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. We love you all.
Speaker 1: So finish up on that to do list. Slute up
Speaker 1: the cooler, because you can't drink in talk sports all
Speaker 1: day if you don't start. Now bear me the eight.
Speaker 1: This is Space City Saturday.
Speaker 2: It's insane.
Speaker 1: Here's seven nineties Dan Matthews.
Speaker 3: Oh, welcome inn, Welcome all, and the way we go
Speaker 3: here on Space City Saturday. Dan Matthews here with you
Speaker 3: on your home of the Astros and the Rockets Sports
Speaker 3: Talk seven ninety and obviously with the former team that
Speaker 3: I just talked about right there. I mean, what's happened
Speaker 3: in the last less than twenty four hours.
Speaker 2: Hmm.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's kind of escaping my memory right now. But anyway,
Speaker 3: there is ton to get into on those guys. There's
Speaker 3: also a little bit to get into on the ladder
Speaker 3: team that I mentioned too, as well as we're gonna
Speaker 3: have Rockets basketball coming your way a little bit later
Speaker 3: on tonight. The play in round is in the past.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 3: So now it's the play in tournament semifinals out there
Speaker 3: in Vegas, and know that we've got the obligatory Matt
Speaker 3: Thomas photo from the blackjack table, which I didn't want
Speaker 3: to out him at the.
Speaker 2: Time, but you're not supposed to do that.
Speaker 3: Usually if the casinos catch you doing that, then they
Speaker 3: either tell you don't do it again, or they just
Speaker 3: tell you, Sarah, pick up your checks, you're done for
Speaker 3: the night, and they throw you out.
Speaker 2: So Matt, you know, just fair warning there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, casinos get a little leery whenever the phones come out,
Speaker 3: especially if you're around the sports book or anywhere, although
Speaker 3: now they don't necessarily, you know, do that as much
Speaker 3: because you can get lines anywhere. I mean, it was
Speaker 3: pretty much in the days where you know, the gambling
Speaker 3: lines were not readily available to everyone out there. But
Speaker 3: I mean even in states that don't have legalized gambling,
Speaker 3: you can just google in you know, hey, what's the
Speaker 3: spread for Army Navy today, and you'll get about, you know,
Speaker 3: at least ninety different search results search results for you there.
Speaker 3: So anyway, I kid because I care for Matt, So anyway,
Speaker 3: Matt Thomas on the call tonight, yours truly bringing you
Speaker 3: Rockets launch pad a little bit later on, So we'll
Speaker 3: be having some fun talking some Rockets a little bit
Speaker 3: later on as they go for a chance to face
Speaker 3: whoever comes out of the Eastern Conference for the NBA
Speaker 3: playing tournaments. So last of the Lakers won, and that'd
Speaker 3: be interesting too, I think. I mean, I know it's
Speaker 3: kind of kart ahead of the horse here, but what
Speaker 3: if the Rockets win this thing, and what does the
Speaker 3: banner look like up there at you know, Toyota Center.
Speaker 3: I think if you're the Rockets and you win it,
Speaker 3: I think that maybe you just say, hey, we want it,
Speaker 3: and then I don't know, maybe put like something on
Speaker 3: the side of a girder or something like that to
Speaker 3: be like, hey, NBA playing tournament champions, yay. But that's
Speaker 3: about all that it really matters for So anyway, I
Speaker 3: don't think we need to have like a whole banner
Speaker 3: hoisting or anything like that.
Speaker 2: I think you could just probably.
Speaker 3: Do like the curtain in front of it and just
Speaker 3: be like, hey, Rockets won the NBA play and tournament,
Speaker 3: and we go about our business and hope this team
Speaker 3: makes the Western Conference playoffs this year. So I think
Speaker 3: that probably would be about all that's needed for that.
Speaker 3: So anyway, if the Rockets take care of business tonight
Speaker 3: against OKAC, they await the winner of the Hawks and
Speaker 3: the Bucks in that one. But we're not going to
Speaker 3: be talking too much Rockets for today's show because obviously,
Speaker 3: like I said at the beginning of the show, I mean,
Speaker 3: we're less than twenty four hours removed from.
Speaker 2: A move that did jar a few of you out there.
Speaker 3: But also too, I gotta say, I mean, I know
Speaker 3: that a lot of times in sports media, the immediate
Speaker 3: response from the media is to start doing the moral
Speaker 3: high ground, moral high horse kind of thing, and you know,
Speaker 3: chiding you the fans. But no, I'm actually gonna take
Speaker 3: a different tact. I think most of you out there
Speaker 3: got what Dana Brown was doing yesterday, and I think
Speaker 3: that most of you got what the Astros are trying
Speaker 3: to do. So for that, I applaud you. I'm proud
Speaker 3: of you for understanding that. Look, I mean, this kind
Speaker 3: this thing has kind of met a little bit of
Speaker 3: an impasse for this team at this moment. And with
Speaker 3: Kyle Tucker here, is this a ALS champion. Probably with
Speaker 3: Kyle Tucker here, do you have a chance to be
Speaker 3: able to reach the Alcs. Sure, probably, but it's also
Speaker 3: too I mean, and we'll hear from Dana Brown as
Speaker 3: the show goes along here today that there's many more
Speaker 3: moves to be made as well. I mean, they've already
Speaker 3: been pretty vocal about adding yet another bat to lineup.
Speaker 3: There are loose reports out there that the Astros are
Speaker 3: interested in Anthony Santander, and another report that I saw
Speaker 3: I believe it was John Hayman who had this that
Speaker 3: Santander would be looking for a five year deal. Oh boy,
Speaker 3: who is in the market of giving out five six
Speaker 3: year deals.
Speaker 2: I think it's a team that plays right here in Houston.
Speaker 3: So as of right now, I mean, Dana had a
Speaker 3: comment yesterday about the way the outfield would look right now.
Speaker 2: I'll just go ahead and just say it.
Speaker 3: In my opinion, and I think that my opinion is
Speaker 3: probably pretty oak solid in this regard. You won't have
Speaker 3: an outfield that has Chas McCormick, Jake Myers, McCormick and right,
Speaker 3: Myers and center and then a fill in kind of
Speaker 3: platoon situation out in left field. That's not going to happen.
Speaker 3: Somebody will be added. You will have a starting either
Speaker 3: right fielder or left fielder. I mean, I don't doubt
Speaker 3: that you probably will have an outfield that has at
Speaker 3: any given time both Myers and McCormick out there, because
Speaker 3: I mean the club.
Speaker 2: Is still very high on McCormick.
Speaker 3: And also too, I think that probably you know, last
Speaker 3: year was an audition for Myers, and even though the
Speaker 3: bat tailed off late in the season, I mean, he
Speaker 3: was still an elite outfield defender for you. I mean,
Speaker 3: the arm's not great, but in terms of him being
Speaker 3: able to go gap to gap and be able to
Speaker 3: run down baseballs, he's probably one of the best in
Speaker 3: baseball in that regard. So you hope that the bat
Speaker 3: does take a step forward this season. I think Myers
Speaker 3: is kind of in that same mold as Jeremy Pania,
Speaker 3: where you're just kind of like with both of those guys, like, hey, guys,
Speaker 3: give us just a little bit more with the bat,
Speaker 3: Like we know what the other parts of your game have,
Speaker 3: but a little bit more consistency with that part, and
Speaker 3: we're cope, asthetic, we're great, Like that would be outstanding
Speaker 3: if you were able to do that. So that's the
Speaker 3: part that I think a lot of people listened to
Speaker 3: yesterday and then also too, Dana, you know when we
Speaker 3: do get some of the audio here in the next segment,
Speaker 3: I mean, I think that he did a good job
Speaker 3: of kind of calming some fears yesterday of you know,
Speaker 3: there was the full on hysteria from some out there that's,
Speaker 3: oh my god, we're going towards twenty ten, eleven, twelve,
Speaker 3: and thirteen, and maybe even a little bit of fourteen
Speaker 3: all over again, although fourteen, I think for probably a
Speaker 3: lot of us was kind of like last year's Rocket
Speaker 3: season where we watched that team and you saw Springer
Speaker 3: come up and you knew that Korea wasn't too far
Speaker 3: around the corner.
Speaker 2: I think, if I'm not mistaken, was it that year
Speaker 2: or was it the year later.
Speaker 3: That Alex Bregman got drafted, and then, of course, oddly enough,
Speaker 3: in that same draft Kyle Tucker. So you continue to
Speaker 3: add on to that thing. But if nothing else, you
Speaker 3: at least saw, Okay, we're starting to get to that
Speaker 3: point where you will get these guys back, and you
Speaker 3: will start to get these guys into the fold, and
Speaker 3: we'll see if the scouting and development of this team
Speaker 3: really started to pay off and so a we'll have
Speaker 3: to see if that all comes to fruition. But anyway, though,
Speaker 3: I mean a interesting move made yesterday by the Astros
Speaker 3: that I think for the most part from people that
Speaker 3: I've talked with around baseball that you know, it's either
Speaker 3: prospect rankings or just those who you know, just look
Speaker 3: at overall, just values of trades that people believe.
Speaker 2: The Astros got a pretty good haul.
Speaker 3: Back for Kyle Tucker in this trade, and I think
Speaker 3: for the Cubs too, if nothing else from their perspective,
Speaker 3: it's number one. I mean, you just saw the Milwaukee
Speaker 3: Brewers trade away Devin Williams, and the other part as well,
Speaker 3: you know, all throughout baseball with some of these teams
Speaker 3: is I mean, while I understand that you want to
Speaker 3: be adding more than you're subtracting, especially to the front
Speaker 3: end guys on your team, but let's just go ahead
Speaker 3: and take a little bit of inventory right now of
Speaker 3: what's going on around baseball. The San Diego Padres a
Speaker 3: team that a lot of people thought was going to
Speaker 3: have a really good chance at making it to the
Speaker 3: World Series last year. Obviously, unfortunately for them, they ran
Speaker 3: into the eventual World champions last year and got alisted
Speaker 3: in the first round. But there's reports again with their
Speaker 3: TV deal issues that they're having out there. Of course,
Speaker 3: you know, with a lot of teams that have the
Speaker 3: Diamond Sports Group, the former Ballet Sports Entertainment or whatever
Speaker 3: you want to call them, and you know they've been.
Speaker 2: Having to dump their TV deals left and right.
Speaker 3: And the TV revenue is so massive in terms of
Speaker 3: what you're able to do in terms of your spending
Speaker 3: power and just the overall revenue structure for your team,
Speaker 3: and the Padres are reportedly dangling some key players out
Speaker 3: there on the trade market.
Speaker 2: I mean even the team too.
Speaker 3: As well, that you think is your biggest competitor in
Speaker 3: the American League West right now because of their pitching staff,
Speaker 3: the Seattle Mariners. I mean, for the life of me,
Speaker 3: what the hell is Jerry to Poto and the Mariners doing,
Speaker 3: Like you seriously are in position with that pitching staff
Speaker 3: to go get a couple of good bats in that lineup,
Speaker 3: and probably you do close that gap with the Astros.
Speaker 3: But then I'm seeing reports that Luis Castillo is being
Speaker 3: dangled out on the trade market, that the Red Sox
Speaker 3: want to try to get one of the front end
Speaker 3: starters for the Mariners, and the Mariners maybe might be
Speaker 3: interested in doing that deal. Like look, I just I
Speaker 3: bring up those examples to say to Astros fans that
Speaker 3: are freaking out right now, if you think it's bad,
Speaker 3: look around baseball, because I mean again too, you know
Speaker 3: I talked about the Milwaukee Brewers with the Cubs. I mean,
Speaker 3: the Brewers just trade away their closer, Devin Williams, and
Speaker 3: they lost Willia Damas as well, So I mean it
Speaker 3: could always be worse.
Speaker 2: And that's I.
Speaker 3: Think a little bit of the perspective that some of
Speaker 3: the Astros fans out there that you know, I saw
Speaker 3: it yesterday. I mean I even saw one too that
Speaker 3: somebody said that Jordan Jose Altuve and Yinar Diaz should
Speaker 3: request a trade, Like, come on, guys, what are we doing?
Speaker 3: Like you just added a front of the order, a
Speaker 3: middle of the order bat and eatzac peretis who has
Speaker 3: superior pull power? And what do you have at Minute
Speaker 3: Made Park? Oh yeah, that's right, the Crawford boxes out
Speaker 3: there and field. And I know that people were staring
Speaker 3: the spray charts yesterday of what you know he can
Speaker 3: do in terms of his power numbers. And I mean
Speaker 3: you saw the amount of home runs that would have
Speaker 3: been out at Minute Made Park had he played at
Speaker 3: Minute May Park. So that's a really good addition, was Nesky.
Speaker 3: I mean again, I think that Dana Brown kind of
Speaker 3: looks at that as a high upside pickup for the
Speaker 3: Astros that probably at the beginning will be slotted to
Speaker 3: be a fourth or fifth starter in this in this rotation.
Speaker 3: But look at the Astros track record too with bringing
Speaker 3: in pitchers and in cases like back in the day
Speaker 3: with Charlie Morton, I mean, they rejuvenated his career. Charlie
Speaker 3: Morton's career would not be continuing right now if he
Speaker 3: did not, you know, go through the Astros pitching system
Speaker 3: here with at the time Brent Strom, but a guy
Speaker 3: that was also part of it as well as your
Speaker 3: current pitching coach Josh Miller, and his career was I
Speaker 3: mean again put back on track, justin Berlander, the same
Speaker 3: deal you say, Kuci last year. So I mean trust
Speaker 3: the Astro system in what they have and they have
Speaker 3: an incredibly good scouting, research development, all of those parts
Speaker 3: of this organization that you know on top of it
Speaker 3: all too. I mean, is Dana Brown perfect as a GM, no,
Speaker 3: and if you're ever looking for a perfect GM, and
Speaker 3: I understand that a lot of you believe that Jeff
Speaker 3: Luna was that guy, and he was, but.
