- 2 days ago
ITL debates where the Astros stand at the All-Star break and how aggressive they should be at the trade deadline.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00That can be how it feels like with the Astros sometimes.
00:02When it rains, it pours.
00:04See what you did there.
00:05Some days it's pouring.
00:06Some days you're like, hey, man, Peter Lambert is cooking,
00:09and here comes the lineup with multiple people hitting home runs.
00:11It's just kind of day-to-day in some instances with the Astros.
00:14You get a week of reprieve as we've hit All-Star break.
00:18Astros 47-51 after a win in which they lose to the Rangers.
00:23In fact, they lose the final game 6-5 yesterday.
00:26But we're here.
00:27All-Star break ends up often being an opportunity to stop, reflect on what your team is,
00:32and especially for a team like the Astros.
00:34Three games out of first place in the ALS.
00:36I haven't even checked the wild card, but I have a feeling that it's a handful of games out of
00:40there as well.
00:42How are you feeling about them being buyers versus sellers at this point
00:45as we've finished the proverbial first half?
00:47Well, beyond that, yes.
00:48So let me just answer that first.
00:50Same.
00:52I've felt the same way.
00:53Some people, when the Astros were maybe a game and a half,
00:56I think is about as close as they got to maybe a game, whatever.
01:00Like, man, you've got to buy.
01:02I'm like, maybe slight margin, low cost type player.
01:09But that, to me, is not really buying.
01:11Buying to me is, hey, starting pitcher.
01:13Hey, another big-time reliever or outfielder, whatever it is.
01:16I'm in the same place.
01:18I do not want to do it.
01:19I do not want to do it.
01:21I don't think it's the smartest thing you can do.
01:23But that doesn't mean they won't do it because their manager and general manager
01:26are playing for their jobs.
01:27Yeah.
01:28Again, that one comes back to Jim Crane on what did you expect with this particular circumstance?
01:34That this was a possibility, especially understanding that...
01:37Well, I do want to stop and pause because somebody earlier was like,
01:41well, Jim Crane needs to spend money.
01:43And in some ways, yes.
01:44Like, I think that farm system probably needs to be better funded in some ways.
01:48Guys, there's a lot of money on this roster.
01:50We were going through this a little earlier.
01:51I mean, we're talking about $30-something million for Carlos Correa,
01:54who's not playing right now.
01:55$20 million for Christian Walker, who is landlocked at first base.
02:00Obviously, $30-something million for Juve.
02:03$20-something million for Jordan Alvarez, which no one will weep about whatsoever.
02:07McCullers is out there.
02:07McCullers is like $18 million.
02:09$18 million on Emai.
02:10Something in that same range for Christian Javier.
02:13Like, you've got a lot of money tied up in places that aren't giving you nearly the same production.
02:18But that's also part of what we're talking about here.
02:20When you get to this place and you're looking for production,
02:24can you take on money in order to make this happen?
02:26When you talk about buyers or sellers, I feel like they can't even really be buyers,
02:29not even because of desire, but just ability.
02:32Ability.
02:32I don't think there's an ability for them to really buy.
02:34I think the only thing, well, the tough thing about it is a lot of your talent in your farm
02:38system is low.
02:39Shout out to Xavier Nyan's, who moves up the high A ball.
02:42That's one of your chief prospects, Kevin Alvarez.
02:45Both of those guys playing in the Futures game.
02:46That's one of your top prospects.
02:49And I wonder what teams, whatever teams are actually selling,
02:53because you look at the AL and it's like 13 of the teams are within some level of contention,
02:57which means that they could all convince themselves that, no, we're not selling.
03:00We're not moving on from pieces that we normally would in a circumstance where we were out of it.
03:05That just means there's fewer teams that are actually selling players,
03:08and that creates a bunch of teams that probably want to add something,
03:12or at least could plausibly do that.
03:13Not a lot of teams that are selling.
03:15And then you look at the Astros team and you just go, what do you have to sell?
03:17It has to come from what you're already using.
03:19Is it A.J. Blue Ball?
03:20And do you want to?
03:21And I don't want to do that.
03:22Not even just for this year.
03:25He's still like 25.
03:26I think he's 25.
03:28And so I wouldn't want to do that.
03:30Look, there are so many teams that either have a better shot than you to make the postseason
03:38or about the same as you.
03:39They're going to be doing the same thing you are versus the deal.
03:43That's first of all.
03:44And then the whole argument of, all right, so what are some of the arguments of the Astros
03:50maybe adding a significant player here or there?
03:53Well, I mean, it's just the—
03:54They're in the hunt.
03:55Yeah, they're in the hunt.
03:56That's one.
03:57But there's a lot of teams in the hunt, as we just talked about.
