- 4 weeks ago
ITL debates whether Houston’s recent momentum could lead to a real run.
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00:00Opened the show this morning talking about that no-hitter for the Astros last night.
00:05Masterpiece.
00:08That's right.
00:10And, yeah, it was...
00:11That was a masterpiece, like, masterpiece barbecue sauce.
00:15Mmm, dang.
00:16Not good.
00:16That's a shot.
00:17Yeah, that is a shot.
00:19I was going to say, it was the Julia Roberts of no-hitter.
00:22That's right.
00:23Wasn't that special.
00:25Old big mouth, hook nose herself.
00:25Yeah.
00:26Yeah, that's right.
00:27Three walks in the first inning.
00:29That's the hook nose right there.
00:32But the Astros, nonetheless, no-hitter beat the Rangers 9-0.
00:36Suddenly, three and a half games out of first place.
00:40And it's an interesting week for the Astros in that they're playing better baseball right now.
00:44Four straight wins.
00:45Longest winning streak since, like, the first week of the season.
00:47But they continue.
00:48They get three more at the Rangers.
00:50Meanwhile, the A's and the Mariners are playing each other.
00:53And the Mariners beat up on the A's last night.
00:54So, you have a chance here.
00:56You know, if the Mariners can help you out.
00:58If you take care of business with the Rangers, who knows?
01:02See where the Astros are in this division.
01:05But it is an interesting thing because you wonder about, like, the long-term, I don't know,
01:12prognosis.
01:12The long-term picture.
01:13The big picture for this Astros organization.
01:16Is this the best thing for the team here, now, and also in the future if they were to go
01:22on a run and make things interesting in the AL West?
01:26This is so weird and interesting to me.
01:31It's kind of, depending on how you look at it, it's, hey, man, you know, no one's ever going to
01:37say no to the playoffs, right?
01:39Right.
01:39If you can get there, you never know.
01:41We've all said it.
01:42You know, make something happen.
01:45Make something happen.
01:46And then, you know, maybe good things you get on a roll.
01:48Good things happen.
01:50It's true.
01:50I mean, we've seen it happen.
01:52It can, if you're in the playoffs, you're going to have a shot.
01:55Look at some of the things going on in the NBA.
01:58But, man, it's like, is it really that good a thing?
02:03And, by the way, you can argue very strongly on both sides.
02:08Let's argue the very positive thing here.
02:10Not only are you three and a half games back, nobody in this division is really scaring you.
02:15So, there is a path, you know, to get to the postseason.
02:19There is a path there.
02:20You're getting Hunter Brown and Josh Hader back real soon.
02:25They both had, you know, rehab assignments.
02:27Would Hunter Brown have five strikeouts in two innings or something like that?
02:31So, the diesel is coming back.
02:33Your ace, you're going to actually have a real ace.
02:37Spencer Arrighetti is flat out becoming one of the best pitchers in baseball, at least in the American League, if
02:42you like that.
02:43Was he tied for third in wins?
02:45With six, I think.
02:47Sounds right, yeah.
02:47So, you got Hunter Brown coming back.
02:49Spencer Arrighetti.
02:50Who knows with Emai, but the arrow is pointing up, even if it's ever so slightly.
02:55The arrow is pointing up.
02:57So, there's three starters right there.
02:58Then you got Peter, not Brady, Lambert.
03:01And, you know, so maybe that's a little bit, you know, dicey or unpredictable or whatever.
03:06But you got a rotation.
03:08You got your closer coming back.
03:10Look, Allen Burr, Santa, his stuff was outstanding.
03:15I mean, forget, set aside, you know, Major League, you know, debut and the no-hitter and all that.
03:21His, I know you watch this.
03:23I mean, his slider was ridiculous.
03:26It was so good.
03:28But, and especially to do that in your first appearance, you got the most feared hitter in the game there.
03:38You got Christian Walker, who I feel is some, everybody's talking about how good, how well Christian Walker is playing.
03:44Not only is he playing well, I think he's bumping up against Yordan with his numbers.
03:48If you, and especially if you add in the defense.
03:51Yeah.
03:51You know, his OPS is never going to be, you know, that close.
03:54But I think it's eight something.
03:55Yeah.
03:55Right now.
03:57You know, his home runs.
03:58He's only two home runs behind Yordan.
04:00I think Yordan has 17.
04:01He's got 15.
04:03So, you're like, hey now, you know, okay, maybe, maybe we can, we can get there.
04:08Now the other side.
04:10Now the other side.
04:13How reliable really is your pitching?
04:15You know, EMI, we get it, slightly pointing up.