Speaker 2: Jeff Luna also had his missteps as well.
Speaker 3: The Carlos Gomez trade, I mean, you know, that's one
Speaker 3: that kind of comes to mind. So mistakes will be
Speaker 3: made along the way. Nobody bats a thousand in this game.
Speaker 3: But in terms of what the Astros did yesterday, I'm
Speaker 3: on full board with it. I mean, I am absolutely
Speaker 3: on board with this decision because I mean you also
Speaker 3: have to look at it from the perspective too as well,
Speaker 3: is you can continue doing the things that you're doing
Speaker 3: and get nothing in return. I mean, what you give
Speaker 3: him a qualifying offer, which he no doubt would decline,
Speaker 3: Probably the minute that it got in front of him,
Speaker 3: he'd declined, all right, fine, you get a draft pick
Speaker 3: if he leaves, Like, how does that help you? It
Speaker 3: doesn't help you.
Speaker 2: So I'm on. I'm absolutely in line with what the
Speaker 2: Astros did.
Speaker 3: I think that it was an incredibly right move for
Speaker 3: them to make, and it was an incredibly baseball savvy move,
Speaker 3: and I don't necessarily believe that it does signal to
Speaker 3: anybody that this is going to suck for a while,
Speaker 3: That's not the case. You know this is going to
Speaker 3: suck for a while is when you have a roster
Speaker 3: that has Carlo's Corporan and guys like that starting for you.
Speaker 3: I mean, no disrespect to Carlo's Corporon, but you don't.
Speaker 2: Have that issue right now as the Astros.
Speaker 3: So a little bit of patience, all right, and just
Speaker 3: a little bit of trust. This is an organization that
Speaker 3: has done things the right way for the better part
Speaker 3: of the last ten years, and.
Speaker 2: I think they'll continue to do that.
Speaker 3: So, you know, I get that yesterday kind of hurt.
Speaker 3: Kyle Tucker was a very beloved and a very popular
Speaker 3: player here in Houston, but also too at the same time,
Speaker 3: him moving on, I mean, it sucks you wish that
Speaker 3: he could have been here for the long haul. But
Speaker 3: I think also too, I mean, you know, again, this
Speaker 3: gets back to trusting Dana Brown. That move yesterday was
Speaker 3: being made with the express knowledge that they knew he's
Speaker 3: not going to sign long term here. And there's some
Speaker 3: other cuts that we need to get to as well
Speaker 3: from Dana Brown.
Speaker 2: So we'll do that coming up here. Also, to do.
Speaker 3: You want to get into a little bit of Texans
Speaker 3: conversation today on the show.
Speaker 2: But you know, in terms of guest.
Speaker 3: Wise, we will have a couple of recorded interviews that
Speaker 3: we have. One of them that I am going to
Speaker 3: have for you here in the bottom of this hour
Speaker 3: is a guest that joined me and Chris Gordy last
Speaker 3: night on the Nightcap, Bruce Levine from six seventy the
Speaker 3: Score in Chicago as well as he does some work
Speaker 3: on the TV side with Marquee Sports Network, so he
Speaker 3: is very in tune with what the Cubs are doing
Speaker 3: and just the overall day to day operations of the Cubs.
Speaker 3: So we're going to talk with Bruce. We're actually I
Speaker 3: gonna let you hear from Bruce again. He joined me
Speaker 3: and Gordy last night. So for some of you that
Speaker 3: might be feeling the Kyle Tucker Kyle Tucker blues in
Speaker 3: terms of him being traded away, I think that Bruce
Speaker 3: is going to make you feel a little bit more
Speaker 3: optimistic after you hear him talk about what is coming
Speaker 3: back to the Astros.
Speaker 2: As well as a little.
Speaker 3: Bit later on the show, Chandler Rome from the Athletic
Speaker 3: joined the A team yesterday, so definitely want to get
Speaker 3: that into the fold. We'll get into some Texans Dolphins
Speaker 3: as well. I mean, a huge game tomorrow for the Texans,
Speaker 3: and this next three three game stretch for the Texans
Speaker 3: is a massive one up for them as well, and
Speaker 3: it starts tomorrow against Miami over at NRG Stadium. So
Speaker 3: we'll cut into that just a little bit as well.
Speaker 3: And I also want to get you involved on the
Speaker 3: phone lines. If you want to jump aboard, please do so.
Speaker 3: Semon one three two one two five seven ninety. Once
Speaker 3: again that se one three two one two five seven
Speaker 3: nine zero. But coming up next. I think that yesterday
Speaker 3: signaled to some of you and it is learned behavior
Speaker 3: that are going to only get worse. But actually I
Speaker 3: think that it's about lessons being learned, and I'll explain
Speaker 3: that on the other side when we come back here
Speaker 3: on Space City Saturday. It's Dan Matthews here with you
Speaker 3: until noon on your home of the Astros in the Rockets.
Speaker 2: Sports Talk seven.
Speaker 1: Ninety Space City Saturday continues Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 3: Sports Talk seven ninety Space City Saturday. You know, I
Speaker 3: have a buddy of mine in the business who is
Speaker 3: a massive Elvis fan As a matter of fact, he's
Speaker 3: written three books about the King, and he has a saying, well,
Speaker 3: now there's forty seven presidents at least after January twentieth,
Speaker 3: but his line was forty seven presidents, one king, and yeah,
Speaker 3: I understand that some of you probably are feeling a
Speaker 3: little bit down right now, but you know, I think
Speaker 3: that there's reasons still to stay optimistic, and we'll get
Speaker 3: into that here in just a second before I get
Speaker 3: into more of the Astro conversation here. I guess this
Speaker 3: kind of goes in line with the concern that maybe
Speaker 3: the Astros will not bring back Alex Bregman. But Chandler
Speaker 3: Rome of the Athletic throwing out a report just actually
Speaker 3: about thirty minutes ago that the Astros have emerged as
Speaker 3: serious suitors to add Nolan Aernato through the trade markets.
Speaker 3: So we'll see what that entails. I mean, Aeronato a
Speaker 3: guy that is as his career has gone along the
Speaker 3: bat and the power has kind of dipped a little bit,
Speaker 3: but the fielding is still incredibly strong for him, So
Speaker 3: we'll see if indeed that does materialize over the weekend
Speaker 3: or maybe even early next week. I mean, he heard
Speaker 3: Dana Brown yesterday when we played his press availability talking
Speaker 3: about that within the next week the Astros would solidify
Speaker 3: going out to get another middle of the order bat
Speaker 3: and it'll be interesting to see if there would be
Speaker 3: anybody else after that, because, like I've said, I really
Speaker 3: strong only do not believe that your starting outfield is
Speaker 3: going to be Chas McCormick out and right and Jake
Speaker 3: Myer's out in center. I think that, And then the
Speaker 3: part that really I don't think we're going to be
Speaker 3: seeing is deep platoon out there and left field.
Speaker 2: That's not a competitive team.
Speaker 3: I mean, I think that you do need to go
Speaker 3: get somebody that can be an every day starting outfielder
Speaker 3: for you and also to be able to kind of
Speaker 3: mix and match and rotate, and sometimes Jordan Alvarez is
Speaker 3: out and left. I think that probably that is what
Speaker 3: eventually you're going to see, but we shall see. So
Speaker 3: I gonna let you hear from Dana Brown here in
Speaker 3: just a second, But I do want to talk to
Speaker 3: the fans. Like I said that yesterday, we're pretty upset
Speaker 3: with both Dana Brown even saw Jim Crane starting to
Speaker 3: get some strays out there, and you know, the thought
Speaker 3: that this is signaling kind of the offloading that the
Speaker 3: Astros did starting in about twenty ten. It kind of
Speaker 3: ramped up a little bit in twenty eleven, and in
Speaker 3: twenty twelve was when you started to see Hunter Pence
Speaker 3: traded away. I think that was twelve Pence traded away,
Speaker 3: roy Oswalt traded away, and just kind of the beginning
Speaker 3: of the end for this Astros organization in terms of
Speaker 3: that competitive window they had after they made the World.
Speaker 2: Series in two thousand and five.
Speaker 3: But I actually think that yesterday's trade was trying to
Speaker 3: avoid that because let me take you back to those times.
Speaker 3: Can we be honest with ourselves that the two thousand
Speaker 3: and five team, I mean, did have an outstanding pitching
Speaker 3: staff with Clemens Pettit Oswalt and what they were able
Speaker 3: to do in that postseason run, and also to the
Speaker 3: back end of the bullpen with lydge Qualls, Dan Wheeler
Speaker 3: and that group that it was a huge part of
Speaker 3: what propelled that team to go from being fifteen and
Speaker 3: thirty to all the way to winning a wild card spot,
Speaker 3: getting in beating the Braves in that opening round of
Speaker 3: the Division Series, and then going to the LCS and
Speaker 3: getting revenge against the Cardinals team that the year before
Speaker 3: had broken your hearts with Carlos Beltron and crew, and
Speaker 3: you kind of thought to yourself, Man, that two thousand
Speaker 3: and four team, I mean, I look, I mean it's
Speaker 3: one of those that if you want to hop back
Speaker 3: into the time machine and a team that could have
Speaker 3: put together a hell of a world series. That Astros
Speaker 3: Red Sox World Series would have been awesome.
Speaker 2: That would have been amazing to have watched. But we
Speaker 2: didn't get that.
Speaker 3: So the following year it was a little bit of
Speaker 3: a mix and match a little bit for the Astros.
Speaker 3: I mean, you had Morgan Ensburg having a career year,
Speaker 3: you had Jason Lane having a hell of a year
Speaker 3: Mike Lamb.
Speaker 2: But I say all of that.
Speaker 3: To say that that was not a long term sustainable
Speaker 3: competitive model. So the Astros I think kind of kitted
Speaker 3: themselves into believing that, hey, we can continue to stay competitive.
Speaker 3: Here is Carlos Lee, that was a bad trade, that
Speaker 3: was a bad signing, Here's Miguel ta Hatta did some
Speaker 3: good things, but for the most part, it was a
Speaker 3: shell of what mcguilta hat was doing his heyday with
Speaker 3: the Oakland a's and I mean, you know here and there,
Speaker 3: you know Yvonne Rodriguez, pud Rodriguez is here, and just
Speaker 3: all these other players that at a time had really.
Speaker 2: Good, productive years, but that was not the case at
Speaker 2: the end.
Speaker 3: And I think that they just kind of were trying
Speaker 3: to build this thing on the fly without any real
Speaker 3: foundation underneath them. The difference this time is there is
Speaker 3: a foundation underneath you. And if you look back to
Speaker 3: that time, there's no way that Kyle Tucker would have
Speaker 3: been traded yesterday, and you would have seen Kyle Tucker
Speaker 3: leave after next season, and this team probably would have
Speaker 3: been even further behind the eight ball than they are
Speaker 3: right now. But with the move made yesterday, I believe
Speaker 3: that it's signals that not only are you going to
Speaker 3: remain competitive, you're also too going to put yourself in
Speaker 3: position to keep this thing going for the next few
Speaker 3: years and be able to get the best out of
Speaker 3: the final years of Jose L TV in the best
Speaker 3: out of the years that you've got your Alvarez here,
Speaker 3: which he's still here for a remarkable amount of time.
Speaker 3: I think at least three more years are still left
Speaker 3: on his deals, so you still get really good years
Speaker 3: out of your non Alvarez. So this is a good
Speaker 3: competitive organization at this point. In Dana Brown talking yesterday
Speaker 3: with the media, as Melvin had told you, it's cut
Speaker 3: number nine, we'll start with as he talked about.
Speaker 2: That very thing.
Speaker 3: I mean, we've heard him Crane say it in the
Speaker 3: past that as long as he's here, the window will
Speaker 3: never close. Well, Dana Brown going along that same talking
Speaker 3: point and saying, yeah, we're going to remain competitive.
Speaker 4: Yeah, make my mistake.
Speaker 5: You know, sometimes in all sports this is just not
Speaker 5: only in baseball. Sometimes there's an opportunity where you trade
Speaker 5: a really good player to get back multiple pieces and
Speaker 5: it doesn't affect that current calendar year, and then you
Speaker 5: have a chance to be even better in the future.
Speaker 5: And so you know, I feel like this is one
Speaker 5: of those moves. The windows definitely still open. I mean,
Speaker 5: we have a room, really good rotation. Our infield is
Speaker 5: going to be good. Our you know, we got to
Speaker 5: we have a good catcher, Our bullpen is still going
Speaker 5: to be good.
Speaker 4: Look, they make no mistake, We're still going to compete.
Speaker 5: And this is probably one of those moves that I
Speaker 5: think in the future people will people will see and understand, like, yeah, wow,
Speaker 5: I understand it.
Speaker 6: Now.
Speaker 4: I get it.
Speaker 5: And even though it's tough, it's tough in that first
Speaker 5: year to stomach because Kyle Tucker has had such a
Speaker 5: great career here.
Speaker 4: He's such an outstanding player.
