5: not what he's supposed to do. He's not supposed to
Speaker 5: be the guy taking the crucial shots late in games,
Speaker 5: in close games. You're wanting that to be Jalen Green.
Speaker 5: Now you're probably wanting that to be you know, a
Speaker 5: Men Thompson. I mean, you saw it at the end
Speaker 5: of the Memphis game that that play was drawn up
Speaker 5: to go to a men Thompson, and Memphis did a
Speaker 5: great job of saying, no, we saw this guy do
Speaker 5: it a couple of nights ago in Boston. We can't
Speaker 5: let this guy beat us. And they took him out
Speaker 5: of play and you saw, you know, the last ditch
Speaker 5: effort that they had, and people were, oh my god,
Speaker 5: why would you go to Fred in that situation? And
Speaker 5: it's like, well, I mean, where else you gonna go,
Speaker 5: you know, in terms of inbounding the basketball. So I
Speaker 5: just think that you know, sometimes it's undue criticism to
Speaker 5: him in terms of that part.
Speaker 2: Of his game.
Speaker 5: I mean that's almost kind of like, you know, I
Speaker 5: was talking about with Josh C last night before I left,
Speaker 5: and you know, I said, that's like blaming Mauricio Dubond
Speaker 5: for not coming through in a crucial runners in scoring
Speaker 5: position situation after jose Al Tuove struck out, Like you know,
Speaker 5: what are we doing here? Kind of is is really
Speaker 5: I think the name of the game at that point.
Speaker 5: I mean, you know, it's you're you're blaming the wrong
Speaker 5: guy for the wrong thing. You know, if he comes
Speaker 5: through in that spot, then you're happy about it. But
Speaker 5: if he doesn't, you're like, well, you know, offensively, probably
Speaker 5: not one of the best guys you want to have
Speaker 5: in that situation. So I think that that's you know,
Speaker 5: really all part of it too as well. But you know,
Speaker 5: like I said, one fifteen win last night, that was
Speaker 5: good to see out of the Rockets says, you know,
Speaker 5: you want to see them be able to take a
Speaker 5: good positive step forward out of the All Star break.
Speaker 5: I mean, you saw a team that, even with injuries,
Speaker 5: was just physically worn down at the end of you know,
Speaker 5: the first half of the season. And I mean this
Speaker 5: was a team that as soon as the final buzzer
Speaker 5: hit in the Warriors loss, they were kind of like,
Speaker 5: oh man, thank god we're here. We get a week
Speaker 5: to be able to rest up and get back to action.
Speaker 5: But you know, it was good to see a good,
Speaker 5: strong third quarter out of the team last night and
Speaker 5: a good strong fourth quarter two as well, as it
Speaker 5: was a close game at the half, but then able
Speaker 5: to outscore Minnesota thirty to twenty six in the third,
Speaker 5: and then also to neither team necessarily that impressive offensively
Speaker 5: in the fourth quarter. But I mean, Anthony Edwards, what
Speaker 5: can you say about the guy? I threw it out
Speaker 5: on Twitter last night. He's as close to Kobe Bryant
Speaker 5: as we have in the game right now in terms
Speaker 5: of just his shot making ability, his explosiveness, his competitive drive.
Speaker 5: I mean, it count me in the same category with
Speaker 5: Adam Clanton of being a huge fan of that guy
Speaker 5: and then a huge fan of him even.
Speaker 2: Back to his brief college career that he had, and
Speaker 2: you saw it.
Speaker 5: Even back then that he was going to be somebody
Speaker 5: that was going to be pretty tough to deal with
Speaker 5: in the league. That's definitely been the case. But thirty
Speaker 5: seven out of him last night. I mean, you know,
Speaker 5: but you were pretty much able to limit the damage
Speaker 5: outside of him. I mean, you know, Jayden McDaniel's twenty
Speaker 5: one points out of him, nas Reed, nice player for them,
Speaker 5: twenty two out of him. But you know, as I've
Speaker 5: mentioned numerous times, Jalen Green, he is the key to
Speaker 5: this offense and when he is able to put up
Speaker 5: points well, then wins usually follow. And he was able
Speaker 5: to do that last night, thirty five out of him.
Speaker 5: Another double double yet again out of Alprin Shingoon, twenty
Speaker 5: four and thirteen out of him, and you know, kind
Speaker 5: of you know, a guy that's starting to get a
Speaker 5: little bit of that reputation too of being a you know,
Speaker 5: if a game is on, well then he's going to
Speaker 5: get a double double. Is a men Thompson. He was
Speaker 5: able to do that again last night, seventeen and ten
Speaker 5: out of him. So good performance out of the Rockets.
Speaker 5: Hopefully they can carry it over to tonight. I know
Speaker 5: you're gonna be without Fred van Vliet, have to believe
Speaker 5: with it being a home and road.
Speaker 2: Back to back.
Speaker 5: Probably no Tarry Easan, probably Seemdal four Steven Adams, So
Speaker 5: we'll have all that for you again a little bit
Speaker 5: later on for Rockets Launch Pad when we hit the
Speaker 5: airwaves at seven point thirty, but mentioned the Astros too
Speaker 5: as the Stros split squad.
Speaker 2: Action going to get started at today.
