Speaker 1: Spend twelve calling him in until the manager of your
Houston Astros win last night over at the Miami Marlins.
Joe A spotted with us here on the show. Skip,
I was talking to Ross a minute ago, and he
got mad at me because I've called Rockets games in
Miami from the last nine years. I've never gone to
the beach. Have you gone to the beach in a
trip to Miami lately?
Speaker 2: Yes? Or no?
Speaker 1: Tell the truth? No, thank you. That's all I needed
to hear.
Speaker 3: Oh, he's busier than you.
Speaker 2: Stop.
Speaker 1: No, that's ridiculous.
Speaker 3: I think the manager of the team's busier than you. Matt,
that's done. Tell us sorry, we're fighting.
Speaker 2: Skip.
Speaker 1: Sandy al Kata was about to throw a no no
until things got crazy. What happened, And by the way,
thank you for that, because it became a different ballgame
after that first go around through your lineup.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think we made uh, we made some adjustments,
you know, someone like I'll contract you know you have
to make you know, you really got to get him
away from you if you if you, you know, beat
his sinker on the ground, it's going to be quick
a bats. It's just going to get grum balls. I
think the guy's made a good adjustment trying to see
stuff out over the plate, and then that's when you
start seeing you know, Penna double. You start seeing some
balls now being hit in the air. We drive in
the ball, and that's when that's when we were able
to capitalize.
Speaker 1: You have been able to win games this year with
a variety of different lineups and having this squad now
and look you hopefully we'll have even more guys coming
back in the not too distant future. But it feels
like you've been given some more things to go to
the toolbox in terms of different lineups and whatnot. What
is it like having Carlos back? What is it like
being able to pencil in Korea? And then you've got
Haesus Sanchez. I mean there have been some nice auditions
here that kind of deepened your lineup a little bit.
Speaker 2: Now, yeah, yeah, he does. You know you mentioned Carlos.
You know, he's someone who's just going to give you
a quality of bats after quality of bats. He can walk,
you know, he can drive the ball. We've been seeing
how hardy sitting the ball. And also he's sharing knowledge
and helping helping some of our young players prepare ourselves
for for this August September dog days of you know,
playing meaningful games. So Carlos has been able to do that,
and it's been a great addition to can really just
give us a good, you know, good back from the
left side, can really drive the ball. I feel like
he sees a ton of pitches and we able to
you know, have guys like Ria's on the benchick and
allow me to be flexible and pinch it and take
shots when I need to, and and and having him
and Dubon that can cover a pretty much play everywhere
on the field has been a nice It's been a
nice edition. Joe.
Speaker 1: You've given some cam a little bit of time off.
Obviously the struggles have been probably for a couple of weeks.
Speaker 2: Now. Is it a.
Speaker 1: Byproduct of maybe there's intelligence on him now or is
it this is a young man that has played a
whole lot of baseball games in the last twelve counter
months that this is kind of what guys go through
when they start to hit that one and twenty games
over a certain stretch of time.
Speaker 2: Yes, and this is part of this is part of
you know, a young player learning the league, learning himself.
You know, I I've been giving him more off days.
My plan is just to be more more proactive with him,
giving him some blows here and there. He's a bats
have gotten better the last couple of games, so you know,
it's been it's just helping him through this process. He's
you know, it's not forget he's a plus defender and
right he can give you some really good at bats
and we're just trying to find him where he is
comfortable again getting good pitches to hit, swinging at good
pitches to h and but I think we got to
be We've got to be cautious and smart of how
often we throw him out there. And I think a
blow he in there will help him get back on
his speed and understand how long the season is.
Speaker 3: What is that like for you dealing with a personality
like camp Smith and you've had it with Bregman and others.
I mean, there's a lot of guys on this team
throughout the years love baseball. Want to be there out
there every day to kind of just have that conversation
with them and let them know like it's more about
the long term and the marathon rather than the sprint.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know, and it's daily. You know, he
he knows like in cancer, but he knows that this
is a very long year and we have a lot,
still a lot of baseball left, and not because you're
not starting the game doesn't mean that you're playing that day.
You know, he steals, he still stays ready, and I
need to give blows some of the next you know,
the next couple of weeks. Some of these guys need
some rest. So it's about being smart and and trying
to find time just to get these guys off their
feet so we could be in a good in a
good position and make a push here in August.
Speaker 3: In September, Joe Spotless here on Sports Talk seven nine,
you mentioned the leadership of Carlos Korea. Can you expand
on that a little bit? Like what what does he bring?
We've seen him already getting in mound visits as far
as on a pregame planning or just going through everything.
Can you just tell us more about that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's involved, he's involved in everything, you know, our
prep work, our pregame meetings. You know, I know we've
probably noticed this, but every time there's a there's a
there's a visit, a mound visit. Carlos is the first
one there. You know, he he's smart, he sees what's
going on. During our hitters meeting, he pretty much leaves
the conversation and it feels like he has never left
our clubhouse. Uh. I share a lot of you know,
ideas through him. How the next couple of weeks shoot, uh,
some of my thoughts and you know, he's got some
really good feedback and you know, his presence, it's it's
it's uncomparable. How you know, what he brings to the
table is is incredible. I've never seen anything like it.
Speaker 1: Joe. If you need to give Jeremy a day off
here and there, because whether it's just making sure that
he doesn't overtax himself or the cramp that he had
in the land over Boston, do you envision Korea being
your shortstop on days that you don't start Jeremy or
is that kind of still up in the air at
this point.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I think I think Carlos it's obviously you know,
he's planting glow winner in short and so you know,
if if Jeremy meets those those few off days in
the next uh, you know, fifty fifty games, Uh, you know,
Carlos is more capable of doing that. So my plan
is it's it's just to do that for the time being.