Speaker 5: He's played on some really good teams, he won a championship,
Speaker 5: and so all that can be true at one time,
Speaker 5: and so I would say that, you know, this is
Speaker 5: more to strengthen our opportunities down the road without losing
Speaker 5: any footage in the current year.
Speaker 2: And there you go.
Speaker 3: I mean, Dana Brown talking about exactly what I think
Speaker 3: he's been saying ever since. I mean, you know, he
Speaker 3: was asked that at the winter meetings, I think it
Speaker 3: was either Kyle Tucker or Alex Braig not part of
Speaker 3: this organization, can you still win the American League West?
Speaker 3: And his answer was yes, I truly believe we can.
Speaker 3: And right now, I mean, we'll see what happens with
Speaker 3: the Nolan Aernado situation. I mean, you have seen some
Speaker 3: of you reacting to the report out there. Well, wait
Speaker 3: a minute, the Astros were not on his list. I
Speaker 3: honestly think that if you came to Nolan Aernado with
Speaker 3: this situation, and he looked at this team and saw, yeah,
Speaker 3: I could you know, bat around Jose Altuve and Jordan Alvarez,
Speaker 3: Yitzak Perettis and Jiner Diaz.
Speaker 2: That's a pretty solid group.
Speaker 3: That's a group that has a chance to be able
Speaker 3: to get into the postseason and cause some damage.
Speaker 2: Absolutely I want to be a part of that.
Speaker 3: So I don't think that it's going to be necessarily
Speaker 3: a huge ask in terms of you getting him to
Speaker 3: waive his no trade clause and accept this trade. But
Speaker 3: I mean, only time will tell, And obviously I think
Speaker 3: the Astros, with Chandler's reporting, I think would be interested
Speaker 3: in this deal if indeed they knew that it was
Speaker 3: the right move for them to make, both from a
Speaker 3: financial standpoint, but also too from a guy that can
Speaker 3: come in and be a huge part of this clubhouse
Speaker 3: and a huge part of this team. So we'll see
Speaker 3: if indeed that as the other huge move the Astros
Speaker 3: make this off season. One other thing too, that I
Speaker 3: thought was interesting yesterday from Dana Brown when he met
Speaker 3: with the media is he was asked about, you know,
Speaker 3: the trade of Kyle Tucker and you know, the ongoing
Speaker 3: negotiations with Alex Bregman if he feels like that this
Speaker 3: trade kind of signals to the clubhouse that if you're
Speaker 3: looking for a long term, high money extension with the Astros,
Speaker 3: it's probably not going to happen.
Speaker 2: Dana Brown does not see that being the case.
Speaker 5: I don't think that this sends them the wrong message.
Speaker 5: I mean, these these type of things happen in sports.
Speaker 5: As I mentioned before, these type of things happen in
Speaker 5: sports enough that you know that, look, sometimes you know
Speaker 5: clubs will.
Speaker 4: Make a trade with one of their big, big chips and.
Speaker 5: Trying to bring in more to reinforce the and sustained
Speaker 5: long term winning.
Speaker 2: All Right, there you go.
Speaker 3: So Dana Brown talking about what this says to the
Speaker 3: arrest of the clubhouse, I think, if nothing else, I mean,
Speaker 3: what he's trying to say at the clubhouse is, look,
Speaker 3: I mean, it might look a little bit different, but
Speaker 3: this is still a team that's going to have players
Speaker 3: in that room that can be able to help this
Speaker 3: team win and get back even further into the postseason
Speaker 3: next year. So only time will tell if indeed that
Speaker 3: is the case. I mean, you do have to feel
Speaker 3: good about the rotation Brown. Yesterday, I thought it was
Speaker 3: pretty interesting when he was asked about fromber Valdez, seeing
Speaker 3: that they'll evaluate as the season goes along and maybe
Speaker 3: even start some of those conversations with him about hey,
Speaker 3: do you want to stay here long term or also too,
Speaker 3: I mean, if it gets to a certain point where
Speaker 3: you look at frober Valdez and stay, yeah, maybe not
Speaker 3: going to be somebody that we want to count on
Speaker 3: for the front of our rotation going forward, and maybe
Speaker 3: that's a trade possibility during the season, but it doesn't
Speaker 3: sound like that's going to be the case right now.
Speaker 3: I think unless somebody comes along and just really blows
Speaker 3: the Astros away with a trade proposal for him, which
Speaker 3: I think probably would have already happened at this point,
Speaker 3: because I mean, you know, you hear Dana Brown say
Speaker 3: it all the time that there is not a you
Speaker 3: can never have a shortage of pitching, and I think
Speaker 3: that every single organization in baseball looks at the same way.
Speaker 3: So I mean, I think that probably you would have had,
Speaker 3: you know, teams coming to the Astros pretty quickly about Valdez,
Speaker 3: because I mean, he is, in every sense of the word,
Speaker 3: in front of the rotation. Guy has his postseasons necessarily
Speaker 3: been great the past couple of years now they haven't been,
Speaker 3: but still he's a guy that you can count on
Speaker 3: to be a probably solid number two, number three in
Speaker 3: your rotation, and the Astros are asking him to be
Speaker 3: the ace of their staff right now, so we'll see
Speaker 3: if he is able to kind of close the gap
Speaker 3: on the postseason part of it here going forward. But
Speaker 3: as for now, this is an Astros club that is
Speaker 3: going to remain competitive, at least according to Dana Brown,
Speaker 3: and I have to agree with him too. With the
Speaker 3: foundation of players that you have here and the players
Speaker 3: that are going to be going forward with this team,
Speaker 3: I do think that we are not going to see
Speaker 3: a significant drop off from this organization anytime soon. All Right,
Speaker 3: what are the Astros getting back in return for Kyle
Speaker 3: Tucker in the trade? If you missed it last night
Speaker 3: when Bruce Levine joined us on the nightcap with me
Speaker 3: and Gordy, I'm gonna give you a chance to be
Speaker 3: able to hear that visit because I think Astros fans,
Speaker 3: at least the ones who are on the pessimistic side
Speaker 3: right now, might start to kind of tip that needle
Speaker 3: over to the optimistic side. When you hear about three
Speaker 3: players the Astros are getting. In return, we'll hear from
Speaker 3: Bruce next right here on Space City Saturday. I'm Dan
Speaker 3: Matthews here on your home with the Astros in the
Speaker 3: Rockets Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 1: It's Space City Saturday one, Sports Talk seven night.
Speaker 6: Here.
Speaker 3: You know, the studio is, hey, let's bring it in
Speaker 3: Paul McCartney to do a Christmas song, and then the
Speaker 3: executives go back and listen to it. One of the
Speaker 3: guys is like, but I love this song. I like it.
Speaker 3: It's one that always puts me in a good mood.
Speaker 3: So anyway, I know that not everybody is on board
Speaker 3: with it, and that's fine. Hey, look you like it,
Speaker 3: and if I just like it, then no worries and
Speaker 3: the other way around.
Speaker 2: There you go.
Speaker 3: So we'll see how things move on with the Christmas season.
Speaker 3: As I know a lot of you out there with
Speaker 3: the football season kind of winding down a little bit,
Speaker 3: probably out there doing a little bit of Christmas shopping.
Speaker 3: So if you're doing so listening along, appreciate you doing so.
Speaker 3: But also too, if you missed last night's conversation that
Speaker 3: me and Chris Cordy had with six seventy the scores,
Speaker 3: Bruce Levine, Gonna give you a chance to be able
Speaker 3: to hear that right now, because we had a really
Speaker 3: good visit with the man that works for six seventy
Speaker 3: the Score and also with the Marquee Sports Network.
Speaker 2: Let's listen to that visit right now. The Astros did
Speaker 2: some business.
Speaker 3: Today with the Chicago Cubs and a man who covers
Speaker 3: that club very closely with six seventy the score up
Speaker 3: there in Chicago. He is Bruce Levine, and he joins
Speaker 3: us here, Bruce, appreciate your time to night. You got myself,
Speaker 3: Dan Matthews, you got Chris Gordy with you here on
Speaker 3: the flagship home of the Astros.
Speaker 2: Let's just start off first.
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, I'm sure that probably you, like
Speaker 3: many around the game, you kind of had your intenta
Speaker 3: up a little bit with this, and you'd probably seen
Speaker 3: the rumors that the Cubs were one of the teams
Speaker 3: that seemingly was involved in the possible trade scenario for
Speaker 3: Kyle Tucker. But when it finally went through, what was
Speaker 3: the reaction up there, I mean, was a little bit
Speaker 3: of surprise. Was it kind of like, Okay, hey, we're
Speaker 3: actually gonna have an okay off season up here.
Speaker 2: Like what was it?
Speaker 6: Well, we started to report from.
Speaker 7: The winter meetings that the Astros and Cubs were in
Speaker 7: conversations and.
Speaker 6: That Tucker was the object.
Speaker 7: And it seemed that with one year left on his contract,
Speaker 7: the Astros were not engaging in any long term contract
Speaker 7: with him and therefore they were not interested in just keeping.
Speaker 6: Him for one more year before he left.
Speaker 7: And the Cubs, who desperately needed a all star type player,
Speaker 7: left handed hitter with power and outstanding outfielder, somebody to
Speaker 7: really solidify their lineup, they pounced and they gave up.
Speaker 7: They gave up three really good players for him, and
Speaker 7: I know you want to talk about all of them
Speaker 7: at some point, but the people here in Chicago are
Speaker 7: thrilled they have a star player like Kyle Tucker, who
Speaker 7: is considered in Baseball circle to be one of the
Speaker 7: most underrated stars in the game.
Speaker 8: Yeah, versus it's a fine line right between. You know,
Speaker 8: he's going to be a free agent after this year,
Speaker 8: so obviously you don't have too much leverage, but you know,
Speaker 8: a little bit of a bidding war with multiple teams
Speaker 8: interested in him, so you know, the Astros are tasked
Speaker 8: with getting the most they could. I've seen some fans
Speaker 8: saying they didn't get enough. I know Suzuki's name was
Speaker 8: kind of thrown out there, but you are kind of
Speaker 8: stuck between a rock and a hard place, because as
Speaker 8: good as this player is, at the end of the day,
Speaker 8: it could just be a one year rental. So evaluate
Speaker 8: kind of just what they get what the Cubs gave up.
Speaker 8: Freddy Astros fan who might be thinking that it wasn't enough.
Speaker 7: Well, you have a pool hitter with a tremendous amount
Speaker 7: of power in parades the third basement, and he was
Speaker 7: an All Star for Tampa before being traded at the
Speaker 7: deadline to the Cubs. He never got on track with
Speaker 7: the Cubs. A Wrigley Field, which is known during the
Speaker 7: summer for a home run park, played to the second
Speaker 7: smallest park in baseball. During the year, they gave up
Speaker 7: the second fewest home runs in their history for both
Speaker 7: teams in that ballpark. So Paradis never got on track.
Speaker 7: But he's a good ballplayer. He's an average defender, he's
Speaker 7: got a decent arm, he has tremendous power, and he's
Speaker 7: a poll hitter. So Brown and his people did a
Speaker 7: lot of homework on the fact that what the Crawford boxes.
Speaker 7: This is a guy that should be a thirty home
Speaker 7: run hitter for the Houston Astros, and it also gives
Speaker 7: them a lot of leverage in the situation going forward
Speaker 7: with Bregman, whether he's back or not, you know, you
Speaker 7: have somebody to step in there. And I had probably
Speaker 7: for more power than Bregman, not the all around player
Speaker 7: that Bregman is. I would never suggest that. I think
Speaker 7: Bregman is a terrific player, but I don't know if
Speaker 7: Bregman is the same player he was two or three
Speaker 7: years ago. So with all that in mind, they're protected.
Speaker 7: There was Netsky. You have a guy that can start
Speaker 7: or relieve. He's a you know, usually hitting around ninety
Speaker 7: three miles an hour, got a really good breaking ball,
Speaker 7: and he showed the ability to go up and back
Speaker 7: between the bullpen and starting and do a good job
Speaker 7: on both. He injured himself a little bit, missed the
Speaker 7: last three or four weeks in the season, but terrific teammate,
Speaker 7: terrific guy. Whether you want him to start or relieve.
Speaker 6: He's not a number one.
Speaker 7: Two or three starter, but if he has to go in,
Speaker 7: he can do an adequate job, give you five or
Speaker 7: six good innings if you need him as a starter.
Speaker 6: The real player for me in this deal is Cam Smith.
Speaker 7: Every scout that you talk to tells you that this
Speaker 7: guy doesn't have a chance to just be a good player.
Speaker 7: He has a chance to be a superstar. He came
Speaker 7: out of college last year, drafted by the Cubs and
Speaker 7: just tore up the minor leagues. Terrific individual, great personality,
Speaker 7: team player. He should really mash and I don't think
Speaker 7: on the track that he's on it. It'll take more than
Speaker 7: another year in the minor league he'll be ready to
Speaker 7: come there and.
Speaker 6: Play your ballpark.
Speaker 7: So I think that they got a really great player
Speaker 7: possibility for a player who's an outstanding player right now
Speaker 7: that was only going to be there with them for
Speaker 7: one more year. I just think it's a good trade
Speaker 7: for both teams. The Cubs desperately needed a guy that
Speaker 7: could hit two, three or four and with power and
Speaker 7: play a good right field. They're now going to turn
Speaker 7: around and trade either Bellinger or Suzuki one or.
Speaker 6: The other so that there is enough room.