Speaker 5: The game you're going to hear here on at Sports
Speaker 5: Talk seven ninety is going to be the one started
Speaker 5: by Ryan Gusto. They're at Cacti Park of the Palm
Speaker 5: Beaches between them and the Nationals. Does look like those
Speaker 5: I mentioned Chandler Romes tweet a little bit earlier. That
Speaker 5: seems like most of the veteran guys, like I saw
Speaker 5: Dubon McCormick, some of those other guys, they're in the
Speaker 5: lineup over in the Mets game as they're going to
Speaker 5: be playing them over in Port Saint Lucy.
Speaker 2: So we'll have that for you.
Speaker 5: But I mean, you know, it's an Astro's team trying
Speaker 5: to be able to find their way back into the
Speaker 5: postseason yet again. I mean, you know, it's also too
Speaker 5: listening to Joe a spot a talk with not only
Speaker 5: Matt and Ross earlier but also too with the media
Speaker 5: of talking about, you know, everything they had to do
Speaker 5: last year to be able to get into the postseason.
Speaker 5: I mean, you know, the last couple of years has
Speaker 5: been a coming down to the the you know, the
Speaker 5: the last stretch there of the season. And you didn't
Speaker 5: have to go all the way until the final day
Speaker 5: of the season this past season, but still it was
Speaker 5: a you know, really tight race that you had with
Speaker 5: the Seattle Mariners because of how far you fell behind
Speaker 5: in the beginning. And that's something that they're trying to
Speaker 5: guard against here this season and you know, not having
Speaker 5: to try to really sprint there those last three and
Speaker 5: a half months. And you know, it was when we
Speaker 5: had Jeff Blum and studio with us, we were talking
Speaker 5: about this and you know, kind of like we were
Speaker 5: just talking about with the Rockets going into the All
Speaker 5: Star break. I think that's what you saw from the
Speaker 5: Astros last year is that once they got to the postseason,
Speaker 5: they were just gassed. I mean it was, you know,
Speaker 5: you're you're playing at such a high level for so
Speaker 5: long and you face up, you know, against a really
Speaker 5: tough and the Detroit Tigers, who had the pitching staff
Speaker 5: they had and just playing the baseball that they were.
Speaker 5: It was just a bad scenario for the Astros. And
Speaker 5: hence the early exit last year. So trying to be
Speaker 5: able to build up a good start here in twenty
Speaker 5: twenty five. I mean, you know that obviously, no Alex Bregman,
Speaker 5: no Kyle Tucker, but you know you enter in some
Speaker 5: new guys. I mean, you know East Soakperetis. It sounds
Speaker 5: like that minute made Park's gonna benefit him really well.
Speaker 5: Same deal with Christian Walker. And you know we had
Speaker 5: that conversation with Matt Thomas that we played for you
Speaker 5: last hour, and you know it was a lot to
Speaker 5: be able to see what those guys were, you know,
Speaker 5: can be able to do here in an Astros uniforms.
Speaker 5: So we'll see how they are able to build up
Speaker 5: here as we get close to this season coming up next,
Speaker 5: we'll squeeze in a couple more minutes with you here
Speaker 5: on Space City Saturday before we step aside for Astros
Speaker 5: Baseball again, Dan Matthews here at the Fortida Center before
Speaker 5: U of H takes on Iowa States As we'll have
Speaker 5: that for you over on KPRC nine to fifty starting
Speaker 5: at twelve forty five. So we'll come back next right
Speaker 5: here on Space City Saturday, here in your home of
Speaker 5: the Astros and the Rockets.
Speaker 2: Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 1: This is Space City Saturday on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 2: Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 5: Dean Matthews here with you for just a matter of
Speaker 5: mere second, says we'll have Astros baseball coming up for
Speaker 5: you here in a few minutes. Mentioned too that the
Speaker 5: U of h Iowa State game it's gonna be over
Speaker 5: on KPRC nine fifty starting at twelve forty five and
Speaker 5: then one o'clock tip here inside for Tita Center. But
Speaker 5: been a lot of fun here today. I want to
Speaker 5: thank Melvin Brown back in the studio.
Speaker 2: Great job by him as always.
Speaker 5: Also to Joseph d'Arte joining us here from the Houston Chronicle.
Speaker 2: Always great to be able to catch up with him.
Speaker 5: And you know, just looking forward to some good basketball
Speaker 5: here and again coming your way tonight. Seven point thirty
Speaker 5: Rockets launch Pad is gonna be a coming to your way.
Speaker 5: I'll have that for you, and then we get the
Speaker 5: Rockets and the Jazz from there in Salt Lake City,
Speaker 5: and then I'll be talking to you afterwards on Rockets
Speaker 5: rap too as well. So speaking of rapping, that's what
Speaker 5: we're gonna do right here, is we're gonna put a
Speaker 5: boat on this edition of Space City Saturday. Again, thanks
Speaker 5: to all of those of you who joined us on
Speaker 5: the phone lines too as well. Have a great rest
Speaker 5: of your Saturday, watch some good basketball. Cruddy out there weatherwise,
Speaker 5: so you know, muddle up, be able to watch us
Speaker 5: some good basketball, and be able to enjoy the rest
Speaker 5: of this weekend.
Speaker 2: Warmer weather is ahead. We got that for us, so
Speaker 2: we'll have all of that.
Speaker 5: But until next Saturday, I'm Dan Matthews here in your
Speaker 5: home of the Astros and the Rockets, Sports Talk seven
Speaker 5: ninety