04:18You know, Burroughs is a wash.
04:20I mean, it's just, he's just not doing anything.
04:23Your bullpen, it's been decent of late, but, you know, how much can you rely on it?
04:28Your everyday lineup has a bunch of guys that are showing some promise.
04:32Shoemake, Cole, you can just go down the list, you know, of some of these players,
04:37but you really want to rely on them as a team that can make the postseason.
04:42Who knows about Joe Espada?
04:44You know, he's, you know, you go back and forth on that.
04:46It is a, it is a true dilemma.
04:49Yeah.
04:49Yeah, it is.
04:50Because you can fool yourself into thinking something, especially after the way they've played
04:54these last couple of days.
04:56And, you know, to your point with the lineup, like the offense, the last two days have looked
04:59great, led by Christian Walker, and last night you were down as well.
05:02You can fool yourself into like, hey, we just won four in a row.
05:05We're turning this thing around.
05:06We're getting healthy.
05:07This AL is up for grabs.
05:09But to your point that you said right off the topic, is it worth it if it's just a playoff
05:14appearance?
05:15I think the main thing that needs to be figured out for Astro fans, but more importantly,
05:20the front office, is if you're being realistic, what do you still set as the ceiling for this
05:26team?
05:26Right.
05:26Do you think this team, when healthy, still has the ability to be a World Series contender
05:32this year?
05:32Or is their ceiling kind of like what we've seen the last two years of, they could be a
05:36playoff team, but probably knocked out in the first round.
05:39And if that's the answer, then to me that's still not good enough.
05:43And just because you're a little bit better than a lot of the bad teams in the AL, I don't
05:48know if that is worth like continuing forward on this path to try to make, just make the
05:53playoffs in a bad AL.
05:55There was a story that came out about the Angels last week, how the Angels, now with
06:01hindsight being 20, I think it was Yahoo had it.
06:04They were giving the Angels a hard time because they had a chance to trade Otani to the Tampa
06:07Bay Rays a few years back.
06:08Like, chose not to because they wanted to remain competitive.
06:13And Artie Moreno, the owner, said, no, we don't want to trade him.
06:15You know, we want to try to go make the playoffs.
06:17And then, as we know, like the Angels never had success with Otani there.
06:20And they turned down a package that would have included, I think it was Junior Kamenero
06:24from the Rays, who's turned into a good player, and a few other guys.
06:28And with hindsight being 20-20, it's like, man, the Angels, they lost Otani for nothing.
06:31It'd be nice to get those guys.
06:33That's my point being, you don't want to go all in on a team where it's like the ceiling
06:38is just, ah, we'll lose in the first round if the alternative is you're realistic and
06:44think it's just a bad AL.
06:45We're not a great team.
06:46We're just a little bit better than these other bad teams.
06:48Let's trade some of these pieces so that we can make ourselves an even better team for
06:52next year, the year after, so on and so forth.
06:55Punt on this year.
06:56Be realistic and build towards the future.
06:58You're 100% right.
06:59You know, you're thinking the best thing that, and we've chatted about this, the best thing
07:04long term is to be a seller.
07:06Well, if you're three and a half, two and a half back at the deadline, maybe even closer,
07:11you kind of got to be a buyer, but with what?
07:13Yeah, see, that's the thing I'm worried about.
07:16Like, if they stay rolling like this with the players they got right now, I'm fine with
07:21it.
07:21Keep rolling to the playoffs.
07:22If we get bounced out, I'm fine with it.
07:25I just don't want to feel like, hey, let's trade some more players.
07:28Let's try to get somebody else in here.
07:30We can make a run.
07:31And then we just pretty much kicking this can down the road.
07:34You say you're fine with it, and I get that, but the second part of what you said is the
07:39most important.
07:40You know, you're going to strip the...
07:44That's what I don't want.
07:45If the bottom does fall out, and they're like, well, they got ousted in the first round of
07:50the playoffs, how good are they really?
07:51And then you don't have anything coming up?
07:54Is that really a...
07:55It's a true dilemma.
07:57You know, it really is.
07:58I will actually be okay with them just getting to the playoffs and maybe getting bounced
08:02out with this roster right now, with the people that have been hurt, and you got the Lamberts
08:06of the world, and just some unknown people we had no idea about that's coming in.
08:12If they could carry this team to the playoffs, I'm not going to overlook that, because I
08:16ain't look at this team as a championship team anyway.
08:19But I don't want them to be fooled where they feel like they need to go get a star pitcher
08:25or, you know, try to blow all of their money because they think they could get to a World
08:30Series with this team.