Speaker 7: As a DH and three outfielders. The outfield is really
Speaker 7: packed for the Chicago Cubs. They have two really good
Speaker 7: young players coming up in the Alcntara and in casey
Speaker 7: one of them is likely to get traded in the
Speaker 7: deal to bring back a pitcher. So the Cubs are
Speaker 7: making all kinds of moves. They're tired of being just
Speaker 7: average over the last two years. They're trying to step
Speaker 7: up and be the Chicago Cubs of twenty fifteen, sixteen, seventeen,
Speaker 7: and eighteen once more.
Speaker 6: Again.
Speaker 3: Bruce Levine joined us from six seventy the Score there
Speaker 3: in Chicago. He's also a contributor part of the Marquee
Speaker 3: Sports Networks there local regional TV channel up there in Chicago.
Speaker 3: And Uh, you know, Bruce, I mean, just from what
Speaker 3: you were talking about right there of going through parades
Speaker 3: Wesnsky as well as Smith, I mean, is it probably
Speaker 3: from some of the people you've talked with within that
Speaker 3: Cubs organization that they kind of had to take a
Speaker 3: hard swallow right there with including Smith in this package deal.
Speaker 9: Yeah.
Speaker 7: Originally they asked for Smith and uh and Matt Shaw,
Speaker 7: which is two of their top number one picks in
Speaker 7: the last three years. Okay, they weren't they weren't giving
Speaker 7: in on that they give in. They gave in here.
Speaker 7: They were they were solid on giving up Parades. They
Speaker 7: were solid on uh giving up Smith after you know,
Speaker 7: going up and back.
Speaker 6: But was Nesky was.
Speaker 7: The final part of the deal. They wanted to give
Speaker 7: a minor league pitcher back. The Astros insisted on Wiznsky,
Speaker 7: and the deal is made.
Speaker 8: It's very interesting in him being a Houston kid and
Speaker 8: certainly a guy that a lot of people are familiar with.
Speaker 8: I want to go back to cam Smith just a
Speaker 8: little bit because you mentioned you think he'll be able
Speaker 8: to make that rise pretty quickly. It is interesting the
Speaker 8: Astros kind of depleted their farm system the last couple
Speaker 8: years with all the big trades they moved made and
Speaker 8: then obviously losing those draft picks in the signce stealing
Speaker 8: thing and all that. But you mentioned, you know, you
Speaker 8: think he's going to be ready here pretty soon. Is
Speaker 8: he a true third baseman? Do you think there's other
Speaker 8: positions he might be.
Speaker 6: Able to play? They're not sure about that.
Speaker 7: You know, third baseman sometimes end up being first baseman, right,
Speaker 7: Great hitters sometimes end up being first baseman.
Speaker 6: D HS.
Speaker 7: They think he can play third base, but against Paradus
Speaker 7: is under contract for three more years. You have Waznesky
Speaker 7: in this trade that they have contract control over for.
Speaker 6: Another four years, and Smith they're going to have.
Speaker 7: So I think Brown is is looking really smart about this.
Speaker 7: He's he's getting big league players, he's getting contract control,
Speaker 7: and he's also you know, getting rid of a guy
Speaker 7: that there probably had no chance to sign next year.
Speaker 7: He has a typical type of year as he always does.
Speaker 7: He's probably you know, looking at what thirty five million
Speaker 7: dollars a year times eight. So I don't think the
Speaker 7: Houston was going to be involved in that. As much
Speaker 7: as a love Tucker, I mean, what was there you
Speaker 7: guys tell me what was there not to like about
Speaker 7: Kyle Tucker.
Speaker 2: I mean, I'd say.
Speaker 3: Probably the only gripes that many people had is a
Speaker 3: couple of down postseasons. But aside from that, I mean,
Speaker 3: to your point there, Bruce, No, he was everything that
Speaker 3: you would hoped he would have been when he was
Speaker 3: going through the farm system and had all the hype
Speaker 3: before he got up here to the major league.
Speaker 7: Yeah, and you know you look at him and okay,
Speaker 7: get a couple down playoffs, he wasn't really quite the
Speaker 7: player he was coming back from that ankle injury, you know,
Speaker 7: in September and then the two games that.
Speaker 6: You lost in the playoffs.
Speaker 7: But for the Cubs, it's a guy that they can
Speaker 7: put second or third in their lineup pretty much. Count
Speaker 7: on thirty and one hundred, play a solid defense up
Speaker 7: until you know, last year he only played what sixty
Speaker 7: nine games something like this, seventy one games. He was
Speaker 7: steal in thirty bases as well, so I don't see
Speaker 7: too many holes in his game. I think that the
Speaker 7: Cubs really needed to step up their game. In the
Speaker 7: Central Division of the National League. The general manager, president
Speaker 7: and general manager have one year remaining on their contract.
Speaker 7: Eighty three wins the last two years was just not
Speaker 7: cutting it. So the offense is going to be perked
Speaker 7: up the Cubs.
Speaker 6: They're not done yet.
Speaker 7: We're talking to the Yankees about Dollinger right now, talking
Speaker 7: to numerous other teams about starting pitching. You know, some
Speaker 7: of the smaller market teams once some of the young
Speaker 7: hitters in the Cub organization. Shaw and Casey are two
Speaker 7: guys that are being coveted by a lot of different teams.
Speaker 7: So I think you're going to see over the next
Speaker 7: week or ten days comes to make at least one,
Speaker 7: probably two more trades.
Speaker 3: And that's actually where I wanted to go with a
Speaker 3: final question for you, Bruce again. Bruce Levine joined US
Speaker 3: from six to seventy a score also Marquee Sports Network
Speaker 3: up there in Chicago. Could the Cubs be in on
Speaker 3: Alex Bregnan. I mean, doesn't that seem like that would
Speaker 3: be a great piece for them to be able to
Speaker 3: add after a couple of years ago giving that huge
Speaker 3: contract to Dansby Swanson.
Speaker 6: They don't want to go over the luxury tax.
Speaker 7: They hit right over it a little bit last year
Speaker 7: at about two hundred and forty one million. They're about
Speaker 7: two hundred.
Speaker 6: Million a little bit more right now.
Speaker 7: They're way over now, probably with Bellinger. They have to
Speaker 7: The first first big thing they have to do is
Speaker 7: they have to get themselves a starting picture that's a
Speaker 7: power arm. But as important, they're going to have to
Speaker 7: trade Dollinger's contract, which is thirty two point five million
Speaker 7: for this year. They have to loosen up the luxury
Speaker 7: tax situation, and either him or Suzuki are going to
Speaker 7: get traded probably before the first of the year. It's
Speaker 7: not that they don't like Dollinger, it's just that getting
Speaker 7: Tucker is a replacement and a superior player in their
Speaker 7: minds for Dolinger. Now they need the relief for the
Speaker 7: payroll of the thirty two point five million that they
Speaker 7: owe Dollinger for twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3: Well, Bruce, say, we really appreciate your time, especially to
Speaker 3: on a Friday night hopping on to let us know
Speaker 3: here in Houston about Paritis Wesnski and also about Cam Smith.
Speaker 3: And yeah, we really appreciate you carving out a few
Speaker 3: minutes for us, and.
Speaker 7: Chris a pleasure call me anytime, take care of have
Speaker 7: a good night, all right.
Speaker 3: Appreciate Bruce Levine joining us last night on the Nightcap.
Speaker 2: If you miss any of that, download the free.
Speaker 3: iHeartRadio app and you can catch that anywhere anyway possible.
Speaker 2: So there you go.
Speaker 3: Good stuff from Bruce Levine, and especially to hearing about
Speaker 3: Cam Smith.
Speaker 2: We'll get into a little bit.
Speaker 3: More on both him as well as Hayden was Nesky
Speaker 3: and also eastsoc Perettis is a huge part of the
Speaker 3: deal that the Astro's got in return for Kyle Tucker.
Speaker 3: If you want to jump board you can do so
Speaker 3: seven one three two one two five seven ninety once
Speaker 3: again at seven one three two one two five seven
Speaker 3: ninety because speaking of Perettis, I've got some interesting information
Speaker 3: about him that I think Astros fans will love to hear.
Speaker 3: We will talk about that on the other side right
Speaker 3: here this Space City Saturday on your home of the Astros,
Speaker 3: Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 1: Welong Space City Saturday on Sports Talk seven ninety forty Talk.
Speaker 3: Seven ninety and Matthew's here with you in the holiday
Speaker 3: spirit around here, and that is a good feeling, no
Speaker 3: doubt about it. Again, if you want to hop aboard
Speaker 3: on the phone lines, you can do so. Sebon one
Speaker 3: three two one two five seven ninety. Once again, that's
Speaker 3: Sebone three two one two five seven nine zero. As
Speaker 3: the Astro is getting three players back in the Kyle
Speaker 3: Tucker trade, Conroe James, I wanted to know about number
Speaker 3: one while you trade away Kyle Tucker. I'll start with
Speaker 3: that part first, Conro, I mean you trade him because
Speaker 3: I think that as Dana Brown has been going through
Speaker 3: this offseason and maybe even trying to start some preliminary
Speaker 3: conversations with Kyle Tucker's representatives about possibly bringing him back,
Speaker 3: that it was pretty much expressed to him, especially after
Speaker 3: the deal that Juan Soto just got that Kyle is
Speaker 3: going to be looking for a similar.
Speaker 2: Type of deal.
Speaker 3: I think we can agree the Astros are not going
Speaker 3: to be paying down that type of a deal. So
Speaker 3: when that happens, eventually you start to say, okay, well,
Speaker 3: maybe if we start to let teams know, hey, we're
Speaker 3: interested in taking phone calls on this guy, if you're
Speaker 3: interested in possibly adding him to your organization. And of
Speaker 3: course that's when you get teams that start to reach
Speaker 3: out and say, yeah, I would like to have Kyle
Speaker 3: Tucker out in right field. And not only that, I
Speaker 3: mean I think a team like the Cubs that as
Speaker 3: of right now, looking to avoid getting over the competitive
Speaker 3: balance tax threshold, as you just heard Bruce Levine talk about,
Speaker 3: that you can add a guy this season that can
Speaker 3: be an upgrade to a guy that they're trying to
Speaker 3: ship out and Cody Bellinger, and not only trying to
Speaker 3: ship him out, but also to trying to, you know,
Speaker 3: give themselves an opportunity to remain competitive. And I don't
Speaker 3: have any doubts that after this season the Cubs could
Speaker 3: come back and offer age deal to Kyle Tucker and
Speaker 3: keep him their long term or be able to you know,
Speaker 3: move on from there and kind of retool on their
Speaker 3: own end. That's the Cubs business if they want to do.
Speaker 3: But in terms of the players the Astros got in return,
Speaker 3: I mean, you heard Bruce talk about Cam Smith and
Speaker 3: just you know how much of a tough send away
Speaker 3: that was for the Cubs as part of that deal,
Speaker 3: because he's a guy that's already in the minor leagues
Speaker 3: and I think not even a full year in the
Speaker 3: minor league system for the Cubs, already up to Double A,
Speaker 3: so he's probably about a year away from being an
Speaker 3: impact player for this team.
Speaker 2: And also too, you heard Bruce mention.
Speaker 3: That there's belief with his power possibilities that Smith could
Speaker 3: be a star in this league. So I think that's
Speaker 3: another thing that has to excite you if you're an
Speaker 3: Astros fan out there, and I mean, yes, I think
Speaker 3: if you want to see Cam Smith this year, you're
Speaker 3: probably gonna need to go down to sugar Land and
Speaker 3: watch them with the Space Cowboys.
Speaker 2: Maybe even he's a September call up for this team.
Speaker 3: And then finally next year you go to spring training
Speaker 3: and you see if he can crack the organization with
Speaker 3: you and be able to make a run at the
Speaker 3: everyday twenty six man roster in twenty twenty six. So
Speaker 3: I think that's what you get with him. But with Perettis,
Speaker 3: you know, we talked about him a little bit, and
Speaker 3: you heard Bruce mention about his poll power. And I
Speaker 3: was talking with a buddy of mine yesterday off air
Speaker 3: that covers the Rays, has been part of their radio
Speaker 3: network for some time, and I just said, hey, you know,
Speaker 3: what can you tell me about Perettis? And he wrote
Speaker 3: me back. Much better defender than you'd think, with him
Speaker 3: being a stockier guy, a guy that even played a
Speaker 3: little bit of shortstop there in Tampa Bay when he
Speaker 3: was with the Rays, but of course playing third, which
Speaker 3: is his primary position, playing a little bit of first
Speaker 3: as well. Strict pull hitter like big time Pool, he goes.
Speaker 3: He'll shoot the ball the other way every once in
Speaker 3: a while for a single, but all of his power
Speaker 3: is to left. Said, never seen a guy be so
Speaker 3: pull dominant, he goes. I think the older he gets,
Speaker 3: his bat will slow down, but you have to remember
Speaker 3: he's only twenty five. I think I think he can
Speaker 3: be really good for the Astros, and he goes Yep.
Speaker 3: I think he'll be a really great fit. Can play
Speaker 3: anywhere in the infield, as best is at the corners,
Speaker 3: but like I said, played short a couple of times,
Speaker 3: which was weird to see again because given his stature,
Speaker 3: you wouldn't think he'd be playing shortstops. So that's at
Speaker 3: least what it feels like the Astros are getting in peretis.