Speaker 1: H I go to my ESPN app Skip and I
see that Undecided is making today start. Tell me about him.
I don't know much about Undecided.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's still on the sided. You will find out here.
You'll find out here pretty soon. It's going to be
one of our Afterenner relievers.
Speaker 1: Oh, now you're the guessing game after you leave us,
I like kind of like that, take us through that
because I, you know, I agent. I would talk quite
a bit about this about using the opener. Is there
a lot of maneuvering once the game goes on or
is it a pretty well set I think I can
get this guy to get me six outs, it's got
to get me three and six. Or do you have
to kind of watch and see how the game goes
before deciding, you know, how your rotation goes in terms
of who's going to go next.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, you try to. You map it out
and you put like two different scenarios right the opener.
You know, let's just say you want him to give
a four or five outs, or would be great if
it gives you if it gives you six outs, and
then by there is traffic. Who's going to be that
first guy up, you know, out of your bullpen, so
you met that out. And then also once you get
to once to the lineup, who's going to give you
the you know, the bulk and and how many pitches
that person is going to give you most of the ball,
you know, how many pitches you want him to get
you and and then you know your their hope is
so when you get to the fifth and sixth, you
can you know, you have to lead and you can
deploy your back end on the bullpen. So there is
some there's some planning that goes into it. You you know,
you want your offenses to give you some early runs.
So so the uh, the the execution of the game
plan will be a little bit more much much easier.
But you know, this is a team uh in the
mornings that they have some really good left enter hitters,
and they have some guys on the bench that they're
you know, their they're deployment in the game if they
have to. So you know, we're just going to try
to be ready and put our relievers in the best
position for them. To succeed.
Speaker 1: We did not speak to you since the trade deadline
is coming past, and I think you guys are off
that Thursday, So let me, uh, let's go through what
your final two hours were, like, you get Korea, you
have Urias, you get Sanchez. I know there were some
other deals that were pondered and discussed. How how was
your last afternoon before the deadline came before? Because I'm
curious what the manager's role was during all this peak
beyond the beyond that, I'm just on the phone and
talking to Dana.
Speaker 2: No, yeah, I'm constantly you know, text messages not only
with Dana, but someone of his front, off his personnel,
trying to figure out if we acquired this player, how
would it, how would it fit in our roster. So
the constant, constant text messages, I try to take those.
Those last two or three hours, I went to the
movies with my girls that were in Boston, and you know,
I missed the last forty five minutes off the movie
because that's when we think got really heated and we're
really close acquiring Carlos and Sanchez. So you know, I
had to leave the mood the theater so you could
get you know, uh, these conversations, uh with Dana and
his staff, and but he's it's fun. You want to
be in that position where you're actually acquiring players, not
saying not saying bye to family members. And we acquire
some really good players, and I'm excited about it.
Speaker 1: I have to ask what movie was it?
Speaker 2: It was bad? The name was Bad Guys is a
kind of a cartoon movie, and we were watching it.
It's Bad Guys too. I believe it's the name it was.
It was fun. We were looking forward to potentially just
you know, spend those two hours there, you know, just
watching a movie and eating popcorn and hanging out. But man,
the last thirty forty five minutes for me, I had
to I had to leave the room. Skip.
Speaker 1: I don't know how you did it. Honestly, I applaud
you as a husband and as a father, because I
guarantee you if I'm in your spot, I'm like, kids,
go see whatever you want, have about here's the credit cardio,
the popcorn you can possibly handle off. I may have
a completely different roster in about two and a half
three hours play.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I it's important for me to be
be present with with my with my family. I you know,
I need that piece that that peace of mind, being
able to get away from the game and try to
do the best I can just to be there for them,
for my wife, and I know it's it's a big moment,
you know, during a season, but uh, you know, it's
important for us to be present with our kids and they,
you know, for them to see that even during these
there's very important times doing our job, that we have
time for them because at the end of the day,
that's my biggest responsibilities, taking care of my kids and
and my wife.
Speaker 1: Two last questions, and we applaud you for that, uh,
that mentality, Uh to this opener situation, do you envision
us being a one time thing? Could you see yourself
doing this for a couple of weeks? I mean, you've
got some reinforcements coming, but let's frankly be honest, they're
probably gonna be on a pitch count here for at
least a while, and that could ultimately mean that just
skip a start.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, we are. This is you know, day
by day, be honest with you, we are. We see
how today goes. We have Spencer coming back tomorrow. You know,
he's he's going to be somewhat on a pitch town.
You know, he can take us eighty pitches or plus,
but you just should never know, right, So we are
taking one day at a time. We're being very conscious.
Who can we pitch, who can give us multi winnings,
who can pitch back to back games. So it's, uh,
it's all hands on deck. But right now, it's just
one day at a time and see what. Let's be
focusing right now on winning today's game.
Speaker 1: You also sent two players back to the minor leagues
in Melton and Matthews. Any messages in particular for those
two gentlemen.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know what, for me, it's more you know
they need. First of all, I they did a tremendous shot.
You know, bright Matthews pretty much won us a series
in Arizona. Melton. You know, he provides coverage, you all
three feels, he's super athletic, his defense is plus. But
I wanted that, you know, for them, right now, it's
going back down to Triple A and playing every day.
I want these young players to play every day. They're
part of our future and it's important for them just
to go and play and stay ready because right you know,
you never know what could happen here in the next
couple of weeks, and indury can occur, and then you know,
I want him to be ready. I want him to
be getting every day at Bets.
Speaker 1: Thank you for the visitors. Always enjoy South Florida and
enjoy New York. And we'll talk in next week. And
thank you for the opportunity vis Thank you. Good Joe
spotted with us here on Sports Talk seventy