04:00I mentioned the Red Sox.
04:01I think they've won.
04:02They've been on a big stretch right now.
04:04I don't know exactly what it is.
04:05Another argument.
04:06Well, you know, you have starting pitching.
04:09You're getting guys back.
04:11Okay.
04:12How's Hunter Brown looked in coming back?
04:15Wait, hold on.
04:15I just realized the Red Sox are on a nine-game win streak.
04:18Yeah, no, they've been hot.
04:19How did I miss that?
04:20Goodness gracious, nine and one themselves in the last ten.
04:22Yeah, when you fire your manager, right?
04:24Yeah, okay, maybe.
04:26What are you trying to say, Fig?
04:28No, I feel like that's an MLB thing.
04:31You say, like, every time somebody fire their manager, they get to the World Series somehow.
04:35Another argument to be a buyer is, well, you're getting pitchers back.
04:38Again, how's Hunter Brown look so far?
04:40I think he's going to be, you know, fine, but he has struggled.
04:43I think he's got a 6-8 ERA in his two starts, his last two starts.
04:48How good are you feeling about Ronel Blanco and Hayden Wesneski when they come back?
04:52You think that's going to be the answer?
04:54I mean, probably not in the short scheme of things, I guess.
04:58I like Hayden Wesneski.
04:59I like him, but I don't have the confidence that all of a sudden plug and play.
05:03Right, fair enough.
05:04I mean, and you shouldn't with the recent track record of the Astros returning guys from injury.
05:09So my point is, yeah, you can make some arguments.
05:12I don't know what your confidence level is in any of those arguments, you know, at all.
05:17And then to, I say gut, you know, even one player like a blue ball that's already in the big
05:24leagues
05:24or a very high prospect is kind of gutting a team that has the 28th or 29th, depending on where
05:30you look, best farm system.
05:32I just wouldn't do it.
05:34Yeah, no, I feel you on that.
05:35And it feels like that's evident.
05:37The only place that I can imagine is, does Dana Brown manage to, does he manage to find one of
05:43these, as I would probably say,
05:45like your trash for my trash, which again is disrespectful, so I don't actually mean it that way.
05:48It's just the way my brain goes.
05:50Where you go, hey, I don't need this, or maybe you need this more, and then you can give me
05:54something that I need more.
05:55And so it's not really, I guess, what you would term like a big buy or a big sell, but
05:59it just kind of, you find somebody that.
06:01Change of scenery for him versus change of scenery for him.
06:03There you go.
06:03Someone that just kind of fits what you're doing.
06:05Because it does feel like you need to figure something out.
06:07If you were going to do some level of contention, which again is the big conversation point over all of
06:11this,
06:11do something to help your outfield or have something that's actually productive out there.
06:15Do something to help your pen to give you another arm that you can trust in some way, shape, or
06:20form.
06:21Yeah.
06:21And then the other big argument, which, I mean, he's having an incredible year, the best season of his life,
06:28and that's saying something.
06:30People lean on, well, you have Jordan Alvarez.
06:32Number one, what has that gotten you so far at the All-Star break?
06:35Where are you?
06:36What, four games under .500, three games back?
06:38Correct.
06:39An MVP candidate, though.
06:40Again, awesome.
06:41Yeah.
06:42Awesome.
06:42Awesome.
06:43I said this earlier.
06:43Your plan of attack cannot be we've got one player.
06:48We've got Jordan.
06:49That is not a sound plan.
06:51Simply because as awesome as it is to watch him, you know, hit a baseball, good Lord,
06:56and then just his approach and everything else, he's so damn good.
06:59It's not, that's not a strategy to win, you know, over the long term.
07:04First of all, they're going to walk him a lot more now.
07:06And secondly, you know, as hot as he is, you've got behind him now, you've got a guy that's
07:13batting .216 over his last 20 games in Christian Walker, and Jose Altuve's batting .238.
07:21You know, he's the heart of the team over his last 20 games.
07:24Could you make the argument that, hey, these are guys that you know can play better and
07:28that you're, again, hope, hoping that they, once they play better, right, if you make
07:32those small acquisitions, they end up kind of multiplying each other into a better opportunity.
07:37You could easily make that argument.
07:38You could easily make that argument.
07:39But again, there's a lot of hope involved.
07:41Correct.
07:41Yeah.
07:42The question I have then, because clearly, I think we're out on the idea of them being
07:45buyers, whether it's that they just can't or that they shouldn't.
07:49Right.
07:50Do you think that they should be, like, actual sellers?
07:52Because, again, they move from being, get really close, getting really close to winning
07:57the AL West, or being at the top of the way of AL West, I should say, and now they're
08:00sliding
08:00back again after losing the weekend series.
08:03I actually, you can't have one without the other.