Speaker 3: He's been a guy that's been a twenty to twenty
Speaker 3: five home run guy playing in a ballpark that is
Speaker 3: okay for power hitters in the trop there in Tampa,
Speaker 3: and then of course last year went over to the Cubs,
Speaker 3: and he even talked about yesterday when he met with
Speaker 3: the media that he had to adjust a little bit
Speaker 3: to playing at Wrigley Field. But we'll see how he
Speaker 3: is able to adjust to every day playing at Minute
Speaker 3: May Park. So that's what the Astros able to pick
Speaker 3: up in that deal. So Conro, good on you. I
Speaker 3: appreciate you bringing that up for discussion here, but that's
Speaker 3: where we were going anyway. So just wanted to give
Speaker 3: you all a little bit of the dossier on all
Speaker 3: three players the Astros just got back in return. So
Speaker 3: that is what we get there, but coming up next
Speaker 3: we'll continue the conversation on the Astros again if you
Speaker 3: want to weigh in kind of this hot stove edition
Speaker 3: of Space City Saturday. The rumor this morning about Nolan
Speaker 3: Aeronauto what could that mean for the Astros?
Speaker 2: Also, what could it mean in.
Speaker 3: Terms of are they out on the Alex Bregman sweepstakes.
Speaker 2: I'll tell you a little bit.
Speaker 3: Of what I'm seeing out there on the rumor mill
Speaker 3: in terms of how the Astros are going to conduct
Speaker 3: their business going forward.
Speaker 2: So we'll do that on the other side, and.
Speaker 3: Of course too in the eleven o'clock hour, we'll get
Speaker 3: into a little bit of Texans conversation as well as
Speaker 3: some Rockets as well. So we'll cover it all soup
Speaker 3: to nuts from here until noon, as our one is
Speaker 3: in the books. Right here on Space City Saturday, I'm
Speaker 3: Dan Matthews here on your home of the Astros and
Speaker 3: the Rockets, Sports Talk seven ninety.
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, we.
Speaker 1: Love you all, So finish up on that to do list,
Speaker 1: flute up the cooler, because you can't drink in talk
Speaker 1: sports all day if you don't start now bear me
Speaker 1: in the eight this is Space City Saturday.
Speaker 2: That's insane.
Speaker 1: Here's seven nineties, Dad Matthews.
Speaker 3: Indeed, it is the way we go here in our
Speaker 3: two of Space City Saturday. If you want to jump aboard,
Speaker 3: do so subone three two one two five seven ninety.
Speaker 3: Once again, that's sub one three two one two five
Speaker 3: seven nine zero. As I mentioned, with the football season
Speaker 3: kind of starting the wind down just a little bit.
Speaker 3: I mean, you get to the part of the season
Speaker 3: where it's FCS football being on the major networks and
Speaker 3: incarnate word out of San Antonio playing right now. But
Speaker 3: that's kind of the time of the year for most
Speaker 3: of us out there that are football fans, especially college
Speaker 3: football fans. We kind of look at it and say, yeah,
Speaker 3: this is a good day to be able to.
Speaker 2: Go out and knock off some of that Christmas list.
Speaker 3: So I know some of you out there the Galleria,
Speaker 3: Woodland's Mall, Baybrook, Willowbrook, wherever it might be that you're
Speaker 3: out there, maybe even some of you, you know, just
Speaker 3: pulled off somewhere on the phone, scrolling through taking out
Speaker 3: the card to be able to put in the card
Speaker 3: information and just have a chipped to your door, whatever.
Speaker 2: Way you do it.
Speaker 3: Either way, I hope that you have a great holiday season.
Speaker 3: As know that school's starting to be let out a
Speaker 3: little bit, so I know that the kid's going to
Speaker 3: be around a little bit more so that's a little
Speaker 3: bit more fun.
Speaker 2: But anyway, hopefully everybody is.
Speaker 3: Getting around, getting where they need to go and getting
Speaker 3: there safely. Here on this Saturday, again Dan Matthews here
Speaker 3: with you is so we continue the Astros conversation and
Speaker 3: again phone number if you want to jump aboard some
Speaker 3: one three two one two five seven ninety. You can
Speaker 3: also hit me up on Twitter at Dan Matthews hou
Speaker 3: is where you can hit me up. And one thing
Speaker 3: that I did want to get into here actually before
Speaker 3: we get into the Astros third base conversation, because there
Speaker 3: is a little bit of stuff out there on where
Speaker 3: things could be headed in that regard a shout.
Speaker 2: Out a happy birthday.
Speaker 3: I think if you follow the Astros on social media,
Speaker 3: you know where I'm going with this Happy birthday to
Speaker 3: number seven Craig Vigio or as Milo used to call
Speaker 3: him by Gio, but uh, anyway, coach as I call
Speaker 3: him of course for a long time being the head
Speaker 3: baseball coach over at my proud high school alma mater,
Speaker 3: Saint Thomas High School. But anyway, happy birthday to number seven,
Speaker 3: the Astros first Hall of Famer, So we love to
Speaker 3: see that for Craig, and always always a pleasure to
Speaker 3: be able to run into Craig whenever you see him
Speaker 3: out at the ballparks. So he is definitely one of
Speaker 3: the really good guys here in our city.
Speaker 2: But anyway, happy birthday to Craig Vigio.
Speaker 3: So the Astros where things stand right now with third base.
Speaker 3: Earlier this morning, Chandler Rome just before ten o'clock with
Speaker 3: a report that the Astros were starting to show serious
Speaker 3: interest in making a trade for Nolan Aernado and Aeronauto.
Speaker 3: I think in many ways is pretty much in the
Speaker 3: same mold as Alex Bregman.
Speaker 2: The bat has started to.
Speaker 3: Dip just a little bit, but still considered to be
Speaker 3: an elite fielder over at third base. And yes he
Speaker 3: does have a huge contract still remaining. I think it's
Speaker 3: seventy four million over the next three years remaining for Aeronado.
Speaker 3: As last year he was a two seventy two hitter.
Speaker 3: He hit sixteen home runs, knocked in seventy one runs,
Speaker 3: had an OPS plus of one pH one. His career
Speaker 3: has been one twenty, so well above average there, and
Speaker 3: his OPS was one of the lower years that he's
Speaker 3: had in quite some time, seven nineteen, so it was
Speaker 3: along with his rookie season, a career wasn't a career low.
Speaker 3: I mean, his rookie season was seven oh six that year.
Speaker 3: He was seven nineteen last year, but I mean before
Speaker 3: that he had been consistently in the high seven hundreds,
Speaker 3: even into the eight hundreds. I mean, he was an
Speaker 3: eight ninety one thirty home runs and one hundred three
Speaker 3: runs batted in when he hit two ninety three in
Speaker 3: two thousand and two with the Saint Louis Cardinals. He's
Speaker 3: been with the Cardinals for the last four years. And
Speaker 3: like Bregman too, I mean he's a guy that plays
Speaker 3: pretty much every single day. Played one hundred and fifty
Speaker 3: two games last year, one hundred and forty eight a
Speaker 3: couple of years ago, one forty four in twenty twenty three,
Speaker 3: So he posts he plays he's out there almost every
Speaker 3: single day. And I've mentioned Ari Alexander Kprc too. Ari
Speaker 3: has been all over these stories all week, and he
Speaker 3: threw out kind of going along with Chandler's reporting that yes,
Speaker 3: the Astros are indeed showing interest in trying to make
Speaker 3: a trade for Aeronato, but also that coming from two sources,
Speaker 3: but that they are still in on trying to bring
Speaker 3: Bregman back. And that's according to three different sources. And
Speaker 3: I understand too, the angst in terms of Bregman number one.
Speaker 3: I mean, I think that people look at it and say, well,
Speaker 3: the Astros just don't want to spend that money. I
Speaker 3: think that it really just kind of comes down to
Speaker 3: a couple of things. They're one on the Astro side,
Speaker 3: one on the Bregman side.
Speaker 2: I think on.
Speaker 3: The Astros side, it's committing the amount of money that
Speaker 3: in the amount of years that Bregman probably is looking for.
Speaker 3: I mean, I think that the Astros, at least by
Speaker 3: their history, have shown you they don't want to go above.
Speaker 2: Three years or excuse me, six years.
Speaker 3: And you know, Bregman probably is a guy that wants
Speaker 3: to get into the seven eight year category of where
Speaker 3: he is in his career, going to be thirty one,
Speaker 3: I believe this year. And then on the Bregman side
Speaker 3: of things, I think it's kind of a question of, look,
Speaker 3: if I if I commit to you guys, what does
Speaker 3: this mean going forward? I mean, does this mean that
Speaker 3: you know it's going to be kind of, as Dana
Speaker 3: Brown said at the end of last season, trying to
Speaker 3: get really creative with how this thing is put together.
Speaker 3: And does that mean that we take a step back,
Speaker 3: that postseasons are missed, that maybe you know, we're not
Speaker 3: in real position to be able to compete for titles
Speaker 3: around here in the near future.
Speaker 2: And I think that that's a question that's.
Speaker 3: Kind of in these conversations that he and Scott Boris
Speaker 3: and Dana Brown are having right now. And I'm sure
Speaker 3: that from the Brown side it's well, no, I mean,
Speaker 3: you're a huge part of us staying contention, but also too,
Speaker 3: I mean a little bit of the plans going forward.
Speaker 3: But it's also too I've seen, you know, and even
Speaker 3: some people have reached out to me again at Dan
Speaker 3: Matthews hou Is. He can find me on Twitter about
Speaker 3: you know, Bregman. Oh, they're moving on. It's it's done.
Speaker 3: It's it's not that there is going to be any
Speaker 3: any chance that the Astros are going to bring him back.
Speaker 3: I actually take it the stance that Dana Brown has
Speaker 3: kind of been.
Speaker 2: Through this before.
Speaker 3: So you remember that he came over from the Atlanta Braves,
Speaker 3: and the Braves of course their GM alex Anthopolis a
Speaker 3: couple of years ago after the after the lockout had ended,
Speaker 3: that he had to make a quick decision of do
Speaker 3: you make a one last minute run at Freddie Freeman
Speaker 3: or do you try to move on. And the Braves
Speaker 3: at that time it was a situation of they wanted
Speaker 3: to bring back Freeman, there was no doubt about it.
Speaker 3: But it was also too they realized, hey, if a
Speaker 3: guy like Matt Olsen comes available, we have to jump
Speaker 3: on matt Olsen because he's younger, he's going to be cheaper.
Speaker 3: Which I know that fans look at it and they
Speaker 3: equate that that means you're not serious about winning. But
Speaker 3: I think if nothing else, you have to also take
Speaker 3: it from the standpoint of no, that is how serious
Speaker 3: you are about winning, because you want to be able
Speaker 3: to add other really good players. I think I've told
Speaker 3: you before and I think it's going to play out
Speaker 3: here with Dana that. You know, when we had talked
Speaker 3: with Alex in the past, Anthopless in Atlanta, he had
Speaker 3: talked about his philosophy on long term contracts that he
Speaker 3: would much rather have six, seven, eight guys that are
Speaker 3: in that five to six year contract range making about
Speaker 3: twenty to twenty five maybe a shade above twenty five
Speaker 3: million dollars a year, and be able to build a
Speaker 3: roster around that core, as opposed to you go out
Speaker 3: and you get the massive superstar that you've got to
Speaker 3: pay upwards of thirty thirty five, forty million a year,
Speaker 3: and that way you have to get a little bit
Speaker 3: more creative in terms of how you're building out your
Speaker 3: roster because there's a competitive balance, tax, there's all these
Speaker 3: other things that you have to look into. And I
Speaker 3: think that that's a little bit at play here. And
Speaker 3: it's also too I think a similar playbook being shown
Speaker 3: right now with the ASTRA. I mean, look, you know,
Speaker 3: despite their best efforts and everything they might try to do,
Speaker 3: it just might not be good enough for Alex Bregman.
Speaker 3: I mean that's something that I think you have to
Speaker 3: wrestle with as a real a realistic possibility for the
Speaker 3: way that this thing is going, and they know that.
Speaker 3: So that is why you're seeing the rumors of Aeronauto,
Speaker 3: maybe even Jorge Polanco as a possibility, or you know,
Speaker 3: do you kind of pivot and go somebody that's a
Speaker 3: you know, not as expensive an option as Pete Alonso
Speaker 3: or maybe even Christian Walker over at first base, and
Speaker 3: you know, you have Perettes be your everyday third baseman.