08:33Yeah, but even to that point, like, I don't know if that's the best course of action is
08:36just standing pat.
08:37You know, the best course of action might be trying to move, like, say, a Christian Walker
08:42or a Josh Hader, which sounds rash.
08:44But again, if you believe the ceiling is just, ah, they'll win 84 games and get knocked out
08:49of the first round of the playoffs, is that good enough?
08:52Or do you punt on this mediocre season, as good as we might feel right now, move a couple
08:58of those pieces and get even more back, restock the farm system or get multiple guys that can
09:04help you in the future so then you're able to come back next year and actually be able
09:08to compete for a World Series instead of what we might be settling for this year of just
09:12going to be a playoff team at best, that's it, because that shouldn't be good enough.
09:16The goal should always be competing for a World Series.
09:18So what's the best course of action to get closer to a World Series?
09:22Is it standing pat?
09:23Is it doing, like, a soft sell to improve yourself for the future?
09:27I think that's the route I would still lean.
09:29Well, I would, too.
09:31But you know what would really help is a general manager and a manager that have some stability.
09:37Yeah, that's true.
09:38And you don't have any of that.
09:39I think, you know, one of the flies in the ointment here is Dana Brown needs to, quote
09:44unquote, go for it.
09:46You know, it's his ass on the line right now.
09:48It really is.
09:50Same thing with Joe Espada.
09:51I'd rather have a general manager that maybe sees the big picture and kind of maybe make
09:55some tweaking-type moves and see how far they can get.
09:58But understanding that I'm here for the long term and the long term really matters, it's really
10:04a tough thing to gauge.
10:07And the other aspect of it is, you know this, you know, there are these dates, these marks
10:12in time every baseball season that, you know, where are you on Memorial Day?
10:17Where are you on July 4th?
10:18Where are you on Labor Day?
10:19Well, Memorial Day was this past weekend.
10:21You know, where are they really?
10:24Not withstanding the four wins in a row and the combined no-hitter, there's still, what,
10:28it's seven games under .500?
10:29Yeah.
10:30You know, you can argue the division and, hey, we just want to get to the dance, but
10:34you're still seven games under .500 on Memorial Day.
10:37Next big mark is July 4th, and then that'll lead right into the trade deadline.
10:41If you take a step back and you're looking at what's best for the Astros, is it really
10:46best to go for it here?
10:47But on the other hand, you got Hunter Brown coming back.
10:51Yeah.
10:51I mean, I wouldn't try to go for it.
10:53Like, when I think of go for it, I think of trying to make some trades to try to think
10:57you're giving yourself a chance for a championship.
10:59I wouldn't do that, and I'm kind of on what Luke said.
11:04Like, I'm totally fine with if somebody want to try to get Christian Walker, I'll be listening.
11:10I'll see what you want for it.
11:12I'll try to, you know, paretas and, you know, little pieces like that.
11:15I wouldn't mind selling them because you say other teams do.
11:19I think the Guardian is notorious for doing stuff like this, where they'll be currently
11:25in the playoffs, and they'll start selling some pieces, just to, you know, stock up a
11:30little bit.
11:30Right.
11:31So I'm fine with that.
11:32Yeah, I think the Tigers did it last year, too, where people thought they were sellers
11:35at the deadline, and then they ended up making the playoffs.
11:37Now, look, the Tigers, they're having a bad year this year.
11:39No.
11:39But they did one of those kind of soft sell, sell and buy type of deals.
11:43But yeah, for the Astros, like when you look at the playoff picture right now, the final
11:48wildcard team in the AL currently is under 500.
11:51The leader in the AL West is 500.
11:53So if we expect this to continue, then the Astros to be a playoff team would only have
11:58to be about 500.
11:59But that would still be moving in the wrong direction, in my opinion, because that would
12:03mean for the fourth straight year, you won fewer games than the year before.
12:07And so I know as a fan, you want to be in the playoffs, and you want to win.
12:10And it's hard to think back to like 15 years ago, where you just punt on, in this case,
12:15what might be half of a season.
12:17Yeah.
12:18But again, as I was saying, like, I don't think that's the best course of action to
12:21be like, you know what, we're going to try to win 82 games this year just to win a bad
12:25division, just so we can say we were in the playoffs.
12:28I don't think that's what's best for the strength of this organization or the health of this
12:32organization long term.
12:33Or what this organization likes to say and has stood for.
12:38You know, you mentioned this earlier, you know, you get into the postseason, that's
12:43not the standard for the Astros.
12:45Their standard is to contend.