08:07If you don't think they're going to get it done this year, and I do not, and I could be
08:10dead wrong, but just based on everything I just said, I don't see it happening.
08:14Then you should probably do the other.
08:16You probably should.
08:17They should listen.
08:18Yeah, you should probably do it.
08:20Because of the farm system and getting back to contention, legit contention, you know,
08:26quicker.
08:27To what level?
08:28Is it now the Jeremy Pena move that feels like it might be coming?
08:32Is it now, or do you just allow that to happen?
08:34First of all, would you buy into that, too?
08:36The idea that Jeremy Pena...
08:37No, you should go ahead and sell a significant piece and add something?
08:42I don't want to...
08:42The way that this team has continued to play, and I know that that cuts both ways, and the
08:47way that the AL is, I think that you just kind of let them keep trying to figure something
08:51out.
08:52So I would probably be a Stan Pat more than a seller here in this moment.
08:56But I think that it's fair to say, like, the way that the larger trajectory of the organization,
09:00you probably need to kind of find the places where you can retool and give yourself an
09:05opportunity to come back stronger.
09:06I get it, you know, and certainly injuries have hindered some of the things that you're
09:12doing, whether it's at first base or third base or whatever, but you have some players
09:16that I think...
09:16I mean, Isak Paredes is having a really good year, and he would bring you something.
09:21A contender would...
09:22I mean, he would bring you a legit high-level prospect.
09:27Legit.
09:28He's one that I would look at.
09:29But again, the messaging is not going to be what fans want to see.
09:34No, I mean, that's fair.
09:36And then the question...
09:36And he's 20...
09:37He's 20...
09:38Going to 28 years old.
09:39Oh, yeah.
09:40I mean, the idea for trading him remains really interesting from the same way early on in
09:44the season.
09:44I guess for the Astros themselves, though, you really are gutting this thing at this point,
09:49right?
09:49Like, the idea of being able to cobble a team together that can go out there and play, you
09:55would be absolutely, you know, not playing on it, like selling on the whole season, which
10:00I do wonder, how does that go over in the clubhouse?
10:05That's a great question.
10:05Do you care about that at all?
10:07Right?
10:07Like...
10:07No, you asked me what I think would be the better play.
10:10Sure.
10:10You know, buying and sacrificing a lot, or you know what?
10:15You know, just admit it and sell a big piece like that that can bolster that farm system.
10:20I would do that.
10:22I will not.
10:23No, and I hear you.
10:24They will not do that.
10:25I agree with that.
10:26Yeah.
10:26I just asked the question of, if you get to that point where you're like, hey, let's
10:29start selling this off, does it matter at all to you how that maybe plays in the clubhouse?
10:35Because you got a whole bunch of, like, you got a lot of veteran-type players.
10:37Now, you got some young ones in there as well, don't get me wrong.
10:41But do you think that it all matters in the longer scheme of things if you kind of give
10:46a very clear signal that, no, we're shutting this thing down for the season in a way?
10:49Yeah, no, I think it would not play well with the veterans that are remaining, specifically
10:55Altuve and some of these other guys.
10:58You know, Christian Walker's going on 36.
11:00He's 35 years old.
11:02And so it wouldn't play well with him.
11:04Maybe he's a candidate.
11:04But then again, who's playing first base, et cetera?
11:07Yeah.
11:08No, and that's the thing that I worry about.
11:10Worry about is maybe a little strong, because you would hope that the professionalism that
11:14they show generally continues to carry over.
11:17But yeah, that is a question of, how do you feel if that carries on through other years?
11:24An Astros note that I should mention before we go here, the Astros have decided to nullify
11:29the Mike Burroughs AAA assignment, and he will be placed on the 15-day IL.
11:33So, I mean, you nullify the option that was there.
11:36I imagine that is the mechanism there that matters there, so that you don't have that
11:40option taken away from you.
11:42But that's another pitcher going to the IL.
11:45Now, Mike Burroughs is kind of problematic anyways.
11:47I feel like a lot of Astros fans have probably gotten to the place where they don't want
11:50to see any more Mike Burroughs.
11:52But here you go.
11:53I'm going to the IL rather than just having a minor league assignment.
11:57What is it, elbow neuritis or something like that?
11:59Yes.
11:59It's a new one.
12:03I don't know.
12:04Yeah.
12:04I don't know if that...
12:06How much of that feels like a little bit of an opportunity to use the IL versus something
12:11that was clearly there?
12:12Because if it was something that was clearly there, it feels like that would have been
12:14the way that they made the decision, right?
12:16Unless they found something late.
12:17Semantics.
12:18You know, one of those things.
12:18I've never been involved.
12:18It's a new story, because I'm here.
Comments