Speaker 3: And then you know, of course, when Cam Smith is ready,
Speaker 3: does that mean that Perettis kicks across over to first
Speaker 3: base and he's your everyday first baseman you kind of
Speaker 3: interchange him every once in a while. Any of those things,
Speaker 3: I mean, I think if nothing else, you're just kind
Speaker 3: of looking for roster flexibility at this point. And again
Speaker 3: that's where the Astros are where they need to be
Speaker 3: in terms of building up their roster. You don't have
Speaker 3: a farm system that has readily available players that can
Speaker 3: come up and be impact players for you immediately. Those
Speaker 3: days are gone, so you have to be able to
Speaker 3: build this thing up as much on the fly as
Speaker 3: possible in terms of again having as many guys that
Speaker 3: can play numerous different positions. I mean, I know, Mauricio
Speaker 3: Dubond's name is thrown out there, and I love what
Speaker 3: Mauricio Dubon has done, but I don't think you can
Speaker 3: count on Mauricio Dubon being somebody that can be an
Speaker 3: everyday impact player for you. I think that he is
Speaker 3: exactly in the position that you want him to be
Speaker 3: right now, a really good utility man that has probably
Speaker 3: overperformed with the bat that's got a shelf life. And
Speaker 3: I think the Astros know that as well. So this
Speaker 3: is why you have to continue to try to find
Speaker 3: two or three other guys that can be flexible position
Speaker 3: wise and be able to help your roster and lengthen
Speaker 3: out your lineup and be able to put you in
Speaker 3: contention to win. So I think that all of that
Speaker 3: is kind of in play right now. But one more
Speaker 3: note on Aeronato Astros underscore numbers on Twitter, throwing out
Speaker 3: that since twenty twenty two, Nolan Aeronado has a forty
Speaker 3: eight point one percent poll rate, nineteenth highest among qualified
Speaker 3: hitters eat Soak perettis second fifty three point six and
Speaker 3: their point was, I think we found out what the
Speaker 3: Astros are trying to do for the lineup. I mean, yeah, look,
Speaker 3: I've said it numerous times. This is a lineup that
Speaker 3: last year was known for two things, solo home runs
Speaker 3: and singles. And I think that as the meetings have
Speaker 3: been going along this offseason that Dana Brown has kind
Speaker 3: of talked to his staff and said, we can't continue
Speaker 3: down this path. That's not winning baseball. You saw it
Speaker 3: in the postseason last year. You could not buy an
Speaker 3: extra base hit. The only extra base hit you got
Speaker 3: in those two games was the Jordan Alvarez double in
Speaker 3: the ninth inning. Aside from that, they were all the
Speaker 3: single base variety singles exactly. So that's something that you
Speaker 3: need to be able to try to find that. Yeah,
Speaker 3: you try to go out and find these guys like
Speaker 3: Perettas and maybe even like Aeronado that you got a
Speaker 3: couple runners on base pal it's a three run, it's
Speaker 3: a three run homer at that point, and that's something
Speaker 3: that they missed last year. So I think that's another
Speaker 3: directive in terms of how they want to build out
Speaker 3: this roster for twenty five. And that is something that
Speaker 3: we could see playing out, but as Chandler has pointed
Speaker 3: out to with Aeronado, nothing seems imminent at this point,
Speaker 3: And I mean that's really if you follow the timeline
Speaker 3: of this week how it went with the Kyle Tucker trade,
Speaker 3: that's pretty much how these things go. There's the report,
Speaker 3: then there is it's gaining steam, and you know, a
Speaker 3: day or two later it's, oh, hey, the Astros just
Speaker 3: pulled off this deal. So we'll see if it continues
Speaker 3: to go down that pathway. But speaking of Chandler, I
Speaker 3: know that, you know, the Astros have talked a lot about,
Speaker 3: you know, the way that they're building out their roster
Speaker 3: going forward, and Chandler has been all over the reporting
Speaker 3: of all the moves that could be made or have
Speaker 3: been made. But in the case of Chandler Rome, he
Speaker 3: joined us yesterday on the A team. We will hear
Speaker 3: from him next as we had him on immediately after
Speaker 3: the news came down about Kyle Tucker. So we will
Speaker 3: play that visit for you coming up right here on
Speaker 3: Space City Saturday again. I'm Dan Matthews here in your
Speaker 3: home of the Astros and the Rockets Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 1: We now return to Space City Saturday Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 10: Everybody settled down out there, Let's get some rational thinking
Speaker 10: on a big, big news day here on the Houston
Speaker 10: sports landscape, and for that course, when it comes to
Speaker 10: the Houston Astros especially we go to our weekly guest
Speaker 10: in season. But he's been spending a lot of time
Speaker 10: on the show lately because there's been so much going on.
Speaker 10: And finally today Chandler Rome of the Athletic we had
Speaker 10: the Kyle Tucker news come down.
Speaker 2: Just initial thoughts.
Speaker 10: I'm I'm from the perspective that I didn't ever see
Speaker 10: them re signing him anyway, So at least this isn't
Speaker 10: you know the show, Hey o Tani from the angel situation.
Speaker 10: You want to get something for him as opposed to
Speaker 10: just letting him walk for nothing.
Speaker 11: Yeah, I mean, after Monday night, it became pretty clear
Speaker 11: that this was the direction they were going.
Speaker 12: You know, I may have said it on here earlier,
Speaker 12: but you know, when.
Speaker 11: Dana Brown said that they can still win the American
Speaker 11: League West without Tucker or Valdez without either one, like
Speaker 11: without one of them, that to me just signaled that
Speaker 11: they were this was the route they were going. Still,
Speaker 11: to see it happen is pretty Stunning's not the wrong
Speaker 11: not the right word, because we've expected it, but I mean,
Speaker 11: it runs, it runs, so counter to everything they've done
Speaker 11: during this decade and how they've operated and things like that.
Speaker 11: But it just shows that this franchise is in a
Speaker 11: far different place than it was, you know, maybe six
Speaker 11: seven years ago. I mean, short of Jim Crane running
Speaker 11: a three hundred million dollars payroll.
Speaker 12: I didn't see a logical way in which.
Speaker 11: This team could improve its standing in twenty twenty six
Speaker 11: in twenty twenty seven without doing something like this. And
Speaker 11: I think it's become pretty clear that Jim Crane, while
Speaker 11: he spends money and while he had I mean, he
Speaker 11: carried the fourth largest payroll in baseball last year, he's
Speaker 11: also not going to go to the Dodgers territory to
Speaker 11: the Mets territory in terms of total money.
Speaker 12: So they had to be smart.
Speaker 11: They had to, you know, make some difficult decisions, and
Speaker 11: this was one of them.
Speaker 9: The return at some point everybody turns to I turned
Speaker 9: to it immediately, looking at the twenty twenty five astros,
Speaker 9: and you obviously mentioned the bigger picture twenty six and
Speaker 9: twenty seven. Just your thoughts initially on these three players
Speaker 9: that come back and return, and my first question about
Speaker 9: those three has to be, you know, is Cam Smith
Speaker 9: the hopeful clear best player they added in this deal,
Speaker 9: just obviously not.
Speaker 2: Where he is today.
Speaker 12: Sure, I think he's.
Speaker 11: The one that he's the one that we'll be looking
Speaker 11: at in three or four years to judge how good
Speaker 11: this trade was. Eastak Paratus, You really you have to
Speaker 11: put lump him in there too. I mean, this is
Speaker 11: a guy that he's he's got I believe three more
Speaker 11: years of team control, like this is gonna be a
Speaker 11: fixture for them.
Speaker 12: He's gonna be a face, it's gonna be in that
Speaker 12: lineup a good bit.
Speaker 11: He plays both corner spots the actors were going to
Speaker 11: play in at first base last.
Speaker 12: Year, had he had they acquired him at the trade deadline.
Speaker 11: This year, they have a vacancy at both third base
Speaker 11: and first base. If you made me guess right now,
Speaker 11: I'd probably say he's your opening day third basement.
Speaker 12: But things, obviously, things can change.
Speaker 11: There's another third basement out there that everyone's curious about.
Speaker 11: But you know, I think Cam Smith's certainly surely becomes
Speaker 11: the best prospect in this farm system, which is not
Speaker 11: saying a whole lot, but still he's a really good prospect.
Speaker 12: A lot of guys a lot.
Speaker 11: Of people in the industry really really like him. You know,
Speaker 11: is he maybe the third basement of the future. Is
Speaker 11: he maybe a guy that you see what he can
Speaker 11: do up the middle as Josel two bays getting older
Speaker 11: like you never know, but certainly you look at Parade
Speaker 11: and was Nesky should impact the twenty twenty five asterers
Speaker 11: right away. Be fascinating to see what they do with
Speaker 11: was Neski. He's relieved, he's started. He's been a swingman,
Speaker 11: but this is where the ashers are best. You saw
Speaker 11: it with Kakuchi last year. You see it with other pictures.
Speaker 11: You know, was Neski's numbers don't look great, but this
Speaker 11: is He's coming to a franchise that knows how to
Speaker 11: unlock pictures and make them better.
Speaker 10: Talking to Chandler Roam of the Athletic Here on Sports
Speaker 10: Talk seven ninety on the Dave Kyle Tucker is traded
Speaker 10: to the Chicago Cubs, you mentioned that the organization is,
Speaker 10: you know, taking a different road as opposed to how
Speaker 10: it's done things throughout this this uh, you know, this
Speaker 10: championship window that they've had for nearly a decade. That's
Speaker 10: interesting just to hear that statement. Considering they're on their
Speaker 10: third general manager during that run, and fourth if you
Speaker 10: count Jeff Bagwell. My next question, as it pertains to that,
Speaker 10: would be, okay, does this actually mean maybe they do
Speaker 10: hang on to Alex Bregman or is he just the
Speaker 10: next domin that's likely to fall?
Speaker 11: You know, as long as he's out there, they have
Speaker 11: a chance. As long as he's not resigned somewhere, they
Speaker 11: have a chance. But you know, bringing Paradis over, I
Speaker 11: mean it's a pretty it's a pretty simple plug and
Speaker 11: play there. I mean, he's played, Paradis has played first
Speaker 11: base in the past, but third basis is better position.
Speaker 11: To me on paper, it doesn't look I mean, this
Speaker 11: would not pretend well for them to bring Alex Gregman back,
Speaker 11: but who knows. I mean, as long as he's still
Speaker 11: out there, the actress would still have conceivably a chance.
Speaker 11: But you look at what the Yankees did today. They
Speaker 11: improved their club without spending money. I know they I
Speaker 11: know they gave Max Free two hundred and eighteen million dollars,
Speaker 11: but they were able to get the best closer, one
Speaker 11: of the best closers in baseball, for just prospect capital,
Speaker 11: for just players, and they just had a seven hundred
Speaker 11: and sixty million dollar offer on the table for Loan Soto,
Speaker 11: so they've got money to spend, so they need a
Speaker 11: third baseman.
Speaker 12: I think the Red Sox are still in it.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 12: I do wonder too if there's a.
Speaker 11: Team that we're not talking about that's just kind of
Speaker 11: lurking on Bregman. I mean, we've talked about the Tigers
Speaker 11: a little bit. Whether the Tigers kind of make that
Speaker 11: push or whether there's a team on the cusp of
Speaker 11: contention that is going to kind of shock everybody and
Speaker 11: and make Alex Bregman kind of the face of their
Speaker 11: next team. I don't know, but uh, well, they picked
Speaker 11: up au Henio Swarez his option, so he.
Speaker 12: Is in trench there.
Speaker 11: But I mean they could move him, sure, sure, but
Speaker 11: it doesn't seem like the it doesn't seem like the
Speaker 11: Dbacks would go into that into the pool money wise,
Speaker 11: but they may not have a choice given what's going
Speaker 11: on in the NL West.
Speaker 12: I mean, the.
Speaker 11: Giants got a domis the Dodgers or the Dodgers. The
Speaker 11: Padres are really really good. I mean, they want to
Speaker 11: keep competing in that division, they may have to make
Speaker 11: a big move.
Speaker 12: So Yeah, they could be.
Speaker 11: Someone involved, but they do have It should be noted
Speaker 11: they do have au Heno Swarez under contract next year.
Speaker 12: He would play their base.
Speaker 9: We talked quite a bit about some of the fallback
Speaker 9: options there might be if Bregman signed elsewhere. They have
Speaker 9: taken care of that, as you just said, presumably with
Speaker 9: Perett's playing third base, but in the process have opened
Speaker 9: up a different vacancy in the outfield and still the
Speaker 9: vacancy at first base. Are there other free agent names
Speaker 9: of whatever value they might command this offseason that you
Speaker 9: believe Dana Brown and the Astros and Jim Crane are
Speaker 9: actually interested in potentially bringing to Houston.
Speaker 11: Yeah, I mean, I think they're gonna have to look
Speaker 11: in the reliever market, They're gonna have to look in
Speaker 11: the in the starting market.
Speaker 12: I think now this puts them they're.
Speaker 11: Going to have to go get an established outfielder, a
Speaker 11: left handed hitting outfielder, and that was there. They've been
Speaker 11: needing to do that all all off season, even that
Speaker 11: they've been talking about. They didn't even before they traded Tucker.
Speaker 11: But so I think they're going to be in the
Speaker 11: market for an outfielder. You know, I've heard that while
Speaker 11: it's not considered you.
Speaker 12: Know, serious or close or anything.
Speaker 11: They have checked in on Nolan Aarnado, who is available
Speaker 11: to via trade with the Cardinals, but he makes a
Speaker 11: lot of money and he has no trade clause, which
Speaker 11: means he can, you know, have authority on where he goes.
Speaker 12: So they they have at least checked in on him.
Speaker 12: So I guess we'll see.
Speaker 11: But you know, I think right now they may need
Speaker 11: to sit down for a little bit reassessed, let the
Speaker 11: gravity of this maybe dissipate for a day or two.
Speaker 11: But I think their needs now are the same that
Speaker 11: they were always started.
Speaker 9: The off season, just out of curiosity one player in particular,
Speaker 9: switch hitting outfield or Anthony Sontan dare. Do you think
Speaker 9: the Astros would dive into that territory neighborhood of you know,
Speaker 9: four years, eighty five years, one hundred and something for
Speaker 9: a player like that.
Speaker 2: Would they go that long, that much money with a
Speaker 2: player like that?
Speaker 10: You think?
Speaker 11: I find again, I find that hard to believe, because
Speaker 11: if they're going to do.
Speaker 12: That, then why not just turn back to Bregman?