12:46And then that's what they've grown into over the last 10 years.
12:49You know, we're in it to win.
12:51Not just like, hey, we made the playoffs.
12:53That's what teams that just want to sell tickets do.
12:56Yeah.
12:56You know?
12:56But I'm sure Joe Spiderman want to get this one just on his resume alone, just to say,
13:01hey, look what I dragged into the playoffs.
13:04I'm sure he probably want that.
13:06Yeah.
13:07And when you look, again, you know, we're feeling good.
13:09We have the most hope for this team probably now than really since the season started.
13:13So I don't want to be that wet blanket.
13:15But to your point, I mean, they still are seven games under 500.
13:17And when you look at, I'm a big run differential guy.
13:20And they still have the third worst run differential in the AL.
13:24So, you know, they haven't been playing great.
13:27But the idea is, obviously, we've seen some encouraging signs in these last few games.
13:31And like you laid out, they're going to get healthier.
13:34Hunter Brown, Josh Hader, this can be an improved team.
13:37But at 24 and 31, the record is the thing to focus on.
13:41It's not the games back.
13:42We can say, hey, they're only two and a half back from the wild card.
13:46Yeah, that's great.
13:46But there's still seven games under 500.
13:49It's a rough division, man.
13:50It's a rough league.
13:52The whole AL is bad.
13:54So, you know, you still have to focus on the fact that they are still only 24 and 31.
13:59Let's not fool ourselves just yet into thinking that they can legitimately go compete with the Dodgers and win a
14:04World Series this year.
14:05And I'm looking at the injured list.
14:08That has to matter, too.
14:09I get it.
14:10You know, you get players that are really kind of performing over what you expected.
14:14You know, whether it's Asanta or Zach Cole or Nick Allen, who had a tremendous game yesterday.
14:21But, man, there are 16, 15 players on the IL that, frankly, if you're going to get into the postseason,
14:27you have to have.
14:27And who knows if you are?
14:28That's the other thing that, and I mentioned this maybe last week or maybe it was yesterday.
14:33But, you know, you can change all the pieces.
14:35But they lead the league.
14:38They led the league last year in injuries, the Astros did.
14:40And they lead the league again this year in injuries.
14:43And the team that finished second, funny enough, last year and this year was the Baltimore Orioles.
14:47And the Orioles made changes this offseason.
14:49They changed their coaching staff, and they brought in different players, and they got Pete Alonzo, and they got Taylor
14:53Ward from the Angels, and they made a bunch of big moves.
14:55And look at that.
14:56They're still the second most injured team this year.
14:58And the Orioles, again, are having another disappointing season.
15:01They're under .500.
15:02And so where I'm going with all this is similar for the Astros.
15:05That's what you have to figure out first and foremost is why are we leading the league in injuries for
15:10two straight years?
15:11Absolutely.
15:11Because even if we change the manager and the GM and we bring in different players, they made changes this
15:16offseason.
15:16It doesn't matter.
15:17They still have all of these injuries.
15:19And so you can change the personnel all you want.
15:21But if you're going to continue to lead the league in these injuries, it doesn't matter what sort of changes
15:26you make.
15:27Yeah, you're 100% right.
15:28And the names matter, too.
15:30Even just, you know, let's say, hey, forget it, guys.
15:34You know, three and a half back.
15:36Get in the postseason.
15:37If you're in that school of thought, I get it.
15:39It's cool.
15:39But even just not having, we'll see how long, Correa is going to be a long time and Altuve.
15:45Just not having Correa and Altuve and get in the postseason.
15:48That's going to matter, man.
15:49You know, and I know Altuve could be back, but it's going to be a while.
15:53It's important.
15:54It is.
15:55713 says, baseball just needs a team to get hot at the right time.
15:58Plenty of 500 regular season teams have won World Series titles.
16:02I don't know if plenty, but to your point, like the Nationals, when they won a few years
16:06back, they were lousy, I think still this time of year.
16:10You know, at one point, they were like 14 games under 500, whatever they were, and they
16:13went on to win the World Series.
16:14So, yeah, there is still plenty of season.
16:16And, you know, the trade deadline, fortunately, is still not for another two-plus months.
16:20So, we'll have enough time to see if Hunter Brown and Josh Hader returns and if this team
16:24can really get into high gear.
16:27But based off where they're currently, how they're currently constructed or what we've
16:32seen from the Astros, don't let this four-game winning streak erase what we saw in the other
16:3751 games and think that this is a World Series contender just yet.
16:42Yeah.
16:42They might develop into one when guys come back from injuries, but we'll see.
16:46Yeah.
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