Speaker 11: Like if you're going to go that aav if you're
Speaker 11: going to go like a twenty five thirty million dollars
Speaker 11: av like I would think Bregman would be the guy,
Speaker 11: but maybe they don't value Bregman like you know, other
Speaker 11: teams do. I'm not sure, but yeah, I think this
Speaker 11: could open it up for you know, maybe a little
Speaker 11: bit of a deeper look Anthony Santander a guy that
Speaker 11: can play one of the corner spots. This obviously, you know,
Speaker 11: do you look at teams that are have outfield surplus
Speaker 11: and do you look to trade other places? Because look,
Speaker 11: there's other pieces on this roster, on this major league
Speaker 11: roster that that can be used in trades, you know,
Speaker 11: whether it's Valvez, whether you start looking at some of
Speaker 11: the guys making you know a little bit less you know,
Speaker 11: does this put Chas McCormick on the block?
Speaker 12: If if they can go find.
Speaker 11: A more proven, concept, more proven outfielder, does this put
Speaker 11: Chas McCormick on the trade block? Is maybe somebody that
Speaker 11: they can they can get a more veteran outfielder for
Speaker 11: I'm not sure. So there could be they could go
Speaker 11: a ton of different ways with this, but I.
Speaker 12: Don't know that they have it all figured out right now.
Speaker 11: It's gonna take a little it's gonna take a little.
Speaker 10: Bit, so again Bregman is resigning, right, Please.
Speaker 2: Don't please don't look.
Speaker 11: Look, guys, I have I have, I have concert tickets
Speaker 11: tonight behind them.
Speaker 12: I'm I'm just happy that.
Speaker 11: I'm just happy this went down now because I I
Speaker 11: could have envisioned myself being at this concert hall after
Speaker 11: participating in some activities and being in no condition to
Speaker 11: talk to you or to write any of this stuff.
Speaker 12: Wait, Chamings, thanks to Dana and Jed for getting this done.
Speaker 6: Now.
Speaker 10: Please tell me that you're going to see Richard Marx
Speaker 10: at the Arena Theater tonight.
Speaker 12: Who is that? Is he a Marx brother? I thought
Speaker 12: they were dead?
Speaker 10: No, it's different, it's a different marks, no relation, Chandler.
Speaker 2: We know you're very busy.
Speaker 10: We appreciate you taking the time out on the fly.
Speaker 10: Good stuff as always, and I'm sure we'll catch up
Speaker 10: very soon after the Bregman deal follows.
Speaker 12: All right, thanks guys.
Speaker 3: Richard Marx twenty one jump street right, if I'm not mistaken, No,
Speaker 3: maybe wrong anyway, Yeah, Chandler, if you didn't know that,
Speaker 3: then me, at thirty nine years old, I would not
Speaker 3: know that either. No, it was Richard Griico is who
Speaker 3: I was thinking of, right, Yeah, that's right. Richard Griico
Speaker 3: was twenty one Jump Street, so anyway, dated reference, I know.
Speaker 3: But anyway, we've done an hour and a half of
Speaker 3: Astro's conversation. You know the rules here on Space City
Speaker 3: Saturday if you didn't have a chance to get into it,
Speaker 3: but it's been covered. It's fair games, so if you
Speaker 3: want to way in going forward, you can do so
Speaker 3: again seven one three two one two five seven ninety.
Speaker 3: Once again, that's sebon one three two one two five
Speaker 3: seven ninety, but a couple of segments left to go
Speaker 3: coming up next. Let's get into some Texans conversation. An
Speaker 3: interesting bit of news regarding the Texans leading into tomorrow's
Speaker 3: game that definitely want to share with you and react to.
Speaker 3: So we'll do that next right here, Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 2: Space City Saturday continues, Sey Matthews with you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know Astros fans out there, Texans fans too,
Speaker 3: hoping that you don't see the Grinch trying to come
Speaker 3: in and steal Christmas.
Speaker 2: I don't think you will.
Speaker 3: But anyway, a good pool right there by Melvin Brown
Speaker 3: here on Space City Saturday. Again, Dan Matthews here with you.
Speaker 3: We got up until noon, and don't forget, I'll be
Speaker 3: coming back your way Rockets launch Pad leading you up
Speaker 3: to the Rockets and the Thunder tonight from Las Vegas,
Speaker 3: part of the play in Tournament. And like I said,
Speaker 3: saw Matt Thomas out there at the Blackjack tables last night,
Speaker 3: so he's having himself a good time out there. And
Speaker 3: hopefully the Rockets able to extend their stay there in
Speaker 3: Vegas for the play in Tournament, because if they win
Speaker 3: the night, we'll go ahead and see who wins the
Speaker 3: earlier game this afternoon between the Atlanta Hawks and the
Speaker 3: Milwaukee Bucks, and whoever wins that, that's who plays for
Speaker 3: the entire thing next week.
Speaker 2: So that's what we have to look forward to. Again.
Speaker 3: If you want to weigh in on the phone lines,
Speaker 3: you can do so seven one three two one two
Speaker 3: five seven ninety. Once again, that's seven one three two
Speaker 3: one to five seven nine zero. So the Texans know
Speaker 3: that they're going to be without Juice Scruggs for some time.
Speaker 3: Got a foot issue, not gonna be able to go
Speaker 3: tomorrow and likely not gonna be able to go for
Speaker 3: at least the next couple of games after that at least,
Speaker 3: and Aaron Wilson, our own buddy, our own Sports Talk
Speaker 3: seven to ninety contributor, throwing out a report about thirty
Speaker 3: minutes ago that the Texans are going to move Titus
Speaker 3: Howard from right tackle to left guard for tomorrow's game
Speaker 3: against the Dolphins, and rookie Blake Fisher going to be
Speaker 3: at the right tackle spot, so the offensive line would
Speaker 3: look like going from left to right Tunsul Howard, Patterson,
Speaker 3: Jack Mason, and then also to Fisher there at the
Speaker 3: right tackle spot. I mean, look, this is kind of
Speaker 3: a situation twofold with the Texans at this point. I think,
Speaker 3: you know, the first thing you're looking at is they're
Speaker 3: just the first and foremost trying to find a group
Speaker 3: of five that's going to be able to protect CJ.
Speaker 3: Stroud and be able to give them an opportunity to
Speaker 3: get the line moving. And I think we can probably
Speaker 3: agree that two of the best offensive linemen for the
Speaker 3: team this year have been your tackles, both, you know,
Speaker 3: Tunsil and Howard. I mean, I understand that Tunsil wears
Speaker 3: a lot of frustration from Texans fans, and Howard too
Speaker 3: a little bit as well with the pre snap penalties
Speaker 3: things like that. But I mean, you know, in terms
Speaker 3: of this season, the interior of the offensive line has
Speaker 3: been an issue. And what my guess is with the
Speaker 3: conversations that the coaching staff over thereon Kirby had about
Speaker 3: their offensive line was Okay, what can give us the
Speaker 3: best opportunity to be able to put our best offensive
Speaker 3: line together? And I think it's also too as well.
Speaker 3: I mean, you look at a standpoint of you spent
Speaker 3: a second round pick on Blake Fisher. You want to
Speaker 3: see what he's got, and you've been able to see
Speaker 3: it a couple of times this year, either through injury
Speaker 3: or through just necessity of having to have him play.
Speaker 3: But you haven't had him play consistent snaps this season.
Speaker 3: And I think that now this is kind of one
Speaker 3: of those where you might be saying, well, wait a minute, Dan,
Speaker 3: in this final four game stretch of the season, this
Speaker 3: is not a time to be doing experiments. I would
Speaker 3: actually disagree. I think that this is absolutely the time
Speaker 3: to be able to do set experiment because you want
Speaker 3: to find out what you've got in him and if
Speaker 3: he's somebody that you know, if you don't feel incredibly
Speaker 3: good about what he gives you from the right tackle spot,
Speaker 3: then maybe eventually you look at him on the inside.
Speaker 3: It doesn't sound like they have any designs of doing that,
Speaker 3: but it's also too as well. I mean you've got
Speaker 3: to find out number one can he play? And number
Speaker 3: two where would be the best spot on the line
Speaker 3: for him to play. I mean, this could be something
Speaker 3: that if it works incredibly well, that all of a
Speaker 3: sudden Nick Cassario and his staff there in terms of
Speaker 3: building out this roster for the teams going forward, they
Speaker 3: say to themselves, all right, well, well, now we've got
Speaker 3: three spots on the offensive line that we feel really
Speaker 3: good about.
Speaker 2: What about the other two?
Speaker 3: And if that's either through the draft or if that's
Speaker 3: going out free agency, trade, anything like that, that's where
Speaker 3: you can find it. I mean, if I had the
Speaker 3: guests without looking at Shack Mason's contract number, just the
Speaker 3: way he's played this season, I would probably guess this
Speaker 3: is the end of the line for Shaq Mason. I
Speaker 3: think it's a little bit of kind of a wait
Speaker 3: and see on Patterson and Scrugs on the interior. I mean,
Speaker 3: if you feel like one can be better than the
Speaker 3: other as your center, or maybe even two. I mean,
Speaker 3: you know, who's to say that this group doesn't work
Speaker 3: and that Drew Scruggs comes back and you feel like, hey,
Speaker 3: we can slide Scrugs in at the right or right
Speaker 3: guard spot and that's a way that you're able to
Speaker 3: kind of build up this line from there. And I
Speaker 3: know that some people might look at it and say, oh, well,
Speaker 3: isn't it just as simple as you know, being able
Speaker 3: to you know, plug in guys in any spot on
Speaker 3: the line and it's just going to work out?
Speaker 2: Not necessarily.
Speaker 3: I mean, the right tackles responsibilities are far different than
Speaker 3: what the left tackles. Responsibilities are. The center different from
Speaker 3: right or left guard. So I mean it is something
Speaker 3: that you would have to practice through. You'd have to
Speaker 3: even go through what experience do you have at those positions?
Speaker 3: Because again, I mean it's responsibilities, it's the calls, it's
Speaker 3: all of these different things that you look through and
Speaker 3: try to determine, you know, all right, you know, does
Speaker 3: this guy slot out better at being at this position
Speaker 3: or does this guy play better at another position? I mean,
Speaker 3: I think that that's something that you kind of have
Speaker 3: to work through, and that's what it sounds like the
Speaker 3: Texans are doing in terms of trying to get ready
Speaker 3: for tomorrow's game. In terms of the availability of players
Speaker 3: for this one tomorrow, the only player that's ruled out
Speaker 3: at this moment is Jews Scruggs. Nick Broker has a
Speaker 3: hand issue. He's been somebody that's not been active for
Speaker 3: most of the season, So I mean, I don't necessarily
Speaker 3: know if you were kind of counting on him to
Speaker 3: be ready to go for this one.
Speaker 2: Kenyan Green.
Speaker 3: I mean, you heard Bobby Slowich say it earlier this week,
Speaker 3: and we played the audio on the A team that
Speaker 3: they're saying, you know, they've got to be able to
Speaker 3: try to get him healthy again. I mean, even though
Speaker 3: he's been designated to return, he's missed some time and
Speaker 3: also too, I mean, I think a huge part of
Speaker 3: that as well is that it might kind of be
Speaker 3: the beginning of the end for Kenyan Green with the Texans.
Speaker 3: I mean, just kind of looking at what they've been
Speaker 3: able to get out of them, and I don't think
Speaker 3: that it necessarily has met what they hoped that they
Speaker 3: were getting when they drafted him.
Speaker 2: Ount of TEXTA seeing him, So I think that's another
Speaker 2: part of it. As well.
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, you've gotten good football out of Scruggs,
Speaker 3: You've gotten good performances out of Jared Patterson, that it's
Speaker 3: kind of like, where does he fit in? I mean,
Speaker 3: do we even need to rush him back at this point?
Speaker 3: And again, you know I talked about it earlier with
Speaker 3: trying to find out what you have of Blake Fisher.
Speaker 3: I think that's a part of it as well of
Speaker 3: you know, we've given Kenyan Green a chance. Now it's
Speaker 3: time for us to give this guy a chance and
Speaker 3: see what he's got. So I think that's kind of
Speaker 3: playing into this a little little bit as well. In
Speaker 3: terms of Christian Harris with the calf, he's questionable, but
Speaker 3: it sounds like he's going to be a go for
Speaker 3: this one. I don't expect much out of Christian Harris tomorrow, honestly.
Speaker 3: I mean, I think you're probably looking at mixing and
Speaker 3: matching a little bit in terms of series. If I
Speaker 3: had to guess who the starting linebackers are going to be,
Speaker 3: you're looking at Neville Hewitt and you're looking at Henry Tollato.
Speaker 3: That's who you're going to be seeing the most of tomorrow.
Speaker 3: Devin White, I think with the amount of time that
Speaker 3: he's been out with this team this year in terms
Speaker 3: of being on the field and going through practices, everything
Speaker 3: of the sort, I think he would probably be the
Speaker 3: next option to be able to cycle in in those rotations.
Speaker 2: But maybe fifteen twenty plays.
Speaker 3: Tomorrow out of Christian Harris, I think is kind of
Speaker 3: what you're looking at. I mean, the goal now with
Speaker 3: getting Harris back at this point is to try to
Speaker 3: these next few games kind of treated almost like his
Speaker 3: preseason and maybe that final game against the Tennessee iTANs
Speaker 3: as kind of, hey, all right, let's give him full
Speaker 3: go here, let's see what he's got, and then hopefully
Speaker 3: if you're able to get into the playoffs then that
Speaker 3: wild card round. He's pretty much at mid season shape
Speaker 3: at that point, so that's what you get for him
Speaker 3: being out for the first fifteen weeks of the season. So,
Speaker 3: I mean, he's missed about three and a half months
Speaker 3: of football at this point, so it's kind of hard
Speaker 3: to think that he can come in and plug and
Speaker 3: play immediately, and especially too at that linebacker spot. I
Speaker 3: just don't see it being the case. So anyway, that's
Speaker 3: what it looks like for the Texans. Tomorrow against the
Speaker 3: Miami Dolphins. Again, a noon kick over there at NRG Stadium.
Speaker 3: Yours truly, Adam Wexler. We'll be over there, and of
Speaker 3: course after the game, getting stuff from the postgame locker room.
Speaker 3: But a fun NFL weekend nonetheless, I mean, of course,
Speaker 3: with us paying attention to what's going on over there,
Speaker 3: we'll be paying attention in the afternoon two as well
Speaker 3: to what's happening with the Colts and the Broncos as
Speaker 3: well as I think a lot of Texans fans are
Speaker 3: huge Bronco fans tomorrow, especially with what's on the line
Speaker 3: between the Texans and the Colts at this point.
Speaker 2: I've said it numerous times.
Speaker 3: I mean, even though you're in your tougher part of
Speaker 3: the schedule, this is the Texans division to lose, and
Speaker 3: if they do end up losing out on the AFC South,
Speaker 3: then it's only them to blame. I mean, you know,
Speaker 3: it's a game tomorrow where you've lost too straight at
Speaker 3: NRG Stadium. You want to be able to break that
Speaker 3: schneid right there, and also too, I mean the following
Speaker 3: week you go up to Kansas City, a team that
Speaker 3: I think is kind of tempted fate quite a bit
Speaker 3: this season. So to believe that the Texans don't have
Speaker 3: a chance to win that game, I think would be foolish.
Speaker 3: And then finally a team that they just have not
Speaker 3: been able to solve the puzzle for pretty much the
Speaker 3: entire existence of this organization, the Baltimore Ravens on Christmas Day.
Speaker 3: That'll be a tough one and no doubt about it.
Speaker 3: So that's what Texans have here going forward, all right?
Speaker 2: Coming up next the Rockets.
Speaker 3: Good things from them the other night, good things for
Speaker 3: most of this season, and tonight I think is another
Speaker 3: proving ground for them.
Speaker 2: I'll explain what I mean next as.
Speaker 3: We close out this edition of Space City Saturday. Dan
Speaker 3: Matthews here with you on your home of the Astros
Speaker 3: and the Rockets, Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Space City Saturday, Sports Talk seven.
Speaker 2: Ninety Sports Talks seven ninety.
Speaker 3: Ian Matthews here with you on a two Christmases away Saturday.
Speaker 3: So that's what we have for two weeks away from Christmas.
Speaker 2: What a week and a half. I don't know who days,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 3: Look, the only thing I know is today is Saturday,
Speaker 3: all right, and it's eleven forty nine. Right now, That's
Speaker 3: that's what I know, all right, Don't ask me for
Speaker 3: many more details.
Speaker 2: Don't get too demanding with me. Okay, it's been a
Speaker 2: long week.
Speaker 3: I think once you get to this point, you're kind
Speaker 3: of like, eh, whatever, details, semantics. I'll let Adam Wexler
Speaker 3: worry about that. But anyway, the Rocket's coming your way
Speaker 3: tonight right here on your home of the Rockets Sports
Speaker 3: Talk seven to ninety as it will be NBA A
Speaker 3: Cup playing tournament semi finals for the Rockets tonight against
Speaker 3: the Oklahoma City Thunder. And of course to get to
Speaker 3: this point Wednesday night, you had to battle towards the end,
Speaker 3: and the Rockets able to do that. I mean, it
Speaker 3: was looking bleak right there with about a minute and
Speaker 3: a half to go. I mean, I think most of
Speaker 3: us are probably watching that game and we're just like, man,
Speaker 3: come on, like, seriously, we're gonna do this. You know,
Speaker 3: this is seriously what we're gonna do. We're gonna lose
Speaker 3: to these guys again. Then the Rockets able to knock
Speaker 3: down some shots, able to get some huge plays down
Speaker 3: the stretch, and of course to the foul which Steve
Speaker 3: Kerr he whined about, and we heard Steve Kerr whinding
Speaker 3: about it, but also too as well. By the way,
Speaker 3: I mean, unless I've missed it, has the NBA fined
Speaker 3: Steve Kerr.
Speaker 2: Yet for that? Or is it?
Speaker 3: Oh yet again another thing that works in the favor
Speaker 3: of Steve Kerr. Okay, yeah, but he wants to act
Speaker 3: like a huge victim here, got it? Okay, I just
Speaker 3: wanted to make sure, you know, I just want to
Speaker 3: make sure we're kind of on the same page here.
Speaker 3: But anyway, the NBA did come out with the last
Speaker 3: two minute report the next day and said that the
Speaker 3: only miscall there in the final two minutes was that
Speaker 3: Pajemski should have been called for a five seconds violation.
Speaker 2: So there you go, Steve Kerr.
Speaker 3: You can eat it and you can enjoy being at
Speaker 3: home with not being able to go to Vegas. That
Speaker 3: was the best part of Kerr's little whiny rant right there,
Speaker 3: was at the end when.
Speaker 2: He was like, I really wanted to go to Vegas.
Speaker 3: Well, you don't get to go to Vegas, and the
Speaker 3: Rockets do and looks like they're having fun out there.
Speaker 2: They met with the media yesterday.
Speaker 3: Gonna get the thunder tonight team that they were able
Speaker 3: to take down the last time they faced him after
Speaker 3: a really rough performance against them in the game that
Speaker 3: they played up in ok See.
Speaker 2: But now it's a.
Speaker 3: Chance for the Rockets to be able to, you know,
Speaker 3: try to not only you know, take another step in
Speaker 3: terms of signaling to the NBA world that you know,
Speaker 3: this team is taking a step forward in a team
Speaker 3: that is a legitimate competitor for the Western Conference. But
Speaker 3: I mean, I think it's also too for these young guys,
Speaker 3: you kind of get your first taste to playoff basketball.
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, it is a little bit more
Speaker 3: in the mold of the n C DOUBLEA Tournament, which
Speaker 3: most of the guys on this team are familiar with.
Speaker 3: I mean Jabari Smith junior taking part in the n
Speaker 3: C Double A tournament. I mean Fred van Vliet obviously
Speaker 3: definitely did I remember seeing Fred van Vliet play in
Speaker 3: the final four in that really good game against Louisville
Speaker 3: back a few years ago when that was the final
Speaker 3: four of Wichitas State, Louisville, Syracuse and Michigan there and
Speaker 3: of course Louisville able to win it that season. But
Speaker 3: he knows experience from that. But I mean just overall
Speaker 3: from this. I mean, I think that's another part of it,
Speaker 3: is that it's a chance to kind of, you know,
Speaker 3: show him like, this is the mindset you have to
Speaker 3: have during the playoffs, this is how you have to
Speaker 3: go about your business during the playoffs, and this is
Speaker 3: how you win in the playoffs. And I think that
Speaker 3: all of those things are kind of at play right now.
Speaker 3: But it will be a fun one tonight again Matt
Speaker 3: Thomas and Adam Wexler on the call. Matt there in Vegas,
Speaker 3: wex back here in our iHeartRadio Houston studios. So it'll
Speaker 3: be a fun time six thirty again coming your way
Speaker 3: with Rockets launch pad right here on your home of
Speaker 3: the Rockets. So look forward to doing that here a
Speaker 3: little bit later on. But you know, we've covered a
Speaker 3: lot of the astros today, which of course, I mean,
Speaker 3: you know, just to kind of put a bow on
Speaker 3: that from earlier, of course, yesterday making the trade to
Speaker 3: send Kyle Tucker up to the Chicago Cubs. In return
Speaker 3: you get eat SoC Perettis as well as picking up
Speaker 3: Hayden was Nesky, which hadn't talked a ton about him yet.
Speaker 3: I mean, I know you heard Bruce Levine talk about
Speaker 3: him a little bit earlier, and also so to a
Speaker 3: little bit from Chandler Rome when we played that visit
Speaker 3: with the A team yesterday. I mean, I think he's
Speaker 3: a guy that kind of fits in the mold of
Speaker 3: what the Astros have brought in the past. I mean
Speaker 3: last year relief picture wise, you know, kind of you know,
Speaker 3: somebody like they brought in in Taylor Scott of they
Speaker 3: felt like he's got good stuff.
Speaker 2: Maybe get with.
Speaker 3: Them on a couple of things, tweak some things here
Speaker 3: and there, and you're able to you know, make him
Speaker 3: into a viable option for you. And that's one thing
Speaker 3: I think, you know, the Astros go to spring training
Speaker 3: this year with the express purpose of trying to make
Speaker 3: him into a starter, because remember too, I mean, you know,
Speaker 3: you don't have Jose Rachidy. I mean he was non tendered,
Speaker 3: so I mean maybe you're able to sign him to
Speaker 3: a you know, a spring training invite deal or.
Speaker 2: Something like that.
Speaker 3: But at the same time though, too, I mean, he's
Speaker 3: kind of in the same same group as Christian Hobby
Speaker 3: here is with the return from Tommy John surgery. So
Speaker 3: I mean those guys kind of going through you know,
Speaker 3: trying to build themselves back up and get back to
Speaker 3: being able to get back on a mound and throw
Speaker 3: on a regular basis. And that's something that I think
Speaker 3: you can kind of keep an eye on. But I mean,
Speaker 3: it'll be interesting to see what happens with Lance McCullers.
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, where do they go with him?
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, it's also too what happens with
Speaker 3: the possibility that maybe you trade Ryan Presley this offseason.
Speaker 2: And if that's the case. I mean, I've said it
Speaker 2: numerous times.
Speaker 3: I know Lance not necessarily, he's not very keen to
Speaker 3: doing the bullpen thing, but I mean, look, I think
Speaker 3: it kind of gets to a certain point of it
Speaker 3: seems like starter is not in the cards for you.
Speaker 3: So if that's not in the cards for you, then
Speaker 3: why would you not consider going to the bullpen where
Speaker 3: less taxing on your arm and less innings on your arm,
Speaker 3: less pitching, all those things kind of rolled into one
Speaker 3: and a chance for you to be able to stay
Speaker 3: healthy and.
Speaker 2: Prolong your career.
Speaker 3: I mean, I think if you're McCullers, you've got to
Speaker 3: really significantly consider that, and if you're able to kind
Speaker 3: of build him into that role, maybe he's some that
Speaker 3: can be a late ending guy for you. I mean,
Speaker 3: you know how effective he can be on the mound,
Speaker 3: and you know, it's just been a problem of being
Speaker 3: able to stay durable and stay out of having arm troubles.
Speaker 3: So that's been something that's been a little bit of
Speaker 3: an issue for him since being re uped a couple
Speaker 3: of years ago to that five year deal. So we'll
Speaker 3: see what happens with him. JP Frantz also to another
Speaker 3: guy that was able to do some really good things
Speaker 3: for you in twenty twenty three, and now you want
Speaker 3: to see what he can do in twenty twenty five
Speaker 3: and beyond after trying to come back from that shoulder issue.
Speaker 3: So we'll see what happens on that front.
Speaker 2: But all in all, I.
Speaker 3: Mean, I think it just kind of continues to show
Speaker 3: you that it's very much a fluid situation with the Astros,
Speaker 3: with you know, do you bring back Alex Bregman or
Speaker 3: do you decide to go elsewhere. I mean, you know,
Speaker 3: there's been the loose rumors out there and I haven't
Speaker 3: seen anything in terms of, you know, much from Brian McTaggart,
Speaker 3: Chandler Rome or even Ari Alexander which, by the way, too,
Speaker 3: I do want to take a quick second to shout
Speaker 3: those guys out, you know, I think that we need
Speaker 3: to be appreciative of what we've got in terms of
Speaker 3: those guys here in Houston with Tags, with Chandler, with Ari,
Speaker 3: because I mean, I know, when it comes to baseball
Speaker 3: and news, I mean, you know, passing is obviously very
Speaker 3: relied upon Ken Rosenthal, same deal and some others on
Speaker 3: the national front. But those guys, in terms of the
Speaker 3: work they put in and just how they work their story,
Speaker 3: it's just fantastic work. So I want to give them
Speaker 3: a little tip of the cap for being all over
Speaker 3: the stories this week from both at the Baseball League meetings,
Speaker 3: but also too from being able to, you know, just
Speaker 3: stay on top of the Kyle Tucker trade news and
Speaker 3: continuing to stay on this news with the Astros. So
Speaker 3: good stuff from them. That's gonna do it for us
Speaker 3: here on Space City Saturday. I want to think Melvin
Speaker 3: Brown behind the glass. I want to think all of
Speaker 3: you too, who hop the board with us here is
Speaker 3: don't forget again. Rocket in thunder NBA Cup playing Tournament
Speaker 3: semifinal game action tonight from Las Vegas.
Speaker 2: Six point thirty Rockets launch Pad coming your way.
Speaker 3: I will be leading you up to Matt Thomas and
Speaker 3: Adam Wexler on the call. Dan Matthews here on your
Speaker 3: home of the Rockets and the Astros, Sports Talk seven
Speaker 3: to ninety It Spenspace City Saturday.
Speaker 2: We'll talk to you all next week.